Energy Empire

Energy Empire
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Welcome to the Age of Energy Abundance A once-in-a-generation shift is underway in how the world is powered. Across the United States, clean energy now makes up more than 90% of new electricity added to the grid — not because of politics or ideology, but because these technologies simply work better. They’re cheaper to build, faster to deploy, and easier to scale than anything that came before. The technology is ready. Now the race is on to build it…everywhere. Energy Empire is a podcast about the people and ideas driving this transformation. We explore how abundant, affordable energy is reshaping the global economy, creating new industries, and unlocking what may be the greatest wealth-creation opportunity of our generation. Hosted by Jigar Shah — TIME100 honoree, serial entrepreneur, investor, and former U.S. Department of Energy leader — the show pulls back the curtain on the decisions, innovations, and power struggles shaping the future of energy. Whether you’re curious about where the economy is headed, how energy affects your daily life, or who’s really building the future behind the scenes, Energy Empire is your guide to what comes next.

  1. 3d ago

    Turning America’s Waste Heat Into 15 Gigawatts of Power

    Factories and gas pipelines vent heat into the air every day. Captured, that heat can produce clean electricity around the clock. Today, the US gets less than 1 gigawatt of power from waste heat, but Department of Energy estimates put the potential at up to 15 gigawatts, enough to power more than 10 million homes. Other countries already put far more of their waste heat to work. On this episode, Jigar is joined by Janice Tran and Marisa Sweeney. Janice is CEO and co-founder of Kanin Energy, a developer of waste heat to power and other industrial efficiency projects. Marisa is a principal on the Structured Finance team at S2G Investments, which led Kanin’s latest funding round. Both worked with Jigar at Generate Capital. In this episode: How waste heat helped a university ride out a summer of sky-high power prices Why Europe has used its waste heat for decades while the US mostly vented it What kept American waste heat untapped long after the technology was proven Why banks would rather finance the 12th waste heat plant than the first The high school job at Walmart that came full circle for Janice “We have a goal to be the largest waste heat to power developer in the entire world.” Links: Our website: https://www.energyempire.fm “Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?” by Amory Lovins (Foreign Affairs, 1976): https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1976-10-01/energy-strategy-road-not-taken S2G Investments Structured Finance: https://www.s2ginvestments.com/strategy/structured-finance S2G Investments report: https://www.s2ginvestments.com/insights/report-illusion-of-crowds Octopus Energy: https://octopusenergy.com/faas Our merch store: https://energy-empire.bonfire.com/collection/all-products

    Turning America’s Waste Heat Into 15 Gigawatts of Power

  2. 6d ago

    Who Benefits From $6 Diesel? Sen. Tina Smith Says Follow the Money | Energy on the Ballot

    Gas is up more than a dollar a gallon since the Iran war began, and diesel set an all-time record in September. Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) says the president’s donors are profiting while everyone else pays more. Smith explains what voters should listen for when a candidate promises to bring energy costs down, and why she voted against a data center bill Republicans are now campaigning on. Part of Energy on the Ballot, our series on energy and the 2026 midterms. In this episode: The heating aid program the White House wants to eliminate, and the St. Paul man it kept in his home “Don’t do data centers the dumb way,” and why nondisclosure agreements make neighbors so angry Why a senator from a mining state fought a Chilean-owned copper-nickel mine near the Boundary Waters What former Fed Chair Jerome Powell predicted about getting a mortgage in 10 or 15 years The campaign word Smith calls “a weird focus group word” Why Smith wants Democrats to show more “boldness” if they win back power Links: Our website: https://www.energyempire.fm Sen. Smith’s request for a cost estimate of the 2025 tax law’s data center breaks: https://www.smith.senate.gov/u-s-senator-tina-smith-requests-cost-estimate-of-big-beautiful-bills-data-center-tax-incentives/ Sen. Smith’s report on the home insurance crisis: https://www.smith.senate.gov/u-s-senator-tina-smith-releases-new-report-on-solutions-to-the-home-insurance-crisis/ The Klobuchar-Smith letter on heating aid: https://www.smith.senate.gov/u-s-senators-amy-klobuchar-tina-smith-push-the-trump-administration-to-release-heating-assistance-funds-before-winter/ Gov. Spanberger on Making Data Centers Pay Their Fair Share: https://www.energyempire.fm/episodes/gov-spanberger-on-making-data-centers-pay-their-fair-share-energy-on-the-ballot

    Who Benefits From $6 Diesel? Sen. Tina Smith Says Follow the Money | Energy on the Ballot

  3. Oct 22

    Is Venture Capital the Wrong Tool for Clean Energy?

    In the first half of this year, 86% of U.S. venture money went to AI. Climate venture funds have raised less than $1 billion, down from more than $10 billion in 2021. This week’s guest, Andrew Beebe, is more optimistic than those numbers suggest. The generalist funds that piled into climate a few years ago drove up the price of startups, and now they’ve left. The investors and founders still here understand the market, and he thinks that makes this one of the best times yet to invest. Andrew is a managing director at Obvious Ventures, which Twitter co-founder Ev Williams helped start in 2014. The firm has raised more than $1.3 billion across five main funds. Before joining, Andrew spent more than a decade in solar: his team built the array at Google’s headquarters, and he went on to become chief commercial officer at Suntech, then the world’s largest solar manufacturer. In this episode: Andrew’s don’t-go-there list: battery chemistry, fusion, hydrogen, and sustainable aviation fuel Container ships that could cross the Pacific on battery alone, and how Maersk changed its mind Why a $200 million business is too small for a venture fund like Obvious What Andrew would have told Sheldon Kimber about Google’s offer for Intersect Solar robots that take a four-person crew from 200 panels a day to 900 The board that told Andrew he was doing great when he asked to be replaced as CEO Links Our website: https://www.energyempire.fmSubmit a question to Ask Jigar: https://octopusenergy.com/ask-jigarS2G Investments: https://www.s2ginvestments.com/insights/report-illusion-of-crowdsOctopus Energy: https://octopusenergy.com/faasOur merch store: https://energy-empire.bonfire.com/collection/all-products

    Is Venture Capital the Wrong Tool for Clean Energy?

  4. Oct 19

    A Third of Australian Homes Have Solar. Why Is the U.S. So Far Behind? | Energy on the Ballot

    About one in three homes and businesses in Australia have solar on the roof. The state governments there made it simple, with incentives, certified installers, and quick approvals. In the U.S., permits and inspections can add weeks or months before a system is switched on. This episode’s guest, Audrey Zibelman, has held top energy jobs in both countries. She chaired New York’s Public Service Commission, then ran Australia’s power grid as CEO of the Australian Energy Market Operator. Now she’s back in New York as its energy czar, chairing the board of NYSERDA, the state energy authority. The job comes with some of the highest home electricity prices in the country and a freeze on the biggest new data centers. In this episode: The conservative prime minister who backed Australia’s grid plan with three words: “Electrons don’t vote” How Australia got homeowners to trust a government website to find a solar installer The adoption rate at which Australia’s government could stop pushing solar What Texas figured out about grid connections while other states keep running pilots Why utilities build the grid around its 25 worst hours a year The case for data centers small enough to fit on the grid Links: Our website: https://www.energyempire.fm Pew’s distributed energy playbook: https://www.pew.org/-/media/assets/2026/04/distributed-energy-can-unleash-the-resilient-affordable-grid-of-the-future.pdf New York’s data center Community Investment Framework: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-strongest-community-investment-framework-nation-protect-communities Gov. Spanberger on Making Data Centers Pay Their Fair Share: https://www.energyempire.fm/episodes/gov-spanberger-on-making-data-centers-pay-their-fair-share-energy-on-the-ballot Balcony Solar Costs $285. Why Is It Still So Hard to Get?: https://www.energyempire.fm/episodes/balcony-solar-costs-285-why-is-it-still-so-hard-to-get

    A Third of Australian Homes Have Solar. Why Is the U.S. So Far Behind? | Energy on the Ballot

