Smart Energy Technology. Dumb Energy Policies.
This week on The Energy Show, Barry sits down with Anoushka Tamhane, an MIT Climate Systems Engineering student who's researching battery storage and exploring an ingenious approach to geothermal heating and cooling. The technology is brilliant. The politics? Not so much.
While students at MIT are developing the next generation of energy solutions, research funding cuts and changing policies are making their work more difficult.
Barry and Anoushka discuss what happens when technological progress runs headfirst into political reality.
Plus, Barry shares a few stories about working on experimental solar homes at MIT in 1978.
Episode Highlights:
• Why California homeowners are investing in battery storage while other states lag behind
• How electricity rates and net metering policies influence solar and battery economics
• Why backup power and blackout protection are driving battery adoption
• Virtual power plants and getting paid to support the electric grid
• Networked geothermal and sharing heating and cooling across entire neighborhoods
• Turning waste heat from data centers, grocery stores and wastewater into usable energy
• Massachusetts' geothermal pilot projects and the potential for lower installation costs
• How outdated utility regulations and government policies slow clean energy innovation
• The impact of federal research funding cuts on MIT and the next generation of energy engineers
• Barry's early solar and geothermal research at MIT and how far the technology has come
• Why smarter energy technology needs smarter policies to succeed.
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