Volts

Volts

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Economics

Are utilities making too much money?
Joe Daniel on why trimming utility profits is good governance.
 • David Roberts
1:15:39
Making the electricity grid work like the internet
Jonas Birgersson joins me to explain how "packet-switching" for electrons can lead to energy abundance and grid resilience.
 • David Roberts
1:29:10
What's the real story with Australian rooftop solar?
Saul Griffith joins me to debunk the myths surrounding Australia's massive influx of solar energy.
 • David Roberts
1:27:31
Clean electrification is inevitable
Kingsmill Bond explains why the global march of "electrotech" has moved beyond the reach of US political interference.
 • David Roberts
1:22:33
Rep. Mike Levin reflects on the Republican budget bill
On why Republicans just voted against their own districts.
 • David Roberts
1:02:55
What the F is happening? Part 2
Trump's latest moves on IRA credits, coal, tariffs, and state climate policies.
 • David Roberts
54:51
What's up with clean-energy supply chains and global trade?
How trade barriers and tariff threats are creating investment uncertainty in global clean energy markets.
 • David Roberts
1:07:31
Can we avoid the enshittification of clean-energy tech?
Cory Doctorow describes how software platform technologies go wrong and what it might look like when our homes and vehicles are on those platforms.
 • David Roberts
1:37:15
Volts podcast: Elizabeth Popp Berman on the "economic style of thinking" that consumed US policy
Ever get the sense that everyone in center-left policy discussions is auditioning for the approval of some imagined economist? A sociologist traces the…
 • David Roberts
1:02:49
Do dividends make carbon taxes more popular? Apparently not.
A new study examines public opinion in the (very few) countries where a carbon "fee & dividend" has been implemented. Getting money back does not seem…
 • David Roberts
16:01
Volts podcast: the good news about clean energy, with Kingsmill Bond
Renewable energy, batteries, and electrolysis for clean hydrogen are all on powerful learning curves, getting cheaper at eye-popping rates & making…
 • David Roberts
1:03:20
A rant about economist pundits, and other things, but mostly economist pundits
An idle Friday essay about some of the way economists have botched climate change and what they might learn from it.
 • David Roberts
16:00
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