Podcast Episodes

Shift Key Classic: Have China’s Carbon Emissions Peaked?

Season 3 Episode 12

​Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins are off this week. Please enjoy this selection from the Shift Key archive.

China’s greenhouse gas emissions were essentially flat in 2024 — or they recorded a tiny in…

Published on 8 hours ago

How EVs Can Actually Help the Electricity Crisis

Season 3 Episode 11

Data centers aren’t the only driver of rising power use. The inexorable shift to electric vehicles — which has been slowed, but not stopped, by Donald Trump’s policies — is also pushing up electricit…

Published on 1 week ago

The Lesson Nuclear Companies Should Take From the Dot-Com Boom

Season 3 Episode 10

Electricity prices are the biggest economic issue in the New Jersey governor’s race, which is perhaps next month’s most closely watched election. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic candidate and frontrun…

Published on 2 weeks ago

The Startup Trying to Put Geothermal Heat Pumps in America’s Homes

Season 3 Episode 9

Simply operating America’s buildings uses more than a third of the country’s energy. A major chunk of that is temperature control — keeping the indoors cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Heat…

Published on 3 weeks ago

How Julian Brave NoiseCat Changed His Mind About Climate Politics

Season 3 Episode 8

Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, Oscar-nominated filmmaker, champion powwow dancer, and student of Salish art and history. His first book, We Survived the Night, was released this week — it uses me…

Published on 4 weeks ago

How China’s Power Grid Really Works

Season 3 Episode 7

China announced a new climate commitment under the Paris Agreement at last month’s United Nations General Assembly meeting, pledging to cut its emissions by 7% to 10% by 2035. Many observers were dis…

Published on 1 month ago

Heatmap’s Reporters Talk About Electricity, Inflation, and the New Era in Climate Politics

Season 3 Episode 6

It’s been a busy few weeks for climate and energy. New York Climate Week brought hundreds of events — and thousands of people — to the city to discuss decarbonization and energy policy. The New Jerse…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

Live From New York Climate Week: The AI and Electricity Moment

Season 3 Episode 5

Artificial intelligence is helping to drive up electricity demand in America. Energy costs are rising, and utilities are struggling to adjust. How should policymakers — and companies — respond to thi…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

Nobody in the West Knows How to Respond to the ‘Electrotech Revolution’

Season 3 Episode 4

A new stack of electricity technologies — including solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles, and power electronics — seem to be displacing fossil fuels across China and the developing world. Are w…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

What J.P. Morgan’s Chief Climate Advisor Is Telling Energy Startups

Season 3 Episode 3

We live in a new energy era — one in which the inputs and technologies key to clean electricity production are at the heart of international politics. What will that mean for decarbonization? And how…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago