Latest / Energy Empire / Can a Climate Democrat Win a Trump District? — with Rep. Kathy Castor

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Can a Climate Democrat Win a Trump District? — with Rep. Kathy Castor · Energy Empire

0:00
The solutions are there to help people save money, but there is
0:03
a disconnect. I don't think that the average
0:06
person or even the average member of Congress understands
0:10
the technological advancements on clean energy.
0:14
One of my colleagues, Jared Huffman, who's a ranking member
0:17
on the Natural Resources Committee, the other day in
0:20
committee, actually entered into the record a battery because so
0:24
much of the discussion is divorced from the fact that
0:27
clean energy technologies, now we can store that energy and get
0:31
it onto the grid. Energy.
0:37
Isn't just an industry, it's. How the world works.
0:40
I'm Jigger. Shaw, a clean energy
0:42
entrepreneur. And I'm Jamie Nolan, a Clean
0:45
energy Communications executive. Welcome to Energy Empire.
0:48
Hey Jigger, I am really excited about today's guest.
0:53
Well, you know. It's one of those things where.
0:56
We're heading right into summer and when you're heading into.
0:59
Summer, what you think about is the representative from Florida?
1:04
Absolutely. I mean, I wouldn't describe
1:07
myself as a single issue voter, but I very much so am like a
1:11
climate and environment voter first.
1:14
I would say that that is like the weightiest thing for me.
1:17
And so because of that, the members of Congress who have
1:20
done the most on climate and clean energy like it.
1:22
They've got a little bit of rock star status.
1:24
And so I was nervous going into today's recording with
1:28
Representative Kathy Castor from Florida's 14th District.
1:31
She represents the Tampa Bay area because I've just been
1:34
following her work and, you know, read so many interviews
1:39
with her and, and just, she's just been a very effective
1:42
advocate for the issues that matter to us.
1:44
So this is our first episode featuring a member of Congress,
1:48
and I'm so glad it was her. Well, it's one of those things
1:51
where, I mean, you know, we're obviously good friends with, you
1:54
know, Sean Caston and other representatives in the house.
1:57
But the thing about Kathy Castor is that she's in her 20th year.
2:01
And she's, you know, she was really close to Speaker Nancy
2:05
Pelosi. And so as a result, she ran the
2:07
Select Committee in the House. And if you remember back then,
2:11
it was really politically charged, right, because AOC and
2:15
Senator Markey came out with a Green New Deal and.
2:18
There was like this protest. You remember Sunrise Movement?
2:22
Like locked themselves into. Speaker Pelosi's office.
2:25
And said you will do something on climate or else.
2:28
And you know, she really. Trusted Representative Castor.
2:32
To run that process for her and so.
2:34
Part of. This is also just a recognition
2:37
not just of her expertise around climate issues and her passion
2:41
for them. But also her the respect she has
2:45
from. Leadership and her as a.
2:47
Her ability to actually shape something that leadership will
2:52
get. Behind and actually turn into a
2:54
law and in this case right. She did all of that work.
2:57
So that in 2021, when you know, you and I went back in and we
3:02
went into the Department of Energy, there was.
3:04
Actually a body of work. That the.
3:07
Speaker of the House pushed. Through which became the
3:10
Inflation Reduction Act. Yes, and we're so thankful for
3:13
that and all of her hard work on this issue, very hard fought
3:16
wins over decades. One thing that I think is that
3:20
is really interesting about speaking to her as a
3:22
representative from Florida at this moment is just like the
3:26
disconnect between what her work at the federal level and then
3:30
what's happening at the state level in Florida.
3:33
I mean, that must be so frustrating for her.
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You know, of course there's, you know, monopolistic utilities
3:39
there that are. It's like the grid, mostly on
3:42
gas, not on renewables, And they have incredible solar resources.
3:46
While also. As you know, Florida Republicans
3:49
are famously against oil drilling off of their own coast,
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while they're famously for oil drilling off of Santa Barbara.
3:57
Of course, because that makes so much sense.
4:00
Yeah. You know, the other thing is
4:02
that I am excited because I'm going to the reindustrialized
4:05
conference June 16th and 17th in Detroit, which is the center
4:10
right group of people who want to do big things in the United
4:13
States and build manufacturing facilities and others, right.
4:16
And so part of what excites me about.
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Her work? Is I think it's actually
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resonating a lot with folks who want to build big things in this
4:25
country because they recognize that she's critical to
4:28
permitting reform and critical to a lot of the other things
4:31
that they need to be able to get the permission to move faster.
4:34
Well, I can't wait to hear more about that conference.
4:37
Maybe you need to. We need to rustle up some guests
4:39
and see who you can talk to while you're there.
4:42
It'll be awesome. Energy Empire is powered by.
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Octopus Energy. I hear it at every.
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Conference, we need more generation, more transmission.
