Supercool
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Top 10 Supercool Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Supercool episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Supercool 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 Supercool episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
10/16/24 • 40 min
Startling research from the U.S. Forest Service reveals that urban trees are more than just climate champions. They're playing a pivotal public health role in cities. The more trees in your neighborhood, the less violent crime, fewer prescriptions for antidepressants, and lower rates of asthma, childhood leukemia, and other immune diseases. These leafy giants affect everything from improved pregnancy outcomes to longer life expectancy. While saving the Amazon grabs headlines, the trees right outside your door shape your life in important ways.
Vital to public health, urban trees are also a smart investment. By boosting property values, they generate enough tax revenue to cover planting and maintenance costs three times over. Thanks to a historic $1.5 billion from the Inflation Reduction, earmarked for the U.S. Forest Service's Urban and Community Forest Program, cities nationwide are accelerating tree planting.
This week, Geoffrey Donovan, an urban forester and economist with the U.S. Forest Service, joins the show. His groundbreaking research over the past two decades is reshaping how urban planners and policymakers think about the essential role of trees in city life.
Whether you're deciding where to live or thinking about your neighborhood's vibrance and vitality, it’s time to start asking about the quantity, diversity, and maturity of your local trees.
Show Links:
Guest: Geoffrey Donovan
Organization: U.S. Forest Service
Grant Program: U.S. Forest Service's Urban and Community Forest Program
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09/18/24 • 38 min
Stanford professor Mark Jacobson wasn’t just dreaming of a world powered by 100% renewable energy back in 2009—he was doing the math and architecting the plan. In an article for Scientific American, Jacobson presented it: wind, water, and solar could do more than keep the lights on—they could power the planet.
A momentous chain reaction ensued. Jacobson teamed up with actor-turned-eco-hero Mark Ruffalo to co-found The Solutions Project with a mission to transition the world to 100% renewables by 2035. He went on the David Letterman Show and spoke at the UN alongside Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
As Jacobson's vision took root, states and cities began making 100% renewable pledges. By 2019, his idea had reached Capitol Hill when AOC and Senator Markey introduced the Green New Deal resolution, calling for a transition to 100% renewable energy. Jacobson’s message? We can pull it off, it’ll save us trillions, and spare millions of lives.
Plus, if you’re lucky enough to live in just about any state that’s ahead of the curve, you’re already paying some of the lowest energy bills in the country.
Show Links:
Guest: Mark Jacobson (Stanford University, LinkedIn, Wikipedia)
Book: No Miracles Needed: How Today's Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air
Organization: The Solutions Project
Article: Scientific American - A Plan to Power 100% of the Planet with Renewables
Background data: U.S. Covid-relief spending
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11/13/24 • 41 min
How do cities become great places to walk? What moves people to ditch their cars and use their own feet? According to Jeff Speck, the key is that the walk itself has to be as good as a drive. Jeff wrote the book on walkability—literally. Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America One Step at a Time is the best-selling city-planning title of the 21st century and a classic on making cities pedestrian-friendly.
Jeff’s “General Theory of Walkability” spells out exactly what it takes: walking needs to be useful, safe, comfortable, and interesting—all at once. He’s transformed communities across America, proving that towns and cities everywhere can rewrite the rules and reshape their streets.
Creating walkable communities is essential for cutting carbon emissions and sustaining economic vitality. A 2023 Smart Growth America report reveals that merely 1.2% of land in the top 35 U.S. metros is walkable, yet these urban neighborhoods contribute 20% of the nation’s GDP.
On today’s show, Jeff breaks down what makes a place truly walkable, the maddening obstacles standing in the way, and how to clear the path—one thoughtful step at a time.
Show Notes
Guest: Jeff Speck, FAICP, CNU-A, LEED-AP, Honorary ASLA; Partner, Speck Dempsey
Organization: Speck Dempsey
Book: Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
TED Talk: The Walkable City
Report: Foot Traffic Ahead by Smart Growth America
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10/23/24 • 44 min
Bringing climate tech into the mainstream means pulling off the near-impossible: replacing familiar, conventional choices with something cheaper, better, and easier to adopt. That’s precisely what Dandelion Energy has accomplished with home geothermal energy.
Kathy Hannun spun Dandelion out of Google X—Alphabet’s lab for moonshot ideas—in 2017, aiming to make geothermal a no-brainer for homeowners: easy to install, cheaper than traditional heating and cooling, and so seamless you barely notice it—except when you see the monthly savings.
How Hannun and her team pulled it off is a testament to their grit, tenacity, and commitment to iterative improvements that led to industry-shifting breakthroughs.
