The Freeing Energy Podcast

Bill Nussey - Author, TED Speaker, and Climate Investor
  • 4.9 (28)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY
The Freeing Energy Podcast

Hear from energy pioneers and visionaries from across the globe who are accelerating the shift to clean energy by making their own electric power for their homes, offices, and communities. Join TED speaker, author, and climate investor, Bill Nussey and co-host Sam Easterby as they talk to the people who are disrupting the century-old grid monopoly and making clean, local energy a reality. Visit FreeingEnergy.com for more.

  1. 02/07/2023

    Tom Jensen/FREYR Battery: From Giga Arctic to Giga Americas - the most capital and operationally efficient battery plant in Europe is headed for the US State of Georgia.

    Listen in as Host Bill Nussey talks with Tom Jensen, CEO and Cofounder of the publicly traded, Luxembourg and Norway based FREYR Battery. FREYR is emerging as a leader in clean, high density battery cell manufacturing. Jensen shares insights into the driving forces that have shaped FREYR to date, the importance of upstream and downstream partnerships, and why the company is committing some $2.6 Billion to the facility envisioned for Coweta County in Georgia. And, since FREYR’s Giga Arctic will be powered by 100% renewable energy, you will want to know what the plans are for powering Giga Americas in Georgia.    Useful Links: FREYR Battery FREYR Battery Announces Plans for U.S. Gigafactory in Georgia | Business Wire Qcells to More than Double Production in Georgia, Create 2,500 New Jobs Every Politician Wants Green Jobs in This Bitter US Battleground

    45 min

  2. 12/09/2022

    John Berger and Michael Grasso: Sunnova wants to build a ground breaking local energy powered neighborhood and that is rattling cages. Will regulators let them?

    One of the world’s largest installers of solar + storage energy systems has a groundbreaking and industry changing proposal to build a neighborhood that  runs  on local energy. Their proposal is currently in front of the California Public Utility Commission, but naysayers are trying to squelch the conversation.  Join host Bill Nussey as he talks with Sunnova’s CEO, John Berger and CMO, Michael Grasso. They share the background on what the clean tech leader is proposing and why;  how it will benefit consumers; and what critics are saying and doing to sideline the effort. Useful Links: www.sunnova.com Utility Dive Article: Major utilities oppose Sunnova’s ‘micro-utility’ microgrid proposal at California PUC | Utility Dive  California Burning by Katherine Blunt: 9780593330654 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

    53 min

  3. 10/30/2022

    Donnel Baird/BlocPower: His boyhood Brooklyn apartment was heated with an oven. Now he is pursuing a bold, gutsy vision of how entire cities can retrofit buildings and save on energy costs.

    In this episode we learn that one man didn't know exactly what to do at first, but he knew the “where,” the “when,” and the “why,” of the problem he saw.  And, that was enough to begin shaping an incredibly bold vision for building a potential unicorn in the clean tech space while simultaneously helping millions of low income Americans.    Join us as host Bill Nussey talks with the CEO and founder of Brooklyn based BlocPower, Donnel Baird. Listen in as this visionary leader gives us a peek into a journey of why he started BlocPower, what drove his evolving vision, and how he is scaling his business to retrofit old, fossil-fuel powered heating with smart new heat pumps and solar panels. Learn about how digital twins, structured finance, and an inspired leadership team is changing the cost of energy for lower income urban communities all across America. Useful Links: BlocPower  BlocPower See if your building is eligible: BlocPower US Department of Energy  retrofit-existing-buildings

    48 min

  4. 10/11/2022

    Jacqueline Novogratz: Two decades of hard-edged hope coupled with off- grid solar changed the lives of hundreds of millions. What’s next?

    For over two decades, Acumen and its partners have dared to go where traditional investors feared to tread. Acumen’s pioneering vision and legendary hard work has brought life changing, off-grid electricity to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. And, along the way, their work has inspired and supported intrepid entrepreneurs and innovators in some of the toughest market environments on earth.  Now, this clear-eyed, gritty bunch, filled with hard edged hope and armed with proven models and even more patient capital have set their sights on new goals.  Listen in as Acumen founder and CEO, Jacqueline Novogratz, shares a glimpse into the fundamentals and underlying principles behind Acumen’s ground-breaking approach to patient capital and where they are headed next and why.  Useful Links: Acumen Fund book - manifesto for a moral revolution - jacqueline novogratz https://acumencapitalpartners.com S&P Blog Road map: The energy sector braces for 2022 midterm elections | S&P Global Market Intelligence Solar Energy Industry Association links: State-By-State Map | SEIA Initiatives & Advocacy | SEIA

    41 min

  5. 09/27/2022

    Michelle Moore/Groundswell: Will America’s smaller, rural communities have to wait for the far reaching benefits of clean power?

