Episodios

  • The non-nuclear route to cheaper reactors

    The non-nuclear route to cheaper reactors
    Sep 24 2025
    For decades, nuclear has struggled with cost overruns and delays — Georgia’s Vogtle plant being the latest example. Kairos Power co-founder and CEO Mike Laufer thinks the solution is to flip the script: focus first on non-nuclear demonstrations and then iterate quickly. It’s a counterintuitive and potentially risky strategy . Rapid iteration isn’t the way engineers or funders like the DOE have traditionally developed nuclear plants. Kairos also combined two technologies — TRISO fuel and molten salt — into a first-of-a-kind design. Theoretically it would be safer, but Kairos was also tackling one of the hardest problems in engineering: building a reactor from scratch. After eight years of development, its approach has led to three engineering test units, a novel contracting model with the Department of Energy, and a landmark partnership with TVA and Google to deliver nuclear power to data centers. So how did Kairos pull it off? In this episode, Lara talked with Mike about how Kairos executed its ambitious iterative approach without overextending itself. They also cover why Kairos chose to vertically integrate and build its own in-house machine shop, plus what technical setbacks taught the team. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced by Daniel Woldorff and Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.
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    48 m
  • The sunk cost dilemma

    The sunk cost dilemma
    Sep 10 2025
    Deep into engineering studies for Project Cormorant, 8 Rivers' massive low-carbon ammonia facility, the team discovered new efficiencies that would create a safer, more advanced version of their hydrogen technology. But there was one problem: they'd already invested heavily in the current design. CEO Damian Beauchamp faced a classic dilemma. Should 8 Rivers stick with their existing approach and avoid the sunk cost fallacy? Or risk everything on a better design, knowing it meant more time, more money, and missed deadlines? That choice became even more complicated when shifting political winds derailed their anticipated offtake agreement with an investor, forcing 8 Rivers to secure new buyers for most of their planned 900,000 tons of ammonia production. In this episode, Lara talks with Damian about navigating the sunk cost trap, building relationships with massive turbine manufacturers like Siemens Energy, and how 8 Rivers has survived as one of the few companies successfully deploying large-scale industrial decarbonization projects since 2008. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced by Erin Hardick and Daniel Woldorff. Edited by Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.
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    33 m
  • John Hickenlooper’s optimism in the face of opposition

    John Hickenlooper’s optimism in the face of opposition
    Aug 27 2025
    Three years ago this month, the Inflation Reduction Act passed, marking the largest investment in climate policy in U.S. history. It included over $300 billion to address global warming and was expected to unlock nearly $3 trillion in private investment by 2032. But then came Donald Trump. Over the last eight months, the Trump administration has worked to dismantle much of that progress, including withholding funds, canceling loans and grants, and working with Congress to roll back tax credits. For those working in climate tech, it’s been a pretty dark time. But U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, one of the lawmakers behind the IRA, says he’s surprisingly optimistic about future policy wins despite White House opposition to climate and clean tech. In this episode, Lara talks with Sen. Hickenlooper about passing the landmark climate law and protecting it, his ideas for building a bipartisan coalition for permitting reform, and why he’s actually hopeful eight months into Trump’s second term. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced by Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey and Stephen Lacey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.
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    34 m
  • The rogue idea that saved a hydrogen startup

    The rogue idea that saved a hydrogen startup
    Aug 13 2025
    In 2022, Zach Jones learned that his technical team at Graphitic Energy was secretly working nights and weekends on an unsanctioned approach to producing clean hydrogen from natural gas. It was an approach that abandoned the technology Zach and the company had spent years developing. And Zach wasn’t happy. With investors to answer to and a pilot plant ready for construction, Zach couldn't switch gears completely to pursue an untested concept. But his team disagreed. And the months-long mutiny that followed nearly tore the company apart. In this episode, Lara talks with Zach about navigating that internal crisis, making the difficult decision to pivot technologies mid-development, and how Graphitic Energy's new approach produces both clean hydrogen and valuable graphite from the same process—eliminating the "green premium" typically associated with clean alternatives. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced by Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey and Stephen Lacey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.
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    38 m
  • The tape that led to a fusion breakthrough

    The tape that led to a fusion breakthrough
    Jun 18 2025
    In 2021, Commonwealth Fusion Systems proved it had built the most powerful magnet in the world. The breakthrough was based on a specific material - a tape - that conducts massive amounts of current with very little loss. Rick Needham, Chief Commercial Officer for CFS, says the breakthrough led to a $1.8 billion Series B fundraising round. Since then, the company has turned its attention to turning this scientific breakthrough into a commercial technology. And in late 2024, the company announced it had signed a deal with Dominion Energy Virginia to build the world’s first commercial fusion power plant, ARC. In this episode, Lara talks with Rick about how CFS plans to take its technology from the lab to real-world deployment. They discuss major milestones, like proving net energy gain and finding a customer for a technology that has never been proven in the field. And Rick makes the argument that fusion is much closer than most people think. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced by Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey and Stephen Lacey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.
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    51 m
  • Frontier Forum: Fixing distributed energy's finance gap

