Volts
Detailed reporting and analysis of clean energy technology, electrification and climate policy.
- Host
- David Roberts
- Published by
- Volts
- Topic
- Energy & Electrification
- Format
- Analysis
- Orientation
- Sustainability
- Themes
- Net Zero
- Made for
- Professional / Practitioner, Corporate Leader, Policymaker / Public Sector
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Latest episodes
Newest first
- Open episode
21 Oct 2026 · 63 min
Can distributed energy work around American utilities?
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe American homes are filling up with batteries, EVs, and smart thermostats that could be coordinated to make the grid cheaper and more reliable — but almost none of them are. To understand why, it helps to watch what happens when the company best in the world at this tries to do it here. In Britain, Octopus Energy has built a giant virtual power plant out of its customers' devices. In the US, it has spent six years running into walls. Now it’s bought Uplig
- Open episode
16 Oct 2026 · 63 min
What’s up with Denmark?
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe Denmark gets a large share of its power from wind and other renewables and has cut its emissions roughly in half since 1990, but independent analysts doubt it will hit its 70 percent target for 2030. Kristian Jensen, CEO of Green Power Denmark and a former Danish minister of taxation, foreign affairs, and finance, argues the next stage is electrifying how Denmark uses energy: heat, transport, and industry. I talk with him about district heating and heat
- Open episode
14 Oct 2026 · 67 min
Checking back in with Greenlight America
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe On this episode, recorded live at Climate Week NYC, I talk with Matt Traldi. He’s the founder and CEO of Greenlight America, which finds the local meetings where clean energy’s fate is being decided and recruits supporters to attend. Traldi argues that siting and permitting approvals turn on who shows up, and that local partners, conservative groups included, outperform outside advocates. We discuss how to measure impact, recent wins and losses, blue-sta