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Factor This

Launched in 2022, the Factor This Podcast has featured many of the most influential leaders driving the energy transition. From solar and battery storage executives to utility CEOs, the Factor This Podcast brings unique insights and answers to the energy industry’s most pressing challenges. Go beyond high-level trends and mainstream talking points with actionable takeaways.

The Factor This Podcast grew in 2023 with the addition of This Week in Cleantech, a weekly roundup of the biggest stories in climate and clean energy in 15 minutes or less. With new episodes every Friday, Factor This content director Paul Gerke and Mike Casey, a cleantech commentator and president of Tigercomm, bring listeners the most important headlines of the week while featuring the leading journalists behind the stories.

The all-new FactorThis.com is your best source for news, commentary, and analysis of renewable energy and the power grid.

Latest Episodes:

This Week in Cleantech (07/25/2025) - A win for a utility in the data center struggle Jul 25, 2025

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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate in 15 minutes or less featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.

This week’s episode features special guest Dan Gearino from Inside Climate News, who wrote about how an Ohio utility has won a fight over who foots the costs of grid infrastructure upgrades from the buildout of data centers.

This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Russ Bates, Founder of NXTGEN Energy Solutions. Russ was asked to testify as an expert witness before the Georgia Public Service Commission. Georgia Power Company imposes size limits on solar-plus-storage and provides little meaningful access to community solar. Russ explained how these concerns are already addressed by inverter technology, export-limiting capabilities, and Georgia’s own interconnection review process. Now, the Commission has expanded access to clean energy across churches, schools and the like. They also put community solar on a clear path forward.

This Week in Cleantech — July 25, 2025

Trump administration taking new steps to block wind and solar projects, undisclosed memo says — POLITICO
With One Call, Trump Alters the Fate of a Contested Power Project — The New York Times
Wall St. Firms Are Buying Utilities to Tap Into the A.I. Boom — The New York Times
Lobbyists spent millions to save green energy. Wins were few. — E&E News
Consumers (and a Utility) Get a Win in Ohio, While Data Centers Take the Loss — Inside Climate News

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

Community Solar is Powering on Jul 21, 2025

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In the shadow of the ongoing federal dismantling of renewable energy policy, a growing number of states are exploring the benefits of community solar. On this episode of the Factor This podcast, Jorge Vargas, the co-founder and CEO of distributed generation platform Aspen Power, rallies behind his industry at a critical moment, detailing the importance of such projects amid unprecedented electric load growth.

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (07/11/2025) - Uncertainty killed these clean energy projects Jul 18, 2025

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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate in 15 minutes or less featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.

This week’s episode features special guest Sam Black, a filmmaker and journalist for More Perfect Union, who began investigating the early impacts of political uncertainty on clean energy sectors following Donald Trump's re-election.

This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Kevin Doffing, from Project Vanguard, who just shared a post on solar and farmland. He cites the 100 acres of land for ethanol = 1 acre of land for solar stat, then asks the questions: Do we want to keep burning food for fuel? Or use a fraction of that land to power our homes, cars, and grid?

This Week in Cleantech — July 18, 2025

Why Americans Can’t Buy the World’s Best Electric Car — The New York Times
Supercharging Solar With Quantum Dots — The Wall Street Journal
Dems couldn’t save Biden’s energy programs — so they’ll try to make them a weapon against the GOP — POLITICO
4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment — The New Yorker
He Voted For Trump. It Cost Him His Job – More Perfect Union

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (07/11/2025) - More handouts for big oil? Jul 11, 2025

Show notes

Tell us what you think of the show!

This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate in 15 minutes or less featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.

This week’s episode features special guest Mark Gongloff from Bloomberg, who wrote about how Senate Republicans are proposing nearly $18 billion in new subsidies for fossil-fuel companies over the next decade.

This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Mark Jacobs, co-founder of EVmath. Mark led marketing for the DOE-funded EMPOWER Project which helps workplaces install EV chargers for their employees.

This Week in Cleantech — July 11, 2025

Trump’s crackdown on renewable energy has just begun — The Washington Post
The Permitting Crisis for Renewables — Heatmap News
How the Trump tax bill could help China win at A.I. — The Washington Post
America invents. Others deploy. — Latitude Media
The GOP Wants to Give Big Oil a Handout It Doesn’t Need — Bloomberg

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (07/07/2025) - How can data centers become more flexible? Jul 07, 2025

Show notes

Tell us what you think of the show!

This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate in 15 minutes or less featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.

This week’s episode features special guest Maeve Allsup from Latitude Media, who wrote about how a a new startup allowed an Oracle data center using Nvidia GPUs to cut its power consumption 25% during hours of peak grid demand without sacrificing performance.

This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is JoeBen Bevirt, founder of Joby Aviation, a company developing electric air taxis for commercial passenger service. This week, its electric air taxi completed a series of piloted, vertical-takeoff-and-landing wingborne flights in Dubai. Congratulations, JoeBen!

This Week in Cleantech — July 07, 2025

Ford Forced to Idle Multiple US Plants on China Magnet Shortage – Bloomberg
China's Clean Energy Boom Could Win the Race to Power the Future – New York Times
Climate threat to U.S. infrastructure is accelerating. Here's what's most at risk – CNBC
Red States–And AI–Are Big Losers From Trump’s Clean Energy Massacre – Forbes
Nvidia and Oracle tapped this startup to flex a Phoenix data center – Latitude Media

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (06/27/2025) - Can we meet climate goals without fixing our food? Jun 27, 2025

Show notes

Tell us what you think of the show!

This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate in 15 minutes or less featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.

This week’s episode features special guest Michael Grunwald from the Atlantic, who wrote aobut how we won’t meet climate goals without fixing our food system.

This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Kakani Katija, creator of the gaming app FathomVerse. This summer, Katija’s team plans to test an AI underwater robot that will search for specific marine species and collect data. The goal is to deploy a fleet of underwater AI-enabled drones constantly monitoring marine animals to gain insight into the ocean’s impact on global climate.

This Week in Cleantech — June 27, 2025

The U.S. Gave Up Its Lead in Clean Energy Sectors Before. It Might Be Doing It Again. — The Wall Street Journal
Blackouts, Brownouts, and Freaked-Out Grid Operators: The Summer of Load Has Arrived — Heatmap News
‘Throwing us off a cliff’: Megabill could derail hundreds of planned clean energy projects — POLITICO
New York to Build One of First U.S. Nuclear-Power Plants in Generation — The Wall Street Journal
Humanity Can Quit Fossil Fuels—But Not Food — The Atlantic

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

Preparing the grid for the climate of tomorrow Jun 25, 2025

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Since 2022, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a nonprofit, independent research and development group focused on the generation, delivery, and use of electricity, has been developing a framework to help utilities enhance the resilience of their infrastructure. The Climate READi initiative aims to strengthen the power sector’s collective approach to managing climate risk to power systems.

On this episode of the Factor This podcast, host Paul Gerke chats with EPRI's Laura Fischer and Andrea Staid about the ongoing initiative, a robust collaboration including insights from more than 40 electric companies, 100 academic, consulting, and finance institutions, as well as national labs, regulators, and government agencies.

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (06/23/2025) - Is Trump crippling climate research? Jun 23, 2025

Show notes

Tell us what you think of the show!

This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate in 15 minutes or less featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.

This week’s episode features special guest Scott Waldman from E&E News, who wrote about how the Trump administration is "crippling" the government’s ability to research global warming.

This week's "Cleantechers of the Week" are the slain and wounded MN legislators, Rep. Melissa Hortman and Sen. John Hoffman. Rep. Hortman was the key legislative leader who shepherded Minnesota’s landmark climate and clean energy bill in 2023. With the passage of that legislation, Minnesota became the 22nd state in the nation to commit to 100% carbon-free electricity, requiring the state’s investor-owned utilities to be fully carbon-free by 2040.

This Week in Cleantech — June 23, 2025

The winners and losers of the Senate's take on the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' – Factor This!
The U.S. invested in EV battery plants. Now they may be stranded – The Washington Post
Energy Abundance Won’t Fix Electricity Bills – The Atlantic
What a pioneering project means for ocean carbon removal – Trellis
How Trump’s assault on science is blinding America to climate change – E&E News

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (06/06/2025) - Trump wants to repurpose Biden's green bank Jun 06, 2025

Show notes

Tell us what you think of the show!

This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate in 15 minutes or less featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.

This week’s episode features special guest Ari Natter from Bloomberg, who wrote about how the Trump administration plans to repurpose Biden’s $400 billion green bank to fund loans for nuclear, geothermal, and critical mineral projects

This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Mayor Mondale Robinson of Enfield, North Carolina. He led a plan to build a solar farm, resilience hub, and weatherization center in Enfield, cutting $650 monthly energy bills, replacing crumbling grid infrastructure, and using clean energy to bring jobs and economic independence to a historically Black, underserved rural community.

This Week in Cleantech — June 6, 2025

The Supreme Court Just Started a Permitting Revolution — Heatmap
U.S. Oil Companies Are ‘Battening Down the Hatches’ — The New York Times
Why Wind And Solar Make Grids More Vulnerable to Blackouts — The Wall Street Journal
Chinese battery glut plugs into solar boom to power Pakistan — The Financial Times
Trump Plans to Tap Biden’s Green Bank to Make Billions in Loans — Bloomberg

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (05/30/2025) - The solar industry needs a win May 30, 2025

Show notes

Tell us what you think of the show!

This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate in 15 minutes or less featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.

This week’s episode features special guest Kathiann Kowalski from Canary Media who wrote about how Ohio’s House Bill 1 is seen as a win by the solar industry.

This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Adam Hall, who had his 8th grade students give him a “Solar Mohawk” at their Viva el Drágon festival. Students at the festival demonstrated the power of the sun with student-built solar models. Congratulations, Adam!

This Week in Cleantech — May 30, 2025

BYD beats Tesla in European EV sales despite EU tariffs in 'watershed moment,' report says — CNBC
Trump Tariffs Blocked by U.S. Court of International Trade — The New York Times
Trump policy kick-starts nuclear test reactors in the U.S. — Axios
Fate of $20 Billion US Home Solar Market Lies in GOP Senate Hands — Bloomberg
Why the solar industry is counting Ohio’s newest energy law as a win — Canary Media

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

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