    Frontier Forum: Fixing distributed energy's finance gap
    Jun 12 2025
    Clean energy attracts nearly $3 trillion in investment annually, but most of that capital flows to massive utility-scale projects through the world's biggest banks and large-scale asset managers. Meanwhile, smaller distributed projects — rooftop solar, batteries, microgrids — face a structural financing challenge that Amanda Li calls "death by a thousand cuts." As co-founder and COO of Banyan Infrastructure, Li sees this dynamic constantly. Distributed infrastructure developers are trying to secure deals for $500,000 or $1 million, but face the same transaction costs as billion-dollar projects. "You might have a thousand times the amount of data at every single one of those stages, a thousand models, a thousand PDF documents or contracts, a thousand counterparties," Li explains. "So that's where the overhead really becomes crushing." Rachel Halfaker, who leads the community infrastructure program at the Milken Institute, sees the same fragmentation from a different angle. Unlike utility-scale projects with a single counterparty, distributed energy involves "a hundred business owners, a hundred nonprofits, a hundred YMCAs or churches" who aren't accustomed to thinking about term sheets and risk profiles. The solution they are pursuing? Standardization. But previous attempts have failed for specific reasons that go beyond market immaturity. "Everyone intellectually understands and believes in the benefits of coordination and standardization," said Li. But past efforts lacked dedicated coordinators and sufficient critical mass. The complexity of distributed energy finance makes standardization uniquely challenging. These projects often require blended capital stacks where three or more financing sources must align simultaneously. "All three things have to be in coordination in order for that deal to pencil,” said Halfaker. This orchestration typically falls to local developers with small teams, rather than the armies of investment bankers and lawyers that structure utility-scale deals. The result is frequent near-misses where viable projects nearly fall apart due to financing complexity. In this episode, recorded live as part of Latitude Media's Frontier Forum series, Stephen Lacey talks with Li and Halfaker about why standardization is critical for scaling distributed energy into a trillion-dollar asset class. They explore how standardization could eventually enable securitization — the "holy grail" that would create secondary markets for distributed energy assets. This episode was recorded live as part of Latitude Media's Frontier Forum with Banyan Infrastructure. Watch the full video here and download Banyan’s white paper on standardization here.
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    42 m
  • FOAK tales

    FOAK tales
    Jun 4 2025
    This week, we're bringing you a special episode of Catalyst with Shayle Kann, a show about how to decarbonize the planet. In this episode: what it takes to secure investments for first-of-a-kind infrastructure projects. First-of-a-kind projects need infrastructure investment, the kind of money that costs less than venture capital and usually comes in the form of deals worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. But infrastructure investors are notoriously conservative and convincing them to bite can be challenging. So what do infrastructure investors really want? In this episode, Shayle talks to Mario Fernandez, head of Breakthrough Energy’s FOAK finance program. It has worked with companies like Rondo, Form Energy, and Lanzajet to overcome challenges on the path to infrastructure investment. Coincidentally, the program is also called Catalyst (no relation to our show). Mario and Shayle talk about the journey from lab-proven technology to a fully de-risked infrastructure investment, covering topics like: Why investors want to see a path to multiple, repeatable projects Mario’s prescription for a scale-up path: pilot, demo, and FOAK project The difficulty of following that path on a limited financial runway The commercial construct and the tension between negotiating a flexible offtake and securing a customer Developing the right capital stack and accurately estimating capital needs Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
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    53 m
  • Building Fervo's geothermal giant

    Building Fervo's geothermal giant
    May 21 2025
    In 2023, Sarah Jewett was on her honeymoon in France when she received a life-changing text: steam was flowing from Fervo Energy's first commercial geothermal project in Nevada. That moment confirmed their revolutionary approach—applying horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing from the oil and gas industry to tap heat resources previously considered inaccessible. Unlike traditional geothermal that requires rare, steam-laden sites, Fervo's technology can access hot rock that exists almost everywhere underground. After proving their concept with Project Red in Nevada, the company is now building Cape Station, a 500-megawatt facility that will be one of America's largest geothermal plants, in Utah. In this episode, Lara talks with Sarah about navigating first-of-a-kind financing challenges, finding partners willing to take on the risk of new technology, and deciding when to take the next step in a scaling journey. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced by Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey and Stephen Lacey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. Register here for Transition-AI 2025 in Boston on June 12th, 2025. Use promo code LATITUDEPODS10 for 10% off your ticket.
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    43 m