This is my first interview with a real US Military General and I am honored that he took the time to meet with me. I am not worthy!   John Kem is in the civilian sector now and is the President of American Battery Factory! In this podcast we discuss their huge Gigafactory, which they are building in Arizona and which will go online towards the end of 2025 making made in the USA lithium iron phosphate (LFP) lithium-ion batteries. They are working on prismatic battery cells, which are as big as 1kWh each! In the podcast we talk about the manufacturing processes and how the battery materials ..read more

Joe McCabe has been in the solar industry since before there was a solar industry. In this podcast we talk about many things.    Here is a list of topics: ASES Fellow American Solar Energy Society www.ASES.org International Solar Energy Society www.ISES.org MREA = Midwest Renewable Energy Association SMUD = Sacramento Municipal Utility District PVUSA Davis California PV Policy SAM software PV Reliability Workshop Nerdfest Golden Colorado SANDIA Community Solar Gardens Bifacial Solar Vertical Bifacial produces more than tilted south no matter what the direction Higher l ..read more

In this podcast, we learn how UL issues first certification to UL 9741 (and UL 1741 SA) for an AI-Driven Vehicle-to-Grid Compliant EV Charger to Fermata Energy. https://www.ul.com/news/ul-solutions-issues-first-certification-ul-9741-and-ul-1741-sa-ai-driven-vehicle-grid Alex Cattelan has been working on EVs for 2 decades and has experience engineering many famous electric and hybrid vehicles, including the Chevy Volt for GM. She also has extensive experience working for Polaris, Johnson Controls and many others. At the end we decide to go to Burning Man together on a bidirecti ..read more

One week before recording this podcast, Garret Little passed his NABCEP PVIP exam. In this podcast we talk about his experience taking the exam 9 years after his first try and getting a really good score! We also talk about the exam experience, memory techniques, taking the Ecotech class vs. the HeatSpring class for preparing for the exam. There is nothing more important for passing an exam than knowing what to study.   Here is the class Garret took to pass the NABCEP PVIP exam:   NABCEP PV Installation Professional (PVIP) Certification Prep   Garret also has installed ..read more

I came across a really cool YouTube video, rivaling Mr. Beast, but for solar, which was a purple bearded solarboi going off on Rapid Shutdown UL 3741 PV arrays, I immediately contacted him and a week later, here we are recording this podcast. This guy is entertaining and we are lucky to have him in the industry. This industry needs to be fun!!   derek the solarboi has 3 NABCEP Certifications   PVIP (PV Installation Professional) PVCMS (PV Commissioning and Maintenance Specialist) PVSI (PV System Inspector) Altogether that looks like:   derek the solarboi, NABCEP PVIP, PVCMS & ..read more

Great conversation with Tyler Hortin! His company does everything from Wh to GWh and focuses on prismatic cells that are almost 1kWh! This makes for less cells and less connections that can go wrong. The technology here is Lithium-Iron Phosphate (LFP) and we will talk about the supply chain and implications of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). They are affiliated with American Battery Factory, so we talk a little bit about manufacturing in the USA towards the end.   Key Words: Lithium Iron Phosphate Prismatic Battery Cell Battery Manufacturing in the USA How he get the Iron LPF Lithium ..read more

Tor "Solar Fred" Valenza is a regular in the solar industry. Tor has a podcast called Probably True Solar Stories, which takes his expertise as a former Hollywood writer and merges that with the solar industry. Some of his Hollywood work was on popular shows, such as Stargate SG-1, Dharma & Greg, and The Dead Zone. Tor's current day job is he is a chief solar public relations geek at UnThink Solar, a solar PR and communications firm.   In this podcast we talk about how Tor Valenza became Solar Fred and how he made stories about solar.   Topics covered: The history of branding abo ..read more

In this episode we are triple fortunate to have three of the smartest individuals in a discussion on science and policy from the Federation of American Scientists (fas.org), a nonpartisan think tank connecting scientific research with policy making to address today’s most urgent needs. Transition to renewable energy is urgent! We talk about how we can transition to solar fast, and how science and policy need to work together to get the job done, and how individuals can get involved.   Guests: Erica Goldman, on systems thinking and solar Alice Wu, on tipping points Zoë Brouns, on the workf ..read more

In this show we talk about the different stages of development of solar projects, which are projects that are from 1MW in size to GW sized projects.   Matias Sigal is an entrepreneur and has worked with many startups and incubators in different countries. He started off by being born in Argentina, and is currently a resident of Israel (which we discuss at the end of the podcast).   Matis has a company that developed software, which works sort of like Zillow for multimillion dollar solar projects. 80% of potential projects do not get developed, because they are missing some of th ..read more

In this podcast we talk about safe portable Energy Storage Systems (ESSs). Jon and Viridi are located in Buffalo NY.   Topics covered:   Portable ESS Building and Fire Codes including the International Residential Code (IRC) and the International Fire Code (IFC). Occupied Spaces Habitable Spaces UL 9540 UL 9540A UL CSA Thermal Runaway How Viridi is safer Cathodes and Anodes NMC = Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide LFP = Lithium Iron Phosphate NCA = Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide Specific Energy vs. Energy Density How Viridi Portable ESSs saved Burning Man How Ford won Pike's ..read more