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00:00 – Intro & Sponsors: Lehmann's Terms, Climate Finance Solutions, and EarthSearch. 03:48 – What is Dreamstar Lines?: Bringing overnight sleeper trains to the LA-SF route. 04:39 – The Strategy: Using existing Union Pacific tracks to bypass the nightmare of building new rail infrastructure. 08:03 – The Bottleneck: Why building new rail in the US is a million-variable problem. 14:38 – Making Trains Sexy: Why you must start with a premium product to change consumer behavior (The Tesla Model). 26:29 – Customer Discovery: Why they added an auto-ferry service and pet-friendly private accommodations. 31:28 – The Autonomous Future: How Robotaxi fleets will solve the last-mile problem for train travelers. 39:40 – Regulation vs. Innovation: Why the US needs a new generation of "builder" legislators. 46:52 – Zoning is Anti-American: The housing crisis and the case for creating special economic zones for experimentation. 55:09 – Sustainability: The carbon emissions of rail vs. flying, and the future of hybridized rail tech. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

00:00 – Intro & Sponsors: Lehmann's Terms, Climate Finance Solutions, and EarthSearch. 03:09 – Welcome to Keep Cool: Nick van Osdol flips the script and interviews Silas. 04:07 – The Evolution of Climate Tech: Shedding the 1.0 vibes and returning to "CleanTech." 08:52 – Silas’s Origin Story: From rural Wisconsin to renewable energy recruiting in NYC. 13:33 – Disrupting Recruitment: Why Silas founded EarthSearch to offer executive-level search for early-stage startups without the massive fees. 18:30 – The End of ZIRP: Why the hiring market has shifted to slow, intentional, and skills-based recruiting. 30:24 – Building Culture: Why early-stage startups shouldn't be afraid to hire bored, senior talent. 37:19 – The Call to Adventure: How to position your startup to attract highly motivated individuals. 43:59 – Companies to Watch: Silas shouts out Helix Earth Technologies and OptiGrid. 51:35 – Flipping the Table: Silas asks Nick what keeps him motivated to write and podcast about climate. 53:56 – The Value of Writing: Why authentic, human storytelling matters more than ever in the age of AI. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

00:00 – Intro: Coral's $7.5M Seed Round and mission. 02:46 – What is Coral?: The FinTech platform for energy-efficient building upgrades. 04:46 – The Pain Point: Why HVAC experts don't want to be "rebate experts." 06:15 – The Financing Mechanism: How Coral advances funds to make the rebate instant. 08:19 – Contractor Benefits: Saving time, avoiding bad reviews, and winning more deals. 11:44 – The Economics of Rebates: Why most incentives come from local utilities trying to lower grid demand. 15:43 – The Origin Story: Quitting jobs to solve the $8,000 savings bottleneck for homeowners. 21:00 – Mission Alignment: Balancing climate goals with helping small businesses grow. 24:17 – The "Chicken and Egg" Funding: Using early VC dollars to prove the rebate float model. 31:24 – Depoliticizing Clean Tech: Leading with comfort, safety, and pure energy savings. 36:09 – Co-Founder Dating: How Samir and Nizar built trust before building a company. 42:37 – Pragmatism and Empathy: Why climate founders must be chameleons to succeed. 46:27 – Raising Capital: Why they pitched FinTech VCs instead of traditional Climate funds. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

00:00 – Intro: Andrew Beebe’s background in Cleantech since 2002. 03:34 – Obvious Ventures & Fund V: Deploying a new $360M fund. 04:59 – The Next Vintage: Why the tourists are gone and the real builders remain. 08:23 – The Branding Problem: Why "Climate Tech" mirrors the 1990s Internet boom. 16:30 – Global Markets vs. US Politics: The inevitability of the energy transition. 20:46 – The AI Energy Crisis: Utilities facing 50% demand growth from data centers. 25:53 – Generative Science: How AI is accelerating materials science and geothermal exploration. 28:20 – Local Politics: Why hyperscalers must win over local communities to build. 34:01 – Texas as a Mecca: Why low-regulation red states are building the most clean energy. 38:56 – Physical AI & Autonomy: From robotic shipping vessels to electric aviation. 47:01 – The Hardware Playbook: Why you want to be a buyer (not a seller) on a plummeting cost curve. 51:50 – The Ultimate Arbitrage: Making money when you know the transition is inevitable. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