  5. Oct 18 ·  Bonus

    The Utility CEO Who Wants to Cut Your Bill | Recorded Live at Future Currence

    Demand on ComEd’s grid barely moved from 2009 to 2022. Now the utility expects about 10 gigawatts of data centers to connect by around 2030, against an all-time peak of 23 gigawatts. ComEd’s CEO, Gil Quiniones, wants to connect those data centers without raising everyone else’s bills. Rooftop solar and batteries, which many utilities have fought, are part of his plan. Gil spent 16 years at Con Edison and more than a decade running the New York Power Authority. While he ran the Power Authority, he and Jigar worked on the state’s push to build the grid around energy that customers make and store at home. In Chicago, he’s starting with the families who can least afford their bills. A pilot this winter will put solar and batteries in about 50 of their homes with no money down. Gil thinks the setup could take about $70 off a monthly bill that typically runs $100 to $120. Recorded live at Future Currence during Climate Week NYC. In this episode: How deposits and letters of credit shrank ComEd’s list of serious data center requests from about 18 gigawatts to 10 Why Jigar says a data center’s voluntary promise to power down in an emergency isn’t good enough What ComEd has to prove to regulators before it can build a new substation The 100 hours a year the grid is built for, and what using the rest of the year could do for bills Whether other utilities need a new state law to do what ComEd is doing Links: Future Currence: https://future.currence.ai ComEd: https://www.comed.com The Untapped Grid (Brattle Group): https://www.brattle.com/the-untapped-grid/ Illinois Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act: https://gov-pritzker-newsroom.prezly.com/gov-pritzker-signs-historic-clean-and-reliable-grid-affordability-act More from Energy Empire: The Cheapest Grid Is the One We Already Paid For: https://www.energyempire.fm/episodes/the-cheapest-grid-is-the-one-we-already-paid-for Inside California’s Plan to Fix the Utility Business Model with Senator Josh Becker: https://www.energyempire.fm/episodes/inside-california-s-plan-to-fix-the-utility-business-model-with-senator-josh-becker NVIDIA on Whether AI Can Fix Its Own Power Problem: https://www.energyempire.fm/episodes/nvidia-on-whether-ai-can-fix-its-own-power-problem-recorded-live-at-climate-week-nyc Our merch store: https://energy-empire.bonfire.com/collection/all-products

    The Utility CEO Who Wants to Cut Your Bill | Recorded Live at Future Currence

  6. Oct 15

    Semafor’s Tim McDonnell on Covering Russia’s Energy War From Kyiv

    Ukraine has learned how to keep a power grid running while someone is trying to destroy it. Every country that imports oil now needs the same lessons. Last winter Russia blew up power plants and substations, and Kyiv lost power every day. The fixes were concrete bunkers that let a substation take a direct hit, home batteries, a nuclear fleet kept running, and new wind and solar built in the middle of a war. The Iran war has since shown every oil importer the same vulnerability. Countries won’t go back to sleep after this, and the map of who buys energy from whom is being redrawn. Tim McDonnell is Semafor’s climate and energy editor and writes Semafor Energy, its twice-weekly newsletter. He lives in Kyiv, where the sirens go off all the time and some nights are spent in the metro. Getting out to report starts with an overnight train to Poland, because Ukraine still has no working airport. The interview was recorded at Climate Week NYC on September 21. The intro and outro were recorded before the energy ceasefire Trump announced on October 11. In this episode: The sirens, the metro at night, and why the air war over Kyiv is back to early-2022 levels How a substation wrapped in concrete takes a cruise missile and keeps working Why the free flow of oil through Hormuz that existed before February is probably gone for good The case that oil importers won’t “go back to sleep” once the Iran war ends Egypt’s six-month sprint into wind and solar after Iran sent gas prices up The “tourists” arriving in cleantech funding rounds, and whether that’s a bubble Submit a question to Ask Jigar: https://octopusenergy.com/ask-jigar S2G Investments: https://www.s2ginvestments.com/insights/report-illusion-of-crowds Octopus Energy: https://octopusenergy.com/faas Our merch store: https://energy-empire.bonfire.com/collection/all-products

    Semafor’s Tim McDonnell on Covering Russia’s Energy War From Kyiv

  7. Oct 12

    Gov. Spanberger on Making Data Centers Pay Their Fair Share | Energy on the Ballot

    Northern Virginia is the biggest data center market in the world, and pushback is growing. So are power bills. A typical Dominion bill is now about $180 a month, $20 more than a year ago. Rising bills put energy on the ballot in Virginia’s 2025 governor’s race. Abigail Spanberger won it by 15 points, and now she wants data centers to pay for the grid built to serve them. Recorded live at the Virginia Clean Energy Summit in Richmond for Energy on the Ballot, our series on energy and the midterms. In this episode: The breakfast in Norton, Virginia, where nearly everyone in the room wanted to talk about their power bill Why Virginia’s new energy plan puts a price on asthma and rising seas A proposal to make new data centers in Virginia face a local vote How everyone’s bill changes when data centers choose batteries over gas generators Virginia’s first-of-its-kind tax on data center electricity, and the case for the industry’s sales tax break What candidates should run on this November, and why state and federal races need different answers Links: https://energy.virginia.gov/connect/ www.energyempire.fm

    Gov. Spanberger on Making Data Centers Pay Their Fair Share | Energy on the Ballot

  8. Oct 8

    Voltus Just Raised $225 Million to Pay You to Use Less Electricity

    When a warehouse turns its freezers down for two hours, it looks to the grid like a power plant switching on. Voltus pays thousands of businesses to do exactly that, every day of the year. Voltus, the largest demand-flexibility company in North America, just announced a $225 million Series D led by Al Gore's Generation Investment Management. Today's guest, co-founder and CEO Dana Guernsey, plans to use it to grow from 8.5 gigawatts of flexible capacity to 20 by 2030, a quarter of the Department of Energy's target for the whole country. Google is already a customer, paying Voltus to line up as much as 100 megawatts of that flexibility in PJM, the grid that runs from Illinois to Virginia, so its data centers can connect faster. It's the first deal of its kind, and Dana's argument is that "do no harm" is too low a bar for a company with Google's balance sheet; a data center can leave the grid better than it found it. In this episode: What a Walmart, a winery, a glass factory, and a sewage plant each do when Voltus calls The church that stayed open and the factory that kept a whole shift, both because of Voltus checks From $25 a year for a thermostat to $11 million for a data center, who gets paid what for turning things down How 50,000 homes become 100 megawatts, and the PJM rule that kept them out until August The year governors and the White House learned what PJM is Why Google is paying its neighbors to flex instead of building a gas plant that runs 25 hours a year Submit a question to Ask Jigar: https://octopusenergy.com/ask-jigar S2G Investments: https://www.s2ginvestments.com/insights/report-illusion-of-crowds Octopus Energy: https://octopusenergy.com/faas Our merch store: https://energy-empire.bonfire.com/collection/all-products

    Voltus Just Raised $225 Million to Pay You to Use Less Electricity
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About

Welcome to the Age of Energy Abundance A once-in-a-generation shift is underway in how the world is powered. Across the United States, clean energy now makes up more than 90% of new electricity added to the grid — not because of politics or ideology, but because these technologies simply work better. They’re cheaper to build, faster to deploy, and easier to scale than anything that came before. The technology is ready. Now the race is on to build it…everywhere. Energy Empire is a podcast about the people and ideas driving this transformation. We explore how abundant, affordable energy is reshaping the global economy, creating new industries, and unlocking what may be the greatest wealth-creation opportunity of our generation. Hosted by Jigar Shah — TIME100 honoree, serial entrepreneur, investor, and former U.S. Department of Energy leader — the show pulls back the curtain on the decisions, innovations, and power struggles shaping the future of energy. Whether you’re curious about where the economy is headed, how energy affects your daily life, or who’s really building the future behind the scenes, Energy Empire is your guide to what comes next.

Information

  • Creator
    Energy Empire
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    59
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Energy Empire
  • Show Website
    Energy Empire

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