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69 conversations with the founders, investors, and scientists building the energy transition. Newest first.

From Sustainability to Regeneration | Wayne Visser, Professor @ Cambridge & Católica Porto 39:26

Sep 17, 2026

From Sustainability to Regeneration | Wayne Visser, Professor @ Cambridge & Católica Porto

Wayne Visser maps sustainability’s shift from Rio 92 and ISO systems to regeneration, cost curves, and 20 climate technologies of hope.

Fixing the Water Infrastructure Data Gap | Blake Anderson, Ziptility 41:10

Sep 10, 2026

Fixing the Water Infrastructure Data Gap | Blake Anderson, Ziptility

Blake Anderson shows why utilities under 1,000 connections need fractional operations plus GIS asset management to close the water data gap.

A New Way to Cool Buildings | Daniel Betts, CEO & Founder @ Blue Frontier 42:44

Sep 9, 2026

A New Way to Cool Buildings | Daniel Betts, CEO & Founder @ Blue Frontier

Daniel Betts ties liquid desiccant cooling to energy storage, claiming Blue Frontier can beat conventional AC efficiency by more than 3x.

Transforming African Agriculture with Tech | Susan Njihia, Director of Innovation @ Hello Tractor 46:01

Sep 1, 2026

Transforming African Agriculture with Tech | Susan Njihia, Director of Innovation @ Hello Tractor

Susan Njihia shows how Hello Tractor scales tractor access across 16 African countries by treating innovation as measurable value growth.

Building for Bees with Mycelium | Zain Ansari, Founder @ Phyta Biodesign 33:52

Aug 31, 2026

Building for Bees with Mycelium | Zain Ansari, Founder @ Phyta Biodesign

Zain Ansari of Phyta Biodesign explains how repackaging species-focused habitats into human-centric building performance metrics unlocked...

The Rise of the Electron Economy | Elisabeth Iszauk, Montauk Capital 47:55

Aug 28, 2026

The Rise of the Electron Economy | Elisabeth Iszauk, Montauk Capital

Elisabeth Iszauk frames Montauk Capital’s electron economy thesis around geothermal, EGS, and venture studio formation.

The Grid Bottleneck Holding Back Clean Energy | UIS | Stephen Bennett, PJM Interconnection 51:34

Aug 25, 2026

The Grid Bottleneck Holding Back Clean Energy | UIS | Stephen Bennett, PJM Interconnection

Stephen Bennett explains why PJM dispatches power every 15 seconds while 67 million customers face a $28 to $333 capacity shock.

The Future of the Utility Grid | Utility Innovation Summit Panel 39:47

Aug 24, 2026

The Future of the Utility Grid | Utility Innovation Summit Panel

At the Utility Innovation Summit, Eric Rosenberger explains how PPL used dynamic line ratings on three congested lines after PJM’s 2020 s...

Betting on the Future of Climate Tech | Abhi Desai, Investor @ Desai Ventures 32:41

Aug 11, 2026

Betting on the Future of Climate Tech | Abhi Desai, Investor @ Desai Ventures

Abhi Desai explains why 2022 climate tech exuberance changed preseed and seed fundraising, and how novel IP affects investor conviction.

The Right Way to Reforest the Planet | Jad Daley, President @ Terraformation 41:31

Aug 3, 2026

The Right Way to Reforest the Planet | Jad Daley, President @ Terraformation

Jad Daley argues Terraformation’s 5,000 hectare Keta Blue mangrove project shows why reforestation must balance carbon, biodiversity, and...

The Future of Tire Recycling | Vincent Gori, Dr. Kurosh Darvish & Mehrdad Swizi 44:00

Jul 31, 2026

The Future of Tire Recycling | Vincent Gori, Dr. Kurosh Darvish & Mehrdad Swizi

Vincent Gori and Temple’s team explain cryogenic tire recycling at minus 160 Celsius, using cold, crushing, and shredding to separate tir...