4:57
You're saying we don't? We do, but we're ignoring
5:00
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US. That's gigawatts we're not
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using. Utilities.
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Have pitched demand response for. 20 years and it still
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hasn't. Scaled.
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Why is this time? Different.
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Because we're not asking customers to change behaviour,
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we're automating it. The grid treats customers like
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shift load overnight at scale. So the constraint isn't
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technology. It's coordination, the solutions
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already deployed, we just need to use it.
5:42
Thanks, Natasha. That was Natasha Crowe, VICE.
5:46
President of marketing and comms for Octopus North America If.
5:50
That's the version of the grid you.
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Want check them out? The link is in the show notes.
6:00
Thank you so much for being here.
6:01
I'm so excited for this conversation.
6:03
So you've been in Congress nearly 20 years.
6:06
You chaired the Select Committee on the climate crisis under
6:08
Speaker Pelosi. And you've been one of the
6:10
loudest voices on climate in the House for as long as the House
6:14
has had a climate fight, which is why I'm like, starstruck
6:17
having you here. And now DeSantis has redrawn
6:21
your district to make that feel like kind have perhaps a
6:25
liability. So can you walk us through what
6:27
just happened? Wow, what just happened?
6:30
Wait, you know, folks who are watching the democracy crisis we
6:35
have going on in America will understand that many of the the
6:39
GOP policies are very unpopular. Inflation is high, gas prices
6:45
are high, housing prices are very high.
6:48
And they they're afraid they're going to lose this election big
6:53
time. I mean, the, the party in power
6:56
always loses congressional seats after in the midterm election.
7:00
So they wanted to rig, rig the game.
7:02
And what's different in Florida, though, is in our state
7:05
constitution, we have Republicans, Democrats,
7:08
independents put language in that says you, you're not
7:11
allowed to gerrymander for partisan purposes.
7:14
But they did it anyway. And the courts now,
7:18
unfortunately, we can't rely on them.
7:21
So people are are very outraged. They took a Tampa Bay area
7:24
district that I've had the privilege of representing and
7:28
spun it out into five different districts.
7:31
But, you know, right now it doesn't matter how they draw the
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lines on the map. We have to draw the line for
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people. So I'm in the fight.
7:40
It's a tougher district, but I have a a strong record of
7:44
delivering for my neighbors across the aisle.
7:46
Doesn't matter. So but this is a tougher
7:50
district. But I think the affordability
7:53
crisis, high electric bills, what's happening with the
7:56
heating climate and these very intense weather events,
7:59
droughts, floods, even freezes are people are awake to to what
8:04
that means in their own lives. Absolutely.
8:07
And you, you touched on this a little bit and mentioning the
8:10
the Hurricanes that you know have hit your district in the
8:13
last few years and Florida, certainly one of the hardest hit
8:15
climate states in the country. The state legislature
8:19
nonetheless has been stripping climate change out of the
8:21
state's energy laws. So how does that disconnect
8:24
actually feel on the ground? Like do people seem aware of it?
8:28
Jamie, no, they don't really know what's happening in in
8:31
Tallahassee, but but our local communities, mayors and county
8:35
commissioners understand this. They know it's going to be much
8:38
more expensive if they can't do some things to make their
8:42
communities more resilient, if they can't build roads and
8:45
bridges and communities with an eye towards climate resiliency
8:51
so that they can withstand the next flood that comes along or
8:54
the next freeze. There's just a general
8:56
frustration, though, with the cost of living in Florida and
9:00
the fact that the GOP that has been firmly in control for
9:04
decades, they just don't haven't had any solutions to lower
9:08
electric bills or property insurance costs.
9:10
So it just, if you're, if you follow along, this feels like
9:15
insult to injury. Like, things are already so
9:17
expensive and it feels like a gift to the electric utility
9:22
monopolies in our state that that do not want people to save
9:27
money on their electric bills. They don't want them to put
9:29
solar panels on their homes. They, they even rolled back our
9:33
energy efficiency goals in Florida years back.
9:36
So it's there's just a general frustration in our state and
9:40
people are pretty upset by it. One thing I was going to ask you
9:44
about here is that with the work you're doing with the Thriving
9:46
Economy project, there does seem to be a disconnect.
9:50
Where a lot. Of folks have talked about solar
9:52
panels or battery storage or EVs, etcetera, but a lot of
9:55
these solutions don't seem like, you know, they're speaking
9:59
directly to the electorate. Like, have you thought about
10:02
what you're doing differently within the Thriving Economy
10:05
project this time around to really solicit ideas that speak
10:09
directly to voters who, you know, might feel like they're
10:12
left behind by heat pumps and other, you know, technologies?
10:16
Yeah. And Jigger and Jamie, I'm so
10:18
appreciative for all of your hard work to to help speed a lot
10:22
of these cost saving, innovative technologies to the grid.
