TAE's unique approach to fusion, with TAE CEO Michl Binderbauer

04/15/25 • 12 min

Good Clean Energy is a podcast that tackles one of the most existential questions of our time: how to build a world with abundant, affordable, carbon-free electricity. This season we’re going to unpack what TAE is working on to make fusion energy a reality.

In this episode, TAE CEO Michl Binderbauer dives deep into a specific fusion machine design called the Field-Reversed Configuration that TAE has pursued since the company's inception. He explains how the FRC works, its unique advantages, and how it differs from other magnetic-confinement approaches by allowing the plasma to generate its own magnetic field, reducing the need for expensive and cumbersome external magnets. Binderbauer details the difficulties of working with FRCs and describes the breakthroughs TAE has made in simplifying and stabilizing the process, paving the way for more practical and economically viable fusion power plants.

Covered in this episode:

Understanding the FRC
Challenges and solutions in FRCs
TAE’s innovations to improve FRCs

Learn more: TAE Delivers Fusion Breakthrough that Dramatically Reduces Cost of a Future Power Plant

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Covered in this episode:

Understanding the FRC
Challenges and solutions in FRCs
TAE’s innovations to improve FRCs

Learn more: TAE Delivers Fusion Breakthrough that Dramatically Reduces Cost of a Future Power Plant

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Why we need to electrify everything in our homes, with Rewiring America’s Stephen Pantano

Roughly 42% of energy-related carbon emissions come from households—our cars, water heaters, furnaces, dryers, cooktops and where we get our energy. Stephen Pantano, head of Market Transformation for Rewiring America, joins Good Clean Energy to explain how replacing fossil-fueled machines at home with electric ones is a critical and achievable strategy for reaching net zero emissions in the U.S.

Covered in this episode:

[2:30] The mission of Rewiring America
[4:02] “The perfect household is all-electric”
[5:19] Using heat pumps to heat and cool your home
[9:57] Cooking without gas
[12:45] Heating your water with a heat pump
[14:42] Drying your clothes with a heat pump
[15:32] The economic incentives to electrify your home
[20:49] Where Rewiring America comes in
[23:22] The challenges of rolling out the rebate programs
[24:51] The roadblocks to electrifying America
[26:03] The 1 billion devices that need to be upgraded
[29:59] Where an individual can make the most impact
[31:22] A vision for 2035

For show notes and a full transcript, head to the episode page.

Listen and Follow 'Good Clean Energy' on Apple Podcasts
Listen and Follow 'Good Clean Energy' on Spotify

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

TAE fusion machine’s breakthrough design, with Director of Diagnostics Thomas Roche

In this episode, TAE Director of Diagnostics Thomas Roche discusses his groundbreaking paper that showcases a significant advancement in fusion energy research. The conversation delves into an experiment that drastically simplified TAE’s fusion research machine, leading to a first in the field. Roche explains how neutral beam injection replaced complex formation sections, reducing costs and complexity while improving performance. These developments mark a significant step towards creating efficient and economical fusion power plants in the future.

Covered in this episode: