The Energy Transition Show with Chris Nelder
XE Network
Straight talk about the world’s transition from fossil fuels to renewables with energy expert Chris Nelder
Straight talk about the world’s transition from fossil fuels to renewables with energy expert Chris Nelder
[Episode #286] – A Moving Target
Epizode
Is there really an upper limit on how much wind and solar a grid can handle and still stay stable?
Global electricity demand is set to grow faster this year. How close are we to covering all that growth with renewables, so fossil power emissions stop rising?
Why has the energy transition kept outrunning the forecasts? Our new documentary series asks what that means for the road ahead.
Why sustainable mobility takes more than electric cars, with Debbie Hopkins, even as their share of new car sales grew nearly tenfold since ETS #96.
Russell Gold on the regulatory moats blocking the transmission needed to move renewable power across state lines, little changed since his 2019 interview.
When the jet stream slows and meanders, summer weather stalls. Tree rings show its excursions increasing sharply since the 1960s as the planet warms.
We review the highlights from the Statistical Review of World Energy 2026, offering the first complete look at global energy data for 2025.
Why is so much wind, solar and battery capacity stuck in connection queues across Europe’s distribution grids?
Is enhanced geothermal energy finally ready to be a significant commercial technology?
South Africa’s economic development now depends heavily on leaving behind its coal-fired legacy electricity system and making a “just transition” to renewables.
South Africa is embarking on a major reform of its electricity system to transition from a state-owned monopoly to a free market, and from coal to renewables.
A 350.org report adds up the cost of delaying the energy transition and the benefits of pursuing it, especially for oil and gas importing countries.
In 2025, renewables generated more electricity globally than fossil fuels for the first time in the modern era, causing power sector emissions to fall.
Can solar and batteries power the world cost-effectively? A new model says yes.
The damage to Persian Gulf oil and gas infrastructure and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has thrown the world into a global energy crisis.
Why have China’s total CO2 emissions been slowly falling for two years even as it’s building more coal-fired power plants than ever?
Lord Adair Turner shares his global perspective on the state of the energy transition, as seen from the Energy Transitions Commission.
Can the energy transition in the US survive President Trump’s attacks on it?
What do aspiring energy transition advocates need to know to become effective changemakers in their communities?
As one of the most energy vulnerable countries on earth, Japan faces a difficult choice: join the petrostates, or the electrostates?
Global carbon emissions from the power sector may be close to peaking thanks to an accelerating energy transition.
Chris returns to Paris to interview co-lead Tim Gould about the new World Energy Outlook 2025 report, and to explore the futures it contemplates.
A history of South Africa’s energy transition in the power sector kicks off a new Energy Transition Show miniseries on the African country.
What is the role of distribution utilities in the energy transition?
What are the key elements to a successful energy transition project where you live?
We review some examples of social, political, and technological approaches to climate change mitigation that should give us reason to be optimistic.
China has far surpassed the West to become the undisputed global leader in the energy transition.
For our 10th anniversary, we reflect on what the past decade of our work has been about and consider what the next ten years might require.
Alaska is deeply entwined with the fossil fuel industry, but its major utilities could transition almost entirely to renewables if there was the political will.
In remote, off-road communities of Alaska, microgrids supplied by renewables aren’t just economic; they’re what keep people alive.
What can the world learn about the potential for the energy transition from the world’s first all-electric farm in New Zealand?
What architectural and construction techniques are best for creating comfortable, healthy, and affordable buildings in Alaska? Part 1 of a miniseries on Alaska.
Global carbon emissions from the power sector may be close to peaking thanks to an accelerating energy transition.
Are biofuels and other forms of bioenergy truly ‘renewable’ and ‘carbon neutral?'
How can a country replace a critical technology like blast furnaces with a low-carbon alternative while preserving national security and jobs?
How will South Australia maintain stability and reliability as it becomes the world’s first gigawatt-scale grid to operate with a 100% renewable energy supply?
Will Russia finally get on board with the energy transition, or will it just white-knuckle its energy exports all the way down to zero?
Dr. Martin Green, the “father of solar cells,” recounts the evolution of modern solar PV cells, and we interview the CEOs of two CSP companies in Australia.
What will it take to make next-generation geothermal energy economically competitive and commercially available all over the world?
Numerous energy innovations in Australia help to integrate DERs, VPPs, microgrids, advanced solar and grid technologies, efficient buildings, and more.
How is the Australian government is working with the grid power sector to plan and execute its transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewables?
How is Great Britain developing a coordinated plan to evolve all of its energy networks toward complete decarbonization?
What makes for good, effective, and enduring green industrial policy?
Heat pumps are a low-cost way to decarbonize space heating. Dr. Richard Lowes explains how to design policies to encourage the adoption of heat pumps.
What are the implications of the IEA’s view that world demand for all fossil fuels will peak and begin a slow decline within the next five years?
In this second part of a miniseries on how the UK is evolving its energy system, we discuss innovations on the electricity grid.
In this first part of a miniseries on how the UK is evolving its energy system, we discuss its world-leading efforts to meet its decarbonization goals.
Why have most economic models consistently underestimated the actual speed of the energy transition?
Europe’s energy transition is still gathering momentum and moving ahead according to European energy expert Jan Rosenow.
Why do governments continue to push nuclear power when it is the most expensive, risky, and slow way to decarbonize the power grid?