How Nevada Became a CleanTech Hub | Tristan Pollock, Managing Director @ gener8tor 44:41

Jul 22, 2026

How Nevada Became a CleanTech Hub | Tristan Pollock, Managing Director @ gener8tor

Tristan Pollock explains why Nevada, home to the only active US lithium mine and a Tesla-scale industrial park bigger than Detroit, is qu...

Can Heavy Industry Be Decarbonized? | Grant Budge, CEO & Co-Founder @ PeroCycle 35:14

Jul 15, 2026

Can Heavy Industry Be Decarbonized? | Grant Budge, CEO & Co-Founder @ PeroCycle

Grant Budge says PeroCycle can decarbonize steel with no green premium and no carbon price required, just a one to three year payback.

The Future of Water Testing | Vernon LaLone, Founder & CEO @ Wave Lumina 47:09

Jul 10, 2026

The Future of Water Testing | Vernon LaLone, Founder & CEO @ Wave Lumina

Vernon LaLone spent a decade perfecting Raman spectroscopy on pharma drug accumulation before pointing it at PFAS, the chemical the EPA r...

Building a Startup: The Legal Playbook | Kim Klayman, Partner @ Ballard Spahr 52:48

Jul 8, 2026

Building a Startup: The Legal Playbook | Kim Klayman, Partner @ Ballard Spahr

Kim Klayman, who chairs Ballard Spahr's national emerging company and venture capital group, explains why founders who skip a $50 LLC fil...

How to Raise Impact Capital | Charney Robinson-Williams, CEO @ Noire Impact 44:20

Jul 1, 2026

How to Raise Impact Capital | Charney Robinson-Williams, CEO @ Noire Impact

Charney Robinson-Williams explains why a traditional pitch deck will fail you in an impact investor room, and what to bring instead.

Could This Biotech Replace Farm Chemicals? | Matias Figliozzi, Co-Founder & CEO @ UniBaio 38:16

Jun 29, 2026

Could This Biotech Replace Farm Chemicals? | Matias Figliozzi, Co-Founder & CEO @ UniBaio

Matias Figliozzi says mixing shrimp-shell powder with pesticides can cut Roundup use by half while maintaining the same killing power.

Why Trucking Needs Better Data | Celine King, CEO @ GreenIRR 58:34

Jun 26, 2026

Why Trucking Needs Better Data | Celine King, CEO @ GreenIRR

Celine King says 95% of U.S. trucking fleets run fewer than 20 vehicles, and that fragmentation is why emissions data barely exists.

What It Takes to Fund Deep Tech | Sean Joseph, Co-Founder @ Altilium 36:39

Jun 24, 2026

What It Takes to Fund Deep Tech | Sean Joseph, Co-Founder @ Altilium

Altilium co-founder Sean Joseph explains how a 40,000-pound council grant became the foundation for a Series A backed by the world's larg...

From Water Tech to Lithium | Devesh Sharma, CEO @ Aquatech 39:45

Jun 23, 2026

From Water Tech to Lithium | Devesh Sharma, CEO @ Aquatech

Aquatech CEO Devesh Sharma explains how mastering zero liquid discharge brine management accidentally positioned a 45-year-old water comp...

Can Climate Tech Change the Economy? | Sergio Carvalho, Partner @ Planet First Partners 43:22

Jun 17, 2026

Can Climate Tech Change the Economy? | Sergio Carvalho, Partner @ Planet First Partners

Sergio Carvalho explains how Europe's green hydrogen mandate created a market from scratch, and why that model separates investable clima...

Can Desalination Solve Water Scarcity? | Sachin Nair, CEO @ Hydron 39:10

Jun 5, 2026

Can Desalination Solve Water Scarcity? | Sachin Nair, CEO @ Hydron

Sachin Nair says every oil well produces four to five times more water than oil, and Hydron is building the technology to treat it withou...

A New Approach to Energy Storage | Thomas Nann, Founder & CEO @ Allegro Energy 45:10

Jun 2, 2026

A New Approach to Energy Storage | Thomas Nann, Founder & CEO @ Allegro Energy

Thomas Nann built Allegro Energy's flow battery platform from a microemulsion electrolyte discovery, then had to abandon their first prod...

