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60 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Trump: The Accidental Clean Energy President
18 maart 2026 · 48 min
Trump promised to cut energy bills in half. Instead, he started a war that pushed oil past $100 a barrel, shut down the Strait of Hormuz, and sent every oil-importing nation on earth scrambling for solar panels and batteries — mostly from China. Lees meer
James Gutman returns to Energy Empire with a provocative argument: Donald Trump has inadvertently done more to accelerate the global clean energy transition than any climate policy in history. Not because he wanted to — but because when you blow up the global energy order, countries don't wait around. They build something new.
Jigar Shah, Jamie Nolan, and Gutman trace how the Iran war is rewiring global energy in real time — from Pakistan's 41 GW solar boom to China's $250 billion clean energy Marshall Plan to the fertilizer plants shutting down because of gas prices.
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The Cheapest Grid Is the One We Already Paid For
12 maart 2026 · 1 uur 4 min
Your utility bill keeps going up. But the problem isn't that we need to build more — it's that we're barely using what we already have. Lees meer
Arnab Pal, founder of clean energy advocacy group Deploy Action and co-author of a new grid affordability playbook, joins Jigar and Jamie to make the case for grid utilization: the unglamorous, cost-cutting strategy that governors, regulators, and utilities are finally starting to pay attention to.
They get into why blue states like California and New York have struggled to actually build clean energy despite ambitious goals, what virtual power plants can do for your electricity bill, and why the debate over whether to say the word "climate" is more complicated than either side admits.
Read the white paper: Grid Growth, Utilization, and Affordability — A Playbook for States https://www.deploy-action.org/post/grid-growth-utilization-and-affordability-a-playbook-for-states
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Why the War in Iran Is Speeding Up the Clean Energy Transition
4 maart 2026 · 1 uur
The US bombed Iran on Saturday. We threw out our planned episode and called James Gutman, Strategist & co-author of The New Joule Order at the Carlyle Group, to make sense of what comes next. Lees meer
James explains why the US has no incentive to protect global energy supply chains, how Venezuela and Iran are reshaping China's energy calculus, and why every oil-importing nation on earth is now rethinking its energy strategy.
Plus, Jigar and Jamie break down what this means for American consumers — from gas prices to natural gas bills — and why the case for solar, batteries, and electrification just got a whole lot stronger.
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The Case Against Off-Grid Data Centers with Tim Hade
26 februari 2026 · 58 min
Tim Hade, Air Force veteran and founder of Scale Microgrids, joins Jigar and Jamie to make the case that the rush to build off-grid data centers is solving the wrong problem. Lees meer
With 56 gigawatts of co-located data centers in the pipeline, Tim explains why most won't get built — and why the real answer is batteries, load flexibility, and making the grid work for data centers, not around them. From his journey building microgrids for cannabis facilities to pioneering distributed energy solutions, Tim breaks down the power electronics challenges that most developers are ignoring, why 10,000 batteries beat one giant power plant, and how communities can actually benefit from the data center boom instead of getting trampled by it.
Don't miss Tim Hade's new Substack and his must-read companion piece to this episode: "The Fastest Way to Ramp Compute Isn't a Power Plant Next to Every Data Center" — https://timhade.substack.com/p/the-fastest-way-to-ramp-compute-isnt
Energy Empire is a weekly podcast about the people, capital, and billion-dollar decisions shaping the future of energy.
Learn more at EnergyEmpire.fm
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Why Wars No Longer Move Oil Markets with Kevin Book
19 februari 2026 · 58 min
Oil shocks once defined the global economy. But even as conflict returns to major energy regions, prices remain relatively stable. Lees meer
In this episode, Jigar Shah and Jamie Nolan speak with Kevin Book about how electrification, energy efficiency, and avoided oil demand are reshaping global markets — and what it means for energy security in a world less dependent on the barrel.
Energy Empire is a weekly podcast about the people, capital, and billion-dollar decisions shaping the future of energy.
