Energy Explained

Justin Rao
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This podcast is a father/son team that explains and demystifies energy concepts behind current events involving the energy industry and with a focus on the transition to green energy. Father Vikram Rao is an energy industry veteran, retiring as the Chief Technology Officer of Halliburton and holding a Ph.D. in Engineering from Stanford. Son Justin Rao serves as the host and brings with in an expertise in economics, holding a Ph.D. from UC San Diego.

  1. 25/02/2023

    Episode 20: Could direct from air carbon capture ever be economical?

    Carbon mitigation technology is getting a lot of attention and relatively new area of carbon capture, Direct Air Capture (DAC), has the unique advantage of potentially reducing the CO2 produced in the past. But because air has only 0.04% CO2, the economics of recovery are challenging, and we discuss why it is likely to remain uneconomical at scale for at least a decade. These same technologies, however, applied at the point source from industrial sources are feasible at USD 40 per tonne CO2 and headed lower. At these costs, capture and storage cost is nearly half the price of carbon in Europe, indicating huge potential in the market.   You can listen to Energy Explained on your favorite podcasting platforms:  Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/energy-explained/id1567684721  Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0zZLgIVEK495J0J1Dcqygp  Google Podcasts - https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy81MDQ3ZDIwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==   Radio Public - https://radiopublic.com/energy-explained-G2QXnn   Breaker - https://www.breaker.audio/energy-explained

    26 min
  2. Episode 19: How strategic energy treaties will help us go green

    13/09/2022

    Episode 19: How strategic energy treaties will help us go green

    In this video we discuss Russia's use of energy as a weapon of political will driving us to reexamine our concepts of energy security. While interdependency is a valid model, Russian aggression has underlined the need to select trusted partners. Each region such as Europe, North America and South Asia, ought to formulate energy treaties designed to capitalize on the strengths of individual countries to assure affordable energy for the region, while still providing a path to decarbonization. Shorter term solutions for Europe include more solar and wind, floating LNG regas terminals and a central role for France in nuclear power, including enablement of small modular reactors in all Europe.  You can also listen to Energy Explained on your favorite podcasting platforms:  Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/energy-explained/id1567684721  Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0zZLgIVEK495J0J1Dcqygp  Google Podcasts - https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy81MDQ3ZDIwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==  Radio Public - https://radiopublic.com/energy-explained-G2QXnn  Breaker - https://www.breaker.audio/energy-explained

    25 min

  3. 28/03/2022

    Episode 18: Can we realistically move off Russian oil and gas?

    Due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, economic sanctions have been put in place to cut Russia off from the Western financial systems, but these sanctions have been designed to allow the flow of oil and gas to continue. This winter, European nations have paid $200-300 million euros per day for natural gas. In this video we explain why Europe has continued to pay for Russian natural gas and oil, and why this is highly likely to continue for the next 2-3 years in the case of gas, with oils path to full embargo depending heavily on the actions of OPEC and US shale oil ramp up, which we discuss in detail. Enjoy!

    29 min
  4. Episode 17: Do we really need natural gas and nuclear to get to 100% renewable energy?

    18/02/2022

    Episode 17: Do we really need natural gas and nuclear to get to 100% renewable energy?

    In the past few weeks, the European Union labeled nuclear and natural gas as "sustainable investments." The New York Times commented "The effort to steer public and private money toward nuclear power stations and gas-fired generators in the European Union was criticized as greenwashing." In this episode, my father explains why he supports the European Union's decision, even though any dependence on a fossil fuel is not ideal and details the science behind his reason.    Solar and wind are the lowest cost sources of energy in the world and form the new pricing standards for base load generation, but given their high variance, they need augmentation from capacity that can flexibly meet electricity demand. The daily variation in wind and sunlight can be dealt with using batteries, but for longer periods of low sunlight or low wind are not economically or environmentally viable. Longer term supplements must be load following, low-to-no carbon, and scalable. At reasonable scale in 10 years plus those could be small nuclear reactors and geothermal. Until then we need natural gas with carbon capture and storage.   You can listen to Energy Explained on your favorite podcasting platforms:   Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/energy-explained/id1567684721   Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0zZLgIVEK495J0J1Dcqygp   Google Podcasts - https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy81MDQ3ZDIwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==   Radio Public - https://radiopublic.com/energy-explained-G2QXnn   Breaker - https://www.breaker.audio/energy-explained   Utopia By DeadDNA is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