10:27
It just feels like the the rug was ripped out from under us
10:30
with this new administration, everything they've done to to
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throw a wrench into into progress.
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So it, it kind of reminds me of the moment in time before there
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was a Select Committee on the climate crisis that helped
10:45
develop policies. After listening to people across
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the country, scientists and entrepreneurs, innovators, folks
10:52
from the faith community, farmers, advocates, where we
10:56
listened and we were able to build a coalition for progress
11:01
to help lower energy bills and unleash this clean energy
11:05
revolution. And it feels like, OK, now we're
11:08
at a different moment in time where costs are even higher for
11:12
the average person. The solutions are are there to
11:16
help people save money, but there is a disconnect.
11:19
I don't think that the average person or even the average
11:22
member of Congress understands the technological advancements
11:27
on clean energy. One of my colleagues, Jared
11:30
Huffman, who chairs who's the ranking member on the Natural
11:34
Resources Committee the other day in committee actually
11:36
entered into the record a battery because so much of the
11:40
discussion is divorced from the fact that the clean energy
11:45
technologies. Now we can store that energy and
11:48
and get and get it onto the grid.
11:50
So thriving economy is about developing the solutions for the
11:55
here and now to help answer a lot of these questions for
11:58
people. What can we do even while Trump
12:01
is still in the White House to help lower electric bills and
12:05
build more resilient communities?
12:07
And a lot of this has to do with building those coalitions.
12:10
Again, we've already received about 1200 policy proposals,
12:15
about 140 submittals for the request for information.
12:20
There are so many great ideas out there across America.
12:24
Yeah. So let's let's gather them and
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let's, let's unleash some of these innovators and these these
12:31
community leaders to educate the Congress on how you move forward
12:35
and help people save money. Now, the folks at Zillow and
12:39
like Red Finn and others are saying that Floridians are
12:42
quietly moving inland or talking about moving because of
12:46
hurricanes and flooding. That doesn't seem like a climate
12:49
change voter conversation. It's more of a just, you know, a
12:53
real estate agent conversation, right?
12:55
So are you hearing that from voters?
12:59
Like, you know, when you have a conversation about, you know,
13:02
sort of how they're adapting. They are the there is a little
13:07
bit of a housing downturn, but Florida has higher highs and
13:12
lower lows over the last 100 years when it comes to real
13:16
estate. And it's just natural after some
13:18
devastating hurricane seasons that that folks are stuck.
13:22
We, we're a high risk state. We have over 1300 miles of
13:27
coastline. We're the most hurricane prone
13:29
state. The damage from Helene and
13:32
Milton, we're not even going back to Ian or Irma, just
13:36
Helena. Milton was $4 billion.
13:39
And then when you add in the flood insurance claims, another
13:43
$6 billion, I think. And so it's very difficult for
13:46
people to rebuild. So they are kind of looking for
13:52
another refuge and that comes at a time when the cost of housing
13:57
is very high because of tariffs and insurance.
14:00
You're even if you move inland somewhat, you're not going to
14:03
get that much of a break on your property insurance and you're
14:06
sure not going to get a break on your electric bills because
14:09
Florida is really stuck in the past.
14:11
You would what would you guess in the Sunshine State, our
14:15
energy mixes. Oh, I.
14:19
Know it's. It's it's mostly dual fuel.
14:22
Like natural gas. You know, units.
14:24
It's it's, it's crazy, especially.
14:26
When NextEra is the. Largest owner of solar.
14:29
And wind farms in the country, it's they just not in Florida.
14:33
75% of our electric generation comes from gas in the Sunshine
14:38
State. And a lot of folks comment to me
14:41
when they travel to Florida, they, they say we really
14:44
expected to see more solar panels on industrial sites, on
14:49
large warehouses on, on homes. And unfortunately, our utility
14:54
monopolies and the politicians in our state capital have have a
14:59
stranglehold on cleaner, cheaper energy for, for our state.
15:04
And now it's really as we electrify everything and data
15:09
centers move in, people are just kind of choking on what the
15:13
future holds. That's why we think through this
15:15
thriving economy project, we can build the coalition's the
15:19
political power necessary to to educate folks on some real
15:24
practical solutions. And I saw what we did with the
15:28
Select Committee on climate. It didn't happen overnight, but
15:31
you build those coalitions and you educate folks and you you
15:35
bring people into the political process and speak to their their
15:39
hopes that they can live the American dream and not be priced
15:43
out of the neighborhood their parents grew up in or a job in,
15:47
in the clean energy economy. I want to talk about the war in
15:51
Iran. So obviously gas prices are up.
15:54
Your district is home to Central Command for a significant swath
15:57
of the US military. Does that change the energy
16:00
conversation that you're having there with constituents?
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No, not at all. Those those outstanding service
16:07
members who serve at Macdill Air Force Base.
