The Keep Cool Podcast

In this episode, Nick sits down with Silas Mähner, founder of ErthTech Talent and the host of the CleanTechies podcast, to unpack how climate tech has evolved since 2020. Starting from Silas’s upbringing in rural, conservative Wisconsin and his accidental entry into renewable energy recruiting, they trace his journey from a deep skepticism of renewables to seeing cleaner, greener, more sustainable technologies and businesses as a once in a century industrial opportunity as part of which “everything we touch physically can be reinvented.” Nick and Silas also explore how political backlash, culture wars, and corporate pragmatism have reshaped the cli...

Will Wiseman's path to founding Climatize started with a stark realization. When he and a hundred thousand people participated in the 2019 Barcelona climate strikes, he realized there was massive, palpable passion, but not necessarily an actionable channel for everyone to activate afterward. To fill that gap, he and his co-founder got to work building a platform that transforms capital into climate infrastructure. The product, Climatize, is an SEC-registered funding portal that democratizes renewable energy investment by giving everyday investors access to crowdfund community-scale solar and storage projects. 

Fast-forward to 2025, and the results validate the thesis: $12M deployed a...

On this episode, Nick is joined by Maya Poncelet, Head of Partnerships at Una Terra, an early growth fund investing in the circular economy and other regenerative businesses and technologies. Together, Nick and Maya discuss Una Terra’s growth equity investment theses surrounding the circular economy, what broader systems change accompanies and extends beyond the requisite responses to climate change, and how to work towards a more sustainable, equitable future with those key themes in mind.

Further, Maya offers stellar examples of the investment work she’s focused on at Una Terra and grounding reflections on building an i...

Tune is as Nick is joined by Johanna Wolfson, co-founder and General Partner of Azolla Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in breakthroughs that have the potential to avert catastrophic climate change. Together, Nick and Johanna explore Azolla Ventures’ unique approach to combining catalytic capital—philanthropic and risk-tolerant funding designed to prioritize impact over returns—with traditional venture capital to fill critical early-stage gaps left by traditional investors and accelerate innovation in and adoption of climate tech solutions.

Johanna also explores how this approach enables her and her team to support “big swings” in climate solutions—including in...

On this episode, Nick is joined by John Tough, the Managing Partner of Energize Capital, a leading venture capital firm that invests in climate solutions across sectors, including energy and the grid, as well as industrial operations, electrification in mobility, and more.

Listen in as Nick and John chart Energize Capital’s journey and break down its investment and portfolio company support strategies. Further, Nick and John discuss the state of climate tech markets in the U.S. and Europe in 2025, make predictions for the coming decades, and home in on positives even as uncertainty abounds with sh...

Listen in as Nick is joined by Darren Clifford, the Founder of Adapt [us] Capital, a new venture capital fund and venture builder focused on investing and building companies at the intersection of climate adaptation and scalable, profitable businesses.

In this episode, Nick and Darren discuss how the climate change, climate investment, and climate mitigation “moment” in 2025 requires new conversations, narratives, and solutions, including more focus on and concerted capital allocation to promoting adaptation-focused efforts alongside other mitigation strategies and innovation.

Nick and Darren also explore:

𖥔 Note 𖥔 This is a syndicated podcast from the Climate Capital Podcast, which Nick hosted. Nick also works at Climate Capital. You'll find the format very similar to past Keep Cool podcast content - hope you enjoy!

Follow the Climate Capital Podcast in general here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cc-pod/id1709396247

Nick will host episodes over there more often & syndicate some here on Keep Cool's podcast.

//

In this episode, Nick van Osdol sits down with Mohamed Badawy, CEO of Scalvy. Scalvy is redefining how electrical energy moves. Initially focused on electric m...

Description: Stephan Herrmann, Co-founder & CEO of Reverion, and Sebastian Heitmann, Co-Founder and Partner at Extantia Capital—an investor in deep decarbonization technologies—joined Nick for a live discussion in New York City to explore breakthroughs in Reverion’s biogas energy technologies and discuss the state of energy and climate tech in general across the world. Reverion is redefining biogas, enabling up to 5x revenue additions for biogas plant operators by converting excess renewable energy into green gas, all while enhancing grid stability.

In this episode, the trio discusses the following:

Description: Nick is joined by Tim Hill, the General Manager of Sustainability Solutions for Nucor Corporation. Nucor is the largest steel producer and recycler in North America. Plus, Nucor produces steel via a larger circular and electricity-powered process; their steel uses recycled scrap and is made in electric arc furnaces (EAF) instead of blast and basic oxygen furnaces (BF/BOF). This makes Nucor not just one of the largest steel producers in the world, but a leader in steel decarbonization. Whereas green steel is often something that’s referred to as a future possibility, much greener steel is already av...

