This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re talking utilities. We know that one of the big keys to dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions and slowing global warming to manageable levels is to transition as quickly as possible to renewable energy and electrify everything. And at the absolute heart of that challenge are utilities—the ones responsible for generating and distributing electricity. Addressing the challenge takes commitment, to start with, and not all utilities are created equal in this regard. The ones who are quickly realized it also takes investment and innovation. Molly talks with Steve Smith, the CEO of National Grid Partners, which is the corporate venture arm of National Grid Group, about the tech needed to modernize the grid ASAP.RESOURCES & LINKSNational Grid Partners: https://www.ngpartners.com/All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com! To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everybody in the Pool

Episode 38: Utilities Are the Key to the Energy Transition. Who’s In the Pool?

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re getting a little high-tech. In the climate solutions conversation, people often talk about the need for game-changing innovation. That doesn’t mean giving up on policy and business and energy transition, obviously. But if we’re building a better future for everyone, it’s good to think of the breakthroughs that could not only solve our current crisis, but lay the foundation for all kinds of other breakthroughs, as well. One of those is quantum computing: computing powerful enough to revolutionize materials discovery, battery chemistry breakthroughs, fertilizer production, and who knows what else. Molly talks with Pete Shadbolt, co-founder of PsiQuantum, about the company’s attempts to commercialize quantum computing as soon as possible.RESOURCES & LINKSPsiQuantum: https://www.psiquantum.com/Quantum computing, explained: https://www.explainthatstuff.com/quantum-computing.htmlAll episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool Please subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com! To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 37: The Deep End: Quantum Computing

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re featuring a panel discussion moderated by Molly at the GreenBiz conference, held in Phoenix, AZ, in February. The conversation blends tech and climate and three amazing professionals talking about how AI (the other hottest topic on the planet, if you’ll pardon the very scary pun) can help with efforts to heal nature and restore biodiversity. Molly spoke with Elizabeth Hunter, co-founder and COO of a robotics and AI biodiversity startup called TreeSwift; Melanie Nakagawa, chief sustainability officer at Microsoft; and Millie Chapman, a postdoctoral fellow at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and Climate Change AI.RESOURCES & LINKSVideo version: https://www.greenbiz.com/events/greenbiz/sessions/ai-nature-climate-and-beyond-how-new-tech-transforming-sustainabilityTreeSwift: https://www.treeswift.com/All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool Please subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com! To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 36: Wading Into AI and Biodiversity

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re going a little sci-fi with a startup that spun out of Google and is trying to reinvent urban mobility. And by that I mean they’re developing modular electric tram systems that would take passengers around dense urban areas, hospital or college campuses, or maybe, you know, Google, on a series of cables suspended above buildings and streets. This means reducing the number of cars on the road, sure, but it also means we can build new cities, housing developments, and urban centers that have density without resource-hogging skyscrapers, and which don’t need a ton of extra land for parking and multi-lane highways and such. Wild? Sure. Doable? We’ll see. Interesting? Absolutely. With Swyft Cities founder and CEO Jeral Poskey.RESOURCES & LINKSSwyft Cities: https://swyftcities.com/All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com! To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 35: Why Swim When You Can Fly

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re back to buildings! Buildings and the built environment are responsible for as much as 40 percent of carbon emissions and energy demand. In fact, a UN report from 2022 found that although the buildings and construction industry has done some investing in energy efficiency and more sustainable processes, its emissions hit an all-time high that year, after a brief dip during the pandemic. Solutions lie in more sustainable building practices, denser housing, and better building materials, and this week’s guest is doing all three. Plant Prefab sustainably builds multi-unit housing in super high-tech automated factories. This week’s guest is founder and former CEO Steve Glenn.RESOURCES & LINKSPlant Prefab: https://www.plantprefab.com/All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool Please subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com! To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 34: Sustainable Prefab: the Wave of the Future

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re exploring a topic that once seemed fanciful, unlikely at best, and even slightly controversial: carbon removal. Literally, taking carbon dioxide out of the air and storing it so it doesn’t keep warming the planet. In fact, in 2022, the UN released a report that essentially said developing carbon removal technology is not optional, in addition to cutting emissions, if we want to keep warming to manageable (ie, not catastrophic) levels. So this week, we’re talking with one of the most promising players in the space, Spiritus, whose CEO Charles Cadieu details the novel material they’ve invented that will eventually become orchards of carbon-absorbing “fruits.”RESOURCES & LINKSSpiritus: https://spiritus.com/enAll episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com! To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 33: Soaking up Carbon From the Atmosphere

Welcome back to Everybody in the Pool. This week: how to get to the major breakthroughs that a lot of people think are necessary if we’re going to stop or even reverse the worst effects of human-caused climate change. Breakthroughs take money, yes, and they also take brilliant people, full stop! Scientists, inventors, wild-eyed optimists—the people who have ideas and need support, training, funding, and encouragement to see them through or come up with other brilliant ideas. Enter Activate, a nonprofit fellowship that provides all of that to scientist-entrepreneurs, in hopes of making sure there are more of them in every room where decisions are being made. This week, Molly talks with Activate’s new CEO, Cyrus Wadia. Enjoy!RESOURCES & LINKSActivate: https://www.activate.org/All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool Please subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com! To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 32: Activate: Filling the Pool with Geniuses

