Energy Policy Now Podcast Por Kleinman Center for Energy Policy capa

Energy Policy Now

Energy Policy Now

De: Kleinman Center for Energy Policy
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 Energy Policy Now offers clear talk on the policy issues that define our relationship to energy and its impact on society and the environment. The series is produced by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and hosted by energy journalist Andy Stone. Join Andy in conversation with leaders from industry, government, and academia as they shed light on today's pressing energy policy debates.2025 Kleinman Center for Energy Policy Ciências Política e Governo
Episódios
  • From the Energy Policy Now Archive: How Virtual Power Plants Could Strengthen the Electrical Grid

    From the Energy Policy Now Archive: How Virtual Power Plants Could Strengthen the Electrical Grid
    Aug 19 2025

    For the month of August, we’re highlighting episodes from the 2024-2025 season of Energy Policy Now. We’ll be back with new content, and a new season, on September the 9th.

    Virtual power plants can help electric grid operators address supply shortages and reliability concerns, but policy support is needed.

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    (This episode was recorded on October 15, 2024.)

    The U.S. electrical grid is under growing stress, raising concern that recent widescale power outages may signal more grid challenges to come. In recent years, electricity demand has grown at an accelerating pace while, at the same time, power supply has tightened as existing power plants have retired and grid operators have struggled to bring new sources of power online.

    Yet one promising solution to the grid’s challenges may already be in place, if grid operators and regulators can figure out how to use it to full advantage. ‘Virtual power plants’ can combine small, distributed energy resources such as rooftop solar and demand response into a single, virtual whole that grid operators can deploy like a traditional powerplant. VPPs hold the promise of delivering large amounts of readily available and reliable energy services, if a number of regulatory and technological challenges can be overcome.

    On the podcast Ryan Hledik, a principal with electricity market consultancy The Brattle Group, explores the potential of virtual power plants. He explains how VPPs work, discusses hurdles to their development, and considers policy solutions to speed their growth.

    Ryan Hledik is a principal with electricity market consultancy The Brattle Group.

    Related Content:

    Closing the Climate Finance Gap: A Proposal for a New Green Investment Protocol https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/closing-the-climate-finance-gap-a-proposal-for-a-new-green-investment-protocol/

    The Untapped Potential of “Repurposed Energy” https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/the-untapped-potential-of-repurposed-energy/

    Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    26 minutos
  • From the Energy Policy Now Archive: Bridging the Partisan Climate Divide

    From the Energy Policy Now Archive: Bridging the Partisan Climate Divide
    Aug 5 2025
    For the month of August, we’re highlighting episodes from the 2024-2025 season of Energy Policy Now. We’ll be back with new content, and a new season, on September the 9th. Former Republican U.S. congressman Bob Inglis offers a conservative perspective on climate solutions in discussion with Penn climatologist Michael Mann. --- (This episode was recorded on February 13, 2025, during Penn Energy Week) Politically conservative and concerned about climate change? In this special episode of the Energy Policy Now podcast, Penn climatologist Michael Mann talks with Bob Inglis, former Republican Congressman from South Carolina and current executive director of RepublicEN.org, about bridging the partisan climate divide. In a wide-ranging conversation recorded live during Energy Week at Penn 2025 at the University of Pennsylvania, Mann and Inglis discuss a conservative view on climate change, how conservative messaging on climate has evolved over time, and how common solutions might be found in an era of partisan climate divide. Inglis also offers his view on carbon pricing and strategies to reign in carbon emissions in the U.S. The conversation is moderated by Sanya Carley, faculty director of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. Bob Inglis is a former U.S. representative for South Carolina’s 4th congressional district. He is the executive director of RepublicanEn.org at George Mason University. Michael Mann is director of the Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania. Sanya Carley is the Mark Alan Hughes faculty director of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. Important note on the conversation: Due to a technical problem, the first two minutes of Bob Inglis’ conversation are difficult to hear (from 5:40 to 7:40). We’ve transcribed those two minutes in the show notes, below, to make it easier to follow along. A full transcript of this and all Energy Policy Now podcasts is available on the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy website. Bob Inglis (5:40): Yeah, so for my first six years in Congress I said that climate change is nonsense. All I knew was that Al Gore was for it. And as much as I represented Greenville-Spartanburg South Carolina, that was the end of the inquiry. Okay, pretty ignorant. But that’s the way it was my first six years. Out of Congress six years, as you just heard, doing commercial real estate law again and then, had the opportunity to run for the same seat again before, our son had just turned 18, so he was voting for the first time, and he came to me and he said, dad, I’ll vote for you. But you’re going to clean up your act on the environment. His four sisters agreed, his mother agreed. New constituency, you know. So you got to respond to those people who can change the locks on the doors to your house, you know. So, very important to respond to these people. And so that was step one of a three step metamorphosis. Step two was going to Antarctica with the [House of Representatives] Science Committee and seeing the evidence in the iceberg drillings. Step three was another Science Committee trip and, um, really a spiritual awakening which seems improbable, right, on a godless Science Committee trip, because we all know that all scientists are godless. Right? Well, apparently not. Because this Aussie climate scientist was showing me the glories of the Great Barrier Reef. I could see he was worshipping God in what he was showing me. You know, St. Francis of Assisi supposedly said “preach the gospel at all times. If necessary use words.” So Scott Heron, this Aussie climate scientist who’s now become a very dear friend was doing that. I could see it in his eyes, it was written all over his face. It was in his excitement about what he was showing me. He was clearly worshipping God. So I knew we shared a world view. Forty words were spoken. Related Content How Identity Politics Shape U.S. Energy Policy https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/commentary/podcast/how-identity-politics-shape-u-s-energy-policy/ Climate Action in the Age of Great Power Rivalry: What Geopolitics Means for Climate https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/climate-action-in-the-age-of-great-power-rivalry-what-geopolitics-means-for-the-climate/ Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.eduSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    46 minutos
  • Why This Energy Transition is Different

    Why This Energy Transition is Different
    Jul 22 2025

    Though today’s energy transition is often framed as new, it follows patterns we’ve seen before. Cutler Cleveland of Boston University’s Institute for Global Sustainability explores the historical context of today’s shift.

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    Today’s shift to carbon-free power is commonly called “the energy transition,” yet the label can suggest that this is the first, or only, transformation of its kind. Throughout history, societies have moved from one dominant energy source to another, with each transformation bringing profound economic, social, and environmental change.

    On the podcast, we explore how today’s energy transition compares to those of the past, while noting that—despite decades of investment and policy support—we’re still in the early stages of moving toward a net-zero carbon system. Why is this transition taking so long? Why does it feel more politically and socially charged than previous ones? And are our current anxieties about energy jobs, community impacts, and planetary livability really new?

    Cutler Cleveland, associate director of Boston University’s Institute for Global Sustainability, brings a historical lens to energy systems and explores what makes this moment in energy history both familiar and unprecedented.

    Cutler Cleveland is a professor in the Department of Earth & Environment at Boston University, and associate director of the university’s Institute for Global Sustainability.

    Related Content

    Subsea Sabotage: Protecting Energy Infrastructure from Hostile Aggression https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/subsea-sabotage-protecting-energy-infrastructure-from-hostile-aggression/

    Impact of Solar Lighting Kits on the Lives of the Poor https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/impact-of-solar-lighting-kits-on-the-lives-of-the-poor/

    Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    45 minutos
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