PODCAST · science
Energy Transition Talk
by University of Southern California | Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition
Welcome to the Energy Transition Talk, the podcast that explores the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to a low-carbon future. Join hosts Jim, Justine, and Paulina as they chat with professors, industry experts, researchers, and students to unpack some of the most pressing issues involved in the energy transition and how they affect us. By featuring diverse perspectives, we hope to inspire you to make the best and most informed decisions for your communities—because ultimately, the energy transition depends on each one of us.
Episodes
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S3E13 | Is Oil a Blessing or a Curse?
The resource curse, also known as the paradox of plenty or the poverty paradox, is the phenomenon of countries with an abundance of natural resources (such as fossil fuels and certain minerals) having less economic growth, less democracy, or worse development outcomes than countries with fewer...
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S3E12 | The Next Generation Energy workforce
In an era defined by rapid technological advancement, rising global tensions, escalating environmental concerns and the quest for sustainable energy, our nation’s future hinges on strategic investments in the energy sector. Petroleum engineering enrollment and other disciplines related to...
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S3E11 | Carbon Markets
What is the cost of going green? Actually no one really knows for sure and it depends on the scope of the transition. But a recent study by the consultancy, McKinsey & Company said this: “We found that if you look at those (energy) systems today, we’re spending about $5.7 trillion (annually) on...
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S3E10 | Rebellion Energy Solutions
A carbon market is a specialized type of financial market. Carbon markets facilitate the purchase and sale of carbon credits. Carbon credits are essentially permits that allow the purchaser to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. Some carbon markets are run and...
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S3E9 | Mine of the Future
Decarbonizing the world’s electricity supply will take more than solar panels and wind turbines. EVs need on-board batteries and grid-scale storage is required to solve the intermittency problems with their alternate energy sources. Batteries are going to be a critical element in the net-zero...
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S3E8 | Carbon Management Regulations
The oil and gas industry is under increasing pressure to stop leaks of methane from their production operations. We read a lot about increasing regulations but in this episode we will talk to several experts about what the oil and gas industry is doing in response to the new laws. There is an...
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S3E7 | Enhanced Geothermal Systems - Drilling
To find the first geothermal power plant in the world you have to go to Tuscany, Italy in the early twentieth century. The creation of the first geothermal power plant was thanks to Prince Piero Ginori Conti of Trevignano. Conti initially worked for his father-in-law Florestano de Larderel in the...
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S3E6 | Enhanced Geothermal Systems - Conformance
Geothermal energy is gaining traction as oil and natural gas majors funnel substantial investments into startups and projects that use drilling techniques akin to fracking to harness underground heat for clean power generation. Fervo Energy has recently announced a $244 million funding round, led...
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S3E5 | The Impact of Digitization and AI
What is the role of AI in the future of Energy?You read about artificial intelligence or AI every day. But I was surprised that Ai could be a factor in the energy transition, both as a sophisticated way of developing new solutions and optimizing current processes but also as a new source of…
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S3E4 | Nature Based Solutions
Sometimes we worry too much about emerging technologies that we forget that there are powerful natural solutions as well, say like photosynthesis that takes carbon dioxide and water out of the air and converts it into chemical energy. Plants, especially hard wood trees, are the superheroes of the...
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S3E3 | Teague Egan
Welcome to the Future of Energy podcast brought to you by the University of Southern California Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition. On this podcast we dive into the technologies, policies, and bold ideas shaping our transition to a low carbon future. In this episode we are joined by a…
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S3 E2 | The Blue Economy
Welcome to the Future of Energy podcast brought to you by the University of Southern California Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition. On this show we explore the people, ideas, and innovations driving our transition to a sustainable low carbon future. This episode features an extraordinary guest...
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S3 E1 | The Atmosphere Forgets but the Ocean Remembers
Sometimes we worry too much about emerging technologies that we forget that there are powerful natural solutions as well, say like photosynthesis that takes carbon dioxide and water out of the air and converts it into chemical energy. Plants, especially hard wood trees, are the superheroes of the...
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S2 E15 | Kiara Billy and Alex Brunson
While clean energy goals are critical, environmental groups have expressed their concerns around the environmental damage that would occur as a result of an increase in mining in the U.S. In addition to the lasting environmental harm, mining activities disproportionately affect Indigenous...
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S2 E14 | We Didn't Inherit the Earth From Our Grandparents, We Borrowed It From Our Children
Our second episode on the critical topic of Just Transition is with Dr. Richard Luarkie, the newly named director of the Native American Mining and Energy Sovereignty initiative, or NAMES) at the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Luarkie is a member of the...
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S2 E13 | What Does a Just Transition Look Like: Minority Communities Energy and Minerals Sovereignty
“Energy won't end poverty, but we can't end poverty without energy." We can’t forget about the communities and people that will be affected by the energy transition. The concept of “just transition” has been around since the 1980s, when it was used in a movement by US trade unions to protect...
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S2 E12 | Nuclear Rebirth
Despite its characteristics as a clean energy source, nuclear energy has not been a priority in the energy transition to date. Countries like Germany have shut down their last nuclear plants despite of the loss of pipeline natural gas from Russia and the US has been on a similar path with the...
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S2 E11 | Green Steel
Industrial processes like the manufacture of steel, cement, fertilizers and petrochemicals, especially plastics, account for one-third of our global energy use. The world now produces annually about 4.5 billion tons of cement, 1.8 billion tons of steel, nearly 400 million tons of plastics, and…
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S2 E10 | Energy Security Plan for the Middle East
S2 E10 | Energy Security Plan for the Middle East
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S2 E9 | The Business Case for Going Green
Many universities study the topic of the future of energy or the energy transition as a policy issue or from research in environmental science. USC is adding another facet with a look at energy systems from the aspect of business. Dr. Shon Hiatt from the Marshall School of Business at USC is our...
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S2 E8 | Electrification of Transportation
We return to the issue of electrification of transportation that we touched on in season one with two distinguished guests, Dr. Genevieve Guiliano from USC and Dr. Beia Spiller from the Resources for the Future. This topic is more than just about how many EVs are sold and how many charging…
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S2 E7 | Reimagining Mobility
We return to the issue of electrification of transportation that we touched on in season one with two distinguished guests, Dr. Genevieve Guiliano from USC and Dr. Beia Spiller from the Resources for the Future. This topic is more than just about how many EVs are sold and how many charging…
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S2 E6 | Carbon Management Technologies
S2 E5 | Carbon Management Technologies
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S2 E5 | More on Utility Challenges: Storage and Transmission
We are going to focus the next three episodes on the Utility perspective with the theme of “Hug Pylons not Trees” or “This is not your grandparents Grid”. Most of us don’t really care where energy comes from but we do care when it is not available (storms or extreme weather) or the monthly…
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S2 E4 | Hug Pylons Not Trees
We are going to focus the next three episodes on the Utility perspective with the theme of “Hug Pylons not Trees” or “This is not your grandparents Grid”. Most of us don’t really care where energy comes from but we do care when it is not available (storms or extreme weather) or the monthly…
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S2 E3 | The Future of Oil and Gas
Welcome to episode three of the Future of Energy podcast sponsored by the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition at the University of Southern California. While all of our guests are special, we may have outdone ourselves in this interview. In our episode today and we have a different format where...
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S2 E2 | A Short Personal History of the UNFCC
Our second interview in season two focuses on the global policy making process that leads to climate policy. We talk to Arthur Lee who as an industry representative to the IPCC and UNFCCC for several decades helps us to decode all the acronyms and look behind the headlines on how the work to…
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S2 E1 | All Models are Wrong But Some Are Useful
We want to welcome everyone to season two of the Future of Energy podcast, sponsored by the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition at the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. We hope you followed us in season one if so welcome back. If you are new to the program…
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S2 E0 | The Future of Energy Origins Story
We are back for a second season of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition podcast! We are joined by two new student co-hosts, Milla and Rochan. Our first episode of season two shares the origin story of the podcast, with important introductions by Dean Yannis...
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Ep 14 | Are We Ready for the Energy Transition?
In our final episode (!!) of Season One of Energy Transition Talk, we look back at how far we’ve come, and look forward to where we hope to go from here. We start by chatting with Dr. Scott Tinker, a geology professor at UT Austin and the State Geologist of Texas. He is also a documentary...
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Ep 13 | Where Will The Future Generation of Energy Workers Come From?
In this episode of Energy Transition Talk, we talk about the future of the energy workforce and how we can recruit and prepare the next generation energy workforce for the energy transition. The International Energy Agency (IEA) anticipates that adopting clean energy technologies will create 14...
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Ep 12 | Electrification of Transportation and Reimagining Mobility
Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S., and makes up about a quarter of all energy-related GHG emissions in the world. Thus, we have ambitious goals when it comes to transportation, such as California’s commitment to transition fully to electric vehicle...
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Ep 11 | Is Hydrogen Experiencing a Revival?
