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Everybody in the Pool

Molly Wood

Enough with the "problem porn." We all know the climate crisis is a big deal. This podcast is entirely about solutions and the people who are building them. Entrepreneurs are inventing miracles; the business world is shifting; individuals are overhauling their lives; an entirely new economy is being born. Don't be the last one in.

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  • 23 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 33 min
  • English

Episodes 23

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  • #139
    June 11 · 46 min

    E139: Make fusion energy, then repeat. Inertia Enterprises, Part 1

    Fusion has been “ten years away” for decades — but one corner of the field just crossed a line that changes the conversation. In December 2022, Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s National Ignition Facility achieved ignition: a self-sustaining fusion reaction that produced net energy. And they’ve repeated it. So what happens when you take the only fusion approach that’s proven to work, and focus less on new physics… and more on building the industrial supply chain to do it again and again, cheaply and reliably? You get a field trip! In part one of a two-part field trip to Livermore, California, Molly visits Inertia Enterprises’ “House of Fusion” to meet two of the company’s co-founders: Jeff Lawson (yes, that Jeff Lawson — founder of Twilio and majority owner of The Onion) on the business case for commercializing ignition, and why Inertia thinks the economics are finally ready. Mike Dunne, former Lawrence Livermore power-plant designer and Stanford professor, on what it takes to turn a lab breakthrough into a power plant — from a gigawatt-scale “engine” that can follow renewables on the grid, to building a million precision fuel targets a day. We talk about: What “ignition” actually means — and why it’s different from “fusion someday” Why Inertia is starting with the only physics regime that’s been proven to produce net fusion energy The two big bottlenecks: high-power diode lasers and mass-manufactured fusion targets How scaling semiconductor manufacturing could drive laser costs down (and why “1,000x” matters) What a fusion target is: a tiny fuel capsule inside a miniature “oven” (and why lead beats gold for economics) Why a fusion plant looks more like a high-RPM engine than a one-off experiment — and how that changes everything Potential early markets beyond electricity: high-temperature process heat for steel, cement, and fertilizer What it looks like to build a fusion company in Silicon Valley: Apple/Waymo-style process engineers, high-end metrology, and a Nerf gun used as a stand-in for high-speed target tracking Thunderdome. Yes, really. Links: Inertia Enterprises: https://inertia.com/ Everybody in the Pool: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/ Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/ Become a member for the ad-free version of the show: https://everybodyinthepool.supercast.com/ Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/2EsDhwQC2z Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #138
    June 4 · 29 min

    E138: The Solar Revolution You Don't Need a Rooftop For

    If you’re on a mission to make your home greener, solar panels might seem like an obvious place to start. But for renters, apartment dwellers, and homeowners who can’t afford a traditional rooftop solar installation, solar has long been out of reach — until now. This week on Everybody in the Pool, Molly talks with Cora Stryker, co-founder of Bright Saver, about a simple climate technology that's already taken Europe by storm: plug-in solar. Also known as balcony solar, these small solar systems can be installed without contractors, plugged directly into a standard outlet, and start generating electricity immediately. More than 4 million systems are already in use in Germany, but in the United States, regulations have kept the technology largely off the market. In this episode, Cora explains how plug-in solar could open up access to clean energy and lower electricity bills for millions of renters and homeowners. She also shares how Bright Saver is driving a wave of legislation across the country aimed at making these systems legal. We talk about: What plug-in solar is and how it works Why millions of Europeans already use balcony solar systems How renters and apartment residents can benefit from generating their own electricity Why traditional rooftop solar remains so expensive in the United States The regulatory roadblocks slowing adoption, and whether safety concerns cited by utilities hold up to scrutiny How Utah, Maine, Maryland, Virginia, and Colorado are leading the way on legalization Why affordability may be the key to scaling climate solutions The surprising coalition of climate advocates, free-market supporters, and energy-independence champions backing plug-in solar Links: Bright Saver: https://brightsaver.org All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/ Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/2EsDhwQC2z Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/ Become a member for the ad-free version of the show: https://everybodyinthepool.supercast.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #137
    May 28 · 32 min

    E137: The Missing Ingredient for Fusion Energy

    We need to triple global energy production by 2050. Renewables are scaling fast, but the real wild card that could change everything might just be fusion. The physics and engineering are closer than ever, but there’s a critical materials problem standing between us and unlimited clean energy. This week on Everybody in the Pool, Molly speaks with Dr. John Elling, a Los Alamos chemist turned serial entrepreneur who’s working on a solution that he believes will change the world. Both fusion and next-generation fission reactors rely on enriched lithium isotopes, and existing enrichment methods are slow, expensive, and require massive facilities. Dr. Elling’s company, Molten Salt Solutions, is developing a simpler, cheaper process and building the US's first commercial production facility for enriched lithium — the ingredient that could determine whether fusion energy ever actually reaches the grid. We talk about: The big problem facing both fusion and advanced fission right now: the unmet demand for fuel A refresher on the science behind enriched lithium and nuclear energy The world’s growing energy demands, and why fusion will help us meet the 3x demand we’ll face by 2050 Why the US dismantled its only enrichment facility and why Russia currently holds the only meaningful supply How Molten Salt Solutions' mercury-free, scalable process differs from how governments did it during the nuclear weapons era The race to supply fusion developers with material they need now, before commercial reactors even exist Why the current administration's push to reduce regulatory barriers for small modular reactors is accelerating demand for lithium-7 John's case for why fusion is the final frontier of humanity’s energy evolution Links: Molten Salt Solutions: https://www.moltensaltsolutions.com/ All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/ Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/2EsDhwQC2z Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/ Become a member for the ad-free version of the show (and support future field trips): https://everybodyinthepool.supercast.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Showing 21–23 of 23 episodes