The Energy Industry Still Runs on Excel | Alon Mashkovich, CEO & Co-Founder @ enSights 28:39

May 21, 2026

The Energy Industry Still Runs on Excel | Alon Mashkovich, CEO & Co-Founder @ enSights

Alon Mashkovich built enSights after watching billion-dollar renewable portfolios still run on Excel and CSVs in 2018.

How CleanTech Companies Build Scalable Growth Systems Eben Meyer, CEO @ CleanTech Growth Lab 50:00

May 18, 2026

How CleanTech Companies Build Scalable Growth Systems Eben Meyer, CEO @ CleanTech Growth Lab

Eben Meyer shows why up to 62% of B2B ad spend reaches audiences who can never buy your product.

How Battery Storage Is Changing the Grid | Alex Shoer, Managing Partner @ GridVest 54:40

May 11, 2026

How Battery Storage Is Changing the Grid | Alex Shoer, Managing Partner @ GridVest

Alex Shoer explains why the commercial and industrial battery storage market is structurally broken and what GridVest is doing to fix it.

Why Solar Needs to Change | Michael Fakukakis, Founder & CEO @ Mechatron Solar Inc 43:44

May 4, 2026

Why Solar Needs to Change | Michael Fakukakis, Founder & CEO @ Mechatron Solar Inc

Michael Fakukakis built a gearless solar tracker that produces 60% more power than fixed panels, and the hardest part was never the physics.

The Hidden Signals Driving CleanTech Sales | Eben Meyer, CEO @ CleanTech Growth Lab 41:18

Apr 28, 2026

The Hidden Signals Driving CleanTech Sales | Eben Meyer, CEO @ CleanTech Growth Lab

Eben Meyer shows how an EPA enforcement notice beats a hiring signal every time for cleantech sales teams.

This Algae Tech Could Replace Wastewater Treatment | Martin Gross, CEO @ GWT 37:31

Apr 27, 2026

This Algae Tech Could Replace Wastewater Treatment | Martin Gross, CEO @ GWT

Martin Gross turned a lost oil-industry job in 2016 into GWT, which now uses algae to replace chemicals and bacteria in wastewater treatm...

Scaling CleanTech with Eben Meyer, CEO @ CleanTech Growth Lab 35:53

Apr 14, 2026

Scaling CleanTech with Eben Meyer, CEO @ CleanTech Growth Lab

Eben Meyer argues CAC is structurally higher in cleantech than any other B2B category, and explains exactly why.

The Energy Transition with Emily Grubert, Associate Professor @ University of Notre Dame 44:05

Apr 6, 2026

The Energy Transition with Emily Grubert, Associate Professor @ University of Notre Dame

Emily Grubert argues the energy transition is not actually happening because no one has committed to making it happen.

Building Nature Tech Communities with Paige Perillat-Piratoine, Nature Tech Collective 35:55

Mar 30, 2026

Building Nature Tech Communities with Paige Perillat-Piratoine, Nature Tech Collective

Paige Perillat-Piratoine built community across army bases, COVID hackathons, and a hygroscopic electricity startup before landing at Nat...

Water as a Service with Juan Pablo Rivero, CEO & Founder @ Hydrous Management Group 37:58

Mar 16, 2026

Water as a Service with Juan Pablo Rivero, CEO & Founder @ Hydrous Management Group

Juan Pablo Rivero frames water as a service: decentralized wastewater recycling financed through performance based contracts modeled on s...

Smarter Desalination with Arian Edalat, Founder & CEO @ Active Membranes 36:44

Mar 10, 2026

Smarter Desalination with Arian Edalat, Founder & CEO @ Active Membranes

Arian Edalat's electrically conductive membranes can self-adjust in real time, targeting a market expansion from $3 billion to $300 billion.

