4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 22 July 2025
⏱️ 75 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
In this episode, we take a trip in a time machine, five years into the future. 2030 has been set as a deadline for many climate goals, and is a milestone for checking progress towards a low-carbon energy system. Ed Crooks, Amy Myers Jaffe and Melissa Lott imagine themselves five years from now, and look back at how the US energy industry has changed since the “big beautiful bill” was passed. What do they think have been the key headlines from the last half-decade? And how will history judge America’s energy bets?
The reconciliation bill that was signed into law by President Trump on July 4 restricted support for low-carbon energy, especially wind and solar power, and doubled down on fossil fuels. The gang break down the sectors that are most at risk, and assess what the changes to tax credits will mean for project developers in renewables and storage. EVs are another sector that will be hit hard. Amy warns that the end result is likely to be a struggling US auto industry and increased Chinese dominance.
Another important change is that geopolitics is playing an increased role in deciding who can claim tax credits and who can’t. The new rules on FEOCs – foreign entities of concern – from China, Iran, Russia and North Korea could cause headaches for battery storage developers, in particular.
Mitigating the impact of all that are state policies and private sector commitments to invest in clean energy, which will continue to push the industry forward. Will they be enough?
Amy Myers Jaffe is Director of the Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab at NYU. Melissa Lott is a Partner at Microsoft, focusing on energy technology, speaking on the show in a personal capacity.
With host Ed Crooks, they assess whether the “big beautiful bill” will result in a lasting setback for clean energy in the US, or just a pause for breathe before the next leap forward.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
0:00.0 | Just assume everybody else keeps going the course. There could also be the place where other countries see an opportunity and step into it and go faster. There is that outcome too that could happen. |
0:12.7 | It's hard to imagine that voter sentiment wouldn't be swayed by the fact that the need to do something would seem more important to people's |
0:23.1 | pocketbooks and to people's health than the expense of doing something. |
0:30.9 | Hello and welcome to the Energy Gang, a discussion show from Wood McKenzie about the |
0:35.5 | fast-changing world of energy. I'm Ed Crooks, and I'm joined today by Amy Myers-Jaffee. |
0:40.7 | Amy is the director of the Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab at New York University. |
0:45.6 | Hi, Amy, how are you? |
0:46.8 | I am enjoying the summer, Ed, and great to be here. |
0:49.6 | Yeah, great to see you, too. |
0:51.2 | And it's also a great pleasure to welcome back after too long in absence, |
0:55.1 | Melissa Lott, who's a partner at Microsoft focused on energy technology. Hi, Melissa. How are you? I'm doing great, Ed. How are you? It's good to see you both. I'm excited. Yeah, it's great to see you again. I say it's been much too long since we last had you on. How have you been? Things have been good. It's been a busy year. I will say, so I live in the mountains on the West Coast, as you all know, and I love winter. |
1:16.2 | Skiing is lovely and all that stuff, but I adore summer. It's a beautiful time of year. |
1:21.0 | We have had some pretty intense weather that has not been great for a number of communities, |
1:26.6 | but it's still been a beautiful summer and just enjoying it. Yeah, and certainly crazy weather is something we're going to be talking about a little bit later on in this show. Before we get into things, though, also, of course, Melissa, we have to issue your standard disclaimer. Anything you say in this show is your own opinion strictly does not necessarily reflect the corporate |
1:45.0 | views of Microsoft, right? |
1:46.2 | Correct. |
1:46.6 | That's correct. |
1:47.1 | Just stuff out of my brain of all these topics we've been discussing over the past few weeks. |
1:51.0 | Absolutely. |
1:51.5 | Yeah. |
1:51.6 | Well, great to be getting the benefit of that. |
1:54.3 | And it's good to be talking right now because this is a pretty momentous time for energy in the US with a lot to digest |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 16 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wood Mackenzie, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Wood Mackenzie and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.