00:00 – Intro: Cody Finke returns to the podcast. 04:30 – The "Rock Refinery": Moving beyond cement to co-produce aluminum and critical minerals. 05:39 – The Physics of Scale: Why cost parity is impossible with small reactors. 08:12 – The History of Co-Production: From whale oil to Standard Oil's catalytic cracking. 12:39 – "Bad Geologic Luck": Why traditional limestone cement plants can't co-produce. 18:54 – De-Risking Deep Tech: How Brimstone uses off-the-shelf components to build a massive patent moat. 28:33 – Fundraising Strategy: Raising ~$90M and executing pilot plants. 33:44 – PR for Founders: When to stay in stealth and when to reveal your grand vision. 38:18 – The $189M DOE Grant: Winning the money under Biden, losing it under Trump, and why it wasn't a disaster. 45:54 – Geopolitics & Manufacturing: Why critical materials and heavy industry must return to democratic countries. 50:28 – The Ultimate Climate Strategy: Why capitalism only rewards lower costs, not moral outcomes. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

00:00 – Intro: The $500M deal with Jupiter Power. 02:15 – Landon’s Background: Lessons from Tesla and Northvolt. 06:30 – The "Magnet Hire": How to attract A-Players by hiring one star first. 12:00 – Why Sodium-Ion?: The cost and supply chain advantage over Lithium. 18:45 – The Jupiter Power Deal: How they negotiated a massive off-take agreement. 24:10 – "Engineering Bankability": Selling the manufacturing roadmap, not just the cell. 32:00 – Supply Chain: Why Peak Energy avoids conflict minerals and China reliance. 41:00 – The Grid Challenge: Why batteries need to last 25 years in the desert. 48:00 – Scaling Speed: How to move faster than traditional industrial giants. 53:00 – Hiring: The specific traits Landon looks for in executives. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

00:00 – Intro: Recording in-person at 9Zero in San Francisco. 02:45 – Antonio’s Background: From Stanford PhD to Flow Batteries. 06:00 – The History: What is the "Zebra Battery" and why did it fail in EVs? 10:15 – The Chemistry: How Sodium, Iron, and Salt work together. 12:30 – The Economics: Why $1/kWh material cost changes everything. 17:00 – Safety First: No thermal runaway and safer than Lithium-Ion. 22:00 – Manufacturing Strategy: Leveraging existing UK talent and factories. 28:00 – The "Bankability" Challenge: Proving a "new" old technology. 34:00 – Commercialization: Who buys these batteries? (Utilities vs Developers). 41:00 – The Grid Reality: Why "Non-Wires Alternatives" are the immediate market. 46:00 – Founder Advice: How to hire A-players for a hardware startup. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

00:00 – Intro: Why energy regulation is the "unsexy" bottleneck of the transition. 03:11 – Hudson’s Background: From SEC Attorney to rewriting federal data laws. 05:55 – What HData Does: The platform for rate cases, compliance, and wildfire plans. 06:40 – The Natural Monopoly: Explaining the "Regulator vs. Regulated" conflict. 10:13 – The Rate Case Process: How utilities get paid (and why it takes so much paper). 14:00 – The ROI of AI: Moving from "Control-F" to vertical AI agents. 22:20 – The Urgency: Why grid modernization creates a compliance explosion. 35:00 – Hyperscalers & AI: How data center demand is changing the regulatory game. 46:18 – The Future of Work: Will AI replace regulatory lawyers? 48:00 – Founder Story: The 2022 cash crisis and the "Dark Night of the Soul." 53:00 – Hiring Framework: The 3 motivations Hudson looks for in talent. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

What happens when an oil well dries up? Usually, it becomes a "zombie" liability—leaking methane and waiting to become a taxpayer burden. Kemp Gregory, CEO and Co-founder of Renewell Energy, joins the show to explain how he’s turning these multi-million dollar liabilities into clean energy assets. Renewell converts idle wells into mechanical gravity batteries. By using existing deep wellbores to raise and lower heavy weights, they’ve created long-duration energy storage that is cheaper than lithium-ion and uses the infrastructure we already have. Key Takeaways: The Problem: Why the "Orphan Well Pocalypse" is a looming global crisis. The Tech: How gravity storage works and why it doesn’t degrade like chemical batteries. The Business: Convincing oil companies to hand over wells instead of plugging them. The Grid: Why "stranded assets" are actually perfectly positioned for grid stability. Building Deep-Tech: Why "agency" is the #1 trait Kemp looks for in early hires. Timestamps: 01:40 – Kemp’s journey from Oil & Gas to CleanTech. 05:00 – The Scale: 900k active wells vs. 2 million idle wells. 14:15 – Gravity storage vs. Lithium-Ion: Cost and mechanics. 18:00 – Turning abandonment costs into revenue shares. 40:15 – Hiring for "Evidence of Agency." Connect & Links: Guest: Kemp Gregory | Renewell Energy Host: Connect with Silas on LinkedIn Community: Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn Watch: Subscribe on YouTube Our Sponsors: Climate Finance Solutions (CFS): Secure government grant funding with a 90% success rate. Learn more at ClimateFinanceSolutions.com. ErthSearch: Specialized CleanTech recruiting. Fast, accurate, and guaranteed. Get started with Silas today. Disclaimer: This podcast is NOT investment advice. Please do your own due diligence. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