Purifying Water with Greg Newbloom, CEO @ Membrion 41:48

Mar 10, 2026

Purifying Water with Greg Newbloom, CEO @ Membrion

Greg Newbloom built Membrion's ceramic desalination membrane by walking away from two failed startups first.

Sustainable Change with Dr. Jacqueline Kerr, Founder @ Leading Real Change 39:03

Mar 10, 2026

Sustainable Change with Dr. Jacqueline Kerr, Founder @ Leading Real Change

Dr. Jacqueline Kerr argues that science alone never moves policy makers, but their own constituents reliably do.

120-Day Fresh Meat with Gaurav & Anat Tewari (Tewari De-Ox Systems) 46:50

Mar 10, 2026

120-Day Fresh Meat with Gaurav & Anat Tewari (Tewari De-Ox Systems)

Gaurav and Anat Tewari claim their Zero Ox Tech gives retail-ready meat cuts a 120-day shelf life, eliminating a $3 billion annual indust...

Betting on Water with Steve Kloos, Partner @ Burnt Island Ventures 51:41

Mar 3, 2026

Betting on Water with Steve Kloos, Partner @ Burnt Island Ventures

Steve Kloos maps a $1.6 trillion water sector and explains why flood forecasting startup Provisico is crushing it.

The Shrimp Revolution with Daniel Russek, Founder & CEO @ Atarraya 38:41

Mar 2, 2026

The Shrimp Revolution with Daniel Russek, Founder & CEO @ Atarraya

Daniel Russek built Atarraya over 17 years to prove shrimp farming can close its nitrogen loop without poisoning the ocean.

Earth & Water Tech with Sunena Gupta, Associate @ CleanTech Group 59:21

Feb 23, 2026

Earth & Water Tech with Sunena Gupta, Associate @ CleanTech Group

Sunena Gupta explains why raw satellite data is becoming worthless without the analytics layer built on top of it.

Energy & AI with Zainab Gilani, Research Associate @ CleanTech Group 1:05:37

Feb 23, 2026

Energy & AI with Zainab Gilani, Research Associate @ CleanTech Group

Zainab Gilani's two-bucket framework for energy and power makes data center demand and China's battery leadership suddenly legible.

Building Climate Startups with Serena Dao, Climate Tech Operator & Writer 50:44

Feb 23, 2026

Building Climate Startups with Serena Dao, Climate Tech Operator & Writer

Serena Dao spent years at pre-seed to Series C climate hardware startups before the Engine, and argues carbon capture only survives if it...

Critical Minerals & Recycling with Diana Rasner, Group Lead @ CleanTech Group 55:49

Feb 19, 2026

Critical Minerals & Recycling with Diana Rasner, Group Lead @ CleanTech Group

Diana Rasner explains why China's dominance in mineral refining took 50 years to build and why ore grades are now the mining industry's s...

Building Sustainably with Nathan Silvernail, CEO @ Plantd 43:01

Feb 19, 2026

Building Sustainably with Nathan Silvernail, CEO @ Plantd

Nathan Silvernail left SpaceX in 2021 to invent a carbon-negative wood substitute that grows from biomass, not trees.

Telling Climate with Eric Fischgrund, Founder & CEO @ FischTank PR 44:33

Feb 19, 2026

Telling Climate with Eric Fischgrund, Founder & CEO @ FischTank PR

Eric Fischgrund built FischTank PR to 26 employees over 12 years by treating media relations as a craft, not a mail-merge automation.

Farming, Finance & Biochar with Aukrit Unahalekhaka, Co-Founder & CEO @ Ricult 36:09

Feb 19, 2026

Farming, Finance & Biochar with Aukrit Unahalekhaka, Co-Founder & CEO @ Ricult

Aukrit Unahalekhaka built a million-farmer AgTech platform in Thailand, then walked away to bet on biochar.

Clean Tech Trends with Anthony DeOrsey, Research Manager @ CleanTech Group 1:08:01

Feb 9, 2026

Clean Tech Trends with Anthony DeOrsey, Research Manager @ CleanTech Group

Anthony DeOrsey explains why China's EV market grew from dozens to hundreds of companies before most collapsed, and what the US misreads...