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That's home to the Central Command that has the Middle East
16:13
area of responsibility and it's also home to Special Operations
16:17
Command and an air refueling wing.
16:20
But you know, Mcdill is a low lying Air Force Base and after
16:25
the Hurricanes, they were flooded out.
16:26
Every time a storm approaches, they have to relocate the
16:29
operation to another place. So they know that it's important
16:35
to, to build resilient housing, to build resilient command
16:39
centers. They have big energy, big and
16:42
growing energy needs that they're going to need the
16:45
cleaner, cheaper power, more resilient systems.
16:49
So they're pretty, they're, they're fairly educated on this
16:53
and they, you know, this experience goes back to the war
16:56
in Iraq and Afghanistan. What I hear from the outstanding
17:01
service members and their families are just like what I
17:04
hear from from my other neighbors.
17:05
The cost of Healthcare is high. They worry about getting access
17:10
to the doctor's office. They where they going to live.
17:13
It's very expensive in the Tampa Bay area.
17:15
And then how are they going to afford their electric bills?
17:19
They're very similar to to everyone else, but they're
17:21
they're proud service oriented folks that that so believe in
17:27
this country and I think they may understand the innovative
17:30
technologies that are available to us now that a lot of folks
17:34
don't really understand. It does feel like there are no
17:37
clean energy wars, right? No one's invading another
17:41
country over sunlight or wind. Power.
17:43
But at least in my lifetime, we started with protecting Kuwait
17:48
from Iraq. Then invading Afghanistan and
17:51
Iraq and now Iran. We keep getting into oil related
17:55
wars in the Middle East causing ripples through gasoline prices
17:59
and American. Politics.
18:01
Does that make the? Case for clean energy and energy
18:03
independence easier to sell in Florida now.
18:06
I think it does. I think it makes it easier to to
18:08
sell everywhere. People are so tired of spending
18:13
money in in foreign wars over oil and gas.
18:18
They want really, Americans deserve to have their tax
18:21
dollars spent on good schools and a college education or, or
18:25
lowering the cost of housing or taking care of our our veterans.
18:29
They're angry that every, all of the promises were made to lower
18:34
the cost of living. That was going to be Job 1 and
18:36
it that every turn, whether it's tariffs or the cost of
18:39
groceries, are ignoring the cost of the heating climate.
18:44
And now this war, it just feels like those promises have been
18:47
broken. People feel betrayed and they
18:50
there are solutions. And I think that it's up to us
18:53
to communicate the fact that you know what you don't have to be
18:56
hooked up to to a gas plant. You, you can tap into cleaner,
19:02
cheaper energy through through solar technology.
19:05
Your, your local parks and rec center and fire stations like
19:08
we've done in Tampa can run on solar.
19:11
You can begin to ride cleaner transit systems like we've done
19:15
in Saint Petersburg through the the Sunrunner and trying to
19:18
electrify things that are going to save taxpayers money and your
19:21
community's money. So we've got to kind of
19:24
breakthrough a lot of the issues that that tend to drive people's
19:28
emotions and take them off on these tangents and talk about
19:32
what's what's really possible in their lives.
19:34
That's why I'm hopeful this thriving economy project that
19:37
we're going to release in September will capture some of
19:40
those those hopes and aspirations.
19:43
Yeah, I mean, something I was talking about with my cousin
19:46
this last weekend was how frustrated I am as somebody who
19:49
buys health insurance on the exchange, right.
19:52
We had that big fight last year. Healthcare costs are way up, and
19:56
now we're talking about increasing the military budget
19:58
to $1.5 trillion. And, you know, somehow, like,
20:02
figuring out how to do reparations or whatever in Iran
20:06
and we can't find the money to, like, make healthcare more
20:09
efficient. Like, how does 1, you know, sort
20:11
of have these conversations right now in DC when we're just
20:15
going from crazy to crazy to crazy?
20:18
Unfortunately, a lot of my Republican colleagues are scared
20:22
of they're they're they're scared to take on the president.
20:25
I mean, even when they you have states that were benefiting from
20:29
new clean energy projects that were fully permitted.
20:33
You all know better than I do. Fully permitted and about to
20:36
begin construction to help keep electric bills low and the Trump
20:40
administration pull cancels those projects for political for
20:44
reasons. I, I confronted the current
20:47
energy secretary with the fact that they went into blue States
20:51
and and arbitrarily canceled projects and a court said he was
20:54
wrong and he still wouldn't admit that there was a problem.
20:57
All of this is just fueling the the higher cost of living and I
21:01
they're, they're going to pay a price for it.
21:04
And I you hate to think that they have to go through paying
21:08
that high of price before they they change and and work on real
21:12
solutions that will will help our neighbors back home.
21:15
One thing I was curious about though before.
21:17
Diving into your thriving economy project is it It does
21:21
seem. Like for a long time.