Learn more at EnergyEmpire.fm
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A Decade as Solar’s Top Lobbyist with Abby Hopper
19 februari 2026 · 1 uur
Abby Hopper spent nearly a decade as CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), representing one of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S. economy at the center of Washington’s biggest political fights. Lees meer
In this episode of Energy Empire, she joins Jigar Shah and Jamie Nolan to talk about what it’s really like to lead solar through culture wars, trade battles, and rising scrutiny from policymakers — even as it becomes the dominant source of new electricity.
They discuss the reputational risks facing rooftop solar, why the industry still struggles to build political power, and what the next CEO of SEIA will need to do differently as energy demand surges and projects stall.
Energy Empire is a weekly podcast about the people, capital, and billion-dollar decisions shaping the future of energy.
Learn more at EnergyEmpire.fm
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The American-Made Solar Billionaire with Dean Solon
19 februari 2026 · 1 uur 2 min
Dean Solon went from carrying his dad’s HVAC toolbox as a kid to building Shoals—and becoming one of solar’s rare self-made billionaires. Lees meer
Dean breaks down how he thinks, how he sells, and why he’s allergic to corporate nonsense. We talk tariffs, solar factories, microgrids, Disney, and the hard truth about what it takes to make clean energy in the U.S. without getting crushed.
Energy Empire is a weekly podcast about the people, capital, and billion-dollar decisions shaping the future of energy.
Learn more at EnergyEmpire.fm
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Who is Jigar Shah?
19 februari 2026 · 1 uur 11 min
He’s helped finance billions in clean energy and served as one of the U.S. government’s top energy officials—but Jigar Shah rarely talks about himself. Lees meer
In this episode, Phil Radford, CEO of Consumer Reports and Jigar's best friend, joins to change that. Jigar shares the personal story behind SunEdison, the early days of third-party solar finance, and the setbacks that came with building companies in a then-nascent industry.
From watching his hometown lose major employers to putting SunEdison’s first projects on his own credit card, Jigar reflects on the early risks, personal losses, and unlikely breaks that shaped his path from solar entrepreneur to public servant. It’s an inside look at the experiences—and people—that influenced a career spent helping scale clean energy worldwide.
Energy Empire is a weekly podcast about the people, capital, and billion-dollar decisions shaping the future of energy.
Learn more at EnergyEmpire.fm
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Energy Empire Trailer
10 februari 2026 · 2 min
Across the United States, clean energy now makes up more than 90% of new electricity added to the grid — not because of politics or ideology, but because these technologies simply work better. They’re cheaper to build, faster to deploy, and easier to scale than anything that came before. Lees meer
The technology is ready. Now the race is on to build it…everywhere.
Energy Empire is a podcast about the people and ideas driving this transformation. We explore how abundant, affordable energy is reshaping the global economy, creating new industries, and unlocking what may be the greatest wealth-creation opportunity of our generation.
Energy Empire is a weekly podcast about the people, capital, and billion-dollar decisions shaping the future of energy.
Learn more at EnergyEmpire.fm
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Welcome to Energy Empire
9 februari 2026 · 20 min
A once-in-a-generation shift is underway in how the world is powered. Lees meer
Across the United States, clean energy now makes up more than 90% of new electricity added to the grid — not because of politics or ideology, but because these technologies simply work better. They’re cheaper to build, faster to deploy, and easier to scale than anything that came before.
The technology is ready. Now the race is on to build it…everywhere.
Energy Empire is a podcast about the people and ideas driving this transformation. We explore how abundant, affordable energy is reshaping the global economy, creating new industries, and unlocking what may be the greatest wealth-creation opportunity of our generation.
Hosted by Jigar Shah — TIME100 honoree, serial entrepreneur, investor, and former U.S. Department of Energy leader — the show pulls back the curtain on the decisions, innovations, and power struggles shaping the future of energy.
Whether you’re curious about where the economy is headed, how energy affects your daily life, or who’s really building the future behind the scenes, Energy Empire is your guide to what comes next.
Listen to this teaser episode to hear what Energy Empire is all about—and where the show is headed.
Learn more at energyempire.fm
Energy Empire is a weekly podcast about the people, capital, and billion-dollar decisions shaping the future of energy.
Learn more at EnergyEmpire.fm