Clean energy technologies: Overhyped, underhyped or just right?

On the Catalyst with Shayle Kann podcast this week:

Within the climatetech world, technology hype is all over the map. In this episode, Lara Pierpoint, director of climate at Actuate, and Stephen Lacey, host of The Carbon Copy and executive producer of Catalyst, join Shayle for a game of ​“buy, sell, hold.” They take bets on which technologies are overhyped, underhyped or just right.

They cover a range of topics, including:

• Advanced nuclear and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s rejection of Oklo’s reactor designs, as well as shifting opinions around nuclear.

• Whether the concern around hydrogen leakage and its greenhouse effect is overblown.

• Heat pumps, including the Biden administration’s efforts to boost production with the Defense Production Act and a new report on how a proposed federal program to incentivize heat pumps could save Americans over $27 billion.

• Non-lithium-ion batteries for stationary storage and their opportunity to gain market share as lithium-ion batteries become more expensive due to rising commodity prices and backed-up supply chains.

• The state of vehicle-to-grid technologies and fleet electrification.

• Battery recycling, which is picking up speed due to concerns about the environmental impact of production and a shortage of materials.

• Whether Web3- and crypto-climate startups are solving the right problem.