Homes that use geothermal for heating and cooling slash their carbon emissions by up to 75%. Plus, energy prices and grid emissions dip as utilities rely less on high-cost, high-emission peaker plants during peak demand.
Having launched in the Northeast, with several thousand residential installations completed, Dandelion is now scaling nationally, partnering with installers and production homebuilders like Lennar, one of the largest in the U.S. Soon, geothermal energy will be the standard heating and cooling solution for many thousands of new homes.
Welcome to a supercool future where geothermal comes with the house.
Show Links:
Guest: Kathy Hannun
Company: Dandelion Energy
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11/20/24 • 52 min
Ned Tozun and Sam Goldman founded d.light in 2007 with a mission to provide safe, affordable, and sustainable energy solutions for all. For d.light, “all” has meant creating solar-powered products for over two billion people worldwide who lack reliable access to energy. It all began with an affordable, durable solar-powered lamp.
Seventeen years later, d.light has become a global phenomenon. Its solar products have improved the lives of over 180 million people across 72 countries, including India, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. The company now employs 1,200 people and tens of thousands of local sales agents to bring its innovative products to remote, rural communities.
d.light’s products have a tangible impact: children can study after dark with solar lights, midwives can safely deliver babies without struggling in darkness, and families no longer need to rely on hazardous kerosene, thanks to clean solar energy.
Now, d.light aims to reach one billion people by 2030, providing them with a grid-like energy lifestyle without having to connect to the grid. The objective: leapfrog over legacy fossil fuel infrastructure and enable one billion people to head directly into the low-carbon future.
Ned joins Supercool to share how the business has effectively scaled, entered new markets, and evolved to meet the needs of its customers without ever losing sight of its original mission.
Show Notes
Guest: Ned Tozun, Founder and CEO
Company: d.light
Time Magazine's 2024 Time100 Climate List: Feature on Ned Tozun
Video of d.light's product durability: See it on Amazon
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Welcome to Supercool
Supercool
06/20/24 • 3 min
Supercool is a new conversation about extraordinary climate solutions that cut carbon and improve modern life. From tech innovation to policy implementation, host Josh Dorfman pinpoints the stories and data behind the low-carbon economy as it spreads to towns and cities across the globe.
The starting point for Supercool is, "What if solving climate change improves life?"
The evidence is increasingly clear: Climate innovation enables safer city streets, improved education, stronger national security, more economic opportunity, and better health - the issues Americans routinely say we care about most.
Not all climate solutions are created equal. Some are unrealistic. Others are uninspired. Yet, in the hands of forward-looking entrepreneurs, engineers, policymakers, and everyday professionals, the low-carbon economy delivers. We’re excited to share it with you.
07/31/24 • 63 min
Vancouver boasts the lowest carbon emissions per capita of any city in North America. It’s also consistently ranked among the world’s most livable cities—and that’s no coincidence. While the city benefits from its natural greenery and renewable energy, it’s Vancouver’s long-standing commitment to sustainability and its embrace of climate innovation that truly sets it apart.
This week, Josh speaks with former Mayor Gregor Robertson, who was elected on a platform to make Vancouver the greenest city on the planet. Over three terms, his administration championed groundbreaking sustainability initiatives, including North America’s largest sewer heat recovery system. Since 2010, that system has delivered zero-emissions heat and hot water to more than 6,000 apartments in the False Creek neighborhood—a legacy from Vancouver’s Olympic year. And it's turned a municipal water treatment facility into a municipal profit center.
We also hear from Lynn Mueller, the inventor behind that revolutionary system and founder of SHARC Energy.
Mayor Robertson goes on to share insights from his current role as special envoy for 13,000 cities in UN global climate negotiations, working with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy to elevate urban priorities on the world stage.
Show Links:
Guests: Gregor Robertson and Lynn Mueller
Company: SHARC Energy
Organization: Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy
Initiative: Sewer Heat Recovery System Vancouver's False Creek Neighborhood
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11/27/24 • 43 min
Marketing holds the key to many of today's climate challenges. Companies trying to break through and reach potential buyers with their world-changing, carbon-cutting solutions must separate from a "sea of same," says today's guest. That's true whether touting new software that helps businesses cut costs and carbon or introducing carbon-negative building materials into the residential and commercial building industries, like Plantd, the company Josh co-founded before starting Supercool.
Even the most innovative solutions companies face marketing challenges. As startups, they're often under-capitalized and under-resourced. To gain traction or raise capital, climate tech companies must generate brand awareness, educate the market, and build trust with prospective customers. It's challenging, cut climate tech startups have an ace up their sleeve: a mission to help solve one of the greatest challenges confronting humanity: climate change.
Communicated effectively, mission and vision —together with all the other brand attributes—can pierce through risk-averse corporate cultures and entrenched business practices and gain the ear of decision-makers. Creativity and effective communication are how climate tech startups compete. Not all do it; many don't prioritize it, but those who are bold tend to win.
Adam Malik, co-founder of Bloxspring, a "B2B marketing agency for visionary brands radically changing the future of our buildings, cities and planet," is betting on bold. Adam started Bloxspring in 2020 after a career in the marketing and advertising industry. Though colleagues advised him against starting a firm targeting industries known for resisting change, Adam and his co-founder, PJ Appleton, saw an opportunity. They also saw that concerns about climate change would increasingly compel large companies to seek innovative solutions. So they set out to help those young companies get noticed and grow, to play bigger and stand out. Bloxspring is based in the UK with clients on both sides of the Atlantic, which gives Adam an interesting lens on how these markets are developing, their similarities and differences, and why now is the moment for bold marketing in the world of climate tech.
NOTES
Guest: Adam Malik
Company: Bloxspring
Jaguar: Its new EV car commercial - featuring no cars
Volvo: Its new EV car commercial - cinematically leaning into its safety reputation
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10/30/24 • 56 min
Bitcoin mining frequently faces criticism in climate circles for its voracious energy appetite. But what if that narrative is over-generalized or maybe even entirely misses the mark?
This week, we venture into the world of Bitcoin with Matthew Schultz, the founding CEO and now Executive Chairman of CleanSpark—the fourth largest publicly traded Bitcoin miner by market capitalization, valued at $3.2 billion. CleanSpark’s roots in renewable energy predate its entry into Bitcoin mining. A decade ago, Schultz and his team were pioneering advanced solar microgrids on U.S. military bases in California and partnering with the South African government and the World Bank to eradicate energy poverty through solar-plus-storage solutions.
CleanSpark began Bitcoin mining in 2020 and has been on a meteoric rise ever since. Operating in rural communities across America, the company primarily utilizes emissions-free nuclear energy and has cultivated a strong reputation as a community partner—boosting local tax revenue, strengthening grid resilience, and creating high-tech jobs far away from traditional tech and innovation hubs.
Today, CleanSpark mines between 3-4% of all new Bitcoin globally, making their strategic moves profoundly impactful. Ready for an eye-opening journey? Tune in to discover how CleanSpark seamlessly blends clean energy with cryptocurrency to forge a sustainable future.
Show Links
Guest: Matthew Schultz
Organization: CleanSpark | America's Bitcoin Miner
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09/04/24 • 43 min
Cities are in a race against time to cut carbon, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Responsible for 70% of global emissions, urban centers around the world are stepping up. In Africa, Addis Ababa is planting millions of trees. In Asia, Shenzhen runs an all-electric bus fleet. In North America, New York City is driving deep decarbonization with bold greenhouse gas reduction laws. And in Europe, Paris is reshaping urban life to reduce car dependence through hyper-localization — everything from work to groceries within walking distance.
At the heart of this global movement are mayors, leading their cities toward a low-carbon future. Through C40 Cities—a network of nearly 100 leading cities—mayors are sharing, learning, and spreading the most effective climate solutions worldwide. And they’re doing more than just cutting carbon; they’re making cities healthier, more connected, and more livable for their residents.
David Miller served as Mayor of Toronto from 2003-2010, where he transformed the city into a climate leader with a strategy rooted in innovation, inclusion, and opportunity. Now, as Managing Director of the Center for City Climate Policy and Economy at C40, host of the podcast Cities 1.5, and author of Solved: How the Great Cities of the World are Fixing the Climate Crisis, David is guiding cities toward a sustainable future—where addressing climate change also means improving urban life.
“I truly believe that if people understand what's possible today and how it can enrich our lives and not just solve the climate crisis, they're going to demand the kind of action at scale that we need.” - David Miller
Show Links:
Guest: David Miller
Organization: C40 Cities
Podcast: Cities 1.5, hosted by David Miller and produced by the University of Toronto Press. It features progressive policy conversations with urban leaders taking action to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees.
Book: Solved: How the Great Cities of the World are Fixing the Climate Crisis
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FAQ
How many episodes does Supercool have?
Supercool currently has 20 episodes available.
What topics does Supercool cover?
The podcast is about Climate Tech, Climate Change, Podcasts, Technology, Business and Global Warming.
What is the most popular episode on Supercool?
The episode title 'Green Hospitals: How Gundersen Switched to Renewables to Cut Costs and Improve Lives' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Supercool?
The average episode length on Supercool is 45 minutes.
How often are episodes of Supercool released?
Episodes of Supercool are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Supercool?
The first episode of Supercool was released on Jun 20, 2024.
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