Nick is joined by Arpita Bhattacharyya, Chief Climate Officer at the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, where she helps understand common barriers that slow down deployment in the Loan Programs Office's $200+ billion portfolio of deals. Her work also entails understanding the community engagement, equity, and communication considerations necessary to develop and fund new programs and projects, like the LPO's Tribal Energy Financing Program. Specifically, Nick and Arpita discussed:

Nick is joined by Tom Ferguson, Founder and Managing Partner at Burnt Island Ventures, one of the first venture capital firms focused on investing in startups driving innovation in water-focused applications and industries.

Despite touching nearly everything on Earth, water is an under-discussed, under-invested in, and under-resourced category. As a result, innovation in the space often lags other areas that get more attention, whether fintech, crypto, or AI. At the same time, water is one of several categories that could see the most disruption due to climate change. Hence, Tom & team are on a mission to not...

Description: Nick is joined by Rob Hanson, the CEO of Monolith, a company building methane pyrolysis plants to turn methane into hydrogen and carbon black, both of which are critical products for global industries and which are predominantly produced with significant emissions footprints today. Monolith’s process aims to decarbonize hydrogen and carbon black production while commercializing to scales of clean production not seen almost anywhere else in the world. Nick and Rob also discuss the duality of methane’s inherent economic value and its staggering cost to the environment, especially as a major global warming driver, as well as:<...

Description: Nick is joined by Jigar Shah, the Director of the DOE’s Loan Programs Office, and Ian Dickinson, the CEO of LongPath Technologies, to discuss the commercialization of novel methane monitoring technologies to accelerate lower-hanging fruit in methane mitigation. Specifically, Jigar, Ian, and Nick discuss the ongoing methane measurement technologies LongPath is building for oil and gas infrastructure in the Permian Basin and what climate, economic, safety, and regulatory impacts are being driven by a step-change in methane measurement and monitoring technologies. Further, Jigar, Ian, and Nick also discuss:

Nick and Allison Wolff, CEO of Vibrant Planet, discuss the platform Allison and company are building to accelerate environmentally and economically sound outcomes in natural resource management, wildfire risk mitigation, and more. Whether your interest stems from curiosity around optimal use cases for AI and machine learning in climate action or nature-based solutions ranging from proactive land management to mitigate wildfires or the reintroduction of beavers, there’s something in this episode for everyone. Specifically, Nick and Allison discuss:

Nick and Josh Charnin-Aker, Glassdome’s co-founder and CTO, as well as TJ Yoon, Product Manager, discuss how Glassdome is building a platform and a deeply experienced team to accelerate sustainability in manufacturing, heavy industry, and more. Not only does this involve building a first-in-class digital product to help customers like SK manage things like product carbon footprint calculations, but it also entails getting their hands dirty to collect novel, primary data from manufacturing environments and supply chains. Specifically, Nick, Josh, and TJ discuss:

Nick and Augustus Doricko, Founder and CEO of Rainmaker, discuss the viability of cloud seeding to (quite literally) make it rain more. Whether for farmers dealing with drought or depleted aquifers or for adaptive purposes such as mitigating wildfires, the potential applications of cloud seeding and making rain more abundant are endless. Nick and Augustus dive deep into the history, theory, and modern current state of cloud seeding while turning an eye to what to expect from Rainmaker in Q2 2024 and beyond. In addition, they discuss:

Description: Nick and John Skrinar, Partner at Cresta Fund Management, explore the intersection of infrastructure investment, private equity, and the energy transition in the U.S. in 2024. Specifically, Nick and John discuss the merits of technologies ranging from carbon capture to hydrogen and renewable natural gas while also casting an eye to the political landscape and how sustainable infrastructure investing has changed over the past five years in the U.S. In addition, Nick and John dove deep on the following topics:

Nick and Aaron Feigelman, the CEO of Kawa Project, dive deep on the world of waste-to-value alternatives to commodities like cocoa and palm oil. Specifically Nick and Aaron discuss why cocoa prices are soaring, how there’s a ton of ‘climate’ stories inherent to this dynamic, and the work Aaron’s company is doing to make cocoa alternatives that are sustainable and future-proof. In addition, Nick and Aaron walk through:

Description: Nick and Josh Silverman, the CEO of Windfall Bio, discuss his companies novel methane utilization technologies while casting a wide net across the climate tech ecosystem to discuss dynamics inherent to the methane ‘story’ as a whole and why methane mitigation deserves more attention from stakeholders across climate and energy (as well as listeners like you)

Don't miss out on this podcast...

Nick, Quincy Lee, the CEO of Electric Era, and Ramez Naam, a highly experienced climate tech and energy analyst and investor, dive deep on all things energy and electrification in 2024. Starting with a focus on mobility and the power sector, Quincy, Mez, and Nick touch on topics as far reaching as geoengineering, the power of narratives, and their expectations for decarbonization across other sectors out to 2050 and beyond.

Description: Nick and the MacroCycle team discuss a paradigmatic shift from mechanical to chemical recycling in plastics recycling, why it matters, and how MacroCycle is gearing up for their first-of-a-kind recycling facility in 2024. In addition, they discuss:

Don't miss out on this podcast if you’re interested in learning more about the state of climate tech, recycling, energy, and more! Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, Google, or your f...

Nick and Albert Wenger, Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures (and a preeminent investor in general), discuss the state of climate, climate and energy work in general, and climate venture capital in 2024 and beyond. Specifically, Nick and Albert dive deep on:

Don't miss out on this podcast if you’re interested in learning more about the state of climate tech, clim...

Nick and Katie McClain, Partner and COO at Energize Capital, a venture fund focused on climate and energy technologies, discuss what’s ‘hot’ right now in climate venture capital, besides for, you know, the rate at which the Earth is warming. Nick and Katie also take a keen look at what to expect in 2024 and beyond. Specifically, Nick and Katie dive deep on:

Nick and Tom Quigley, co-founder and Managing Director of Superorganism, a venture firm focused on biodiversity, discuss what biodiversity is, why it matters to the world, and how it fits into the burgeoning climate tech ecosystem. Specifically, Nick and Tom dive deep on:

Don't miss out on this podcast if you’re interested in learning more about climate tech beyond well-covered sectors like ene...

Discover how Atmos, a climate tech company that looks like a bank, is revolutionizing fintech infrastructure to make climate-positive lending solutions available to consumers (and banks!) across the world. 

Ravi Mikkelson, CEO of Atmos, joins the ‘Keep Cool Show’ to discuss his mission of making the transition to clean energy affordable and accessible for everyone. Learn about Atmos’ innovative financing solutions, the challenges they’ve faced in building what is both a climate tech and fintech company, and their vision for a more sustainable future.

Plus, who are Atmos’ main competitors? And what, exactly, do they hope t...

Carbon capture technology is a divisive technology in decarbonization debates. Oft touted by some companies, and with technology that’s existed since the 90s, a pernicious question persists – why hasn’t it scaled significantly?  

In this episode of the Keep Cool Show, Nick chats with Adam Goff, Head of Strategy at 8 Rivers, to discuss the challenges and opportunities in scaling carbon capture, as well as why the company is also commercializing technologies in direct air capture and for green hydrogen applications. 

Adam and Nick chat about 8 Rivers' unique approach to carbon capture via the Allem Cycle, th...

Curious about the emerging field of soil carbon and its role as a climate solution? 

Join Chris Tolles, CEO and co-founder of Yard Stick PBC, as he discusses the challenges and opportunities inherent to soil carbon, the soil carbon management space, and the market for nature-based solutions as a whole.

Discover how Yard Stick uses innovative technology to measure soil carbon and helps farmers, ranchers, and other land stakeholders make informed decisions (and potentially, money!) by implementing more regenerative practices. Chris also shares his insights on the perils of false binaries in climate debates and t...

What exactly is the future of carbon removal? What is the role of government, and why is the need for industry collaboration key to driving its success? And how can an all-hands-on-deck approach help to achieve ambitious climate goals by 2030?

Giana Amador, Executive Director of the Carbon Removal Alliance, joins Nick to discuss all of the above as well as the importance of policy, infrastructure, and workforce development in reaching gigaton-scale carbon removal. 

Find out how the Carbon Removal Alliance is bridging the gap between the private sector and federal policymakers to accelerate the adoption o...

Discover how Mast Reforestation (formerly Drone Seed) is revolutionizing reforestation efforts to combat climate change. 

In this episode, Matthew Aghai, VP of R&D Mast Reforestation, explores the company's mission to scale reforestation and reestablish the reforestation supply chain, all while expanding the variables used to evaluate successful ecosystem stewardship. You’ll learn about their use of equal parts big data and ground truthing to restore large, impacted landscapes and ensure the resilience of ecosystems.  

Matthew also discusses how the company’s work will support making markets for biodiversity and broadening the scope of services inherent...

Discover the future of ecosystem regeneration and biodiversity work as Nick sits down with Colin Averill, CEO and Founder of Funga, to discuss their groundbreaking approach to reforestation. 

By harnessing and unlocking fungal biodiversity insights, Colin's team introduces diverse fungal and bacterial communities to the reforestation process, helping to revitalize degraded soil microbiomes by establishing extensive mycelium networks that fuel plant growth. With a background in forest carbon cycle science, Colin's team is responsible for designing projects spanning thousands of acres that utilize rigorous scientific precision to achieve ecological restoration. 

Join Nick as he and Co...