21:22
People got used to demand bases staying flat because of LED
21:27
lighting and that kind of stuff. And but now with AI and
21:30
electrification of electric vehicles and heat pumps and that
21:33
kind of stuff, we really do seem to have a big surge in power
21:37
demand, right? The biggest surge maybe in a
21:39
generation. Are we entering?
21:41
An era where energy. Abundance itself becomes the
21:45
central political issue. I think so.
21:48
I I I really do. How are we going to power our
21:50
lives unless we have abundant new resources and we're more
21:55
efficient too. You know, a lot of the the this
21:58
year in Congress has just been the GOP war on energy efficient
22:03
appliances. I mean, most a lot of a lot of
22:07
floor time in the House of Representatives has been spent
22:10
on the GOP rollback. You know what a weight colossal
22:14
waste of of time and resource at a time.
22:17
Of course, our neighbors back home need as much energy
22:21
efficiency as possible and you don't want to complicate that
22:25
and then the to power communities and and businesses.
22:29
We need enormous amounts of new power and the power that's ready
22:34
to come under the grid is clean solar and wind.
22:38
Plus we have these new technologies, virtual power
22:40
plants and, and being able to do more there.
22:43
And we're just we're, we're the, the my GOP friends.
22:48
They're they're just now kind of learning about this.
22:52
And we really need folks across the country with the the
22:56
knowledge and know how to, to communicate to these members and
22:59
make sure they they understand what is possible.
23:02
We want want America to to live up to everyone's expectations.
23:06
This is we're celebrating 250 years.
23:08
What a better way to celebrate it than to to work together to
23:12
lower people's electric bills and and boost American
23:16
innovation and global competitiveness.
23:18
That's what a lot of the policies and the Inflation
23:21
Reduction Act we're all about. We need to get back there.
23:23
But even now, even since the RA pass, there's so many new
23:28
opportunities, so many smart people, so many folks who who
23:33
desire a better economy for everybody who are ready to get
23:37
to work. So we, we all have a stake in
23:39
this. OK, so we've spoken a lot about
23:42
the Thriving Economy project, which is the House Democrats
23:45
attempt to rate the next big energy and climate bill before
23:49
they're in power to pass it. But can you give us like a
23:52
context from the beginning? What is the project and what are
23:56
you trying to accomplish? Yeah, the Thriving Economy
23:59
project is an ambitious project to help bring lower cost energy
24:05
onto the grid and make people's lives more resilient.
24:09
We we see a future where folks can live the American dream,
24:14
find a good job in the clean energy economy or related and
24:19
bring on some of these technologies that will give
24:22
America a boost in global competitiveness.
24:25
We can't let China eat our lunch and I'm afraid that they are
24:30
capturing a lot of the global market right now.
24:33
We can't we can't cede that market to China.
24:36
We have to get back to working with our partners and allies to
24:40
to lift lift lives here in America, but but our partners
24:44
across the globe. I'm also working specifically on
24:47
a chapter relating to community resilience with Samantha
24:52
Medlock, who was a leads up a group called climate risk.
24:57
She was a high-ranking official at FEMA and understands the
25:01
importance of making sure that that local communities have the
25:05
tools they need need to build more resilient infrastructure to
25:09
make sure we're upgrading codes and standards.
25:12
Doing this in an affordable way because what I learned when
25:15
Helene, hurricanes, Helena, Milton hit my community, it's
25:19
very expensive to try to build back.
25:21
So let's build infrastructure in a more resilient way to begin
25:25
with. Local communities have a lot of
25:28
know how. Let's give them the resources to
25:31
do this. And some of the changes to FEMA
25:34
that are being proposed here in the House are already
25:36
bipartisan. Let's enact some of those into
25:39
law quickly so that we're saving money and we're we're building
25:44
in a more resilient way. So you covered.
25:47
Some of this already, but just just to ask in a different way.
25:50
I mean, if if the Democrats take over the House and you're in the
25:54
majority again in Energy and Commerce.
25:56
What are some things that you could move?
25:58
While Trump is president, right? I mean, it feels like geothermal
26:02
is currently having a moment. Weatherization programs
26:05
probably, you know, continue to need to be expanded.
26:07
You talked a little bit about FEMA.
26:09
Are there other? Priorities that you think can
26:11
pass while President Trump is in office.
26:15
There there may just be on on permitting reform where a lot of
26:19
the Democrats and some Republicans are interested in
26:23
building an electric grid that meets the needs for the next
26:27
century. You all know our our grid is
26:30
disjointed, it's aging. We don't do well passing energy
26:34
across regions. We have got to get to a modern
26:38
electric grid now. A lot of Republicans want
26:41
smoother permitting reform when it comes to pipelines and
26:45
things. So maybe there is something to
26:47
work on there in in the near term as well.
26:50
So just setting climate aside for our final question.
26:54
Say a voter in your district doesn't believe in, AKA does not
26:58
understand the science around climate change.
27:01
Why should they vote for you anyway?
27:03
They're going to vote for me because I stand up and fight for
27:06
them in their pocketbooks, whether it's their healthcare,
27:10
their housing, but their electric bills.
27:12
I stood with my neighbors a few months ago is they were burning
27:15
their electric bills. They were actually taking them,
27:18
throwing them into a garbage can, lit on fire.
27:21
We have solutions for that. The incentives are are totally
27:26
wrong, right, for electric utility monopolies to have you
27:31
use as much power as possible, not save on your electric bill
27:35
or use some of the solar clean energy technologies that are
27:39
available. We've got to change the
27:40
incentives here. And I think if we can do that,
27:44
we will be able to power people's lives in a cheaper,
27:47
much more affordable way. Well, I have.
27:50
Just been so inspired. By your leadership.
27:52
I think, as you know, I did a lot of work with the
27:54
Hillsborough School District. Before I.
27:56
Served in the Biden administration.
27:57
I do think that so much has changed since you ran the Slack
28:02
committee in 2018. I think the cost of solar panels
28:06
and battery storage are way down.
28:07
The cost of electric vehicles are way down.
28:10
I mean a lot. Of the technology around virtual
28:12
power plants in the bill that you sponsored.
28:14
And it seems like even Representative Federchuk, I
28:16
think has got a great utilization bill, right?
28:19
And so it does feel like there is a moment here where folks are
28:25
going to, you know, allow the Great American technologies that
28:28
we've invented and researched here to get deployed at scale.
28:31
But, you know, I frankly can't imagine it happening without
28:34
your leadership. So I very much appreciate you
28:36
continue to fight the fight. Well, Jigger and Jamie, I'm I'm
28:40
really indebted to, to you. You took the baton and ran with
28:45
it and America is a better place for it.
28:48
Now. We're going to reset again.
28:50
We're going to keep going. We're going to reset again.
28:52
People are inspired by by the possible.
28:56
And I think there is a lot right now that is possible that will
29:00
improve people's lives. But you all were hard at work at
29:02
it. And we're going to need your
29:04
your voices and your know how in the coming years.
29:07
Thank you so much, Congresswoman, for joining us.
29:09
It's been an honor having you. Hey, thanks so much.
29:16
Energy Empire is supported by S2G Investments if you haven't.
29:20
Checked out their podcast. I highly recommend it.
29:23
They have a great. Recent episode on the long term
29:26
effects of the. Iran war and the blockade of the
29:28
Strait of Hormuz. In the episode Sanjeev.
29:31
Krishna and Frank O'Sullivan and Bala Nagarajan make a compelling
29:36
case that this disruption could be the most powerful accelerant
29:40
for renewable energy in a generation.
29:42
And in future episodes, they'll be exploring how those forces
29:46
are reshaping our food systems and ocean intelligence.
29:50
Sound. Interesting.
29:51
Go find the S2G podcast. And start with the global energy
29:55
order has changed now what? Wow, she didn't disappoint.
30:04
She stays. So busy.
30:06
It is amazing to me how much detail she really understands
30:11
and is able to relay to her voters and her constituents.
30:15
Absolutely. I mean, I think she's really
30:18
committed to furthering American ingenuity and innovation.
30:23
And I also loved how passionately she spoke about the
30:26
military service members that live in her district.
30:28
And I mean, we've spoken to Tim Haid and I know you and I just
30:32
know a lot of veterans that work in this industry.
30:35
And if anyone understands the benefits of these technologies
30:39
in terms of military readiness and reducing casualties from
30:44
like refueling and all of the, the various benefits associated
30:48
with clean power that direct directly relate to our military,
30:53
she really gets that. Her constituents get it.
30:55
And so I hope she gets re elected.
30:59
I know she's in, she mentioned she's in a really tough district
31:02
down there in, in Florida since they've rewritten the, the, you
31:06
know, all of the, the lines with gerrymandering.
31:08
But she's an important advocate for our solutions.
31:11
And so I'm pulling for her and I'm honored that she joined us.
31:15
It was just such a treat. Well, things are getting nuts.
31:19
I mean, gasoline I think is $5 a gallon for half of the country
31:22
already. And you know, beef prices I
31:25
think have tripled. It's just nuts as to what's
31:29
happening with the Strait of Hormuz and how it's impacting
31:32
affordability across the country.
31:34
I thought she was really eloquent about it.
31:36
And I agree with you. I mean, she's in a uphill
31:39
battle. I think she's in a + 10 Trump
31:41
district now with the redistricting.
31:42
She mentioned that there might be some relief from the Supreme
31:45
Court of Florida, but I'm not holding my breath.
31:48
And but it does feel like things are just getting worse and worse
31:52
and worse with with what's happening in Iran.
31:55
So I'm hopeful that the work that she's doing on the
32:00
Thriving, you know, Economy project really brings the best
32:03
ideas to the table to really bring some relief.
32:06
I mean, more immediately, I'm, I'm excited about the thriving
32:08
economy project. I don't know if I think that
32:10
it's going to be relevant in this election cycle, but I do
32:14
know that there's no denying the impacts of climate, whether or
32:19
not you call it that, on your life and on your expenses and on
32:24
your frankly, like your stability because of these
32:27
hurricanes in Florida. And so I really just hope that
32:32
despite her being in a + 10 Trump district, that her
32:36
constituents are really just looking at the broken promises
32:39
from the Trump administration and particularly in terms of
32:42
affordability, cost of living and electricity, affordability
32:46
specifically. I mean, there's no way that they
32:49
can turn themselves inside out to say that they have met their
32:51
promises on just what it takes to live in this country and
32:55
afford a life in this country and sees that Democrats really
32:59
are the the party that they're coming with the solutions at
33:02
this moment in time, particularly on energy.
33:05
And I was happy to hear that she said that if the Democrats do
33:09
win, that she thinks that they'll take up permitting
33:11
reform. Because I think that that was a
33:13
real lost opportunity for us during the Biden years that we
33:15
didn't get that done. Yeah, Manchin Barrasso turned
33:18
out to be a pretty good deal that we probably should have
33:21
gotten across the finish line. Yep.
33:23
Well, thank you so much to our sponsors S2G and Octopus.
33:28
And I think Next up we're going to have our segment of Ask
33:31
Jigger. So I'm ready to ready to ask the
33:34
hard questions. Welcome to Ask Jigger, our
33:41
weekly segment where our listeners send in their
33:44
questions for Jigger and we read them live.
33:47
If you have a question for Jigger, the link is in the show
33:50
notes, so be sure to check that out.
33:52
Our first question is from David Schmidt, who asks where should
33:55
one person put their effort? You've argued that individuals
33:59
can't slow climate change by counting their own carbon.
34:02
Scale is what matters. So for someone who doesn't run
34:05
an energy company, doesn't have millions to deploy, and isn't an
34:09
elected official, where should they actually put their time and
34:12
energy? Yeah, it's a good question and
34:14
one that I think has a lot of answers.
34:16
In general, you start with the fact that every single town and
34:21
city in the United States is its own jurisdiction.
34:24
And so the fact that solar is easy to install in one town
34:28
doesn't mean it's easier to install in the next town.
34:31
And so each person can be helpful with their City Council
34:34
or their mayor or county commissioner to say, hey,
34:37
there's this huge opportunity. You're slow slowing us down.
34:40
You know, like if you want to convert your local police force
34:43
to electric vehicles, police cars generally get like 3 miles
34:47
a gallon for their cars because they're generally just idling on
34:51
the side of the road most of the time.
34:53
And so electric vehicles are really fast payback for police
34:57
forces, right? And so a lot of that is sort of
34:59
local lobbying, but hopefully it's with people you went to
35:01
high school with, right, as people that that trust you and
35:04
that you trust them. You know, if you want to step up
35:07
from that, we need a million new small businesses in this country
35:11
to sell the last mile, right? People need to do sales.
35:15
They do maintenance, they do lots of other things.
35:18
And so if you want to start your own business, you know this is a
35:21
great industry to start a small local business and be really
35:24
become almost a franchise of some of the large players and
35:28
then there's obviously investment.
35:29
Opportunities locally as well. Great.
35:32
Our next question is from Julian Smith and Julian is headed to
35:35
College in fallout to 2026 majoring in construction
35:39
management, minoring and Sustainability and they want to
35:43
know how AI changes the calculus.
35:46
Is a four year degree still the right path for someone aiming at
35:49
the built environment and clean energy or is there a better
35:52
route? Well, you know, I mean, I have
35:55
worked with so many construction companies.
35:57
One of my really good friends is the folks at Mortensen
36:01
Construction. But you know, they hire a lot of
36:04
people and they are so busy building data centers, building
36:07
solar and wind farms, etcetera. And a lot of their construction
36:11
managers have gone to college. And so, so it's certainly great
36:15
to go to college if that's the career.
36:16
That you want to. Focus on, there's clearly a lot
36:19
of tools that they use, right, to be able to do the project
36:22
management. There's a lot of AI, I'm sure
36:24
going into those tools. And so hopefully you'll learn
36:27
about them in your degree program.
36:29
But I also think it's important to turn wrenches on the summers,
36:33
right? And like, so I turned wrenches
36:35
all summer when I was in my engineering school at the
36:38
University of Illinois, that I think it's valuable to actually
36:41
try to go be in the shoes of the people that you're going.
36:44
To be managing in the. Future it pays pretty well in
36:47
the summer but also it makes you a better.
36:49
Manager of the future. Love that turning wrenches.
36:52
Never heard that turn of phrase. I like it.
36:56
All right. Our next question is from Justin
36:58
Brody, Comet on Volts with David Roberts.
37:01
You said you expect 50 climate tech IPOs this year.
37:05
That's a much bigger number than most people are forecasting.
37:08
Can you go deeper? What's driving it and which
37:11
categories are leading? Well, I certainly believe that
37:14
there is 50 companies that should be going public right
37:16
now. I think it's been fantastic so
37:18
far when you see folks like Solve Energy and Fervo.
37:21
And most recently, I think. There's a SPAC that features a
37:25
battery company called Factorial Energy.
37:27
And so there's a lot of folks going public, which is
37:30
wonderful, but there's so many more that.
37:32
Need to go public? Faster.
37:34
There's a lot of companies that are already cashflow positive.
37:36
They don't need to raise a lot of money, but they need the
37:40
currency of going public, right, because then they can acquire
37:43
other companies, etcetera. And so that's a lot of what I do
37:47
in my day job with my partner Jonathan Silver and Multiplier.
37:50
We help these companies go faster, go public faster and get
37:53
exits faster. But you know, I may have been
37:57
slightly hyperbolic on the 50, but not really.
37:59
I think there's 50 that are ready to go public.
38:02
We'll see whether they decide to go public.
38:03
But for instance, if you're in the geothermal space right now.
38:06
You should most certainly be going public.
38:08
OK. That's kind of a spicy take.
38:10
I feel like do you, if you have a geothermal thermal company,
38:15
you should go public? We want to hear from the
38:17
geothermal companies about that. OK.
38:19
Our final question is from Tim Fu in Massachusetts.
38:22
And Tim has solar batteries in an EV and he's envious of Texans
38:27
who get paid for sending power back during peak events. 2
38:30
parts. What would have to change for
38:32
homeowners in Massachusetts and other states to get access to
38:35
programs like Texas's? And why are so few EVs enabled
38:40
for vehicle to grid? Are the automakers deliberately
38:43
slow walking that? Yeah, great questions.
38:46
So one, it sounds like you're in Massachusetts and Massachusetts
38:50
has a fantastic program called Connect Solutions.
38:53
That program extends into Massachusetts, Connecticut,
38:57
Rhode Island and so and it actually is quite lucrative.
38:59
They pay you a little bit upfront, but then they pay you
39:02
more overtime for five years. So a lot of folks are installing
39:05
batteries, putting in smart water heaters, putting in smart
39:08
thermostats, putting in EV chargers that are programmable.
39:11
Etcetera, right and taking advantage of.
39:14
Really a lot of demand flexibility programs are
39:16
championed within the Massachusetts utility companies.
39:20
On the V to G side, it's proving to be a lot harder than people
39:25
expected because they didn't plan for their cars to be V to G
39:29
Interestingly enough, Tesla did plan for their cars to be V to G
39:33
and so they have inverters actually on the car.
39:36
And so you can really use a very simple plug to have Tesla go
39:41
vehicle to grid. Whereas for all of the rest of
39:44
the vehicles, you need to install a separate inverter, you
39:48
need to connect it directly into the sub panel.
39:51
And so it can easily cost 8 or $9000 to put in a vehicle to
39:55
grid system. And so a lot of auto companies
39:58
are unlocking the vehicle to grid feature, but they're also
40:01
looking to redesign their vehicle to figure out how to
40:05
make that process a lot simpler and easier.
40:07
So I think it's going to take a few years because.
40:10
Vehicle to grid cost a lot of money right now, but the rest of
40:13
those VPP programs are just as lucrative, if not more lucrative
40:17
than Texas. Wow, more lucrative than Texas?
40:20
I don't know about that checker. Throw out some examples.
40:23
What are some states that if our listeners are located there,
40:25
they should definitely look into what VPP programs are available?
40:29
So definitely Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, right,
40:31
Those programs are some of the most.
40:34
Lucrative programs that are around.
40:36
Duke Energy Colorado and Excel Minnesota, our friends in South.
40:43
Carolina as well as. North Carolina for Duke have
40:46
good programs. Our Friends of the Rocky
40:48
Mountain Power has their Wattsmart program in Salt Lake
40:52
City and I think that extends into Wyoming and other places.
40:56
So very exciting. Awesome, I did not hear you
40:59
mention Virginia. I guess I'll have to keep
41:00
waiting. Not yet, but it's coming.
41:02
It's coming any day now. Is it?
41:05
Come on. Well, our new friend is, is we
41:08
heard our new friend will be working on energy policy there
41:10
in the State House. So I'll look forward to
41:12
following up with Louise White about that.
41:13
We're very excited for her. Thank you so much for joining us
41:17
for this segment of Ask Jigger. If you would like to ask Jigger
41:20
a question, please check out the link in our show notes.
41:23
Thanks to our sponsor Octopus Energy for sponsoring the
41:25
segment.