Back on the 28^th of June, I had the pleasure of attending a live recording of the Volts podcast hosted by David Roberts here in Seattle at an event sponsored by Canary Media.

Roberts interviewed energy analyst and author Ramez Naam on the topic: What’s next for clean energy and climate mitigation?

Their discussion was a wide-ranging and refreshingly optimistic.

Naam got some attention back in 2011 for his predictions about the cost of solar energy. At the time, he was seen as insanely optimistic, but in fact solar energy costs have plunged even faster than Naam predicted.

He talks about continued cost declines for solar, battery storage and hydrogen production in the interview. He also touches on grid enhancement, space-based power generation, and other fascinating topics.

Most of what I read about climate change is frightening or depressing or both. Naam doesn’t sugarcoat the challenges, but I got excited listening to his optimism and enthusiasm for the clean energy transition.

The recording is now available for everyone.

Here’s the Volts podcast episode web page and the same episode on Spotify. And here’s a transcript of some highlights of the interview.

It’s well worth the hour.