A Photosynthesis Friendship and the US Grid Evolution—Plus, Clean Energy Research and Science Fiction Collide!

In this week’s episode, our hosts Kerrin and Taylor discuss:  

• A 30-year friendship that brings together NREL and minority-serving institutions through DOE’s Visiting Faculty Program to focus on unraveling the mysteries of photosynthesis. NREL researcher Juanping Yu and Alabama State University professor Harvey Hou research collaboration has resulted in research papers, an Energy Earthshots award, and new friendships.  
• Upgrading the nation’s power grid is a huge undertaking, but one that must be done to ensure an affordable, sustainable, and reliable energy future. The recently released National Transmission Planning Study identifies solutions that can help planners and developers revamp the grid to support the next generation of transmission needs and provide broadscale benefits to electric customers.  

Plus, special correspondent Jason Youngstrom shares an update on an event that brings science fiction writers and NREL researchers together to hypothesize about the future of our energy needs.  

This episode was hosted by Kerrin Jeromin and Taylor Mankle, written and produced by Allison Montroy and Kaitlyn Stottler, and edited by James Wilcox, Joe DelNero, and Brittany Falch. Graphics are by Brittnee Gayet. Our title music is written and performed by Ted Vaca and episode music by Chuck Kurnik, Jim Riley, and Mark Sanseverino of Drift BC. Transforming Energy: The NREL Podcast is created by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. We express our gratitude and acknowledge that the land we are on is the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute peoples. Email us at podcast@nrel.gov. Follow NREL on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads, and Facebook.