Much of the talk around renewable energy seems to be focused on wind and solar. But there are other renewable sources that may be worth paying attention to. In this episode, we discuss the potential for hydrogen to be another tool in transitioning away from fossil fuels. Hydrogen has been around...
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Ep 10 | Can Enhanced Geothermal Make a Difference in the Energy Transition?
When it comes to clean energy, we often hear about wind and solar, but there are other, perhaps less-talked about, renewable sources to include in our energy transition portfolio. In this episode, we focus on geothermal, which uses heat from the earth to generate energy. You may have heard of the...
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Ep 9 | How Can Capturing Carbon and Monitoring Methane Play a Role in the Energy Transition?
In 2022, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reached a high of 53 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent. To bring that down to net zero, we can either stop emitting GHGs into the atmosphere, or we can pull out CO2 that has already been emitted. In this episode, we focus on two solutions to...
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Ep 8B | What is the Cost of Going Green? | Perspectives from Ghana
What are the real costs of going green, and who is going to pay the bill? In Part B of our episode on the cost of going green, Jim chats with a panel of mineral economics students from Ghana at the Colorado School of Mines – Eben, John, Rueben and Felix – who help us better understand the...
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Ep 8A | What is the Cost of Going Green?
What are the real costs of going green, and who is going to pay the bill? In Part A of our episode on the cost of going green, we bring expert guest Brad Handler onto the show. Brad is Program Manager for the Sustainable Finance Lab at the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School…
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Ep 7 | What is the Duck Curve, & Does When We Use Energy Matter?
We often take our energy for granted – as long as the lights turn on, the stove works, and the A/C is running, we’re happy. What we may not realize is that the electrical grid is a large and complex system — it has been called the largest machine in the world! How does the electric grid actually...
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Ep 6 | What is the Future of Oil and Gas?
In this episode of Energy Transition Talk, we explore a hot topic – the future of oil and gas! First, Paulina leads a lively conversation with Dwayne Purvis and Michael Edwards, two experts on the Future of Oil and Gas. They discuss the environmental and social impacts of orphan, or abandoned,...
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Ep 5 | What Is Energy Law and How Does It Affect Us?
In this episode of Energy Transition Talk, Justine speaks with Professor Jacobs, an energy law professor at Berkeley Law, about all things energy law – what it is and why it matters. Professor Jacobs walks us through some of the most important energy laws that affect our daily lives, from the...
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Ep 4 | How Sustainable Is the Critical Mineral Supply Chain, and Can We Rethink Criticality?
In this episode of the Energy Transition Talk, we explore our relationship with critical minerals. First, Paulina chats with Lauren Bridges, who researches industrial scale computing at Harvard University, and Zane Cooper, who researches digital media infrastructure and rare earth mineral...
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Ep 3 | Can We Meet Rising Energy Demand?
In this episode of Energy Transition Talk, we explore the broader topic of energy supply and demand. Justine and Paulina start by speaking with Dr. Don Paul, an engineering professor at USC and Executive Director of the USC Energy Institute. They talk about energy demand and supply trends…
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Ep 2 | What is Energy Poverty? What Does A "Just Transition" Look Like?
In our second episode of the Energy Transition Talk on energy poverty, Paulina and Justine first speak with Dr. Kelly Sanders, a Civil and Environmental Engineering professor at USC who has been recognized in Forbes’ 30 under 30 and MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35. We talk about…
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Ep 1 | What Does Energy Transition Mean To You?
Welcome to our first episode of the Energy Transition Talk, where we explore the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to a low-carbon future. In this episode, hosts Jim, Justine, and Paulina introduce themselves and set the stage for what the energy transition is and why it matters. They...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Welcome to the Energy Transition Talk, the podcast that explores the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to a low-carbon future. Join hosts Jim, Justine, and Paulina as they chat with professors, industry experts, researchers, and students to unpack some of the most pressing issues involved in the energy transition and how they affect us. By featuring diverse perspectives, we hope to inspire you to make the best and most informed decisions for your communities—because ultimately, the energy transition depends on each one of us.
HOSTED BY
University of Southern California | Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Energy Transition Talk have?
Energy Transition Talk currently has 44 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Energy Transition Talk about?
Welcome to the Energy Transition Talk, the podcast that explores the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to a low-carbon future. Join hosts Jim, Justine, and Paulina as they chat with professors, industry experts, researchers, and students to unpack some of the most pressing issues...
How often does Energy Transition Talk release new episodes?
Energy Transition Talk has 44 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Energy Transition Talk?
You can listen to Energy Transition Talk on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Energy Transition Talk?
Energy Transition Talk is created and hosted by University of Southern California | Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition.
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