Factor This
Factor This
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.
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Top 10 Factor This Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Factor This episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Factor This for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Factor This episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
05/14/25 • 17 min
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Utilities are doing all they can to accommodate large load customers like AI data centers, but some worry those efforts come at a cost to other customers. On this episode of the Factor This podcast, West Monroe Partner Sam Uyeno explains how the proliferation of data centers could actually lower electricity prices. In a far-reaching discussion, Uyeno and host Paul Gerke touch on demand flexibility, the potential benefits of AI in grid planning, and the complexities of co-location and supply chain issues. Uyeno also previews his participation in the upcoming DTECH Data Centers & AI event in San Jose, California.
03/14/25 • 17 min
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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less.
This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Elliot Coad, founder of 30x30 United Kingdom and Ecologi, who shared research that stated the world is losing 4-14% of its staple crops due to microplastics, since they are hindering plant photosynthesis. Researchers say this problem could increase the number of people at risk of starvation by 400M in the next two decades. Thanks to Elliot Coad for sharing this new information, and kudos to Damian Carrington at The Guardian for reporting on the research.
This Week in Cleantech — March 14, 2025
- The Biggest US Banks Have All Backed Out of a Commitment to Reach Net Zero — WIRED
- This Startup Has A Way To Make Cheap, Clean Hydrogen–Without Federal Subsidies — Forbes
- Solar Energy, Criticized by Trump, Claims Big U.S. Gain in 2024 — The New York Times
- Khosla Backs Startup Aiming to Pull Carbon From Air in New Mexico — Bloomberg
- US Considers Emergency Powers to Restart Closed Coal Plants, Doug Burgum Says — Bloomberg
Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing [email protected]
08/30/24 • 18 min
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his Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less.
This week's episode features Dan Gearino from Inside Climate News, who wrote about how progress in solid-state battery technology may soon enable electric vehicles to achieve up to 600 miles of range.
This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Emilie Oxel O’Leary, founder of Green Clean Wind LLC. Emilie is actively urging her LinkedIn followers to reach out for their solar recycling needs, highlighting the growing concern over solar components ending up in landfills. She’s asking for every steel pile, aluminum racking component, nut, and bolt, so she can help clean up your site. Congratulations Emilie!
This Week in Cleantech — August 30, 2024
- Far-Right ‘Terrorgram’ Chatrooms Fuel Wave of Power Grid Attacks — Bloomberg
- The Case for a Clean Energy Marshall Plan — Foreign Affairs
- Scoop: Swell is shutting down — Latitude Media
- Hungry for Clean Energy, Facebook Looks to a New Type of Geothermal — New York Times
- Want an EV With 600 Miles of Range? It’s Coming — Inside Climate News
02/06/23 • 63 min
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Our grid is vulnerable to disruption and even failure. Wildfires, floods, and more frequent extreme weather events routinely highlight the imperative of adding distributed energy not just for resiliency, but to reach our climate goals.
But incumbents, purposefully or not, are delaying the transition. And markets still don't fully value the qualities of distributed energy resources. Will we come to embrace DER's myriad benefits before it's too late?
Episode 34 of the Factor This! podcast features Tim Hade, the co-founder and COO of Scale Microgrid Solutions.
This wide-ranging conversation covered the role of distributed energy for the grid of the future, the perils of scaling a climate tech hardware company, and what's holding back the Inflation Reduction Act.
Hade shared how his time in the military mobilized him to fight climate change, why he's so optimistic that DERs will one day breakthrough, and his five tips for anyone starting a clean energy company. Spoiler alert: get smart on tax equity. Or find someone who is.
That's all next on Factor This!
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
05/16/25 • 18 min
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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate in 15 minutes or less featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week’s episode features special guest Nico Rivero from The Washington Post, who wrote about how some startups are are reviving zeppelins as a low-emissions option for cargo and tourism.
This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is one of our previous ‘This Week in Cleantech’ guests, Michael Thomas, founder at Cleanview and Distilled. He analyzed Cleanview data showing that 78% of post-IRA clean energy projects—and $100 billion in investment—benefit Republican districts, warning that repealing the IRA would hurt those communities most. Congratulations, Michael!
This Week in Cleantech — May 16, 2025
- US House targets big climate, clean energy rollbacks in budget proposal — Reuters
- How Donald Trump blew the offshore wind industry off course — The Verge
- How this coal company could help break U.S. dependence on China for rare earths — CNBC
- Energy prices push chemicals groups to explore exit from Europe — The Financial Times
- Why these start-ups think zeppelins could be the future of air travel — The Washington Post
Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing [email protected]
12/12/22 • 24 min
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When the American clean energy industry met at RE+ in September, seemingly every conversation exuded an optimistic tone about the future.
Historic incentives for clean energy in the Inflation Reduction Act, paired with a generational industrial policy, brought U.S. climate goals within reach at a point when their prospects appeared bleak at best. Now, billions of dollars of investment is flowing into American clean energy manufacturing.
