A weekly podcast featuring veteran investor Shayle Kann interviewing experts about the state of the energy sector and the technologies powering decarbonization. Shayle Kann is asking the big questions about the ways we power our world: How cheap can clean energy get? Where is the smart money going on new technologies? How will the AI boom both help and hinder us on our journey to decarbonization? Every Thursday on Catalyst, Shayle dives deep into the world of energy with prominent experts, investors, researchers, and executives to unpack both the solutions and the challenges at play in this ever-changing landscape.
Latest episodes
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32 min
BTM data centers’ looming methane surge
It’s no secret that hyperscalers’ behind-the-meter gas bonanza could generate enormous CO2 emissions. But the BTM boom could become responsible for another, less-publicized emissio…
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36 min
Can natural gas supply handle the AI boom?
As data center-driven load growth continues to rise, hyperscalers are turning to natural gas – both in front of and behind the meter — to secure power. But whether the natural gas…
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44 min
The truth about data center water usage
Of all the concerns surrounding the AI boom, data center water usage tops the list. Opponents claim that massive hyperscaler facilities threaten local drinking supplies and drain a…
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38 min
ERCOT batteries: boom, bust, or rebound?
It’s been a wild few years for grid-scale batteries in Texas. At the start of the decade, the Lone Star State was home to roughly 200 megawatts of battery capacity. Today, that num…
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31 min
The rush for clean, on-site power [partner content]
This is a partner episode, brought to you by Bloom Energy. Long interconnection queues, fragile supply chains, and a lack of grid capacity are pushing a wide range of C&I customers…
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32 min
Anduril's vision for powering maritime defense
Dual-use technologies and the rise of defense tech are having a moment. But how does the defense sector approach innovations in energy that may be necessary to optimize its fleets?…
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23 min
AMA: Fuel cells, geopolitics, and the solar growth curve
As we head into the final quarter of this pivotal and dramatic year for the energy sector, Catalyst host Shayle Kann takes stock of 2026 so far – and considers what’s to come – in…
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42 min
Do data centers actually increase electricity prices? No...and yes
You don’t have to look far to see the vitriol and backlash ignited by the rapid expansion of hyperscaler data centers. While critics and activists tend to focus their ire on resour…
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48 min
What comes after the data center backlash?
In their early days, data centers were largely welcomed by communities who saw their arrival as an economic boost. Today as concerns around noise levels, power prices, water use, a…
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40 min
The rise of metal fuels
Diesel generators remain ubiquitous because they offer an unusually powerful combination of low cost, high energy density, long-duration storage, and reliable off-grid power. But t…
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39 min
Can AI revolutionize grid operations?
Everyone loves to talk about the “broken grid.” But if you look inside a utility’s planning and operations functions, a different picture emerges: infrastructure that is remarkably…
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42 min
Is now the time for DERs to scale? [re-published]
A decade ago, DERs were hot. The hype was that things like batteries, smart devices, and other distributed energy technologies would offset the need for expanding traditional grid…
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31 min
Critical Capital: Senator Tillis' case for "all-of-the-above" energy
This week, we’re presenting an episode of Critical Capital, a new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Energy policy has become increasingly polarized just as the U.S. faces rec…
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35 min
The electrician shortage slowing the AI boom
The race to build AI infrastructure is often framed around the availability of power, chips, and capital. But another critical constraint is becoming impossible to ignore: skilled…
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44 min
The commercial battery comeback
Commercial and industrial (C&I) battery storage has long been the missing middle of the energy storage market. It’s been too complex and expensive to scale like residential systems…
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35 min
The multi-billion dollar promise of vehicle-to-grid integration
Most electric vehicles spend nearly all of their lives parked, doing nothing. But under the hood of those idle cars, a massive store of energy sits untapped. The Kia EV9, for insta…
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40 min
When will quantum computing have its breakout moment?
Over the course of the past decade, quantum computing (or the concept thereof) has ridden hype cycles, just like AI or the internet writ large. In the past year, however, as govern…
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44 min
Inside the AI power wars
For those steeped in the world of AI development, the major differences between tech giants’ chip strategies are easy enough to see: the speed of Google’s TPUs, the affordability o…
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38 min
Inside the most sophisticated plan for solar geoengineering
One of the biggest challenges with technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions is that they require mass adoption. Solar radiation management (SRM) has the opposite problem.…
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31 min
How data centers are complicating transmission expansion
Electric transmission development is notoriously difficult, and these days, NIMBYism gets the brunt of the blame. But as data center loads surge and electricity prices climb, there…