In this week’s pod, Nick chats with Sam Wevers, the Head of Software Product for Lunar Energy, as they dive into the heart of Lunar Energy's mission to revolutionize global home energy.

Sam unveils how Lunar's state-of-the-art home electrification system seamlessly melds solar technology with home batteries, transcending analytics to offer customers deep insight into their home's energy rhythms and the larger ecosystem of energy they fit into.

From there, Nick and Sam zoom out to discuss how electrification scales and the role that data can play in harmonizing endless clean energy around the gl...

It may sound like something straight out of science fiction, but hyperspectral satellites have been around for decades, measuring the spectral profile of things like methane gas and other things that are otherwise out of view from the human eye.

In this week’s podcast, Nick chats with Dan Katz, CEO and co-founder of Orbital Sidekick, about how the company is turning hyperspectral satellites into a commercially viable technology that helps solve some of the planet’s most pressing operational, environmental, and safety issues in real-time. 

Dan also discloses how hyperspectral technology benefits companies seeking carbo...

Meet the man trying to make electric vehicle charging stations more accessible, affordable, and reliable than ever before. 

Quincy Lee is a former mechanical engineer at SpaceX turned fast-charging renegade. He understands the importance of the EV revolution to make a positive environmental impact, and the key challenges facing the EV industry today. 

His mission? To accelerate the decarbonization and electrification of the transportation industry by designing EV fast charging stations that are reliable, can be deployed quickly, and don’t put undue pressure on the electricity distribution grid.

In this episode, Nick and...

On this week’s pod, Nick sits down with Agilitas Energy’s CEO and President, Barrett Bilotta to chat about the state of grid-connected battery energy storage in the U.S. 

What are the challenges facing energy storage development, and how do energy storage developers and operators manage to balance the needs and concerns of countless stakeholders, ranging from regulators to utilities? 

Barrett also explains the advantages of operating the assets they build themselves, the limitations of lithium-ion technology, and how Agilitas Energy aims to capture and deploy as many clean kilowatt hours in the future...

On this week’s pod, Nick’s sitting down with Ample co-founder and president John de la Souza to chat about the future of modular battery-swapping technology for EVs.  

By swapping rather than charging an electric vehicle’s battery, Ample can deliver a 100% charge in 5 minutes or less — and with considerable other benefits for the grid. 

Is this a push that will help accelerate EV adoption and address common driver pain points? Or is it too much of a burden to develop the infrastructure?

How will Ample make its solution more adaptable to OEMs? John...

Meet the company trying to make use of wasted food: Divert. 

Determined to create a zero-waste future, Divert’s CEO Ryan Begin sits down to chat with Nick about how the company utilizes advanced technology to turn wasted food that would turn into methane in a landfill into renewable energy instead.

How do they have the confidence that their solution is truly a climate-positive solution for waste? How much work goes into preparing wasted food (e.g., removing microplastics)? And are there positive signs to indicate this technology will take off in the US as it...

What does a model-and influencer-turned-activist have to do with nuclear energy, and why should we care?

As it turns out, quite a lot, and she has plenty of data, insight, and wisdom to impart when it comes to advocating for nuclear energy as a climate solution. 

Isabelle Boemeke, founder of the Isodope brand, drops in to chat with Nick about the common misconceptions surrounding nuclear energy and why it’s one of the safest and most effective sources of clean energy— generating more power than solar and wind combined globally. 

Then, they dive into t...

Has anyone ever told you to be more mindful of your waste? 

Meet the man who believes that waste isn’t just waste— and why he feels that humans have a lot to learn from mother nature. 

Michael Place, CTO of Chapul Farms, stops by the studio to talk about how regenerative insect agriculture is redefining how we think of waste disposal. After witnessing a hoard of black soldier fly larvae making quick haste of his compost pile one morning, Michael realized the insect's immense potential to solve waste byproduct disposal problems...

How does a theoretical physicist studying black holes and the nature of spacetime find his way to the field of artificial intelligence and battery manufacturing?

In this week’s episode, Nick sits down with Chemix cofounder Jason Koeller, an AI researcher working to revolutionize the battery industry. After realizing that energy storage was in desperate need of better technical solutions, Jason sought to build an AI-driven platform to optimize the battery manufacturing industry by collecting large amounts of data and automating complex research and development processes.  

Tune in to discover Jason's journe...

Carbon removal wasn’t even in our vocabulary a few years ago. But now, thanks to companies like Climeworks, direct air capture technology is being brought to the forefront of climate change technology.

CMO of Climeworks, Julie Gosalvez, sits down to chat with Nick about how direct air capture works by capturing CO2 particles from the air, why it’s critical to use the technology as we race to control climate change, and the challenges carbon removal tech faces in the quest to implement it on a global scale. 

Plus, find out how...