The outlook couldn't be more different in Europe, where industry leaders recently came together at Enlit Europe in Frankfurt, Germany. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated an already dire energy crisis, and the continent that once led the energy transition is watching its influence slip.
Two of Europe's clean energy leaders joined Episode 28 of the Factor This! podcast from Frankfurt to discuss Europe's path forward and the prospect for transformational industrial policy.
Guests:
Jochen Hauff, Director Corporate Strategy, Energy Policy & Sustainability, BayWa r.e.
Axel Thiemann, CEO, Sonnedix
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
03/06/23 • 46 min
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As the renewable energy industry has grown up, its legal risks have too.
Sure, we as an industry talk all the time about NIMBYism. But what about zoning and permitting litigation? What happens when a project produces stormwater runoff that damages a neighboring property? And how about all of these new incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act... who's on the hook if a project falls short of its obligations?
Episode 38 of the Factor This! podcast features two attorneys working really closely on these issues.
Matthew Karmel is the principal and chair of the Environmental and Sustainability Practice Group at the national law firm Offit Kurman. Yana Spitzer is in-house counsel at ENGIE North America.
Karmel and Spitzer take us inside the courtroom for a look at the legal risk plaguing project developers today, and they point out the potholes to watch out for in the future.
WRISE Speaker Spotlight
This week's WRISE Speaker Spotlight features Patricia Vega, founder and CEO of Quantum New Energy. Patricia's expertise includes asset management, corporate social responsibility, energy efficiency, and more. Contact Patricia for a speaking engagement, view other speakers, or join the Speakers Bureau yourself at WRISEenergy.org.
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
03/16/23 • 63 min
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Bonus episode!
Today, we're dropping in an episode from our friends over at the Suncast podcast that we know you'll enjoy.
Nico Johnson has an interesting and important conversation with Steph Spiers, co-founder and CEO of the community solar manager Solstice about equity in the energy transition.
Speirs believes that "the role of power and privilege is to use it to open up doors for other folks to access that same power". Her company, Solstice, aims to democratize the clean energy revolution and create energy equity through community solar, and they do this by increasing access to solar power for households that are locked out of the solar marketplace. She has won more than three dozen accolades and awards for her private market innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as her public sector work, which includes developing Middle East policy as the youngest policy director at the White House National Security Council.
You can find the episode blog, as well as the full Suncast episode library, here.
Make sure to subscribe to Suncast and Factor This! wherever your podcasts.
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This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week’s episode features MIT Tech Review climate and clean energy reporter Casey Crownhart, who shares insights around the Biden administration's $400 million loan to alternative battery maker Eos Energy.
This Week in Cleantech — September 8, 20231. Texas fracking billionaire brothers fuel rightwing media with millions of dollars — The Guardian
2. Batteries helped keep Texas grid afloat, but operators worry ERCOT rules could 'chill' the industry — San Antonio Express-News
3. Powered by wind, this $10B transmission line will carry more energy than the Hoover Dam — Associated Press
4. White House launches billion-dollar effort to speed EV production — Axios
5. Zinc batteries that offer an alternative to lithium just got a big boost — MIT Tech Review
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Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to [email protected]. And don't forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
This Week in Cleantech (05/09/2025) - Are Trump's cleantech cuts undermining his mineral plans?
Factor This
05/09/25 • 21 min
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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate in 15 minutes or less featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week’s episode features special guest Alex Kaufman, who wrote for the The Atlantic about how Trump’s administration is fast-tracking domestic mining projects, pushing executive orders and green-lighting new rare earth and mineral ventures to reduce reliance on foreign sources like China.
This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Meredith Connolly, who shared a story from her first road trip in an electric vehicle. Charging her car cost just $22, but the station was in front of a Target so she ended up spending more inside the store than she did on charging. Her point: businesses should want EV chargers, because they bring in more customers.
This Week in Cleantech — May 6, 2025
- Why Going Nuclear Is the Only Good Choice: Merryn Talks Money — Bloomberg
- Republicans say EVs don’t pay their fair share. Here’s the math. — The Washington Post
- India Sees a Future Making Solar Panels for Itself, and Maybe the World — The New York Times
- United Bets on Photosynthesis and Limestone to Fuel Net-Zero Flight Path — The Wall Street Journal
- The Missing Part of Trump’s Minerals Math — The Atlantic
Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing [email protected]
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FAQ
How many episodes does Factor This have?
Factor This currently has 168 episodes available.
What topics does Factor This cover?
The podcast is about News, Business News, Climate Change, Podcasts, Technology, Clean Energy, Global Warming and Energy Transition.
What is the most popular episode on Factor This?
The episode title 'Interconnection woes make strange bedfellows' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Factor This?
The average episode length on Factor This is 31 minutes.
How often are episodes of Factor This released?
Episodes of Factor This are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Factor This?
The first episode of Factor This was released on Apr 21, 2022.
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