Speed Strapping: How to Reach Breakeven on The era of easy money is over. For CleanTech hardware startups, the old playbook—raise a Seed, build a prototype, and pray for a Series A—is leading companies straight off a cliff. Shaun Abrahamson, Managing Partner at Third Sphere, returns to the pod to unveil the "Speed Strapping" playbook: a survival guide for 2026. Shaun explains why the graduation rate from Seed to Series A has plummeted and why founders must stop building "bridges to nowhere." The new goal? Reach profitability on less than $6M of paid-in capital to control your own destiny. 🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts 💡 Key Takeaways: The $6M Limit: If you can’t reach breakeven on $5–$6M of capital, you are at the mercy of a volatile market. Avoid the CapEx Trap: Don't build a factory until you’re hitting $10M–$20M in revenue. Use contract manufacturers instead. The "LEGO" Strategy: Use existing, off-the-shelf components for your V1 instead of reinventing every part. Negative Churn: In hardware, losing a customer isn't just lost marketing spend—it often means getting a broken product back. 📝 Key Moments: 08:15 – Defining “Speed Strapping”: Why breakeven is the new Series A. 15:58 – The “Bridge to Nowhere”: The danger of planning for non-existent funding. 28:38 – The CapEx Trap: Why you shouldn’t build a factory too early. 36:50 – The “LEGO” Strategy: Moving faster with existing parts. 🗣️ Select Quote: "Most of the companies that we see failing right now are failing because they were building a bridge to a Series B that doesn’t exist." — Shaun Abrahamson 🚀 Check Out Our Sponsors: Climate Finance Solutions (CFS): Secure government grants with a 90%+ success rate. ClimateFinanceSolutions.com ErthSearch: Specialized CleanTech recruiting for sales, engineering, and execs. ErthSearch.com Connect with Silas: LinkedIn Follow CleanTechies: LinkedIn Disclaimer: This podcast is NOT investment advice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

Eclipse Energy: The $0.50/kg Geologic Hydrogen Breakthrough with Prab SekhonPrab Sekhon, CEO of Eclipse Energy (formerly Gold H2), joins us to detail their disruptive technology that is poised to solve the green hydrogen cost problem. Eclipse Energy is taking end-of-life oil fields—which are massive liabilities for oil and gas companies—and turning them into clean energy assets by producing Geologic Hydrogen at an unprecedented $0.50 per kilogram.Key Topics Covered in the Episode: Introduction and Rebrand (01:06, 05:16): Prab introduces himself and discusses the recent rebranding from Gold H2 to Eclipse Energy, reflecting a broader strategy to move beyond just hydrogen. The Moonshot Goal (06:54): Breaking down why the 50 cents per kilogram price is crucial and why their process avoids the high costs and potable water consumption associated with traditional Green Hydrogen. The Technology & Feedstock (08:38, 14:46): Learn how Eclipse Energy uses "uneconomic oil"—a waste stream—as a free feedstock. Prab explains the process using the "gut biome" analogy: injecting specific microbes into deep reservoirs to stimulate the bacteria to produce pure hydrogen. The Business Model & O&G (11:20, 49:10): Discover the "accidental" business model that allows oil companies to defer billions in Plug & Abandon (P&A) liabilities by transforming non-producing wells into 20-year assets. Prab also addresses the role of energy pragmatism in working with oil and gas incumbents. Energy for the Future (18:40): Hear about the Armada partnership to co-locate data centers directly on-site, using the hydrogen to power the AI boom off-grid, and the benefit of hydrogen combustion producing water for cooling. Costs and Macro Trends (21:00, 42:55): A comparison of hydrogen costs (Gray at $1-$1.5/kg vs. Eclipse's $0.50/kg) and an update on the core macro trends in the global hydrogen space. Talent & Scaling (26:50, 54:10): Insights on the "niche field of petroleum microbiology," why the best talent for the energy transition comes from the oil and gas industry, and their partnership with Weatherford to help scale and deploy. Guest: Prab Sekhon, CEO of Eclipse EnergyA quick shoutout to our sponsors: Climate Finance Solutions and ErthSearch. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

JOIN US FOR THE HACK SUMMIT! The HackSummit returns to Newlab on December 10-11, bringing together 500 founders, funders, and industry leaders in Climate Deep Tech. Together we’ll explore abundance, alongside Founders and Investors at Andreessen Horowitz, Brimstone, Crux, DCVC, Durin, Earth AI, Endolith, Navier, Radical AI, Rainmaker, Voyager Ventures and SOSV. Sign up for 10% off here. How Ivy Energy Finally Cracked the Code on Multi-family Solar If you’ve ever looked at a massive apartment building and wondered why the roof is empty… yeah, Dover Janis wondered the same thing. Except instead of complaining about it, he built a company to fix it. Dover — co-founder and CEO of Ivy Energy — joined me on the show to break down how his team solved one of the most stubborn problems in clean energy: getting solar onto multi-family buildings where the owner pays the bill, the tenant gets the savings, and everyone assumes it’s impossible. Turns out it wasn’t impossible. It was just missing the right business model. Dover calls the untouched roof on apartment buildings the “naked rooftop.” Owners had zero reason to install solar because they’d get zero financial benefit. And tenants couldn’t install it themselves. So the whole market was stuck. Ivy Energy flipped the entire equation by building a platform that makes solar a new revenue stream for the building owner — not a charity project for tenants. The magic is their software layer, something Dover describes as the “easy button” that tracks energy production, energy use, utility bills, and every transaction between the owner and the tenant. In other words, a virtual grid inside each community. And it’s not just bookkeeping. It’s defensible, transparent financial settlement that regulators trust and tenants benefit from. Owners install solar, tenants keep a slice of the savings, and owners pocket the rest. Profit. Every year. No more split incentives. No more naked rooftops. The wildest part? Investors realized they could install solar, run it for a year, boost the building’s NOI — and then sell the property at a higher valuation. In some deals, that means an instant return before factoring in any long-term cash flow. Ivy’s model is simple: SaaS fees per unit, plus a planning product that uses their massive dataset to help investors deploy capital smarter across their entire portfolio. And the market is huge — 27 million renter households, with more than half viable for on-site energy. They’ve already scaled to 400 communities and 60,000 households, and they’re moving fast through channel partners instead of trying to educate every owner one by one. What’s next? Dover wants Ivy to become the transaction engine for shared energy communities — not just solar, but EV charging, storage, and anything that touches the building’s energy ecosystem. And he’s building the team to get there, hiring people who treat the mission like an inevitability.If you want to understand how one software layer can open wide gigawatts of clean energy on buildings that were previously untouchable, give this episode a listen. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

JOIN US FOR THE HACK SUMMIT! The HackSummit returns to Newlab on December 10-11, bringing together 500 founders, funders, and industry leaders in Climate Deep Tech. Together we’ll explore abundance, alongside Founders and Investors at Andreessen Horowitz, Brimstone, Crux, DCVC, Durin, Earth AI, Endolith, Navier, Radical AI, Rainmaker, Voyager Ventures and SOSV. Sign up for 10% off here. Imagine if every commercial building and data center in a city acted like a smart, flexible battery. That’s the world Charles Conwell is building. Charles, CEO of Novele and a former commercial real estate guy turned energy founder, joined me on the show to break down how they’re transforming buildings from passive energy hogs into active grid assets. And his insight into how the built environment actually works will probably change how you think about energy forever. Novele’s system starts inside the building, at the point of consumption. Their Energy Boards are these thin, wall-mounted batteries that slip into unused space instead of eating up rentable square footage. But the real unlock is the software, a “swarm architecture” that syncs hundreds of distributed devices in real time. Instead of reacting to energy spikes, the system predicts them and reshapes load before it ever hits the meter. Why does this matter? Because commercial buildings have been stuck in a broken model for decades. Charles explained how landlords constantly overbuild electrical capacity because tenants wildly overestimate their needs. Add in the classic “split incentive”, landlords pay for upgrades, tenants reap the savings, and no one invests in efficiency. The result? Massive waste and massive bills. But the world changed. Fast. New rules like Local Law 97 created real financial pain for inefficient buildings. Energy prices started climbing double digits. Demand charges blew past the cost of the energy itself. And suddenly Novele’s solution went from “interesting” to “we need this yesterday.” The kicker? Novele runs on a Hardware-as-a-Service model. No CapEx fight. No landlord-tenant politics. Just a monthly fee that’s usually covered. Customers are seeing IRRs in the 20–30% range. We also got into Novele’s Ripple Board for data centers and why AI’s power spikes are becoming one of the biggest electrical problems no one is talking about. Charles lays out how distributed storage smooths those swings and why storage + nuclear is the most underrated combo in clean energy. If you want to understand better where urban energy is heading and why buildings are about to become one of the most important assets on the grid, tap play for this episode. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

