Factor This

Factor This
  • 4.8 (40)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

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. 2H AGO

    This Week in Cleantech (03/13/2026) - Can this new coalition help bring down energy costs?

    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 Chuck McCutcheon from Axios, who wrote about a new coalition of companies, including tech giants like Google and Tesla, which is aiming to make better use of underutilized capacity on the U.S. power grid This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Samir Pendse, CEO at Coral. New York–based Coral provides instant rebates for energy and HVAC upgrades and recently raised $7.5 million in pre-seed and seed funding. The company is working to expand access to affordable financing for sustainable home upgrades at a time when energy bills are rising. Congratulations, Samir! This Week in Cleantech — March 13, 2026  Jefferies Makes the Case to Double Down on Clean Tech Investments — BloombergDemand for AI Data Centers Sends Prospectors Hunting for Land and Power – The New York TimesSolar group takes revenge on Chip Roy over tax credits — E&E NewsThe Electric: Its Sales Sliding, BYD Fights Back With a New Battery — The InformationExclusive: Google, Tesla unite to fight energy costs — AxiosWant 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

  2. 3D AGO

    From reactive to predictive: Reimagining wildfire mitigation efforts for utilities

    Tell us what you think of the show! The energy landscape has entered a volatile era of climate disruption. Regions once considered safe now face the devastating reality of escalating wildfires and extreme weather. In this episode, we sit down with Don McPhail, VP of Market Development at eSmart Systems, to discuss why traditional, asset-focused mitigation is no longer enough for utilities across the United States. We explore the critical shift to community-first resilience models, where protecting life-sustaining infrastructure takes priority over mere compliance. How exactly are digitization and AI-powered digital twins transforming grid safety? What does it mean to use high-resolution imagery to identify minute defects like upside-down cotter pins in a way that creates quantifiable value? Don provides a roadmap for utility leaders ready to trade siloed data practices for predictive insights that save time, money, and lives. 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

    36 min

  3. 6D AGO

    This Week in Cleantech (03/06/2026) - Is the MAGA movement warming up to solar?

    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 Evan Halper from the Washington Post, who wrote about some MAGA figures who are warming to solar despite Donald Trump’s longstanding criticism of it. This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is David Jankowsky, CEO of Francis Energy. Francis Energy provides ultra-fast charging stations for EVs, and focuses on expanding charging access to underserved and rural communities to ensure no community is left behind in the transition to electric vehicles. Congratulations, David! This Week in Cleantech — March 06, 2026  Don’t Look Now, but the Green Transition Is Still Happening — The New York TimesWhat Trump’s war on Iran means for the US energy crunch — The VergeWhat AES’ $33.4 billion take-private says about energy and AI — Latitude MediaEurope Is Learning An Uncomfortable Truth About Local Battery Production — InsideEVsWhy Katie Miller and other MAGA influencers suddenly love solar power — The Washington PostWant 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

  4. FEB 27

    This Week in Cleantech (02/27/2026) - Clean energy bans 'skyrocket'

    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 Elizabeth Weise from USA Today, who wrote about how clean energy bans are "skyrocketing" under the second Trump administration. This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Gonzalo Castro de la Mata, Executive Director at Earthna, who recently published an op-ed about how the climate conversation is now shifting from goals to implementation, focused on energy security, finance, and scalable solutions, especially as surpassing 1.5°C appears more likely. He pushes for us to move faster from climate agreements to execution. This Week in Cleantech — February 27, 2026  Data centers done right? Xcel and Form Energy team up to power Google operation in Minnesota — Factor ThisUS particle accelerators turn nuclear waste into electricity, cut radioactive life by 99.7% — Interesting EngineeringClean Energy Manufacturers Set to Muddle Through Fresh Tariff Turmoil — The Wall Street JournalData Center Outlook: Half of 2026 Pipeline May Not Materialize — Sightline ClimateClean energy bans skyrocket under Trump, USA TODAY analysis finds — USA TodayWant to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing Paul.Gerke@clarionevents.com

    24 min

  5. FEB 23

    How utilities are transitioning from short-term battery applications to long-term BESS planning

    Tell us what you think of the show! With global energy demand at an all-time high, battery storage is evolving from a flexible filler into a critical grid resource. Success in this new era depends less on the hardware itself and more on the digital intelligence used to run it. By leveraging a digital layer to optimize the economics of battery assets, utilities are now rethinking BESS as a high-value, GW-scale engine for reliability and market participation. To understand what this means on a practical level, we sat down with Brian Fellon, the Senior Vice President of Power Solutions at Xpansiv. He explains why battery energy storage systems are no longer an optional add-on but a critical backbone for grid operators. We also explore how utilities are moving from small-scale pilots to gigawatt-scale operations, the role of batteries in managing volatile demand from data centers, how real-time market participation demonstrates measurable value to regulators and ratepayers and much more.  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

    27 min

  6. FEB 23

    This Week in Cleantech (02/20/2026) - Putting retired EV batteries back to work

    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  Arcelia Martin from Inside Climate News, who wrote about how Texas is using hundreds of retired, repurposed EV batteries as grid-connected energy storage. This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is David Kirkpatrick, Managing Director at SJF Ventures. David recently published a piece titled, “Climate Tech is Not Endangered” on LinkedIn. The piece argues that even with the Trump Administration rolling back federal climate policy, market and global momentum toward electrification and decarbonization will continue. Congratulations, David! This Week in Cleantech — February 20, 2026  Why Living in China Is Like ‘Living in the Future’ — The New York TimesFord turns to F1 and bounties to build a $30,000 electric truck — TechCrunchData Centers and Your Power Bill — The New York TimesSupreme Court strikes down Trump’s sweeping tariffs, upending central plank of economic agenda — AP NewsRetired EV Batteries Scored a New Gig: Bolstering Texas’ Grid — Inside Climate News 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

    19 min

  7. FEB 13

    This Week in Cleantech (02/13/2026) - Trump removes legal basis under Clean Air Act

    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 Matthew Daly from The Associated Press, who wrote about how the EPA has rescinded the 2009 “endangerment finding,” the scientific and legal basis under the Clean Air Act that allowed the federal government to regulate greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change. This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Brian Hurley, executive director of Friends of Deckers Creek. He and his team are turning toxic, rust-orange acid coal mine drainage into clean water again with low-tech pond systems that bring back fish, salamanders, and frogs. And the cleanup is now helping recover rare earth minerals too, turning pollution into a resource that can fund even more restoration. Congratulations, Brian! This Week in Cleantech — February 13, 2026  Are faked public comments about to tank an Ohio solar farm? — Canary MediaTrump Administration Is Delaying Hundreds of Wind and Solar Projects — The New York TimesWind and solar beat fossil fuels in EU power mix in 2025, energy think tank says — ReutersGeothermal could replace almost half of the EU’s fossil fuel power — GristTrump's EPA revokes scientific finding that underpinned US fight against climate change — The Associated PressWant to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing Paul.Gerke@clarionevents.com

    15 min

  8. FEB 9

    Prioritizing affordability while modernizing the grid, with Exelon EVP and COO Mike Innocenzo

    Tell us what you think of the show! As energy demand reaches historic levels, the utility industry needs to build a 21st-century grid while also keeping monthly bills affordable for the average family. What does it mean to do so on a practical level? To find out, we connected with Exelon EVP and COO Mike Innocenzo. Drawing on a career that began as a field engineer, he explains why affordability has become the starting point for every conversation at Exelon. He shares how the company navigates the massive costs of data center integration and EV adoption while overseeing a $38 billion capital plan. We also explore the reality of hardening the grid, the regulatory innovations needed to streamline costs, how Exelon uses AI to protect their customer’s bottom line and much more. 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

    32 min
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Trailer

4.8
out of 5
40 Ratings

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
    220
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Factor This
  • Show Website
    Factor This

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