    27 min
  5. Episode 16: Geothermal energy: the only 24/7 renewable and why it's poised for massive growth

    01/12/2021

    Episode 16: Geothermal energy: the only 24/7 renewable and why it's poised for massive growth

    Geothermal energy is the only renewable without intermittencies and which is tunable to any load.  It is a perfect complement to solar and wind.  Countries such as Germany, which are heavy in those sectors, would do well to double down on geothermal, much as they did for solar and changed the economics of that sector forever.  Lightning could strike again*. Geothermal is also an ideal portfolio item for oil and gas companies because the competencies required are exactly the same as for oil and gas.  *"Lightning is striking again" from Lightnin' Strikes (1966) by Lou Christie   You can also listen to Energy Explained on your favorite podcasting platforms:   Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/energy-explained/id1567684721   Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0zZLgIVEK495J0J1Dcqygp   Google Podcasts - https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy81MDQ3ZDIwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==   Radio Public - https://radiopublic.com/energy-explained-G2QXnn   Breaker - https://www.breaker.audio/energy-explained   Utopia By DeadDNA is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

    23 min
  6. Episode 15: The natural gas pricing crisis: no easy solutions and a rough winter ahead

    09/10/2021

    Episode 15: The natural gas pricing crisis: no easy solutions and a rough winter ahead

    Natural gas prices have spiked in Europe and other net importers.  Late September prices in the Netherlands were nearly 3 times greater than in June of this year, and nearly 6 times greater than a year ago.  We discuss the fundamentals that created this crisis and the relationship to renewable energy production.  A predicted colder than normal winter could cause extreme privation.  The only easy (partial) solution, more gas from Russia, is fraught by politics. Renewable energy at scale needs storage solutions or alternate sources such as geothermal energy.  You can also listen to Energy Explained on your favorite podcasting platforms:   Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/energy-explained/id1567684721   Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0zZLgIVEK495J0J1Dcqygp   Google Podcasts - https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy81MDQ3ZDIwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==   Radio Public - https://radiopublic.com/energy-explained-G2QXnn   Breaker - https://www.breaker.audio/energy-explained   Utopia By DeadDNA is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

    26 min

  7. 06/08/2021

    Episode 14: Why wildfires have doubled in the past 30 years, the unseen health risks they present and what can be done about it

    In this episode Vikram explains why wildfires have doubled in prevalence in the past 30 years, how they are starting in new ways (e.g. dry lightning) and what can be done to mitigate them. He further explains that the unseen health risks from nanoparticles are particularly concerning and likely something we'll be hearing more about in terms of serious health risks in the coming years.

    18 min

  8. 21/06/2021

    Episode 13: Has green investing reached a tipping point?

    A recent New York Times article  Exxon’s Board Defeat Signals the Rise of Social-Good Activists asserts “The energy giant’s stunning loss was the work of a tiny hedge fund that believes investing for social good is also good for the bottom line.” In this episode we dig into this claim – is there really a tipping point in “green investing”? Vikram’s perspective is that we are indeed at a tipping point, but not due a change in the ethics of investing or a social movement, rather recent breakthroughs in carbon capture and fixation/storage technology make it economical to produce energy through traditional means, e.g. natural gas, and substantially reduce emissions at the source of production. He discusses how he expects start-up firms, such as Carbon Clean, that are developing novel carbon capture technology to work with supermajors to scale and deploy these recent breakthroughs. He expects it to make a material difference in CO2 output in just 2 years. Tune in to hear more!

    23 min
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Información

This podcast is a father/son team that explains and demystifies energy concepts behind current events involving the energy industry and with a focus on the transition to green energy. Father Vikram Rao is an energy industry veteran, retiring as the Chief Technology Officer of Halliburton and holding a Ph.D. in Engineering from Stanford. Son Justin Rao serves as the host and brings with in an expertise in economics, holding a Ph.D. from UC San Diego.

Ficha técnica

  • Creado por
    Justin Rao
  • Años en activo
    2021 - 2023
  • Episodios
    20
  • Clasificación
    Apto
  • Derechos de autor
    © Justin Rao
  • Sitio web del podcast
    Energy Explained