    In her inspiring new book, Rural Renaissance, social entrepreneur, author and clean energy non-profit CEO Michelle Moore offers a vision of thriving rural communities where clean power is the spark that leads to greater investment, vitality, and equity. Additionally, Moore argues that we have everything we need in hand today to make this vision a reality.   In this wide ranging discussion with Freeing Energy, Moore breaks down the key elements that will shape a rural renaissance.  Learn how the work being done by Groundswell, the non-profit she leads, is helping to develop community power by connecting solar and energy efficiency with economic development, affordability, and quality of life. Plus, Moore shares the practical, value-driven steps each of us can take to help accelerate this transition. Useful Links: Groundswell: https://groundswell.org/ Groundswell Program Areas: https://groundswell.org/programs/ Michelle Moore’s Book: https://islandpress.org/books/rural-renaissance Use Promo Code “Rural” for 20% off.  US Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design):  https://www.usgbc.org/leed From Interstitial: Generation180 September 2022 Study on Solar in K-12 Schools in the US.  https://generation180.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/BrighterFuture2022.pdf  Generation180 https://generation180.org/ New York Times Article: Facing Budget Shortfalls, These Schools Are Turning to the Sun For Full Podcast Transcript Visit Here: https://www.freeingenergy.com/podcast-095-michelle-moore/

    42 min

  6. 09/13/2022

    Astrid Atkinson/Camus Energy: What do Capybaras and Google’s famous reliability have to do with managing a dynamic, zero carbon electric grid?

    Scalability, high availability, rapid detection and mitigation of failure…just some of the requirements of a highly performant infrastructure managing a massive distributed environment…like Google’s cloud services. Could the same principles and patterns apply to the requirements of managing a rapidly changing electric grid? And, what might that mean for different types of electric utilities in a future defined by decentralized resources like solar, batteries, demand response, and EV charging?  Listen in as Camus Energy CEO and Co-founder, Astrid Atkinson, discusses these topics and shares how she and the Camus team are translating a decade of lessons from the best of Google’s and Silicon Valley’s advanced technology architectures to make the grid more reliable, more equitable, and more affordable.

    45 min

  7. 08/30/2022

    Catherine Von Burg: Can climate tech founders achieve success without compromising on their mission?

    When our guest and her partners launched their business a dozen years ago, she had a vision, a technology, and the determination to stick to the mission. If you have a startup in the clean tech space or just interested in really cool technology, listen in as Catherine Von Burg, CEO and Co-founder of SimpliPhi Power, shares the amazing story of how sticking to the mission resulted in a groundbreaking energy storage solution with SimpliPhi Power’s safe, non-toxic battery systems that are being used globally in 40 countries today.

    51 min

  8. 08/16/2022

    Patrick Walsh & Anish Thakkar: How is this solar+battery startup improving tens of millions of lives while simultaneously creating one of the hottest companies in climate tech?

    Our guests today run a global cleantech powerhouse that recently closed $260 million in a series D funding round. They've served 90 million customers so far and they're adding two million households a year at their current connection rates. If that isn't inspiring enough, what makes these two scrappy entrepreneurs even more inspiring is the fact that they have looked beyond the wealthy markets of the US and Europe and built their company in emerging markets like Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, and other countries in Africa. In just over a decade, these founders have built a team of 2,000 employees, created a field distribution team of 15,000 people, and helped pioneer a novel financing mechanism that allows some of the lowest income people on earth to benefit from safe, affordable lighting and other benefits of electricity. Join in as host Bill Nussey talks with Patrick Walsh and Anish Thakkar, co-founders  of Sun King, the global solar PV giant that is improving the lives of millions.

    49 min
See All (99)

4.9
out of 5
28 Ratings

About

Hear from energy pioneers and visionaries from across the globe who are accelerating the shift to clean energy by making their own electric power for their homes, offices, and communities. Join TED speaker, author, and climate investor, Bill Nussey and co-host Sam Easterby as they talk to the people who are disrupting the century-old grid monopoly and making clean, local energy a reality. Visit FreeingEnergy.com for more.

Information

  • Creator
    Bill Nussey - Author, TED Speaker, and Climate Investor
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2023
  • Episodes
    99
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2022 Bill Nussey All Rights Reserved
  • Show Website
    The Freeing Energy Podcast

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada