Stuck in the Middle: The Mid-Transition Crisis & the Energy System's Awkward Middle Age | With Emily Grubert

Energy vs Climate: How climate is changing our energy systems · Aug 13, 2026 · 47m

Decarbonization usually means addition: more wind, solar, EVs. But a real transition also means taking something away.

We talk about decarbonization like it's a shopping list: more wind, more solar, more EVs, stacked on top of whatever's already running. But a real transition means something also has to come off the list. Fossil systems have to shrink at the same time clean systems grow, and for a good stretch in the middle, both have to serve the same demand at once. Neither one can do the job alone, and each ends up constraining the other.

Civil engineer and environmental sociologist Emily…