Volts crossover: Six big energy questions

Feb 25, 2026

David Roberts, journalist and Volts podcast host known for climate and clean energy policy, joins for a rapid-fire tour of six big energy questions. They probe self-driving cars and urban sprawl. They debate data centers going off-grid versus grid benefits. They examine risks from home software platforms, industrial electrification under rising power prices, recycling’s role in critical minerals, and the prospects and moral hazards of geoengineering.

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ANECDOTE

Waymo Rides and a Bet a Child Won't Drive

Shayle Kann shares personal experience using Waymo regularly in the Bay Area and betting his four-year-old will likely never need to drive.
He uses this to illustrate rapid cultural change: widespread AV use normalizes not owning or learning to drive.

INSIGHT

Data Center Demand Could Drive Permanent Off-Grid Builds

Data center demand may push large loads to consider fully off-grid power as grid connections and permitting lag.
Shayle asks whether some hyperscale loads will choose permanent on-site generation or microgrids rather than wait years for grid access.

INSIGHT

Grid Limits Will Spawn Creative Off-Grid Solutions

Building more centralized grid capacity is the obvious fix, but political and permitting constraints may force creative off-grid and distributed solutions.
David Roberts notes grids are handy and weasel-around approaches emerge when grid expansion stalls.

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They’re at it again. Two years after they last teamed up for a Volts/Catalyst crossover episode, David Roberts joins Shayle for another far-ranging conversation exploring the future of energy. Their prompt was simple: Each host brought three critical questions they want to see answered in the next decade.

From “data center fever” to closed-loop critical mineral economics, Shayle and David take the opportunity to dive deep into a myriad of second-order effects of the clean energy transition.

In the hour-long conversation, the two hosts cover topics including:

The coming explosion of self-driving cars, and whether it will fuel urban sprawl
The feasibility of "electrifying everything” and whether a proliferation of “micro-DERs” in home devices will create create a more efficient grid or a software-fueled dystopia
The future of off-grid data centers
Whether the pros of geoengineering and solar radiation modification, or SRM, outweigh the potential moral hazards

Resources:

Catalyst: The Volts crossover episode
Catalyst: The plug-in DER case for small businesses
Catalyst: AMA: Geoengineering, nuclear, power prices, and more
Open Circuit: Tesla’s fork in the road
Latitude Media: The growing free-market push to let data centers go off grid

Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.

Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com.

Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com.

Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.