Factor This

Factor This

Launched in 2022, the Factor This Podcast has featured many of the most influential leaders driving the energy transition. From solar and battery storage executives to utility CEOs, the Factor This Podcast brings unique insights and answers to the energy industry’s most pressing challenges. Go beyond high-level trends and mainstream talking points with actionable takeaways.    The Factor This Podcast grew in 2023 with the addition of This Week in Cleantech, a weekly roundup of the biggest stories in climate and clean energy in 15 minutes or less. With new episodes every Friday, Factor This content director Paul Gerke and Mike Casey, a cleantech commentator and president of Tigercomm, bring listeners the most important headlines of the week while featuring the leading journalists behind the stories. The all-new FactorThis.com is your best source for news, commentary, and analysis of renewable energy and the power grid. 

  1. 2 DAYS AGO

    PG&E defines a new utility model for data centers, onsite gas, and community connection

    Tell us what you think of the show! The scale of energy demand in Northern California has reached a historic inflection point. With a 10 GW pipeline of data center demand—enough load to power more than 7.5 million homes—utility planners at Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) are navigating a high-stakes race against time, infrastructure limits, and the laws of physics. To better understand how PG&E is turning these challenges into opportunities, we connected with two people who are doing exactly that for the company every single day. Austin Hastings is Vice President, Gas Engineering at PG&E while Mike Medeiros is Vice President, Strategic Commercial Solutions at PG&E. Want to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing Paul.Gerke@clarionevents.com

    40 min

  2. 5 DAYS AGO

    This Week in Cleantech (01/23/2026) - What's a life worth to the EPA?

    Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey. This week's episode features special guest Maxine Joselow from the New York Times, who wrote about the EPA's decision to stop assigning a dollar value to lives saved in cost-benefit analyses for major air pollution rules. This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is funeral director Eric Chamberlain, who helped bring wind power to Rock Port, Missouri, making it one of the first US towns to generate more wind electricity than it used. Nearly two decades later, the wind project is still delivering lasting local benefits through jobs, landowner payments and major county tax revenue. Congratulations, Eric! This Week in Cleantech — January 23, 2026  Supreme Court will not hear Duke Energy’s appeal in anti-monopoly case — The Carolina JournalSoaring Electricity Costs Are Now a Hot Political Issue — The Wall Street JournalTrump Is Obsessed With Oil, but Chinese Batteries Will Soon Run the World — The New York TimesSolar Projects Face Turmoil Under Trump, but Big Business Is Still Banking on Them — The Wall Street JournalWhat’s a Human Life Worth? The E.P.A. Says Zero Dollars. — The New York Times Want to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing Paul.Gerke@clarionevents.com

    21 min

  3. 16 JAN

    This Week in Cleantech (01/16/2026) - Can American batteries keep up the pace?

    Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey. This week's episode features special guest Nico Rivero from the Washington Post, who wrote about how the rapid growth of grid-scale batteries in the U.S. is likely to pause in 2026. This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Darian Nagle-Gamm, Iowa City’s transportation director, who is also the program owner for the city’s fare-free bus system. Ridership eventually grew to 118% of prepandemic levels. Carbon pollution dropped by about 778 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, roughly the equivalent of taking 167 vehicles off the roads. Congratulations, Darian! This Week in Cleantech — January 16, 2026  Scoop: Local Pushback, Canceled Data Centers Surged in 2025 — Heatmap NewsUS judge lets Denmark's Orsted resume Rhode Island offshore wind project that Trump halted — ReutersNew York Tells Data Centers They Must Pay More for Power — BloombergBig Tech is poaching energy talent to fuel its AI ambitions — CNBCThe American battery boom is on shaky ground — The Washington Post Want to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing Paul.Gerke@clarionevents.com

    18 min

  4. 12 JAN

    Meghan Dewey helps define a human-centric utility at Duke Energy

    Tell us what you think of the show! As the Senior Vice President of Products & Services and Pricing Solutions at Duke Energy, Meghan Dewey oversees a portfolio that generates over $1.5 billion in annual revenue. But for her, the true metric of success isn't about spreadsheets or numbers but is instead about empowering the people on both sides of a utility bill. Meghan sits at the intersection of massive corporate scale and human-centric innovation. From the Emerging Technology Office and customer prototype labs to large-scale transportation electrification, her team is essentially designing a blueprint for how utilities can operate in the short and long term. She’s the engine behind how Duke Energy scales high-value solutions while also prioritizing customer experience in a way that resonates. Want to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing Paul.Gerke@clarionevents.com

    40 min

  5. 9 JAN

    This Week in Cleantech (01/09/2026) - Time for a nuclear renaissance?

    Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey. This week's episode features special guest Ivan Penn from The New York Times, who wrote about surging optimism for nuclear power in the U.S. This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Mariangela Hungria, a Brazilian agronomist and microbiologist who won the 2025 World Food Prize for her work on microbes that feed plants nitrogen, allowing farmers to cut fertilizer costs and pollution.  This Week in Cleantech — January 9, 2026  Trump administration halts offshore wind projects from Virginia to New England, in major blow to clean power — POLITICOThe 4 Things Standing Between the U.S. and Venezuela’s Oil — Heatmap NewsThe Positive Climate News You May Have Missed This Year — BloombergChina’s BYD overtakes Tesla as world’s top EV seller for first time — CNBCOptimism About Nuclear Energy Is Rising Again. Will It Last? — New York Times Want to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing Paul.Gerke@clarionevents.com

    23 min

  6. 19/12/2025

    This Week in Cleantech (12/19/2025) - Cleantech 2025: a year in review

    Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey. This week's episode features special guest Dana Clare Redden from our “Cleantecher of the Year” committee, who announced our “Cleantechers of the Year.” This Week in Cleantech — December 19, 2025  Electricity Is Now Holding Back Growth Across the Global Economy — BloombergFord pulls the plug on the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck – NPRThere’s a New Color for Hydrogen: Orange – Heatmap NewsTrump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado – USA TodayHow the planet fared in 2025 — the good, the bad, and the ugly — GristWant to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing Paul.Gerke@clarionevents.com

    26 min

  7. 15/12/2025

    How are DER flexibility markets transforming the grid and enabling utility savings?

    Tell us what you think of the show! Transforming the grid to meet skyrocketing energy demand isn't just about switching generation sources but is instead about fundamentally redesigning the entire energy market. It's going to require unlocking the true potential of every Distributed Energy Resources (DER) that we have, and integrating them seamlessly into a complex, resilient system.  That’s easy to say but exceptionally complicated to do logistically and in a way that makes sense for a given market, which is why we wanted to talk with someone who isn’t just supporting this transformation, but is also actively working with utilities to better understand what’s happening at the grid edge to make informed decisions. Jo-Jo Hubbard is the Co-founder and CEO of Electron, which helps network utilities and grid operators adopt and scale flexibility markets to manage grid congestion, improve connection rates, and lower bills. Among other things, we discuss: Why utilities need to shift from a static view of the distribution grid to a real-time, dynamic modelHow smart coordination of DERs creates a resilient and efficient gridWhat it means to make DER orchestration simpler and more compelling to utilitiesHow tiny efficiencies can lead to billions in savings at scale.The single biggest lesson learned that utilities need to have top of mind when designing their own DER aggregation and dispatch programsWant to make a suggestion for an upcoming episode? Get in touch to let us know what people, projects and technology you’d like to see us to further explore.  Want to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing Paul.Gerke@clarionevents.com

    30 min

  8. 12/12/2025

    This Week in Cleantech (12/12/2025) - Can these senators save NEPA?

    Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey. This week's episode features special guest Jael Holzman from Heatmap News, who wrote about several senators who came out against the SPEED Act, a bill that would change the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Ryan Johnson, the CEO of Culdesac Tempe, a rental development outside of Phoenix. He modeled a blueprint for living in a walkable place, so residents don’t need to use cars. Johnson said quote, “It’s one of the best things we can do for climate, health, happiness, low cost of living, and even low cost of government.” Congratulations, to Ryan! This Week in Cleantech — December 12, 2025  Federal judge throws out Trump order blocking development of wind energy – AP NewsHow a Nuclear-Fossil Fuel Alliance Is Winning the Fight for Energy Dominance — BloombergDriving Xiaomi's Electric Car: Are we Cooked? — Marques BrownleeWill the Self-Driving Cars of the Future Lower Emissions? — The New York TimesExclusive: Key Senate Democrats Oppose Permitting Bill — Heatmap NewsWant to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing Paul.Gerke@clarionevents.com

    20 min
See All (210)

Trailer

About

Launched in 2022, the Factor This Podcast has featured many of the most influential leaders driving the energy transition. From solar and battery storage executives to utility CEOs, the Factor This Podcast brings unique insights and answers to the energy industry’s most pressing challenges. Go beyond high-level trends and mainstream talking points with actionable takeaways.    The Factor This Podcast grew in 2023 with the addition of This Week in Cleantech, a weekly roundup of the biggest stories in climate and clean energy in 15 minutes or less. With new episodes every Friday, Factor This content director Paul Gerke and Mike Casey, a cleantech commentator and president of Tigercomm, bring listeners the most important headlines of the week while featuring the leading journalists behind the stories. The all-new FactorThis.com is your best source for news, commentary, and analysis of renewable energy and the power grid. 

Information

  • Creator
    Factor This
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    210
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Factor This
  • Show Website
    Factor This

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