Supercool

AI Mapping & 3D-Printed Reefs: Coastal Climate Adaptation Gets Its Tech Stack

Supercool — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 05:00:00 -0400

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For decades, the answer to shoreline erosion has been the same: build something big, hard, and heavy. Natrx is rewriting that playbook using AI, machine learning, and 3D-printed reef structures engineered to work with natural systems, not against them.

In this episode, Josh talks with Tad Schwendler, COO of Natrx, about how the company maps erosion across entire coastlines at one-meter resolution — analysis that would otherwise take years — and turns that intelligence into reef structures that protect shorelines and help coastal ecosystems come back to life.

With more than 80 projects across Louisiana, North Carolina, the Chesapeake Bay, and Hawaii, Natrx is doing more than protecting shorelines. It is helping defend coastal wetlands that store large amounts of carbon — and that, when lost, release nearly 2 gigatons of CO₂ a year. This is a conversation about technology, execution, and what it takes to build a company around one of climate’s hardest challenges: moving fast enough, with the right tools and the right stakeholders, to protect coastlines before they change for good.

Show Notes

Guest: Tad Schwendler, COO

Company: Natrx

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Don’t Talk About Climate: How to Scale a Climate Company

Supercool — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 05:00:00 -0400

Every climate company that scales knows the secret: they don’t sell climate. In this solo episode of Supercool, host Josh Dorfman shares one of the clearest lessons from nearly two years of conversations with founders, CEOs, operators, and investors across the low-carbon economy: the companies that break through do not lead with technical specs or climate mission. Their messaging is built around concrete customer benefits. Josh shows what that looks like in practice, with examples from companies scaling in mobility, home electrification, the built environment, and renewable energy. Time and again, the same pattern emerges. The climate companies that win never ask customers to sacrifice. They offer something immediate and better: lower costs, better performance, more control, and peace of mind. Carbon reductions are built in.

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The $1.9 Trillion Opportunity in Circular Retail

Supercool — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0400

If the circular economy is ever going to become just “the economy,” it will need infrastructure. In this episode, Josh talks with Rich Amsinger, co-founder of Manymoons and The Many Company, about building it. The conversation traces the company’s evolution from Borobabi, which began with Rich and Carolyn Butler trying to keep their daughter’s outgrown clothes in use, to Manymoons, what the company calls America’s first circular retailer, and now ManyCo, the AI-, logistics-, and demand-powered engine behind it all. Rich explains why returns, overstock, and excess inventory aren’t side issues in retail but a massive opportunity. He also makes the case that circularity requires more than software. It requires actually selling the stuff—while protecting the brand, recovering more value, and keeping better products in use longer.

Show Notes

Guest: Rich Amsinger, Co-Founder

Companies: Manymoons and ManyCo

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Passive House: All The Lifestyle Gain, None of the Environmental Pain

Supercool — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0400

Most architects don't tell you your home could be nearly silent, filter every breath of air, and run almost without heat. Not because it's impossible. Because they don't know how to build it.

Michael Ingui does. For more than a decade, his firm has built Passive Houses across New York City — landmarked townhouses, gut renovations, apartments with swimming pools and floor-to-ceiling glass. His clients get quieter rooms, cleaner air, and heating and cooling bills 80 to 90 percent below a conventional home. For the life of the building.

His opening question to clients isn't about energy or carbon. It's whether they'd like a home free of bugs. Whether they'd like to stop hearing the street.

Michael is also co-founder of the Passive House Accelerator, a catalyst for zero carbon building that shares innovation and thought leadership across Passive House design and construction, and Source 2050, a marketplace for vetted high-performance building materials.
For Michael, the goal is straightforward: get everyone building this way, as fast as possible. The high-performance, zero-carbon future is counting on it.

Show Notes

Guest: Michael Ingui, Partner

Company: Ingui Architecture

Johnson Controls webinar link

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Fun: Why Sustainability Needs It And How To Have It At Work

Supercool — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0400

Nobody wants to be policed. Not even sustainability advocates.

Charlie Sellars has spent six years as a Director of Sustainability at Microsoft. He's the author of What We Can Do: A Climate Optimist's Guide to Sustainable Living. His TEDx talk is titled "Make Sustainability Fun Again." His argument: the movement has spent too long trying to be right at the expense of being effective. And that mistake is costing us.

But making sustainability fun is only half the equation. The other half is knowing where to aim. And that means lifecycle analysis — the ability to measure the true environmental cost of anything from cradle to grave.

Here's what that reveals: 80 to 90 percent of a device's lifetime emissions — like the one you're reading now and listening with — occur before you ever turn it on. Which means the single most impactful thing you can do with the phone you're holding right now has nothing to do with how you use it.

It's how long you keep it.

Show Notes:

Guest: Charlie Sellars, Award-Winning Author and Microsoft Sustainability Director

Book: What We Can Do: A Climate Optimist's Guide to Sustainable Living

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320 Boreholes Below Brooklyn: How Geothermal Replaces Fossil Fuels in Cities

Supercool — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0500

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The largest geothermal residential building in New York City just opened in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. 834 apartments. 320 boreholes drilled hundreds of feet underground — enough to heat and cool every unit in the building. Even the rooftop pool.

Geosource Energy drilled it. This conversation is about how they did it, and what it takes to build geoexchange systems at scale in dense cities, where there's already a city's worth of infrastructure below: water, gas, electric, telecom, subways, and foundations.

Geoexchange is simple to explain and hard to execute. No combustion. No fuel. Fully electric. The physics are straightforward. The delivery is not.

Building owners choose geoexchange for the operating savings. And for every dollar saved at the building level, the grid saves eight or nine — because geoexchange cuts peak demand when electricity is most expensive and most scarce.

That's a true decarbonization driver. And why cities from Toronto to Boston to New York are leaning in with more to follow.
Geosource has completed more than 400 projects. The infrastructure they install is designed to outlast the buildings it serves. Stan calls it 500-year pipe. He's seen a building come down and the borefield stay put, ready for the next one.

Show Notes:

Guest: Stanley Reitsma, CEO

Company: Geosource Energy

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20 Million Acres Later: Regenerative Ag Has Its Business Model

Supercool — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0500

People assume farmers are conservative by nature. Cautious. Set in their ways.

Ryan Jones, VP of Sustainability at Indigo Ag, has a different read: farmers aren’t risk-averse. They’re risk-saturated.

Consider factors like weather, debt, input costs, labor, and fluctuating commodity prices. One bad season can set a farmer back years. So when someone shows up and says, “Change how you farm,” the first question any farmer asks is: who’s carrying the risk?

That’s the problem Indigo was built to solve. Pay farmers to adopt regenerative practices. Quantify the outcomes. Connect them to buyers through carbon markets or corporate supply chains. Today, Indigo operates in 15 countries and manages a portfolio spanning 20 million acres, delivering over a megaton of greenhouse gas reductions/removals and conserving nearly 100 billion gallons of water—and it recently announced a 12-year offtake agreement with Microsoft for 2.85 million tons of carbon removal credits.

But this conversation is about more than keeping carbon in the soil. It’s also about water. In the Mid-South rice belt, companies face an existential sourcing risk and farmers face an existential livelihood risk. And with a shared aquifer, one farmer conserving water doesn’t move the needle if everyone else keeps pumping.

The only way through is everyone moving together. And Indigo’s bet is that you get there by making the most practical thing the most profitable thing—fast enough to matter.

Show Notes

Guest: Ryan Jones, Vice President of Sustainability

Company: Indigo Ag

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Solar for 45 Million Renters: How Shine Gets Building Owners to Say "Yes"

Supercool — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0500

Forty-five million Americans live in apartments. Almost none have solar—not because the technology doesn't work, but because building owners pay for installation while tenants get the savings. It's the split incentive conundrum holding the sector back.

Owen Barrett saw this problem when he started investing in apartment buildings. Nobody in multifamily was thinking about energy—just paint colors and new countertops. He tried consulting. Nobody listened. So he raised capital, bought buildings, and installed solar himself.

The breakthrough: software that tracks each tenant's solar usage and bills them for it. Owners earn revenue. Tenants save money.

That became Shine, a company that installs solar on apartment buildings and handles everything from design to maintenance.

Shine went from 100 units in 2024 to 3,000 in 2025, projecting 20,000 in 2026. They're working with two of the five largest apartment owners in America.

Owen and Josh discuss why execution beats innovation, how rising electricity prices make subsidies irrelevant, and why doing what you promise became a competitive advantage.

Show Notes

Guest: Owen Barrett, CEO

Company: Shine

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Cash Beats Climate: Crowdfunding Millions for Clean Energy

Supercool — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0500

In 2019, Will Wiseman watched 100,000 people march through Barcelona for the global climate strikes. He felt hope. Then the obvious truth: everyone was going home, and nothing would change. So, he built Climatize, an SEC-registered investment platform that allows anyone to invest as little as $10 in clean energy projects across the United States.

Climatize specializes in projects ranging from $250,000 to $5 million, which are traditionally too small for institutional lenders to fund. The company's proprietary AI tools compress due diligence from weeks to minutes. Some projects raise hundreds of thousands of dollars within 24 hours.

The crowdfunding platform's progress to date: $14 million deployed across 33 clean energy projects—solar, battery storage, EV charging, and energy efficiency—in 14 states.

Will and Josh discuss why finance-first messaging outperforms climate-first messaging, how AI has made small deals viable, and why speed to finance has become Climatize's competitive moat.

Show Notes

Guest: Will Wiseman, Co-Founder & CEO

Company: Climatize

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Beauty and Brains: Lunar Batteries Save Money and Look Good Doing It

Supercool — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0500

Kunal Girotra was Head of Tesla Energy before leaving in 2020 to found Lunar Energy. Then he went silent. Over two years, he raised $300 million, built a 250-person team, and developed home battery systems that blend sleek design with state-of-the-art technology. Lunar emerged from stealth in 2022 with a mission to deliver endless, affordable clean energy.

What differentiates Lunar: it's both a hardware and software company. The battery and AI are designed and integrated as a single system. The software learns each home's unique energy fingerprint, deciding when to charge from the grid at low rates, when to run on battery, and when to sell power back at premium prices.

The results: customers earn an average of $464 annually through Virtual Power Plant programs and $338 through optimization—over $800 in total, with seamless backup power.

Lunar's GridShare platform now manages 650 megawatts of distributed energy for utilities across multiple continents. This morning, the company announced $232 million in new funding to expand nationwide.

Show Notes:

Guest: Kunal Girotra, Founder & CEO

Company: Lunar Energy

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Can AI Save AI Infrastructure? Cutting Energy, Water, and Wear in Data Centers

Supercool — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0500

Data centers have always pursued energy efficiency through better hardware—smarter chillers, advanced cooling systems. But there's a ceiling. You can only make hardware so efficient.

Seven years ago, Jasper de Vries discovered the butterfly effect in data centers—something on a roof rippling through 300 billion sensor readings down to valves in server rooms. His company, Lucend, ingests that sensor data to generate operator recommendations. One facility cut power usage by 40% in a year, saving $4.3 million.

Yet here's what most of us miss about AI's big energy problem: we focus on operational energy use while Scope 3 emissions—the embodied carbon from manufacturing hardware—creates massive impact, so much so that Microsoft won't hit its 2030 climate targets because of its data center growth plans. With JP Morgan projecting $5 trillion in AI infrastructure buildouts by 2030, the need to bring embodied carbon under control is urgent.

Lucend's software addresses both challenges: it slashes operational energy while extending hardware life through predictive maintenance, reducing the physical wear that forces early replacement. Its technology is now deployed across over 50 facilities globally.

Show Notes

Guest: Jasper de Vries

Company: Lucend

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Stop Sorting: How UBQ Materials Uses 100% Of Your Trash

Supercool — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0500

What if we stopped trying to recycle and just used all our trash instead?

UBQ Materials makes bio-plastics from entire trash bags—dirty diapers, greasy pizza boxes, chicken bones, mixed plastics. Everything. 100% utilization. Nothing returns to landfills.

The material works in existing manufacturing equipment, costs the same as virgin plastic, and can be recycled 10+ times. It's already in Mercedes interiors and McDonald's products.

CEO Albert Douer spent eight years in stealth mode perfecting the technology before selling a pound. The original plan: three years. Reality: ten. Most VCs would've killed it. He kept going.

Now UBQ operates an 80,000-ton facility in the Netherlands proving the technology works at scale. The implications for waste, plastics, and the circular economy are staggering—and Albert's journey reveals what it actually takes to bring impossible-sounding innovation into the real world.

Show Notes

Guest: Albert Douer, CEO

Company: UBQ Materials

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Modernization Is Electrification: How Schneider Electric Builds at Gigawatt Scale

Supercool — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0500

When any part of the economy modernizes, it electrifies. New HVAC systems? Electric heat pumps. Autonomous vehicles? Battery-powered electric cars. Next-generation factories? Not a smoke stack in sight. Which means the US needs to build as much grid infrastructure in the next decade as we built in the last 50 years.

Schneider Electric is a 189-year-old infrastructure company that makes everything from the cooling systems in AI factories to the switchgear moving power across the grid. Jim Simonelli, their SVP of data centers, joins Supercool to explain why efficiency is now a core business necessity, not just an environmental virtue. Every watt that doesn't reach compute is lost revenue, which changes everything about how you design and operate at gigawatt scale.

Vincent Petit, who runs Schneider's research institute, breaks down why 15 years of flat electricity demand means we've lost the muscle to build infrastructure. And why the answer isn't just more generation—it's rethinking the entire system.

Show Notes

Guests: Jim Simonelli, Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Secure Power and Vincent Petit, Senior Vice President, Climate & Energy Transition Research

Company: Schneider Electric

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Mass Timber For The Masses: How Sterling Mainstreamed CLT

Supercool — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0500

Mass Timber is growing fast—expanding from a handful of commercial wood buildings in the U.S. just over a decade ago to more than 2,000 today, with 24,000 projected by 2034. Once considered niche, mass timber is moving mainstream—competing on price, speed, and domestic supply chains, not sustainability alone.

Sterling Structural is leading that shift. As America's largest CLT manufacturer, the company produces one cross-laminated timber panel every 65 seconds, sourcing 100% of its wood from domestic sawmills. Sterling has recently produced its one millionth panel.

This is mass timber for the masses—standardized, modular systems that contractors already understand.

Michaela Harms, Vice President of Mass Timber at Sterling, joins Josh Dorfman to share how mass timber went from alternative to mainstream in a decade. She discusses how Sterling supplied 1,100 prefabricated CLT panels for Amazon’s new facility in Elkhart, Indiana, and why the industry is scaling by competing directly on price, speed, and practicality—with the carbon and forestry benefits included.

Show Notes

Guest: Michaela Harms, Vice President of Mass Timber

Company: Sterling Structural

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The Clean Energy Transition Runs on Affordability

Supercool — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Clean power has never been cheaper. So why are electricity bills rising—and what's blocking faster deployment?

Jigar Shah joins Supercool to explain why 2025 marked a turning point: for the first time in history, essentially 100% of new electricity demand worldwide was met by solar, wind, and nuclear. It happened because the same solutions that solve climate change are winning on affordability.

But deployment could be moving much faster. The technology is proven. The finance exists. The barrier is political: governors and mayors don’t realize the leverage they have over utilities, and utility CEOs won’t act unless forced by law.

In climate circles, Jigar needs no introduction. He pioneered solar financing at SunEdison, launched the Carbon War Room with Richard Branson, and ran the DOE Loan Programs Office that deployed over $100 billion in clean energy financing during the Biden Administration.

We dig into what gives elected officials more power than they know, why some utility CEOs want to be mandated to deploy cheaper solutions, and why Jigar’s headline for 2026 isn’t more technology—it’s more workforce.

Show Notes

Guest: Jigar Shah, Co-Managing Partner

Company: Multiplier

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The $2.2 Trillion Year: Clean Power Keeps Compounding

Supercool — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0500

In 2025, the U.S. president called climate change a hoax. Meanwhile, global clean energy investment hit a record $2.2 trillion. Akshat Rathi is a senior reporter covering climate and energy for Bloomberg. His read on the past year: China is becoming the modern Standard Oil. The same way Rockefeller's empire exported petroleum infrastructure globally, China is now exporting electrification—solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, grid tech, project finance—to countries racing to modernize their economies. Pakistan imported solar equal to half its grid capacity in twelve months. And Ethiopia went from zero to 7% EV market share. Developing countries treat electricity like a growth engine. Rich countries struggle to meet 4% annual demand increases. Rathi joins Supercool to walk through Trump's rollback, the ripple effects at home and abroad, and why none of it is stopping the global transition to the low-carbon future.

Show Notes

Guest: Akshat Rathi

The Grid's Next Move: Nuclear Daydreams vs. Distributed Energy Reality

Supercool — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0500

In this end-of-year conversation, David Roberts, a renowned climate and clean energy journalist, lays out his headline for 2025: the rapid growth of AI data centers has forced long-delayed decisions about the power system. After two decades of mostly flat U.S. electricity demand, utilities are now facing sharp new load growth, tighter timelines, and major uncertainty—making grid capacity and interconnection central challenges.

Roberts, who hosts and writes the Volts podcast and newsletter, argues that long-lead solutions like new nuclear power plants are poorly matched to this moment. The fastest, lowest-cost capacity available today comes from distributed resources: solar, batteries, flexible building loads, coordinated EV charging, and virtual power plants. Because hyperscalers face real financial pressure to get data centers online, he sees a potential opportunity to redirect some of that capital toward building distributed capacity that benefits the wider grid. The conversation also touches on political volatility and why clean energy and electrification continue to advance globally on their favorable economics, even amid U.S. policy uncertainty.

Show Notes

Guest: David Roberts

Company: Volts

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Remote-Control High-Rises: HVAC That Pays You Back

Supercool — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Real estate companies say they want sustainability. They'll pay for it too, provided it comes with zero risk.

Brad Pilgrim is co-founder & CEO of Parity, a remote HVAC optimization service for high-rises and hotels. Its customer team can walk into a building, spend 90 minutes going from the basement to roof, and tell the owner how much energy they can save—then guarantee it. After eight years, clients like AvalonBay—one of the largest multifamily REITs in the country—are seeing 20-30% cuts in HVAC costs with payback in one to two years.

Brad joins Supercool to discuss how Parity overcomes real estate's risk aversion, why proof matters more than technology, and what happens when you can precondition a thousand-unit building before a heatwave hits. Plus: the one slide Brad had to add to his Series B funding round deck that changed everything.

Show Notes

Guest: Brad Pilgrim, co-founder & CEO

Company: Parity Inc.

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EV Impossible: Voltera Delivers Charging Sites Electric Fleets Count On

Supercool — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0500

EVs for commercial fleets are increasingly attractive. Battery costs are down, range is up, and in many cases the total cost of ownership already beats gas. The problem isn’t the vehicles. It’s where they’ll charge.

Voltera takes on the part of the EV transition most people never see: procuring the right real estate, securing stadium-scale power capacity, navigating zoning codes that rarely recognize EV charging as a primary use, and getting sign-off—sometimes from more than a dozen city departments—just to get started.

Voltera CEO Brett Hauser joins Josh to show how the company has built a playbook for that messy middle, making EV charging viable for the country’s fleets. Now operating in markets from Los Angeles to Miami, Voltera does this work not so fleets don’t have to, but because fleets never will.

Show Notes

Guest: Brett Hauser, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Company: Voltera

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AI is in the Walls: Schneider Electric Gives Buildings Brains

Supercool — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Something big is happening inside buildings. They’re getting brains.

Schneider Electric is a global giant in energy and building performance—nearly two centuries old, operating across 100+ countries, and already embedded in a million buildings. Manish Kumar, EVP of Digital Energy, joins me to unpack what it means when AI starts running the places we live and work.

We dig into EcoStruxure Foresight, Schneider’s new AI assistant for buildings: a layer that links critical equipment, learns the rhythms of a space, flags waste in real time, and helps facility teams interact with their buildings as performance partners.

From hospitals and data centers to hotels, airports, and offices, we explore what changes when these environments can diagnose themselves, tune performance daily, and keep improving over time—then push into the bigger horizon: what happens when that capability scales across millions of sites worldwide, how it reshapes the future of work, and the role intelligent buildings play in a modernizing grid.

Show Notes

Guest: Manish Kumar, Executive Vice President, Digital Energy

Company: Schneider Electric

Key Link: Innovation Summit

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Clean Energy Meets Its Match: Crux Accelerates Deal Flow

Supercool — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0500

There are trillions of dollars of clean energy projects ready to be built—and trillions more in capital waiting to fund them. But the system connecting the two is too slow, fragmented, and expensive.

That gap is what Alfred Johnson set out to close. A former Treasury official who helped steer markets through the 2008 financial crisis and later served under Janet Yellen, Johnson co-founded Crux to build the financial software layer the energy transition was missing.

Crux connects developers, manufacturers, and investors across a marketplace for clean energy finance. In just two years, it’s closed over 120 transactions worth billions—turning a bureaucratic tangle of documents into a liquid market built for speed, trust, and scale.

This conversation explores how liquidity, intelligence, and automation are accelerating capital into hard infrastructure—and how Crux is becoming the financial engine powering today’s clean energy industrial revolution.

Show Notes

Guest: Alfred Johnson, Co-Founder & CEO

Company: Crux

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Beautiful Heat: Quilt Turns Decarbonization Into Desire

Supercool — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0500

A few months ago, Quilt became the first company in residential HVAC history to deliver an over-the-air upgrade—making its systems 20% more powerful overnight.

Quilt is rethinking how homes heat and cool themselves. Its software-driven, ductless HVAC system combines intelligent controls, high-efficiency heat pumps, and a design language that fits seamlessly into modern architecture. By bringing the pace and polish of consumer technology to an overlooked industry, Quilt transforms comfort into a catalyst for electrification.

Founder and CEO Paul Lambert joins Josh Dorfman to share how Quilt’s approach—what he calls “technical arbitrage”—adapts proven innovations from EVs and connected devices to reimagine the American home for the electric age.

This episode explores how software, design, and emotion converge to make clean energy aspirational and why desire may be the most powerful tool in decarbonization.

Show Notes

Guest: Paul Lambert, Founder & CEO

Company: Quilt

BTS Video Series

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Trust Scales: Veo Is the Micromobility Partner Cities Love

Supercool — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0500

In an industry that moved fast and defied cities, Veo chose a different path: partnership over disruption. Co-founder and CEO Candice Xie is building one of the only profitable micromobility companies in America by leading with discipline, transparency, and respect for the people shaping urban life. While competitors flooded streets and flamed out, Veo continues to earn trust — winning 90% of city RFPs and operating in over 50 markets nationwide. Candice joins Josh Dorfman to unpack how Veo’s strategy of asking for permission, designing durable hardware, and prioritizing community needs became its true growth engine. This is a masterclass in scaling deliberately, proving that in 2025, the climate-tech companies that endure aren’t the ones that move the fastest — they’re the ones that build trust the deepest.

Show Notes

Guest: Candice Xie, CEO and co-founder

Company: Veo

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AI, Solar Minigrids, and the Quest to Power Civilization’s Edge

Supercool — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Husk Power Systems operates the largest fleet of community-level clean-energy minigrids in the world—over 400 sites across India and Nigeria. Each system combines solar, battery storage, and biomass generation into a modular platform called PRISM, engineered to deploy and power an entire village within 24 hours. Behind the technology is an AI-driven operating system that forecasts demand, manages generation in real time, and keeps every site running autonomously. Co-founder and CEO Manoj Sinha shares how Husk plans to scale to 5,000 minigrids by 2030—delivering reliable, renewable power to millions and redefining what energy access means at civilization’s edge.

Show Notes

Guest: Manoh Sinha, Co-founder and CEO

Company: Husk Power Systems

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Mining Solar Panels to Build New Ones

Supercool — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0400

SolarCycle is building the next supply chain that makes the clean energy transition possible. Co-founder Jesse Simons spent two decades at the Sierra Club leading national campaigns to accelerate renewable energy before seeing the constraint built into solar’s own success. There aren’t enough raw materials to keep scaling, and communities are starting to resist projects without end-of-life plans.

With a deep bench of industry founders, operators, and visionaries, SolarCycle is closing that loop. They’ve developed technology to extract glass, aluminum, copper, silicon, and silver from old panels—and the reverse logistics to move them efficiently from field to factory.

This episode explores how SolarCycle is making recycling cost-competitive with landfilling—and why that threshold could define the future of solar. As circularity becomes essential to project approvals, investor confidence, and long-term supply, renewable energy is entering its next phase—where even the panels must become renewable too.

Show Notes

Guest: Jesse Simons, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer (corrected)

Company: SOLARCYCLE

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The Billion-Dollar Bank Underwriting the Clean Energy Transition

Supercool — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Ken LaRoe has done what no one else in U.S. history has: founded three banks. His first two were financial successes. His third—Climate First Bank—is his answer to unfinished business. Built to align money with mission, it’s now America’s fastest-growing new bank, surpassing $1.4 billion in assets while financing the clean energy economy.

In this episode, Ken shares what he learned across 25 years of banking—why financial performance and climate action can’t be opposites, and how being, in his words, a “rabid environmentalist and rabid capitalist” became his edge. He explains how Climate First’s fintech arm, OneEthos, built proprietary software that powers $30 million in solar loans each month across 700+ installers—without relying on tax credits or Wall Street intermediaries.

Now, as the bank prepares for an IPO, Ken is proving that mission-driven finance can outperform the market—and that the clean energy transition runs on something deeper than capital: conviction.

Show Notes

Guest: Ken LaRoe, CEO of Climate First Bancorp and Executive Chairman of Climate First Bank

Comnpany: Climate First Bank

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Millions of Urban Trees Are Discarded—Cambium Builds Them a New Supply Chain

Supercool — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Cambium is building the operating system for reuse—a digital supply chain connecting the fragmented network of companies needed to turn fallen trees into finished goods.

Every year, tens of millions of urban trees come down. The scale is staggering, and most end up chipped, burned, or buried. Cambium links tree-removal crews, haulers, mills, and end customers through a unified digital platform—transforming what was once waste into market-ready material.

Today, more than 500 companies across the U.S. and Canada coordinate each tree’s journey, forming a just-in-time network for reclaimed wood.

Co-founder and CEO Ben Christensen calls it building a “tech-native forestry company”—one where reuse runs on code, data, and tight coordination. In this episode, Ben and host Josh Dorfman explore how mastering complexity becomes a competitive advantage, how data builds defensibility, and how scaling reuse could redefine how the material economy works.

Show Notes

Guest: Ben Christensen

Company: Cambium

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From Google to the Grid: She's Orchestrating the Clean Energy Future

Supercool — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0400

AI, electrification, decarbonization—they all hinge on how effectively the grid is orchestrated. Yet thousands of clean energy projects are stuck in U.S. interconnection queues. The backlog is twice the size of all the energy we use today. It’s not a cost problem. It’s the grid—the largest machine on earth—built last century for stability and missing the cloud-scale infrastructure to handle what’s ahead.

Astrid Atkinson has run a machine like this before. At Google, she spent fifteen years in site reliability engineering, keeping Search, Maps, YouTube, and Gmail online with 99.999% uptime. If google.com went down, her team got paged. Running one of the world’s largest critical infrastructure systems taught her a lesson: you don’t scale by adding infinite hardware. You scale with visibility, software, and flexibility.

Now, as co-founder and CEO of Camus Energy, she’s applying that lesson to the grid. Camus builds a real-time data layer—linking past, present, and future—and turns it into signals utilities use to coordinate assets: charge later, ramp down, discharge when needed.

With visibility and signals, utilities gain the control knobs they need—so projects connect in months instead of years and demand flexibility becomes part of the grid’s DNA.

Show Notes

Guest: Astrid Atkinson, co-founder and CEO

Company: Camus Energy

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Disco, Sunshine, and the Future of Curbside EV Charging - It's Electric

Supercool — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Curbside charging sounds obvious—plug in outside your apartment, wake up to a full battery. Yet more than 40 million potential urban EV owners are still waiting for someone to figure it out.

it’s electric, co-founded by Tiya Gordon, is designing EV charging for cities—making curbside charging possible by inventing what didn’t exist: hardware powered directly by buildings, a revenue model that pays property owners, and a way to work with cities that clears the path to install. Its chargers are already operational in Boston, Detroit, and San Francisco, with more cities on the way.

Tiya brings a unique background in public-facing technology and design to the challenge—she led the technology for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Now she’s assembled a team from transportation, design, and public projects—people who know how to connect landlords, planners, and engineers into the same conversation. That’s how It’s Electric moves swiftly through city permitting in days instead of years—and why the future of EV charging will feel less like bulky infrastructure, and more like disco and sunshine.

Show Notes

Guest: Tiya Gordon

Company: it's electric

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Alloy Built Brooklyn’s First All-Electric Skyscraper — Wall Street Wants More

Supercool — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0400

By fusing architect and developer, Alloy Development is proving that the riskiest choice in real estate isn’t electrification or Passive House — it’s clinging to the past.

CEO Jared Della Valle joins Supercool to share the company’s journey to developing The Alloy Block in downtown Brooklyn—aiming to create the most sustainable block in the city. It’s anchored by 505 State Street, New York’s first all-electric skyscraper; two Passive House–certified public schools; and soon, One Third Avenue—the tallest Passive House tower in the world.

Della Valle describes how Alloy built investor confidence project by project—staying nimble, controlling risk, and executing at a standard that pulled institutional capital toward climate performance. He explains why going all-electric lowered long-term risk, how policy and pricing dynamics shifted investor expectations, and why the most competitive real estate today is also the cleanest.

Alloy is shifting how Wall Street perceives risk and return—redefining climate performance not as the exception, but the expectation.

Show Notes

Guest: Jared Della Valle, CEO

Company: Alloy Development

Project: The Alloy Block

Building: 505 State Street - All-Electric Skyscraper

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Fashion’s Next Wave Isn’t Fast—It’s Faherty

Supercool — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Mike Faherty grew up surfing the Jersey Shore, surrounded by coastal style but chasing something that felt more enduring. Even as a kid, he obsessed over fabrics—the way silk ties carried weight, how colors layered, how clothes gained character through texture. By seventeen, he had already mapped the outlines of the brand he wanted to build.

In 2012, he launched Faherty with his twin brother Alex and sister-in-law Kerry—creating a clothing company rooted in surf culture, elevated by craft, and grounded in responsibility. Today, it's grown into one of the most distinctive brands in American fashion—80+ stores, hundreds of millions in revenue, and a headquarters team of just over 100 people that still moves with the urgency of a “Day One” startup.

Faherty doesn’t market itself as a sustainability brand, but responsibility is stitched into its DNA. Seventy-two percent of fabrics already meet the company’s responsible sourcing standard, with a goal of 100% by 2030—all disclosed in its public Impact Report. Regenerative organic cotton from the Amazon. Recycled polyester engineered for softness. Supply chain partners chosen for shared values and trust.

In this conversation, Mike, the company's Chief Creative Officer, shares how a lifelong passion for materials became a strategy for innovation—why feel matters, how responsibility shows up behind the seams, and what it takes to scale a modern American fashion brand built for lasting impact.

Show Notes

Guest: Mike Faherty, Co-founder & Chief Creative Officer

Company: Faherty Brand

Resource: Faherty Brand Impact Report

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The Billion-Mile Diesel Problem and the Business Model Fixing It

Supercool — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Forum Mobility is electrifying how America moves freight. Every year, more than 30,000 diesel 18-wheelers haul containers in and out of California’s ports, logging over a billion miles, generating enormous carbon emissions and polluting nearby communities.

Electric semis are powerful, quiet, and clean. But at $500,000 apiece with uncertain charging and maintenance, the math doesn’t work for the independent operators — often family-run businesses — who move most containers from port to warehouse, the first mile of logistics known as drayage. The technology is ready. The adoption is stuck.

In 2024, Forum Mobility opened the world’s largest port-based charging depot at Long Beach. But the company’s breakthrough isn’t hardware — it’s the model: EV Trucking as a Service. By bundling trucks and charging into a predictable monthly subscription, Forum Mobility makes running electric cheaper than diesel and removes the risk that has stalled adoption.

Founder and CEO Matt Leducq saw the same shift in solar, where he built his career and where financing innovation became the key to unlocking market adoption. Now he’s betting the same playbook can electrify freight.

Show Notes

Guest: Matt Leducq, Co-Founder & CEO

Company: Forum Mobility

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The Clean Energy Transition Is Cooking: Copper's Battery-Enabled Appliances Unlock Home Electrification

Supercool — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Most U.S. homes aren’t wired for electrified living, even though the clean energy future depends on it. Upgrading panels and wiring can cost thousands before a single new appliance is even installed.

Plus, consumers aren’t demanding electrification. They want lifestyle upgrades—faster, more precise cooking, backup power in a pinch, and appliances that cost less and perform more.

Copper has designed the solution. The company is building 21st-century appliances to work on 20th-century infrastructure, i.e., the aging grid we have today. No infrastructure upgrades necessary.

Charlie, their first electric appliance, is a sleek, modern induction range equipped with a built-in 5 kWh battery. It plugs into a standard 110-volt kitchen outlet, cooks four times faster than natural gas, charges when renewables are on the grid, and keeps going even during blackouts.

Copper’s Founder and CEO, Sam Calisch, helped shape clean energy policy incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act as co-founder of Rewiring America. Now he and the team at Copper are building battery-embedded electric appliances that install easily and perform better.

The clean energy transition is cooking.

Show Notes

Guest: Sam Calisch, Founder and CEO

Company: Copper

Resource: Wall Street Journal—Maker of Battery-Powered Kitchen Stoves Raises $28 Million

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Interface is Going Carbon-Negative (No Offsets Necessary)

Supercool — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Interface is a public company proving that carbon-negative is possible at scale. The billion-dollar flooring brand has more than 400 carbon-negative products on the market today and a plan to take its entire business carbon-negative by 2040. Liz Minne, Head of Global Sustainability Strategy, shares how Interface is operationalizing that ambition through product innovation, supply chain engagement, and a culture that keeps climate goals at the center of business decisions. She discusses what it means to lead as a public company, how to translate climate targets into everyday execution, and why culture may be Interface’s most important competitive edge. Interface shows that a carbon-negative future isn’t theoretical—it’s now being built in the heart of corporate America.

Show Notes

Guest: Liz Minné, Head of Global Sustainability Strategy

Company: Interface

Resource: "All In On Carbon" Climate Commitment

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Amazon: Faster Delivery, Lower Emissions

Supercool — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0400

At Amazon, speed isn’t a carbon cost—it’s a carbon advantage. The company now runs 30,000 electric delivery vehicles, delivered 1.5 billion packages on battery power last year, and has built over 600 renewable energy projects in more than 20 countries—20 gigawatts of clean energy capacity, making it the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable power.

Inside that scale is a playbook for how a global business operationalizes decarbonization without slowing down. Chris Roe, Amazon’s Director of Worldwide Environment for Carbon, and Chris Atkins, Director of Worldwide Operations for Sustainability, share how speed has become a lever for lower emissions, why regionalizing the network cuts both carbon and cost, and how they’re mobilizing teams across the company to hit net zero by 2040—ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement.

We cover EV fleet deployment, renewable power strategy, packaging reduction, AI-driven efficiency, and Amazon’s push to bring suppliers and competitors along through The Climate Pledge. It’s a rare inside look at a company turning massive logistics into massive carbon cuts—and inviting others to do the same.

Show Notes

Guests:
- Chris Roe, Director of Worldwide Environment, Carbon
- Chris Atkins, Director of Worldwide Operations, Sustainability

Company: Amazon

Resources:
- 2024 Amazon Sustainability Report
- Amazon's Sustainability Exchange

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Freedom From Ordinary: Brompton Folding Bikes Take on America

Supercool — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 05:18:00 -0400

For fifty years, Brompton has been the most iconic name in urban cycling. Engineered and made in London, beloved by city riders, and still unrivaled in how fast it folds and how good it feels to ride.

But in the U.S., where biking is still mostly recreational and folding bikes barely register, the brand faces a different challenge: how to scale a joy-filled, performance-driven mobility tool in a market that doesn’t know it needs it.

Juliet Scott-Croxford, President of the Americas, is modernizing everything around the fold—retail, product, e-commerce, community—while keeping the company’s elite dealer network close.

This is how a legacy brand retains its stature while accelerating growth—by evolving everything but the reason people love it. And why joy might be the most underrated climate signal of all.

Show Notes

Guest: Juliet Scott-Croxford, President of the Americas

Company: Brompton

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Clean Energy Is As American As Football in the Fall—If You Tell It Right

Supercool — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0400

To scale climate solutions, you have to know how to talk about them. The companies driving climate adoption don’t just offer better solutions—they tell better stories. Stories that reframe clean energy as the smarter, cheaper, everyday choice. Stories that win customers, sway skeptics, and shift markets.

Keith Zakheim has spent two decades working with climate brands to sharpen their strategy and scale their message. As CEO of Antenna Group, he’s shaped the public narrative around clean energy, circular economy, and climate tech adoption—long before those terms entered the mainstream lexicon.

Keith joins Josh to unpack the new landscape resulting from the One Big Beautiful Bill, the continued surge of private investment, and why even in the Age of Adoption, the right story still determines who grabs market share—and who falters. They break down how Antenna’s new AI tool, Conscious Compass, evaluates whether a brand’s sustainability rhetoric matches reality. And they explore why messaging grounded in prosperity, security, and abundance may be 2025’s most strategic climate language.

Clean energy won’t scale because the climate crisis demands it. It’ll scale because it feels as distinctly American as football in the fall.

Show Notes

Guest: Keith Zakheim, CEO

Company: Antenna Group

Article referenced: The Hill - Why the climate and sustainability economy will thrive in a Trump presidency

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Hemp Grows Up: A Long-Awaited Crop Now Insulates U.S. Homes

Supercool — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Industrial hemp always had believers. What it lacked was a supply chain. Hempitecture is changing that—starting with the first commercial-scale factory in the U.S. making high-performance home insulation from hemp.

Headquartered in Idaho, the company has shipped to 5,000+ customers across 48 states. It’s now the largest buyer of industrial hemp fiber in North America—proving that a crop once sidelined by regulation and volatility can power a fast-growing manufacturing business.

In this episode, co-founder Tommy Gibbons shares the operational playbook: how Hempitecture proved its insulation performs, raised capital through crowdfunding when venture capital didn’t show up, and built a new distribution model in a category with no precedent.

Hempitecture’s insulation cuts carbon in two ways—by lowering embodied emissions during manufacturing and reducing operational emissions once installed.

Nearly a century after hemp was banned in 1937, the supply chain is finally getting built—with carbon impact to match.

And this time, it’s not just legal—it’s scalable.

Show Notes

Guest: Tommy Gibbons, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer

Company: Hempitecture

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Electrify Everything: Span’s Big Bet on the Dumbest Box in the House

Supercool — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Consumers want the upgrades. The climate does too. But the electrical panel in the garage stands in the way.

EVs, heat pumps, induction stoves—electrification is becoming more attractive. The products are faster, cleaner, cheaper to run. But nearly 48 million U.S. homes still rely on outdated 100-amp service. That means expensive utility upgrades, long delays, and a halt to progress.

Arch Rao, former Tesla Energy product lead, built Span to fix the bottleneck. The Span Panel replaces the old breaker box with a connected, intelligent device that lets homeowners add electric appliances without triggering a full service upgrade. It works with solar, batteries, and EVs—and gives people visibility and control over their energy use for the first time.

Span is the upgrade that makes all the other upgrades possible. And with Span Edge, utilities can manage demand house by house, neighborhood by neighborhood—without building more poles and wires.

Span turns a forgotten piece of hardware into a platform for electrification—at home, and across the grid.

Show Notes

Guest: Arch Rao, Founder & CEO

Company: Span

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Clean Energy Is Dead. Long Live Clean Energy.

Supercool — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0400

America invented the clean energy future. Now it may be dismantling it, just as the rest of the world hits the accelerator.

The U.S. was first. The first silicon solar cell in New Jersey. The first wind turbine in Cleveland. The first microinverter in a California garage.

But now it’s China scaling the clean energy transition—building factories, locking in supply chains, and racing toward a low-carbon economy at industrial speed.

In the U.S., the president just signed the Big Beautiful Bill into law—gutting the historic clean energy investments at the heart of the Inflation Reduction Act. The country that helped invent the clean energy future is now stepping back. Just as solar keeps getting cheaper. Just as global investment hits $2 trillion. Just as the low-carbon transition starts to tip.

David Roberts, founder of Volts, has spent 20 years as a journalist tracking this shift. In this episode, he joins Josh Dorfman to dissect the precarious moment we find ourselves in—when America’s energy future is uncertain, global momentum is accelerating, and the clean energy transition won’t wait. They talk solar’s 60-year cost curve, energy policy, and why the real revolution may be happening from the bottom up.

This is what it looks like when the politics retreat—but the transition doesn’t.

Show Notes

Guest: David Roberts

Company: Volts

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Profits at Recycling's Edge: TerraCycle Finds ROI in Trash No One Wants

Supercool — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 05:15:00 -0400

TerraCycle takes on waste the rest of the world ignores—cigarette butts, diapers, pharmaceutical blister packs.

But what makes the model work isn’t what they recycle. It’s how they get companies to pay for it.

Even with one of the boldest missions in climate tech—eliminate the idea of waste—TerraCycle doesn’t lead with sustainability. It leads with the business case.

In this episode, CEO Tom Szaky shares with host Josh Dorfman how the company has grown for 23 straight years by solving a problem no one wanted: how to make recycling hard-to-process waste worth paying for. Salons use it to attract new customers. Labs use it to retain top talent. Big brands use it to build loyalty. Every program works because it helps someone grow their business.

Tom also explains how Loop, TerraCycle’s reuse division for consumer packaging, is scaling fast in France and Japan. The reason isn’t culture. It’s the right rules and incentives.

This is a conversation about reimagining the entire business model of recycling and reuse—so waste stays out of the landfill, and the value shows up on the P&L.

Show Notes

Guest: Tom Szaky, CEO

Company: TerraCycle

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Built for the EV Generation: Formula E Energizes 500 Million Global Race Fans

Supercool — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 05:05:00 -0400

When Roger Griffiths first heard about Formula E in 2014, he was intrigued but skeptical. A veteran of IndyCar, Le Mans, and Formula 1—and a self-described petrol head—he wasn’t convinced electric racing could deliver credible performance.

Then he saw who was signing on.

Michael Andretti. Alain Prost. Emerson Fittipaldi. Frank Williams. Plus early backers like Richard Branson. Racing legends and global brands were putting their reputations behind an all-electric series built for city streets, digital-native fans, and a new kind of mobility.

That’s when Roger knew: failure wasn’t an option.

He joined Andretti Global to help lead its Formula E team. Today, he’s Team Principal and Chairman of the Formula E Teams Association.

Just over a decade later, Formula E is the fastest-growing motorsport on Earth. It races through city centers, draws 500 million fans, and connects with a global audience that legacy motorsports can’t reach.

Roger takes us inside how Formula E became the sport brands chase, fans love, and the future demands.

Show Notes

Guest: Roger Griffiths, Team Principal, Andretti Formula E

Company: Andretti Global

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Cleaning the Grid: Wärtsilä Tackles the Toughest Battery Storage Projects on Earth

Supercool — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Grid battery storage has gone from niche to necessary. Fast. Projects that were once 300 megawatt-hours are now hitting 9 gigawatt-hours. And companies like Wärtsilä are leading the charge, taking on the hardest, highest-stakes deployments around the world.

In this episode, Dave Hebert, VP of Global Sales & Business Strategy for Wärtsilä's Energy Storage division, takes us inside the systems powering the clean energy transition. Wärtsilä has deployed over 17 gigawatt-hours of storage—enough to power millions of homes for hours at a time—across more than 130 projects worldwide. Many of these are first-of-a-kind systems built in remote deserts, on islands, and in densely populated urban neighborhoods, where batteries now operate alongside people, not just power lines.

Dave shares what it takes to deliver at this level: fire safety, noise control, seismic readiness, cybersecurity, and software managing millions of real-time data points across every cell.

Battery storage now sits at the heart of the energy transition. It’s how we make solar and wind reliable. How we stabilize grids shaped by AI, EVs, and electrified homes. Wärtsilä is building that future, where others won’t.

Show Notes

Guest: Dave Hebert, VP of Global Sales & Business Strategy

Company: Wärtsilä Energy Storage

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The ROI on Climate Capital: A Mayor’s Blueprint for Citywide Renewal

Supercool — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 05:15:00 -0400

Jaime Pumarejo helped lead Barranquilla, Colombia, through a stunning transition. When he first joined the city’s government in his twenties, Barranquilla was under bankruptcy protection, poverty was high, and public trust was fractured. Today, it serves as a global model for how climate action can drive economic growth, attract investment, and deliver tangible benefits to people’s lives.

In 2020, when Pumarejo became mayor, he accelerated the transformation. He established a public-private tree company to enhance property values, increase tax revenue, and enhance climate resilience. Delivered 300 parks co-designed by residents. Made biodiversity and eco-tourism part of the city’s economic engine. And positioned Barranquilla to lead on clean energy, with major solar projects and Colombia’s first offshore wind farm underway.

Jaime also secured capital on better terms. Convinced development banks to change how they lend. And showed that cities aren’t risky—they’re investable.

Now, as a member of the SDSN Global Commission for Urban SDG Finance, he’s helping cities around the world unlock the climate capital they need to cut emissions and build the low-carbon future.

This is what the ROI on climate looks like. Not someday—now.

Show Notes

Guest: Jaime Pumarejo

Organization: SDSN Global Commission for Urban SDG Finance, whose Secretariat is housed at the Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR)

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Solar, Semiconductors, and the American Dream: Enphase Is a $5.5B Climate Tech Powerhouse

Supercool — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -0400

The energy grid we know today was built for a different era—centralized generation, one-way power flow, no rooftop solar, no EVs, no AI-driven demand. If Thomas Edison were alive, he’d recognize it instantly. And that’s the problem.

Raghu Belur bet the system would have to change. In 2006, he co-founded Enphase Energy and started from the distributed edge, designing a microinverter that made every solar panel smart, efficient, and self-reliant.

That foundation became the starting point for a new kind of energy system—built to turn homes into mini power plants and partners to the grid, not just customers.

Today, Enphase delivers integrated home energy systems encompassing solar, storage, EV charging, and intelligent management software that give homeowners control, reliability, and resilience in a rapidly shifting energy landscape.

Raghu’s story embodies the American Dream—a young immigrant who came to the U.S. to study engineering, absorbed the best of Silicon Valley, and built a company reshaping how energy works in homes around the world. He joins Supercool to discuss how the decentralized grid isn’t just some day, it’s already here.

Show Notes

Guest: Raghu Belur, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer

Company: Enphase Energy

Video link referenced: American Innovation: Making Enphase Batteries in Texas

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Racing the Clock: Wasteless Turns Expiring Food into Profit for Grocers Worldwide

Supercool — Wed, 28 May 2025 05:00:00 -0400

If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter, right behind the United States and China, accounting for 8-10% of global carbon emissions. It’s a staggering problem: 30% of all food produced globally goes to waste. And for supermarkets already operating on razor-thin margins, that waste translates into billions of dollars lost every year.

At the heart of the problem? A broken pricing model. Food hits an arbitrary sell-by date—and it’s trashed.

Oded Omer thought that was absurd. So he built Wasteless, an AI-powered platform that helps grocers sell more food before it expires. Wasteless’ system uses dynamic discounting to find the sweet spot—just enough of a price reduction to move products at the right moment, without slashing margins.

Today, grocers across Europe, the Americas, and beyond are embracing Wasteless. It’s not just a product—it’s business model innovation. Wasteless created a category that didn’t exist, and now it’s become the shorthand for solving the food waste problem—like Netflix is to streaming, or Kleenex is to tissues.

In this episode, Oded shares how he built Wasteless into a global category leader—and why solving food waste is both a climate and profit imperative.

Show Notes

Guest: Oded Omer

Company: Wasteless

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Cities Have The Climate Ambition—Now Mayors Are Rewriting Global Finance to Match

Supercool — Wed, 21 May 2025 05:19:00 -0400

Before becoming the youngest elected mayor in Quito’s history, Mauricio Rodas had already founded a political party, launched a think tank in Mexico City, and run for president.

In 1944, when the global financial system was designed, just 29% of the world lived in cities. Today, that number has nearly doubled to 56%. Cities now account for more than 70% of global emissions and 80% of energy consumption—yet most still can’t access the capital they need to fund climate solutions. The system, built at the tail end of World War II, wasn’t made for them.

Mauricio Rodas knows that firsthand. As mayor of Quito, he had to fight for national approval to fund the city’s subway. Now he’s working to change the rules. As co-lead of the SDSN Global Commission for Urban SDG Finance, he’s helping reshape the global financial architecture needed to unlock climate capital for cities.

Mauricio joins Supercool to discuss subways, politics, public luxury goods, institutional entrepreneurship, and the global effort to rewrite outdated financial rules so cities can rapidly deploy the next generation of climate solutions.

Supercool is collaborating with the Commission’s Secretariat, hosted at the University of Pennsylvania, to feature global mayors at the forefront of this movement.

Show Notes

Guest: Mauricio Rodas

Organization:
- Former Mayor of Quito, Ecuador
- Visiting Scholar, Penn Institute of Urban Research, University of Pennsylvania
- Co-Lead, SDSN Global Commission for Urban SDG Finance

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Trove Turns Recommerce into a Profit Driver for Patagonia, Levi’s and On

Supercool — Wed, 14 May 2025 05:18:00 -0400

Circularity isn’t just about keeping t-shirts and jeans out of landfills. Done right, it’s a growth engine for brands. That’s exactly what Trove is building: the recommerce technology that drives margins, attracts new customers, and streamlines operations.

As the resale platform behind Patagonia, Levi’s, Brooks, Arc'teryx, Carhartt, and Canada Goose, Trove helps brands give their products a second, third, even fourth life—while driving profitable growth.

For CEO Terry Boyle, an e-commerce veteran of major shopping sites like Nordstromrack.com, Zulily, HauteLook, and Trunk Club, circularity was never going to scale on sustainability values alone. It had to deliver clear business results.

Trove has built that system and is now scaling it globally. Today, more than 75% of U.S. brands with branded take-back and resale programs run on Trove. With strategic acquisitions accelerating growth in the U.S. and Europe, the company aims to become the largest e-commerce player no one’s ever heard of, seamlessly operating on the backend to deliver world-class resale experiences on the front end.

For brands that want to grow, the next evolution of retail is circular and profitable.

Show Notes

Guest: Terry Boyle, Chief Executive Officer

Company: Trove

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The Mayor Who Cut Carbon, Cut Bills, and Cut a Billion-Pound Deal

Supercool — Wed, 07 May 2025 07:26:00 -0400

As mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees helped launch a billion-pound public-private partnership to decarbonize his city, one of the most ambitious deals of its kind anywhere in the world.

This wasn’t just about climate targets. It was about results: cutting emissions, cutting energy bills, creating jobs, and improving housing — all while building a long-term investment model that gave private partners confidence and gave residents real benefits they could feel.

When Marvin started, the city had no budget, limited staff, and a local government still reeling from years of austerity. So he got creative. He turned Bristol’s public assets into a platform for investment and built the capacity to get a 20-year deal signed, funded, and delivered.

Now, Marvin is helping cities around the world do the same through a new global commission to mobilize climate finance for urban action; the SDSN Global Commission for Urban SDG Finance.

Supercool is collaborating with the Commission’s Secretariat, hosted at the University of Pennsylvania, to conduct a series of episodes with global mayors at the forefront of this movement.

Show Notes

Guest: Marvin Rees

Organization: Member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, former Mayor of Bristol, and Distinguished Visiting Fellow (2024–2025 Academic Year, Perry Ward House at University of Pennsylvania)

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Rare Earths, Recycled: Cyclic Materials Cuts Into China's 90% Head Start

Supercool — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 05:17:00 -0400

Rare earth magnets power the modern world and the clean energy transition. They’re inside every electric vehicle motor, wind turbine, MRI machine, and computer hard drive in a data center. But the world throws most of them away. Less than 1% are ever recycled. And today, China controls nearly 90% of the global supply.

That’s the crisis Cyclic Materials was built to solve — by turning circularity into industrial reality.

In this episode, co-founder and CEO Ahmad Ghahreman explains how his team figured out what the industry long thought impossible: separating rare earth magnets from steel before they’re lost forever. We explore the engineering that makes rare earth recycling commercially viable, the spoke-and-hub logistics model to power urban mining where end-of-life products are abundant, and why companies like Microsoft, Amazon, BMW, and Jaguar are already lining up to work with Cyclic Materials.

If the clean economy is going to scale, it needs rare earths. Cyclic Materials found a way to recover them — not from a mine, but from the discarded machines all around us.

Show Notes:

Guest: Ahmad Ghahreman - CEO, President, and co-founder

Company: Cyclic Materials

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3x the Grid: Siemens Energy and the Race to Rewire the Future

Supercool — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 05:18:00 -0400

It took over a century to build today’s power grid. Now we need to triple its capacity by 2050. Why? Because demand is surging, and a net-zero future depends on a bigger, smarter, and cleaner grid. Electrification is transforming how we power transportation, buildings, industry, and data. Renewables are decentralized and intermittent. And the current grid, built for centralized fossil fuel power, wasn’t designed for what comes next.

Grid infrastructure is now one of the most urgent industrial and climate challenges of our time. Siemens Energy is at the forefront of solving it. Already, one-sixth of the electricity generated worldwide is based on its technologies. Today, it’s focused on upgrading, expanding, and digitizing the transmission backbone that the clean energy economy depends on. backbone that the clean energy economy depends on.

At the center of that transformation is Tim Holt. A member of Siemens Energy’s Executive Board, he leads its global Grid Technologies business and oversees operations across the Americas. In this episode, Tim describes what it takes to rewire the world’s power grids—and how Siemens Energy is moving fast to build the grid the clean energy future demands.

Show Notes
Guest: Tim Holt, Member of the Executive Board and Labor Director at Siemens Energy
Company: Siemens Energy

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Simple, Unstoppable: Rondo Energy is Solving Industrial Heat with Bricks

Supercool — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 05:15:00 -0400

Rondo Energy is building a renewable energy battery using bricks and toaster wire. But it’s not for your home—it’s for the factories that run the world. Industrial heat drives 10% of global carbon emissions. It’s essential for making steel, cement, chemicals, food, paper, and fuel. And it’s one of the hardest challenges in climate—expensive to electrify, risky to retrofit, and central to the global economy.

That’s what makes Rondo’s approach so powerful. In this episode, John O’Donnell, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, explains how Rondo stores excess wind and solar energy as clean, high-temperature heat and delivers it into existing industrial systems without combustion, redesigns, or rare materials.

Its low-cost approach is underway across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. John shares how decades of experience building global energy projects—and navigating the realities of infrastructure finance—shaped Rondo’s strategy for rapid scale and deployment, and why the low-carbon future is being built with bricks.

Show Notes

Guest: John O'Donnell, Chief Innovation Officer

Company: Rondo Energy

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Apple-ifying Energy: Renew Home Makes Virtual Power Plants Painless & Profitable

Supercool — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Fifteen years ago, smart thermostats promised to save you money and learn your habits. Today, they—and other grid-connected devices and appliances—are forming the backbone of the most sustainable power plant on the grid.

Jeff Gleeson, Chief Product Officer of Renew Home, joins Josh to unpack how his team is transforming everyday home tech into a distributed, intelligent, always-on energy layer—one that cuts carbon, boosts grid resilience, and earns households money, all without asking homeowners to think much about it.

Jeff explains why the industry’s go-to term—“virtual power plant”—doesn’t resonate with consumers and how Renew Home is finding language that actually lands. He shares how the company is scaling a sophisticated, AI-powered home energy platform, why utilities—once hesitant—are now eager to partner, and why the most important power plants in a low-carbon economy may be the ones that never need to be built at all.

Show Notes
Guest: Jeff Gleeson, Chief Product Officer
Company: Renew Home

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Reuse, Rock ‘n’ Roll & the Circular Economy

Supercool — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 05:17:00 -0400

Mike Martin helped launch the first climate change concert tour with Dave Matthews. He’s worked with Billie Eilish to flip venues vegan and wrote the green touring playbook years ago that artists still follow today.

But after decades trying to make recycling and compostables work at live events, Mike hit a wall. Zero-waste wasn’t working. Then he remembered what he saw on tour with U2 during the Joshua Tree run—European stadiums using reusable cups.

That moment sparked r.World, the reuse company now transforming how concerts, stadiums, and venues across the country are ditching single-use and building a circular economy. From Red Rocks to Coachella to Alaska Airlines, Mike shares what it takes to scale reuse—and why it all starts with a cup no one wants to take home.

Show Notes
Guest: Michael Martin, Founder & CEO
Company: r.World

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Old Giant, New Vision: Johnson Controls Puts Carbon Reduction on Autopilot

Supercool — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 05:20:00 -0400

Johnson Controls helped invent modern air conditioning. Now, it’s reengineering how buildings cut carbon — using AI and automation to make infrastructure smarter, cleaner, and more efficient.

Reuben Petty, Principal Digital Sales Engineer, works with business leaders, facility teams, and city officials to connect legacy systems to the digital tools of tomorrow. His focus is OpenBlue — the company’s platform that brings data and intelligence to the heart of building operations.

In this episode, we explore how a 140-year-old company is reinventing itself for a low-carbon future — and what it means for commercial real estate, city infrastructure, and climate action at scale.

Show Notes

Guest: Reuben Petty, Principal Digital Sales Engineer

Company: Johnson Controls

Open Blue at World Cup 2022 - Qatar

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The E-Bike Boom: How Upway Is Winning the Million-Bike Market

Supercool — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -0400

E-bikes are booming—nearly as many were sold in the U.S. last year as electric cars. But while EVs get the attention, e-bikes are quietly reshaping how people move, cutting emissions, making urban life easier, and recreation more fun.

The catch? Buying an e-bike is easy. Reselling one isn’t.

That’s where Upway comes in. They’re building the Carvana for e-bikes—a seamless resale marketplace with accessible pricing, warranties, home delivery, and easy returns. And the industry is taking notice.

This week, Max Renson, U.S. General Manager at Upway, joins us to talk about why resale is the missing piece of e-bike adoption, how Upway is powering returns for brands like Aventon and Rad Power Bikes, and what it takes to turn secondhand e-bikes into a mainstream, trusted option.

E-bikes are taking off. Upway is making sure nothing slows them down.

Show Notes

Guest: Maxime Renson

Company: Upway

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Power Moves: Turning Clean Energy into a Simple, Irresistible Lifestyle

Supercool — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 05:33:00 -0400

How do you make solar adoption irresistible? By not selling solar.

This week on Supercool, we’re joined by Mary Powell, CEO of Sunrun, and Jessica Bergman, a marketing strategist who’s spent her career figuring out why clean energy adoption stalls—and how to fix it.

Under Mary’s leadership, Sunrun stopped being just a solar company and became something much bigger: a storage-first, customer-obsessed clean energy lifestyle brand. And it’s working—60%+ of customers now add batteries, turning their homes into mini power plants that keep the lights on when the grid goes down.

What’s the secret? Productization. Jessica argues that the industry has been selling kilowatt hours when it should be selling comfort, convenience, and control. Sunrun is proving that when you remove friction, make financing a no-brainer, and give customers a “Pizza Tracker” for their solar installations, adoption skyrockets.

In this episode, we dig into why clean energy isn’t scaling fast enough, what the industry gets wrong, and how Sunrun is changing the game. If you want to know how to move clean energy from “maybe someday” to “why didn’t I do this sooner?”—this one’s for you.

Show Notes

Guests:
Mary Powell, CEO
Jessica Bergman, Senior Strategist

Companies:
Sunrun
ID Lab Global

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Telling the Future: Climate, Capital, and the Power of Story

Supercool — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 05:11:00 -0500

Supercool regularly speaks with innovators working at the intersection of business, technology, and climate—AI giving buildings brains, pneumatic tubes hauling away trash, and electric school buses optimizing routes. With so much climate momentum underway, how do we properly assess this moment?

Molly Wood has been tracking it from multiple angles. A veteran journalist (Wired, CNET, The New York Times, NPR’s Marketplace), she left media to invest in climate tech—then returned with Everybody in the Pool, a podcast and newsletter focused on climate solutions and the entrepreneurs, businesses, and products solving the climate crisis.

Today, she shares her perspective on what’s working, what’s next, where the biggest opportunities lie and the importance of powerful narratives and storytelling that drive investment, innovation, and action.

SHOW NOTES

Guest: Molly Wood, Award-winning journalist and podcaster, climate tech investor, startup advisor, and consultant.

Companies: Molly Wood Media and Amasia

Show: Everybody in the Pool

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There’s a New Clean Energy Grid in Town—And It’s Your House

Supercool — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 05:19:00 -0500

Since 2018, GoodLeap has financed home solar, batteries, and efficiency upgrades at an unprecedented scale—serving over 1 million customers and originating more than $30 billion in financing for sustainable solutions.

Founder Hayes Barnard saw the bottleneck wasn’t price—it was friction. Homeowners needed fast, hassle-free financing. Contractors needed better tools to manage projects. GoodLeap built a technology platform to solve both—delivering a seamless, app-driven experience that puts financing, project management, and energy upgrades in the palm of your hand.

Now, GoodLeap is expanding into energy management. Homes won’t just consume power; they’ll contribute to the grid. Virtual Power Plants will enable homeowners to generate and sell energy back to stabilize the system and reduce fossil fuel reliance. Beyond that, GoodLeap is financing smart home tech, energy-efficient appliances, and electrification solutions—helping homeowners take control of their energy use and maximize savings.

At the center of this shift is Dan Lotano, GoodLeap’s Chief Operating Officer. After 15 years at NextEra Energy, the nation’s largest utility and its largest producer of renewable power, Dan is now leading a transformation where our homes become active participants in the energy grid and accelerate the clean energy transition.

How will this reshape home energy—and how soon will we be thinking about kilowatt-hours the way we think about the cost of gasoline?

Dan Lotano shares what’s next for clean energy and how our homes will drive the change.

Show Notes

Guest: Daniel Lotano, Chief Operating Officer

Company: GoodLeap

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The Architects Who Don’t Wait For Permission

Supercool — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 05:19:00 -0500

CannonDesign is building a reputation for designing buildings that eliminate carbon and improve lives. In 2024, Metropolis Magazine recognized the firm as its Planet Positive Firm of the Year for leading the way in net-zero architecture.

It wasn't always this way. As one of North America's largest and oldest firms, CannonDesign had the scale, heritage, and reputation—but no clear sustainability strategy. In 2019, they turned to Eric Corey Freed, one of the foremost voices in green architecture, to embed sustainability into every project and reframe the business case for net-zero buildings.

Freed has been practicing and advocating for better, greener buildings since the 1900s—as he fondly puts it. In 2005, San Francisco Magazine named him Best Green Architect. He literally wrote Green Building for Dummies a generation ago.

CannonDesign's novel approach to designing solutions for today's greatest challenges, combined with Freed's wisdom and expertise in shifting mindsets, has pushed sustainability to the forefront, making it the standard, not the exception. The firm's work showcases how the greenest buildings are not only good for the planet but essential for a future where people and places thrive.

Show Notes

- Guest: Eric Corey Freed, Principal, Director of Sustainability

- Firm: CannonDesign

-Eric Corey Freed's Books on Amazon

- Eric Corey Freed's TEDx Talks: Here and Here

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AI Has Entered the Building: The Future of Energy Management is Here

Supercool — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 05:08:00 -0500

What if buildings could think for themselves—anticipating energy needs, preventing breakdowns, and adjusting to outside weather conditions in real-time? In this episode, we explore how BrainBox AI, a Montreal-based company, is making that a reality. Their cutting-edge technology powers over 15,000 buildings across 17 countries, using advanced artificial intelligence to take the guesswork out of building management. No more scrambling for last-minute repairs or manually adjusting systems—BrainBox AI predicts issues before they happen and fine-tunes operations automatically, giving maintenance technicians and facility managers more time to focus on what matters.

This isn’t just automation—it’s a new era in which buildings learn, adapt, and predict, continuously improving their performance without anyone lifting a finger. The benefits go beyond convenience. By optimizing HVAC systems, BrainBox AI slashes building energy consumption by up to 25% and reduces carbon emissions by up to 40%. BrainBox AI CEO Sam Ramadori joins Josh to share how artificial intelligence is redefining the future of the built environment.

Show Notes

Company: Brainbox AI, recently acquired by Trane

Guest: Sam Ramadori, CEO

Aria Videos referenced in the interview.

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Hot Rocks: The Battery That is Changing Industrial Energy

Supercool — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 05:18:00 -0500

Industrial heat is one of the biggest, most stubborn sources of carbon emissions—responsible for nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gases. High costs, complex retrofits, and tight margins keep manufacturers locked into fossil fuels. But what if there were a way to swap out natural gas boilers without costly disruptions or major infrastructure overhauls? That’s exactly what Brenmiller’s thermal energy storage (TES) technology offers. Chief Business Officer Doron Brenmiller explains how their heat battery—where energy is stored in crushed rocks—provides reliable, on-demand heat to seamlessly replace legacy systems. With industries from food processing to brewing embracing this approach, the shift to clean heat isn’t just possible—it’s already happening.

Show Notes

Guest: Doron Brenmiller

Company: Brenmiller Energy

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Zero-Carbon Compute: How TeraWulf Powers The Future of AI and Bitcoin

Supercool — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 05:18:00 -0500

Best known as one of the industry's most efficient Bitcoin miners, TeraWulf is expanding into high-performance computing (HPC) data centers for AI. Critics slam AI and Bitcoin mining for their massive energy consumption, but TeraWulf challenges that narrative. Its operations run on 91% zero-carbon energy, mostly hydropower, proving energy-hungry computing doesn’t have to come at a climate cost.

Nazar Khan, TeraWulf’s co-founder and CTO, joins Josh to discuss building world-class AI infrastructure, the crossover between Bitcoin mining and HPC-AI, what DeepSeek’s rise signals for industry and society, and how TeraWulf is leading Bitcoin and AI into the low-carbon future.

Show Notes

Guest: Nazar Khan, co-founder and CTO

Company: TeraWulf

Video: Demolition of the 613-foot smokestack from the retired coal mine at TeraWulf's Lake Mariner site on the shores of Lake Ontario.

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$72 Billion Brokered: CRC-IB is Clean Energy's Dealmaker

Supercool — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 05:17:00 -0500

Who is paying for the clean energy revolution? Today, we’re diving into the financial side of the transition—where the trillions of dollars needed to move civilization off fossil fuels and into a low-carbon future are coming from, and how these massive deals come together. Joining Josh is Britta Von Oesen, Partner and Managing Director at CRC-IB, the nation’s leading investment bank dedicated exclusively to financing the clean energy economy. CRC-IB has advised on over 350 deals worth $72 billion. Britta herself has led $15 billion in transactions and is one of the most influential leaders in renewable energy finance. She take us behind the scenes to explain how deals are structured, who’s paying, and why financing the clean energy revolution makes smart business sense. The good news? These deals don’t just cut carbon and deliver strong ROI—they also improve modern life for people and communities.

Show Notes

Guest: Britta Von Oesen, Partner and Managing Director

Company: CRC-IB

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Right on Schedule: Zum Gives America’s School Buses a 21st Century Upgrade

Supercool — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 05:09:00 -0500

Every day, 27 million kids ride 500,000 school buses—the largest transit system in America. And yet, this 80-year-old relic is stuck in the past: buses are late, routes are inefficient, and parents have no clue where the bus is or when it’s coming. Ritu Narayan, founder and CEO of Zum, decided to fix it. All of it.

With real-time tracking, smarter routes, and electric buses, Zum has modernized student transportation for 4,000 schools, including the school districts of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Boston. In Oakland, Zum introduced the nation’s first fully electric school bus fleet, slashing emissions and cutting the number of buses needed nearly in half.

Zum isn’t just about buses—it’s a tech, Human Resources, logistics, and infrastructure company rolled into one. The result? Parents can breathe, kids get to class on time, and school districts finally have a system that works.

Ritu joins Supercool this week to discuss how Zum is making school buses smart, sustainable, and better for everyone.

Show Notes

Guest: Ritu Narayan, founder & CEO

Company: Zum

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Cutting Carbon with a Side of Fries: Budderfly Lowers Energy Consumption by 40%

Supercool — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 05:08:00 -0500

Budderfly is one of the fastest growing companies in America, with an unparalleled Energy-as-a-Service offering. For many small business owners, especially franchisees of the world's most recognizable fast food brands like Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC, Al Subbloie and team offer up to 40% energy savings and no-cost upgrades of HVAC, lighting, and refrigeration equipment. Solar panels? Why not? Budderfly won’t even charge to install all of this state-of-the-art infrastructure. With an offer too good for customers to refuse, Budderfly is on its way to becoming a billion-dollar company and bringing many of the most recognizable American brands along for the sustainability journey. Yet, Al's vision for the low-carbon energy efficient future goes far beyond.

Show Notes

Guest: Al Subbloie, Founder & CEO

Company: Budderfly

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The Hidden Problem Wasting 10% of the World’s Energy—And Its Ingenious Fix

Supercool — Wed, 01 Jan 2025 05:05:00 -0500

In 2009, Amit Gupta, a rising executive at Carrier, the global HVAC company, discovered a neglected technology inside the company called Aeroseal. It used aerosol particles to seal air leaks in building envelopes and air ducts—offering a simple yet powerful way to tackle a major problem: the 10% of global energy wasted due to leaks. Seeing its potential, Amit took a leap. In 2010, he left his corporate career, rebooted Aeroseal as a startup, and focused on what matters most to customers: lowering energy bills, improving indoor air quality, and creating comfortable spaces. Today, with backing from world-class climate tech investors, including Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and over 260,000 buildings sealed, Aeroseal is sealing the cracks in our energy future.

Show Notes

Guest: Amit Gupta

Company: Aeroseal

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(Reprised) Green Hospitals: How Gundersen Switched to Renewables to Cut Costs and Improve Lives

Supercool — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 02:00:00 -0500

In 2014, Gundersen Health, headquartered in La Crosse, Wisconsin, became the nation's first health system to eliminate fossil fuels, transitioning to 100% local renewable energy. Today, the high-growth Gundersen saves $5 million annually on energy, helping to control healthcare costs for its patient populations across 11 hospitals and 100+ clinics in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. Gundersen merged with Bellin Health in 2022 to become Emplify Health. Alan Eber led the effort at Gundersen. Today, as CEO of Eneration, Eber's job is to show the rest of the healthcare industry how to pursue a clean, low-carbon, renewable energy future. Alan joins Josh to share the playbook.

This episode was first published on July 17, 2024.

Show Links:

Guests: Alan Eber

Company: Eneration

Initiative: Gundersen Envision

Health System: Emplify Health

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The Underground Climate Economy: Modernizing Cities from Below

Supercool — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 05:08:00 -0500

Cities have nowhere to go but down to tap new sources of emissions-free, clean energy, harden assets against climate impacts, cut operational costs, and enhance urban life for their residents above. In this end-of-year episode, we're delving into the emergence of the underground climate economy, a Supercool trend we've identified after completing our first 20 episodes since launching in July.

Whether eliminating curbside trash pickup by sending out trash through pneumatic tubes below streets, recovering wasted heat from water sloshing through sewer pipes, or drilling down to tap geothermal energy, the fate of cities and our civilization increasingly depends on what's happening down below.

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In Iowa, Wind Energy Sees No Red or Blue, Only Green

Supercool — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 08:15:16 -0500

Iowa generates enough wind power to meet 77% of its energy demand. That's great for combating climate change and financially beneficial for local farmers, towns, and the overall economy. Discover how Iowa rose to wind energy prominence. We're joined by Chaz Allen, former Mayor of Newton, Iowa, and current Executive Director of the Iowa Utility Association. We also speak with Kathy Law, a farmer turned corporate attorney and one of the leading wind energy dealmakers in the state.

Notes

Guests:
1. Chaz Allen, Executive Director, Iowa Utility Association
2. Kathy Law, Attorney, Nyemaster Goode Law Firm

Television Segment: Chaz Allen on 60 Minutes

Data on Iowa's wind energy production: See U.S. Energy Information Agency Data Analysis by Stanford University Professor Mark Jacobson.

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Breakthrough Climate Tech Marketing: Rising Above a Sea of Same

Supercool — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 05:20:00 -0500

Even the most innovative climate tech startups face marketing challenges. To gain traction or raise capital, they must generate brand awareness, educate the market, and build trust with prospective customers in a race against time before their funds run out. Companies that go bold in their climate communications stand a stronger chance of standing out in a "sea of same." That's the advice of this week's guest, Adam Malik, co-founder of Bloxspring, a marketing agency for visionary brands radically changing the future of our buildings, cities, and the planet.

NOTES

Guest: Adam Malik, Co-founder

Company: Bloxspring

Jaguar: Its new EV car commercial - featuring no cars

Volvo: Its new EV car commercial - cinematically leaning into its safety reputation

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No Grid, No Problem: d.light Transforms 180 Million Lives with Solar Power

Supercool — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 05:09:00 -0500

Ned Tozun co-founded d.light in 2007 with a mission to provide safe, affordable, and sustainable energy solutions for all. Seventeen years later, d.light's solar products have improved the lives of over 180 million people across 72 countries, with major operations in India, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. The company employs 1,200 people and tens of thousands of local sales agents to bring its innovative products to remote, rural communities. Ned joins Supercool to share how the business has effectively scaled around the world as it races to impact one billion people by 2030.

Show Notes

Guest: Ned Tozun, Co-Founder and CEO

Company: d.light

Time Magazine's 2024 Time100 Climate List: Feature on Ned Tozun

Video of d.light's product durability: See it on Amazon

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Walk This Way: Redesigning Cities with Jeff Speck

Supercool — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 05:05:00 -0500

What moves people to ditch their cars and use their own feet? The key, says Jeff Speck, is that the walk must be as good as a drive. Jeff wrote the book on walkability—literally. Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America One Step at a Time is the best-selling city-planning title of the 21st century. On today’s show, Jeff presents the playbook for creating walkable neighborhoods and cities, the maddening obstacles standing in the way, and how to clear the path—one thoughtful step at a time.

Show Notes

Guest: Jeff Speck, FAICP, CNU-A, LEED-AP, Honorary ASLA; Partner, Speck Dempsey

Organization: Speck Dempsey

Book: Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time

TED Talk: The Walkable City

Report: Foot Traffic Ahead by Smart Growth America

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Clean Energy Transition with David Turk, Deputy Secretary of U.S. DOE

Supercool — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 06:36:00 -0400

In just two years since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) became U.S. law, the clean energy economy has been on a tear: $380B in new investment by companies; 900 new and expanded manufacturing facilities; and clean energy jobs growing at twice the rate of conventional jobs (4.2% vs 2%). Joining Josh to discuss these supercool accomplishments is David Turk, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. As the DOE’s second-in-command and Chief Operating Officer, David has played a key role in implementing President Biden’s landmark clean energy legislation.

Show Notes

Guest: David Turk, Deputy Secretary

Organization: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

US DOE Projects: Community Benefits map — where the DOE is funding projects)

Article: 2018 New York Times Op-Ed by Andrew Jones and Auden Schendler

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Climate Meets Crypto: CleanSpark’s Clean Energy Bitcoin Revolution

Supercool — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 05:18:00 -0400

Bitcoin mining faces frequent criticism in climate circles for its voracious energy appetite. But what if that narrative is over-generalized or maybe even entirely misses the mark? Joining Josh is Matthew Schultz, the founding CEO and current Executive Chairman of CleanSpark, a publicly traded Bitcoin miner with nearly 5% market share of new Bitcoin. CleanSpark operates predominantly using nuclear energy in rural communities throughout America. Tune in to discover how CleanSpark blends clean energy with cryptocurrency to forge a sustainable future.

Show Links

Guest: Matthew Schultz, Executive Chairman

Company: CleanSpark | America's Bitcoin Miner

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Geothermal Comes with the House: The Future of Home Energy

Supercool — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 05:19:00 -0400

Kathy Hannun began incubating within Google X, the startup that would become Dandelion, a home geothermal energy company that today is the largest and fastest-growing in America. With several thousand residential installations completed in the Northeast, Dandelion is scaling nationally, partnering with installers and homebuilding giants like Lennar. Carbon-free geothermal energy is about to become the default heating and cooling source for thousands of American homes.

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Guest: Kathy Hannun

Company: Dandelion Energy

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Crime Fighters & Therapists: How Urban Trees Improve City Life

Supercool — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 05:25:00 -0400

While saving the Amazon grabs headlines, the trees right outside your front door shape your life in important ways. The more trees in your city neighborhood, the less crime, the fewer prescriptions for antidepressants, and the lower rates of asthma, childhood leukemia, and other immune diseases. These leafy giants affect everything from healthier newborns to longer life expectancy to higher property values. Geoffrey Donovan, an urban forester and economist with the U.S. Forest Service, joins the show. His groundbreaking research over the two decades is reshaping how urban planners and policymakers think about the essential public health and economic role of trees in city life.

Show Links:

Guest: Geoffrey Donovan

Organization: U.S. Forest Service

Grant Program: U.S. Forest Service's Urban and Community Forest Program

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Clean Streets: Piping Out Trash Below Cities in Pneumatic Tubes

Supercool — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 05:22:00 -0400

Garbage trucks have gone missing in cities around the world. In neighborhoods from London to Barcelona and Singapore to Seoul, their unmistakable sight, sound, and smell are notably absent. The reason? Trash has gone underground, whisked away through a hidden network of pneumatic pipes—no trucks, no noise, no stench. If this sounds like the future, it is. But this particular slice was invented in the 1960s by Swedish company Envac. The company’s CEO, Joakim Karlsson, joins Supercool to discuss how Envac is taking trash removal to a whole new dimension.

Show Links:

Guest: Joakim Karlsson

Company: Envac

Conference Video: Joakim Karlsson on stage in Rio de Janeiro at The Future Investment Initiative Institute (FII Institute)

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Masterfully Planned: Hurricane-Proof, Zero-Energy Homes on Florida's Coast

Supercool — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 00:00:35 -0400

Marshall Gobuty didn’t set out to build green when he became a real estate developer in his 50s. After a successful career in the clothing and furnishings industries, he sought to establish credibility in Florida’s competitive housing market. LEED certification presented the perfect opportunity. But Gobuty didn’t stop at meeting the minimum. His first project, Mirabella, became the first LEED Platinum Certified residential community in the U.S. His next development, Hunters Point, became the first LEED Zero Energy Certified community in the world. Sometimes, it takes an outsider to push an industry beyond its norms and conventions. Gobuty is building sustainable neighborhoods and communities many could hardly imagine—until now.

Show Links:

Guest: Marshall Gobuty

Company: Pearl Homes

Residential Development: Hunters Point

Green Building Resources: U.S. Green Building Council and RESNET

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Cities on the Move: Safe, Connected Bike Lanes Built 3X Faster

Supercool — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Fresh out of grad school, Kyle Wagenschutz was hired by the mayor of Memphis, TN, and given a daunting task: prevent the city from being named the "Worst Place to Bicycle in America" by Bicycling Magazine for a third year in a row. Kyle succeeded. Five years (and over a hundred miles of bike lanes) later, Memphis was recognized as a national leader, and Kyle was honored at the White House as a Champion of Change. Kyle took his insights to other cities and accomplished the near impossible: he enabled them to build safe, convenient, protected bike lanes in months, not decades. He joins Supercool this week to share the playbook.

Show Links:

Guest: Kyle Wagenschutz

Organization: City Thread

Grant Program for Cities: Accelerated Mobility Playbook (Applications Open Until 11/20/24)

Project: The Final Mile

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Wind, Water & Solar: 100% Clean Renewable Energy by 2035

Supercool — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 05:39:00 -0400

Stanford professor Mark Jacobson wasn’t just dreaming of a world powered by renewable energy back in 2009—he was doing the math and architecting the plan. Jacobson teamed up with actor-turned-eco-hero Mark Ruffalo to co-found The Solutions Project with a mission to transition the world to 100% renewables by 2035. As Jacobson's vision took root, states and cities began making 100% renewable pledges. By 2019, his idea had reached Capitol Hill when AOC and Senator Markey introduced the Green New Deal. Jacobson’s message? We can pull it off, it’ll save us trillions, and spare millions of lives. Plus, if you’re lucky enough to live in just about any state that’s ahead of the curve, you’re already paying some of the lowest energy bills in the country.

Show Links:

Guest: Mark Jacobson (Stanford University, LinkedIn, Wikipedia)

Book: No Miracles Needed: How Today's Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air

Organization: The Solutions Project

Article: Scientific American - A Plan to Power 100% of the Planet with Renewables
Background data: U.S. Covid-relief spending

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Net Zero Energy Schools: Lower Emissions, Higher Standards in Baltimore

Supercool — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 05:08:00 -0400

At Holabird Academy and Graceland Park, two net-zero energy Baltimore public schools, the future is already in session. Solar panels line the roofs, geothermal wells lie below the ballfields, and energy-efficient features keep these buildings running entirely on renewable power. But while these schools are a win for the planet, the real story is how they’re transforming the lives of everyone who steps inside—students, teachers, administrators, and the surrounding community. Stephanie Novak Pappas, the award-winning Principal of Holabird Academy, joins the conversation along with Amy Upton, Director of Environmental Design and Principal at Grimm & Parker Architects, the visionary behind these modern, sustainable, 21st-century schools where carbon emissions are down and performance is up.

Show Links:

Guests: Stephanie Novak Pappas and Amy Upton

School: Holabird Academy

Company: Grimm + Parker Architects (see the Holabird project)

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Inside the 21st Century Race to Decarbonize Cities and Enrich Urban Life

Supercool — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 05:15:00 -0400

Cities are in a race against time to cut carbon, and the stakes are high. Responsible for 70% of global emissions, urban centers around the world are stepping up. At the heart of this global movement are mayors. Through C40 Cities—a network of nearly 100 leading cities—mayors are sharing, learning, and spreading the most effective climate solutions worldwide. David Miller served as Mayor of Toronto from 2003-2010, where he transformed the city into a climate leader with a strategy rooted in innovation, inclusion, and opportunity. Now, as a Managing Director at C40, David is guiding cities toward a sustainable future—where addressing climate change also means improving city life.

Show Links:

Guest: David Miller

Organization: C40 Cities

Podcast: Cities 1.5, hosted by David Miller and produced by the University of Toronto Press. It features progressive policy conversations with urban leaders taking action to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees.

Book: Solved: How the Great Cities of the World are Fixing the Climate Crisis

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Robots Make The Cut: The Future of Lawn Care

Supercool — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Across America, a quiet revolution is unfolding—autonomous electric mowers are gliding silently across parks, ballfields, and backyards. These zero-emission machines couldn’t have arrived at a better time. Lawn care and gardening account for 4-5% of the U.S.'s total greenhouse gas emissions—a staggering number for a single industry. Adam Sloan is the founder and CEO of Greener, which provides climate-friendly robots to landscaping companies that install them in customers' backyards. Hundreds are in the field. More on the way. Landscapers love the mowers because they free up time for more skilled tasks. Homeowners love them because their lawns look pristine. And neighborhoods? Well, they finally get their peaceful, quiet Saturday mornings back.

Show Links:

Guest: Adam Sloan

Company: Greener

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In Boise, Idaho, Geothermal Energy Heats Up Everyday Life

Supercool — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Geothermal energy's roots in America run deep. Before the Wright Brothers took flight and the first Ford Model-T rolled off the assembly line, residents of Boise, Idaho, were heating their homes with geothermal energy. Today, Boise’s system heats over 100 buildings and six million square feet in the downtown core and even pulls off some supercool feats—like melting snow off sidewalks in the winter. In Boise, you can wash your clothes at a geothermal-heated laundromat, swim in a geothermal-heated pool at the YMCA, and buy flowers grown in a geothermal-heated greenhouse. Tina Riley manages Boise’s geothermal system—the largest of its kind in the U.S.

Show Links:

Guest: Tina Riley

Climate Initiative: Geothermal Energy in Boise, Idaho

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Denver Public Schools Cut Carbon, Save Millions, and Inspire Future Leaders

Supercool — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 03:45:00 -0400

After a determined two-year campaign, thirty Denver Public Schools (DPS) students convinced the School Board of Education to approve a climate policy to make the school district a national leader in climate action. LeeAnn Kittle, Executive Director of Sustainability for Denver Public Schools, now leads the charge, overseeing the Climate Action Plan, which already saves the district $5 million annually through carbon-cutting initiatives. LeeAnn joins host Josh Dorfman to discuss what it takes to guide a large organization toward ever-greater climate goals. Riley Loveland Falvey, Associate Director at the New Buildings Institute, also joins the conversation to discuss how districts and students nationwide are collaborating and stepping up to build a supercool, climate-forward future.

Show Links:

Guests: LeeAnn Kittle and Reilly Loveland Falvey

Initiative: Denver Public Schools Climate Action Plan

Organization: New Buildings Institute

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Utah's Home Solar-Plus-Storage Model Could be the Blueprint for America

Supercool — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Though over a hundred solar companies fled the state when its utility, Rocky Mountain Power, cut solar incentives four years ago, Utah is one of the fastest-growing states for residential solar—but with a twist. Many new customers also purchase grid-connected batteries. While others left, ES Solar, a local solar company, went all-in on solar-plus-storage. That move paid off; the company has installed 96% of Utah's residential solar-plus-storage systems. Zach Randall, ES Solar's VP of Sales, joins the show to share how his company has succeeded and why other states are playing catch-up to emulate Utah's success.

Show Links:

Guest: Zach Randall

Company: ES Solar

Initiative: Rocky Mountain Power Wattsmart Battery Program

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Recycling Heat From Sewers and Vancouver's Green City Ambitions

Supercool — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Vancouver boasts the lowest carbon emissions per capita in North America and consistently ranks among the world’s most livable cities. That's no coincidence. This week, Josh speaks with Gregor Robertson, former Mayor of Vancouver, who championed many climate innovations during his three terms in office, including installing North America's largest waste sewer heat recovery system—delivering zero-carbon space and water heating to over 6,000 apartment units. Josh is also joined by Lynn Mueller, founder of Sharc Energy, who invented the technology, which is now spreading to cities across the U.S.

Show Links:

Guests: Gregor Robertson and Lynn Mueller

Company: SHARC Energy

Organization: Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy

Initiative: Sewer Heat Recovery System Vancouver's False Creek Neighborhood

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Green Hospitals: How Gundersen Switched to Renewables to Cut Costs and Improve Lives

Supercool — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 06:29:00 -0400

in 2014, Gundersen Health, headquartered in La Crosse, Wisconsin, became the nation's first health system to eliminate fossil fuels, transitioning to 100% local renewable energy. Today, Gundersen saves $5 million annually on energy, helping to control healthcare costs for its patient populations across 11 hospitals and 100+ clinics in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan (Gundersen merged with Bellin Health in 2022 to become Emplify Health). Alan Eber led the effort at Gundersen. Today, as CEO of Eneration, Eber's job is to show the rest of the healthcare industry how to pursue a clean, low-carbon, renewable energy future. He joins Josh to share the playbook.

Show Links:

Guests: Alan Eber

Company: Eneration

Initiative: Gundersen Envision

Health System: Emplify Health

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Welcome to Supercool

Supercool — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:47:34 -0400

Supercool is a new conversation about extraordinary climate solutions that cut carbon and improve modern life. From tech innovation to policy implementation, host Josh Dorfman pinpoints the stories and data behind the low-carbon economy as it spreads to towns and cities across the globe.

The starting point for Supercool is, "What if solving climate change improves life?"

The evidence is increasingly clear: Climate innovation enables safer city streets, improved education, stronger national security, more economic opportunity, and better health - the issues Americans routinely say we care about most.

Not all climate solutions are created equal. Some are unrealistic. Others are uninspired. Yet, in the hands of forward-looking entrepreneurs, engineers, policymakers, and everyday professionals, the low-carbon economy delivers. We’re excited to share it with you.