Kelp Economy with Majid Hajibeigy, Ecopreneur @ Canadian Pacifico Seaweeds 56:10

Feb 9, 2026

Kelp Economy with Majid Hajibeigy, Ecopreneur @ Canadian Pacifico Seaweeds

Majid Hajibeigy explains why every solo kelp farmer burns out and why aggregation is the only path to a real industry.

AI for Utilities with Vik Chaudhry, Co-Founder & CTO @ Buzz Solutions 44:26

Feb 4, 2026

AI for Utilities with Vik Chaudhry, Co-Founder & CTO @ Buzz Solutions

Vik Chaudhry beat GE and ABB in a 2021 New York Power Authority RFP by spending three years building AI models before talking revenue.

Water, Risk & Climate Capital with John Robinson, Partner @ Mazarine Climate 51:03

Jan 20, 2026

Water, Risk & Climate Capital with John Robinson, Partner @ Mazarine Climate

John Robinson, after 17 years in water and wastewater, argues the industry's biggest obstacle is that everyone already thinks they unders...

Nuclear Reality Check with Yangbo Du, Entrepreneur and Innovation Lead @ Innovo 1:15:48

Jan 19, 2026

Nuclear Reality Check with Yangbo Du, Entrepreneur and Innovation Lead @ Innovo

Yangbo Du traces how 48 U.S. utilities bankrupted themselves chasing bespoke reactor designs, and why that still shapes nuclear's odds to...

Unlocking Grid Interconnection with Emily Moini, Product Manager @ Nira Energy 45:56

Jan 14, 2026

Unlocking Grid Interconnection with Emily Moini, Product Manager @ Nira Energy

Emily Moini explains why transmission planning, one of NERC's 14 reliability categories, is the silent bottleneck for every new solar and...

Backing the Planet with Hampus Jakobsson, General Partner @ Pale Blue Dot 1:16:00

Dec 22, 2025

Backing the Planet with Hampus Jakobsson, General Partner @ Pale Blue Dot

Hampus Jakobsson of Pale Blue Dot argues the planet's inefficient 'operating system' is the largest investable opportunity humanity has e...

Low Flow, Big Impact with Russell Schindler, Founder & CEO @ SampleServe 42:28

Dec 15, 2025

Low Flow, Big Impact with Russell Schindler, Founder & CEO @ SampleServe

Russell Schindler turned a Michigan regulatory change in 2001 into a software company by listening to customers who wanted the tool, not...

Water Tech Breakthroughs with Nili Persits, Founder & CEO @ Dottir Labs 35:58

Dec 15, 2025

Water Tech Breakthroughs with Nili Persits, Founder & CEO @ Dottir Labs

Nili Persits shrunk a $100,000 refrigerator-sized Raman spectroscopy sensor to cell-phone scale to put real-time water monitoring within...

Climate Adaptation with Louie Woodall, Founder @ Climate Proof 34:40

Dec 9, 2025

Climate Adaptation with Louie Woodall, Founder @ Climate Proof

Louie Woodall argues climate adaptation is the unavoidable reality most climate media is still choosing not to look at directly.

The Future of Nuclear Energy with Rod Adams, Managing Partner @ Nucleation Capital 52:15

Dec 8, 2025

The Future of Nuclear Energy with Rod Adams, Managing Partner @ Nucleation Capital

Rod Adams founded a small modular reactor company in 1993, decades before the term 'SMR' entered mainstream climate discourse.

Climate Science with Dr Elizabeth Whitney, Biogeochemist @ NOAA National Ocean Service 46:58

Dec 8, 2025

Climate Science with Dr Elizabeth Whitney, Biogeochemist @ NOAA National Ocean Service

Dr. Liz Whitney's PhD compared carbon movement across forest, agricultural, and urban coastal sites in the mid-Atlantic, where sea level...

Carbon Recycling with Freya Burton, CSO @ LanzaTech 33:22

Dec 8, 2025

Carbon Recycling with Freya Burton, CSO @ LanzaTech

Freya Burton turned steel mill pollution into ethanol, proving a 'biologically impossible' process commercial by 2018.

Navigating False Summits with Ben Silton, CEO @ TrelliSense 40:49

Dec 4, 2025

Navigating False Summits with Ben Silton, CEO @ TrelliSense

Ben Silton built TrelliSense's laser-based methane tracking by treating every sales call and forklift shift as founder training.

Bio-Industrial Innovation with Sophia Xu, Co-Founder & CSO @ Carbon Bridge 39:52

Dec 4, 2025

Bio-Industrial Innovation with Sophia Xu, Co-Founder & CSO @ Carbon Bridge

Sophia Xu's Carbon Bridge makes microbes 500% more productive by solving a physics problem, not a biology one.

Entrepreneurship Unfiltered with Celine King, Founder & CEO @ GreenIRR Inc. 46:50

Nov 25, 2025

Entrepreneurship Unfiltered with Celine King, Founder & CEO @ GreenIRR Inc.

Celine King founded GreenIRR at 20 and argues the startup narrative hides the emotional cost that actually determines who survives.

Mastering Startup Pivots with Jimmy Chiu, Co-Founder & CTO @ Loop CO2 45:01

Nov 25, 2025

Mastering Startup Pivots with Jimmy Chiu, Co-Founder & CTO @ Loop CO2

Jimmy Chiu turned a $1.9M DOE grant into Loop CO2's first 20-liter CO2-to-polyester reactor, scaling chemistry that sat dormant for 40 ye...

Regeneration and Innovation with Rob Avis, Co-Founder and Chief Engineering Officer at 5th World 48:37

Nov 20, 2025

Regeneration and Innovation with Rob Avis, Co-Founder and Chief Engineering Officer at 5th World

Rob Avis built 5th World after teaching 10,000 people permaculture, arguing beavers increase biodiversity 28x and humans can too.

Climate Entrepreneurship with Ben Soltoff, Ecosystem Builder & Entrepreneur in Residence @ MIT 38:34

Nov 20, 2025

Climate Entrepreneurship with Ben Soltoff, Ecosystem Builder & Entrepreneur in Residence @ MIT

Ben Soltoff's MIT book on climate entrepreneurship argues startups are one route to impact, not the only one.

Clean Air Innovation with Austin Riesenberger, Founder @ SWERV 36:20

Nov 20, 2025

Clean Air Innovation with Austin Riesenberger, Founder @ SWERV

Austin Riesenberger built SWERV's first five ERV units for $2,000 total, then turned down a Hawaii relocation to keep the company.

Turning Waste into Value with Mo Balapour, CEO & Co-Founder @ SusMaX 32:14

Nov 20, 2025

Turning Waste into Value with Mo Balapour, CEO & Co-Founder @ SusMaX

Mo Balapour turned a Drexel PhD project on coal ash into SusMaX, a company recycling landfill waste into construction aggregate.

The E-Waste Vision with Agabas Agudor, Founder @ AppCyclers 34:56

Nov 19, 2025

The E-Waste Vision with Agabas Agudor, Founder @ AppCyclers

Agabas Agudor built AppCyclers from a 2019 hackathon with no e-waste knowledge into a nine-person AI marketplace connecting Ghana's infor...

Rethinking Water with Quantum Wei, Founder @ Harmony Desalting 36:17

Nov 19, 2025

Rethinking Water with Quantum Wei, Founder @ Harmony Desalting

Quantum Wei built Harmony Desalting's first prototype over a year of trial and error, then validated it at a 2019 conference in New Orleans.

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The Grove is the climate-tech interview podcast from Earth Onward, hosted by Blake Newcomer. Full episodes are published on YouTube and Spotify. This companion site collects every conversation with searchable transcripts, guest profiles, and topic guides. The Earth Onward and The Grove names and logos belong to Earth Onward.

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