17. Harnessing the Maelstrom
Closing the Gap with Gwen Holdmann
Water is 800 times denser than air and when large volumes start moving in a single direction with force and purpose, it becomes virtually unstoppable—whether at sea or on land. And that force represents an opportunity—to harness the power of water in a way that’s different from conventional hydropower. Instead of relying on elevation and gravity, we can capture energy directly from the flow itself. Afterall, the tides are pulled by the moon, creating a rhythm that has been in motion since long before fossil fuels were even imaginable. It’s not just renewable—it’s perpetual. Today...
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16. Big Dam, Little Dam
Closing the Gap with Gwen Holdmann
Hydropower comes in many forms, though most people still associate it with big dams. In the heyday of dam building, projects like Grand Coulee Dam and Boulder Dam in the American West were monumental efforts. These were some of the most ambitious and costly construction projects ever undertaken. Back then, we didn’t fully understand how dams could disrupt ecosystems—blocking fish passage, altering sediment flow, and changing entire river systems. But now we do, and as a result, large dams have fallen out of favor in many places. And where the U.S. was once the leader in large scale...
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15. Concentrated Solar Power...Can Save the World?
Closing the Gap with Gwen Holdmann
We started our series on solar energy at a small scale. This time, we are going big. The Al Kharsaah Solar Plant in Qatar is one of the largest solar farms in the world—capable, at least in theory, of producing enough power to meet the entire demand of the Railbelt electrical grid in Alaska, which serves about half a million residents. But even though Al Kharsaah is large, it’s far from the largest. When Gwen was there last year, it was in the top 20 largest projects in the world. Today, it doesn’t even make the top 30 anymore. In this episode, we’re going to take a closer look...
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14. Balcony Solar
Closing the Gap with Gwen Holdmann
This is the first episode in a series about solar energy, and we're starting really small. In Germany, Gwen learned about these compact personal solar kits you can install yourself -- right out of the box. There, they call it balkonkraftwerk, or balcony solar. Of course she had to buy one when she got back from Europe and try it out on her roof in Fairbanks. But is the grid ready for this kind of DIY power generation? Closing the Gap is hosted by Gwen Holdmann and edited by Jennifer Pemberton. This episode was produced by Liz Smith. Music is from Blue Dot Sessions.
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13. The Heat Beneath Our Feet
Closing the Gap with Gwen Holdmann
You don’t need super high temperatures to harness geothermal energy. Under the right circumstances, a much smaller thermal gradient can be used as well. If we start digging, we’re guaranteed to find heat. It’s getting that heat to the surface where we can use it without spending more energy than we can actually get out of it -- that's the tricky part. We visit South Africa, Denmark, and upstate New York to learn about the not-so-hot geothermal resource that's beneath our feet all over the world. Closing the Gap is hosted by Gwen Holdmann and edited by Jennifer Pemberton. This episode...
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12. Touching Magma
Closing the Gap with Gwen Holdmann
A look at the extreme edges of geothermal energy. We'll start with the super hot -- actual liquid magma -- chatting with a couple of visionary Icelanders that have some big ideas about the future of geothermal. Closing the Gap is hosted by Gwen Holdmann and edited by Jennifer Pemberton. This episode was produced by Tony Williams. Music is from Blue Dot Sessions.
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11. A Geothermal Primer, Straight from the Source
Closing the Gap with Gwen Holdmann
We cover the basics of geothermal energy before diving in to the more extreme versions of the technology in the next few episodes. And where better to kick off an episode on geothermal than with a mini-tour of Iceland — a country that has arguably made better use of geothermal than anywhere else on earth? In this episode, we’ll visit three sites in the southwest near the capital of Reykjavik before winding up in my own backyard in Alaska. Closing the Gap is hosted by Gwen Holdmann and edited by Jennifer Pemberton. This episode was produced by Tony Williams. Music is from Blue Dot Sessions....
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10. A Brighter History with Town Gas
Closing the Gap with Gwen Holdmann
Before our towns and homes were lit by electricity, we relied on something called town gas for everything from reading lights to cooking. Eventually, town gas in most places was replaced by natural gas, which burned cleaner. But the switch from town gas to natural gas was not a one to one replacement, and it was not trivial. Because town gas, unlike natural gas, is mostly hydrogen. Closing the Gap is hosted by Gwen Holdmann and produced by Jennifer Pemberton. Music is from Blue Dot Sessions.
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8. Geology Plus: Carbon Capture and Enhanced Weathering
Closing the Gap with Gwen Holdmann
We explore two carbon capture technologies that are exploiting natural geologic processes. But the companies working on these solutions are taking those natural processes and speeding them up a bit -- giving mother nature a little extra push in order to try and slow down climate change.
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9. Hydrogen: Too good to be true?
Closing the Gap with Gwen Holdmann
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and is the energy source powering our sun. The idea of a hydrogen economy has been promoted for decades. So what’s holding us back? Closing the Gap is hosted by Gwen Holdmann and produced by Jennifer Pemberton. Music is from Blue Dot Sessions.
info_outlineThe U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to receive 25 licensing applications in the next five years for a new generation of advanced reactors. But getting any of these designs from the drawing board to reality is going to require overcoming a lot of hurdles and uncertainties. Getting any new technology to market is challenging, but that challenge is even more acute for nuclear because of the complexities and costs that it entails.
In this episode we’ll look at how two U.S. nuclear projects are navigating a complicated government licensing process to develop a first-of-its-kind technology that could make a pretty big difference in our ability to decarbonize our global energy supply.
Closing the Gap is hosted by Gwen Holdmann and produced by Jennifer Pemberton. Music is from Blue Dot Sessions.