In this episode of Energy Transition Talk, we talk about the future of the energy workforce and how we can recruit and prepare the next generation energy workforce for the energy transition.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) anticipates that adopting clean energy technologies will create 14 million jobs by 2030. However, many students, concerned about the fossil fuel industry’s role in climate change and its job security risks, are turning away from careers traditionally associated with the fossil fuel industry, like petroleum engineering and mining. This can create a shortage of positions needed for the energy transition. The energy transition will depend on engineers, electricians, plumbers, and mechanics—just to name a few—to build the infrastructure needed for the energy transition (think power lines, heat pumps, and wind turbines). So if you’re thinking about pursuing a career in STEM or energy more broadly – we need you!

How can we manage this critical transition in the energy workforce? To talk about this challenge, Justine chats with Dr. Barbara Ransom, an internationally known geoscientist at the National Science Foundation. They discuss current trends in the energy workforce, the broad range of skills we’ll need for the energy transition, the implications of artificial intelligence (AI), and the challenges and potential solutions to increasing interest in STEM and green jobs.

Jim then speaks with Abhinav Vishal, a petroleum engineering student at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology in India, about the role that petroleum engineering can play in the energy transition.

02:33 Interview with Dr. Ransom

37:51 Interview with Abhinav Vishal

53:57 Concluding Remarks

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you can automatically get access to our new episodes – you can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we would appreciate it so much if you could leave a rating and review, and let us know what you thought about this episode! Special thanks to our guests for today and Abhi, our technical guru, for his behind-the-scenes contributions to our podcast. This podcast is sponsored by the USC Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition.

Referenced in the podcast and additional resources:

• Wall Street Journal, Big Oil’s Talent Crisis: High Salaries Are No Longer Enough, August 6, 2023

• New Yorker, The Great Electrician Shortage, Apr. 24, 2023

• IEA, The reskilling challenge: How can we leave no one behind in the energy transition?, Apr. 26, 2023

• McKinsey, Toward a more orderly US energy transition: Six key action areas, Jan. 12, 2023

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Energy Transition Talk series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET) or the producers of this podcast.

Much of the talk around renewable energy seems to be focused on wind and solar. But there are other renewable sources that may be worth paying attention to. In this episode, we discuss the potential for hydrogen to be another tool in transitioning away from fossil fuels. Hydrogen has been around for awhile, but as an energy source, could it be experiencing a revival? The Biden administration seems to think it could be promising; it announced in October 2023 that it will award up to $7 billion to fund 7 regional “hydrogen hubs” across the U.S. to spur the production of hydrogen as a clean energy source.

In this episode, Paulina first chats with Yeshvi Tomar, a student and fuel cell researcher at USC, who explains the basics of hydrogen as an energy source and its benefits and limitations. Justine and Jim then speak with Dr. Christine Economides, a professor at the University of Houston, who dives deeper into the difference between gray, blue, and green hydrogen, the applications of hydrogen, and the potential to scale up the role of hydrogen as an energy source.

02:23 Interview with Yeshvi Tomar

22:34 Interview with Dr. Economides

55:51 Concluding Remarks

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you can automatically get access to our new episodes – you can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we would appreciate it so much if you could leave a rating and review. Special thanks to our guests for today and Abhi, our technical guru, for their important contributions to today’s episode. This podcast is sponsored by the USC Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition.

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Energy Transition Talk series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET) or the producers of this podcast.

Referenced in this episode and additional resources:

• University of Houston Webinar: Fueling Houston with Hydrogen - The Switch Is On, September 29, 2023: As combustion of gasoline and diesel in the transportation energy sector account for 27% of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, there is an urgency to find clean and affordable fuel alternatives on the road to a more sustainable future. Research has identified hydrogen as a viable fuel source that could emerge as a premier energy source of the future. This discussion centers on how the cost of providing hydrogen refueling in the Houston area would compare with current fuel prices.

• EIA, Hydrogen Explained: Use of Hydrogen

• FuelCellsWorks, History of Fuel Cells

• U.S. National Archives, Beyond the Hindenburg: Airships Throughout History

• NY Times, The hope and hype of hydrogen, Oct. 17, 2023

• CNBC, These seven U.S. regions will receive $7 billion in federal funding to produce hydrogen, Oct. 13, 2023

  USGS, The Potential for Geologic Hydrogen for Next-Generation Energy, Apr. 13, 2023

When it comes to clean energy, we often hear about wind and solar, but there are other, perhaps less-talked about, renewable sources to include in our energy transition portfolio. In this episode, we focus on geothermal, which uses heat from the earth to generate energy. You may have heard of the Geysers in northern California, the world’s largest geothermal field, or the Salton Sea in southern California, the second largest geothermal field in the U.S. However, in 2022, just 0.4% of U.S. electricity generation came from geothermal energy. Can we harness the potential of the earth’s heat in more than just volcanic regions? 

To address this question, Justine and Paulina speak with Dr. Birendra Jha, a professor of petroleum engineering at USC who runs a research group, the GEM Lab, which aims to address engineering challenges related to energy. We talk about what geothermal energy is, why geothermal seems to be less popular than other sources like wind and solar, and the challenges and benefits of an emerging technology, Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), which could expand where geothermal energy is produced.

Jim then speaks with Minh Tran, a geothermal engineer with a PhD in Petroleum Engineering from USC, who is studying ways to more effectively transform geothermal heat into electricity. We talk about whether skills from oil and gas are transferable to geothermal, the potential of EGS in the energy transition, and the importance of financing and policy incentives in expanding geothermal. 

2:21 Interview with Dr. Jha 36:28 Interview with Minh Tran 55:48 Concluding Remarks

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you can automatically get access to our new episodes – you can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we would appreciate it so much if you could leave a rating and review. Special thanks to our guests for today and Abhi, our technical guru, for their important contributions to today’s episode. This podcast is sponsored by the USC Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition.  

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Energy Transition Talk series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET) or the producers of this podcast. 

Referenced in this episode:  

• EIA, Geothermal Explained 

• EIA, U.S electricity generation by energy source 

• California Energy Commission, 2022 Total System Electric Generation

• EnergyTransition.org, Mar. 28, 2023, Geothermal Iceland: This land of fire and ice is pushing the limits of its natural energy

• ScienceNews, July 12, 2023, How Kenya is helping its neighbors develop geothermal energy

• Forbes, Enhanced Geothermal Could Be A Missing Piece Of America’s Climate Puzzle, July 23, 2023

• Scientific American, Biden Administration Bets $74 Million on ‘Enhanced’ Geothermal Power, Feb. 14, 2023

• U.S. Department of Energy, Biden-Harris Administration Announces $74 Million to Advance Enhanced Geothermal Systems, Feb. 8, 2023 

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Energy Transition Talk series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET) or the producers of this podcast.

In 2022, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reached a high of 53 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent. To bring that down to net zero, we can either stop emitting GHGs into the atmosphere, or we can pull out CO2 that has already been emitted. In this episode, we focus on two solutions to address areas where energy emissions are hard to abate. 

One solution is carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS, which involves capturing CO2 from the air and storing it underground. In the first half of this episode, we speak with Dr. Saro Meguerdijian, a researcher at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, who explains what CCS is and how it works, as well as the crucial role it can play in addressing our growing carbon emissions.

Another solution is monitoring methane emissions from oil and gas operations to identify and mitigate leaks and flares. This has become a hot topic lately as methane has accounted for about 30% of global warming since the Industrial Revolution and is 80x more potent at warming than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. A lot of methane leaks into the atmosphere from oil and gas operations, and recent studies have found much higher rates of leakage from natural gas production than previously known. Thus, methane leaks can make natural gas just as bad as coal in contributing to climate change. In the second half of this episode, we speak with two graduate students, Will Daniels from the Colorado School of Mines and Rachel Day from Colorado State University, about methods for detecting methane emissions from oil and gas production and the role that data might play in reducing these emissions. 

00:00 Interview with Dr. Meguerdijian

02:30 Interview with Will Daniels and Rachel Day

01:03:46 Concluding Remarks  

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you can automatically get access to our new episodes – you can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we would appreciate it so much if you could leave a rating and review. Special thanks to our guests for today and Abhi, our technical guru, for their important contributions to today’s episode. This podcast is sponsored by the USC Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition.  

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Energy Transition Talk series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET) or the producers of this podcast. 

Referenced in this episode and additional resources:

• Statista, Annual greenhouse gas emissions worldwide from 1970 to 2022

• NPR, July 14, 2023, Natural gas can rival coal's climate-warming potential when leaks are counted

• UNEP, Aug. 20, 2021, Methane emissions are driving climate change. Here’s how to reduce them 

• Colorado State University Energy Institute, Methane Emissions Technology Evaluations Center (METEC) 

• 
  Energy Emissions Modeling and Data Lab – Initiative of the University of Texas at Austin, Colorado State University, and Colorado School of Mines to develop transparent models and datasets for accurate GHG emissions accounting across the global oil and gas supply chain
• https://energy.colostate.edu/metec/  Methane Emissions Technology Evaluations Center (Colorado State University)

• https://www.eemdl.utexas.edu/  Energy Emissions Modeling and Data Lab (University of Texas at Austin, Colorado State University and Colorado School of Mines)

What are the real costs of going green, and who is going to pay the bill? In Part B of our episode on the cost of going green, Jim chats with a panel of mineral economics students from Ghana at the Colorado School of Mines – Eben, John, Rueben and Felix – who help us better understand the challenges of sustainable development from a sub-Saharan Africa perspective. The group discusses perspectives on the energy transition in Ghana, the need for partnership and collaboration between the Global North and South, the African voice in the global conversation on a just transition, the growth of renewables in Africa, and the opportunity in using local resources to promote energy security. 01:40 Panel Interview 46:59 Concluding Remarks Be sure to check out our last episode, Part A, where we spoke with Brad Handler at the Colorado School of Mines on the topic of private financing – why we’re still investing in fossil fuels, the challenges of redirecting money to developing countries, and the role that Wall Street and industry might play in the energy transition. Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you can automatically get access to our new episodes – you can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we would appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review and let us know what you thought of this episode! Special thanks to our guests for today and Abhi, our technical guru, for their important contributions to today’s episode. This podcast is sponsored by the USC Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition. Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Energy Transition Talk series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET) or the producers of this podcast.

What are the real costs of going green, and who is going to pay the bill? In Part A of our episode on the cost of going green, we bring expert guest Brad Handler onto the show. Brad is Program Manager for the Sustainable Finance Lab at the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines, and a former Wall Street Equity Research Analyst with 20 years of experience covering the oil sector. He breaks down why we are still investing so much in fossil fuels, the investments that might be needed to support the growth of renewable energy, and how we might redirect investments towards developing countries that will play a large role in the energy transition. We also dive into why oil companies have been so profitable, whether divesting from fossil fuels is a good idea, and the role that Wall Street and the fossil fuel industry might play in the energy transition. 01:21 Interview with Brad Handler 56:00 Concluding Remarks Stay tuned for Part B next week, where we chat with a panel of mineral economics students from Ghana at the Colorado School of Mines, who help us better understand the challenges of sustainable development from a sub-Saharan Africa perspective. Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you can automatically get access to our new episodes – you can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Also, please leave a rating and review and let us know what you thought of this episode! Special thanks to our guests for today and Abhi, our technical guru, for their important contributions to today’s episode. This podcast is sponsored by the USC Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition. Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Energy Transition Talk series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET) or the producers of this podcast. Referenced in this episode and additional resources:

• IMF, Aug. 24, 2023, Fossil Fuel Subsidies Surged to Record $7 Trillion 

• UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), July 5, 2023, UNCTAD calls for urgent support to developing countries to attract massive investment in clean energy 

• Reuters, Jan. 31, 2023, Exxon smashes Western oil majors' profits with $56 billion in 2022 

• IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency), Aug. 29, 2023, Renewables Competitiveness Accelerates, Despite Cost Inflation

• ExxonMobil, Oct. 11, 2023, ExxonMobil announces merger with Pioneer Natural Resources in an all-stock transaction 

• ExxonMobil, Jan. 18, 2022, ExxonMobil announces ambition for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 
• Shell net zero commitments