Welcome back to Everybody in the Pool in 2024! We’re getting a bit of a late start this year because Molly was at CES in Las Vegas last week, which turned out to be a stealth sustainability show. On this week’s episode, we caught up with Stefan Solyom, CTO of Pebble, which is making a completely electric travel trailer—think RV—that can sustain itself off the grid for up to a week, power your home like a giant backup battery, back up and park itself, and has tech built inside that puts all other glamping to shame. Plus, flying cars. No, really. Lots of them! Welcome back and happy New Year!RESOURCES & LINKSThe Pebble RV: https://pebblelife.com/From the newsletter: Is it the age of EVTOLs?All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool Please subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 31: CES is in the Deep End

This week on Everybody in the Pool, it’s almost the end of 2023 and this little podcast just finished its first year of existence! Aww! Thanks to everyone who came on this ride and came on this show! This week, we’re doing a little retrospective to look at some of the fun, adoptable solutions we highlighted (from wrapping paper to repairing your phones and keeping them longer), all the way to the mind-blowing inventions that have us genuinely hopeful about the future. Shout-out Shiki Wrap, Kyle Wiens, Ridwell, Mill, Universal Hydrogen, Magrathea Metals, Anuma Aerospace, and more. Happy New Year!RESOURCES & LINKSAll episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com! To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 30: Everybody Who was in the 2023 Pool

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we are once again thinking big when it comes to the energy transition. If last week was about electrifying whole fleets of cars, this week is about electrifying entire towns! Dan Bridleman of KB Home and Matt Brost of Sunpower join Molly to talk about how they’ve teamed up on a big experiment in southern California: a planned community of more than 200 net zero homes, all-electric, with smart thermostats and plugs and energy meters, with solar and whole-home batteries, that will also be connected with a community battery and a microgrid that will send power back to the utility to help keep the lights on when needed and give power back to the utility when they need it. Cool, right? Let’s move there!RESOURCES & LINKSShadow Mountain at Menifee: https://www.kbhome.com/new-homes-california/menifeeAll episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com! To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 29: Building a Community Pool (of Electrified Houses)

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we all know it’s a big deal to get lots of drivers to switch from ICE (internal combustion engine) cars to electric cars. But getting them to switch one at a time is for the birds—let’s talk about fleets of cars all at once! Taxi cabs, company cars, delivery vehicles, government cars … what does it take to get hundreds or thousands of cars to go electric? Well, a lot, as it turns out. Today’s guest is Josh Green, CEO of Inspiration Mobility, which buys and leases electric cars but also provides all the fleet management services a company needs to transition to EVs—which, not for nothing, are cheaper and more reliable to operate once they do. Plus, the surprising reason existing fleet management companies don’t prioritize EVs.RESOURCES & LINKSInspiration Mobility: https://inspirationmobility.com/All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool Please subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com! To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 28: The Deep End of Electric Cars

This week on Everybody in the Pool, new ways to make old stuff! The materials, creation, transport, and disposal of furniture all generate lots of greenhouse gases, and manufacturers have been exploring ways to make furniture production greener, including overhauling the entire manufacturing process by 3D printing beautiful furniture from biodegradable and carbon-neutral materials. This week, Molly talks with Phillip Raub of Model No. about sustainable design, hyperlocal manufacturing, and turning waste into super beautiful chairs and planters.RESOURCES & LINKSModel No. https://www.model-no.com/Business Insider on furniture rental: https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/why-i-rent-furniture-2021-11All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool Please subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 27: Better Swimming through 3D Printed Furniture

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re going up a level, from the entrepreneurs inventing solutions to the climate crisis to an investor who’s keeping an eye out for the next big thing. But this isn’t just any venture capital fund—Fifth Wall is a massive investment fund that gets a lot of its money from the property and real estate industry. So, obviously, climate was an inevitable part of its investment thesis, since the built environment is a huge contributor to climate change, and an industry desperately in need of innovative solutions. Molly talks with Greg Smithies, co-head of the climate practice at Fifth Wall.RESOURCES & LINKSFifth Wall: https://fifthwall.com/All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 26: How the Property Industry is Bailing Itself Out with VC

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re going back to the topic that first got Molly interested in climate solutions: adaptation and resilience. Or, put simply, how we survive the worsening climate crisis. This week, we’re talking with Emilie Mazzacurati, who’s been working on getting attention, money, and data on this part of the conversation for over a decade. She’s now founded Tailwind Climate, an organization designed to encourage, incubate and fund solutions that help us survive—and thrive—the changes all around us.RESOURCES & LINKSTailwind Climate: https://www.tailwindclimate.com/All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool Please subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 25: Surviving when the Water is Rising

This week on Everybody in the Pool, alchemy! Just kidding, it’s science. I’m talking to a cleantech entrepreneur who has co-invented a new way to make magnesium metal out of seawater, in a process that’s specifically designed to use renewable energy. That’s a big deal because magnesium is an alloy in all kinds of metals we need, like aluminum, steel, and titanium, and right now it’s almost all coming from China or Russia and it’s made with coal. An abundant supply of domestic lightweight metal leads to, among other things, EVs that go farther on a charge, and could just replace dirtier aluminum altogether. With Alex Grant, co-founder and CEO of Magrathea Metals.RESOURCES & LINKSMagrathea Metals: https://magratheametals.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 24: Making Metal out of Water

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. To support the show and get an ad-free listening experience, please jump in and become a member of Everybody in the Pool! https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Everybody in the Pool

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