Hey everybody! It’s Thanksgiving week, and I’m shooting a short, solo episode to share some gratitude for an incredible year and drop a few major announcements. Podcast Announcements * Farewell to Somil: Our co-host, Somil, is moving on! He accepted an amazing offer in the fast-growing AI space with Decagon to advance his product management career. We’re sad to see him go, but wish him the best! He deserves a lot of credit and thanks for helping us kick the podcast into high gear and grow our listenership. * The Podcast is Now Part of ErthSearch: ErthSearch (my cleantech recruitment firm, formerly ErthTech Talent) has acquired the podcast, bringing everything in-house under one P&L. The content won’t change, but we have more resources and are exploring deep-dive content on hiring, talent, and team building. * A Little Surprise is Coming! We have a new project brewing, and we’re hoping to launch it before the end of the year. If you’re a loyal listener and want to get early access and give us some feedback, please reach out to me directly via [email protected] or LinkedIn DM. * Moving to Nashville: I’m moving to Nashville in January! I’ll be traveling in NYC for most of December. This means posting may be a bit less frequent throughout the holidays, and any content created will have lower audio quality until I rebuild the studio. Thanks for your patience! A Look Back and Forward * Gratitude for the Past Year: It’s been an absolute pleasure to build this podcast over the last (almost) five years. We’ve continued to grow our listenership, hosted two live pods (in Houston with Energy Tech Nexus and during Climate Week), and invested more heavily in our social media content. * Optimism for Cleantech: Despite some of the bad news, I’m seeing massive growth coming for cleantech. Founders are building strong business models and making real money—it’s not just a “green premium” frenzy anymore. Companies are investing heavily in teams, and while we’re seeing fewer “climate tourists,” there are still plenty of jobs and growth opportunities! Support the Show * Sponsorship: We have a few anchor sponsor openings for the first half of next year. Our audience is primarily CleanTech investors and founders in the US and Europe. Reach out to discuss rates if you’re looking to sell to this audience! [email protected] * Thank You to Our Sponsor: A huge shout-out to our current anchor sponsor, Climate Finance Solutions, who has helped cleantech startups raise $1.6 billion in grant funding since 2020. * Join Us at Climate Hack Summit: Don’t forget to register for the Climate Hack Summit on Dec 10th and 11th at New Lab in NYC. We’ll be there creating content! Happy Thanksgiving to you all! We’ll see you next week on CleanTechies. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

JOIN US FOR THE HACK SUMMIT! The HackSummit returns to Newlab on December 10-11, bringing together 500 founders, funders, and industry leaders in Climate Deep Tech. Together we’ll explore abundance, alongside Founders and Investors at Andreessen Horowitz, Brimstone, Crux, DCVC, Durin, Earth AI, Endolith, Navier, Radical AI, Rainmaker, Voyager Ventures and SOSV. Sign up for 10% off here. What happens when an ex–Amazon Robotics leader looks at the housing crisis and says, “Yeah… I can fix that”? You get Reframe Systems. And honestly, this might be one of the boldest climate-tech swings happening right now. Vikas Enti joined me on the show, and within five minutes, it was clear: the home construction industry we have is broken. Slow builds. Sky-high costs. Massive waste. Homes are leaking energy like crazy. And absolutely zero scalability. Reframe Systems is flipping the entire industry on its head. They’re building homes like you’d build hardware: in micro factories, with robots, software, and tight quality control. Their houses use about 80 percent less energy, slash embodied carbon, and cut the chaos of job-site construction. And they’re doing it with these insanely flexible robotic work cells that cost under $200k and fit inside a garage. Here’s another thing that will blow your mind away. They cracked the code on mass customization. Everyone else tries to copy-paste the same house. Reframe built the software that turns any custom design into robot-ready instructions. The economics hit just as hard. Developers are paying $350 to $450 per square foot today. Reframe comes in at $275 to $325 — and builds faster. Their long-term target? Under $100 per square foot. If they get to hit that, game over. Housing changes forever. Also… insurance companies are pushing this wave faster than anyone. With wildfire and climate risk exploding, insurers want buildings that actually perform. Reframe homes check every box: airtight, fire-rated, flood-resilient, and way cheaper to run. Vikas and the team built their first full micro factory and delivered a permitted home in just 18 months. Now they’re scaling through joint ventures and laying the tracks for a network of small, fast factories that can pop up anywhere housing is needed. If you care about climate tech, housing affordability, robotics, or the future of cities… this is really one of those episodes you should listen to. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe