This Week in Cleantech
Mike Casey
This episode explores growing backlash to data centers, record U.S. fusion funding amid global competition, and political efforts to roll back climate laws as energy prices rise. The hosts also examine how the Iran war is reshaping global energy decisions, with some countries temporarily turning back to coal. Politico’s Kelsey Tamborrino joins to discuss how federal permitting delays are slowing clean energy projects and influencing where developers choose to build.
This week’s episode explores rising electricity costs and why they’re so hard to track, alongside growing concerns about overbuilding power for AI data centers. Paul and Mike break down supply chain bottlenecks slowing U.S. data center growth, Europe’s hydropower shortfall due to climate impacts, and a massive solar development in California that could reshape rural energy and land use. The energy transition is accelerating, but not without real-world constraints.
In this episode, we covered how renewable energy could reduce global conflict, Asia’s temporary shift back to coal amid gas shortages, and growing concerns about U.S. grid vulnerabilities. We also explored the rise of virtual power plants as a fast, scalable energy solution and the UK’s push to require solar panels and heat pumps in new homes, highlighting how resilience and energy security are becoming central to the clean energy transition.
Paul Gerke (00:05.624)Hey everybody and welcome back to a fresh edition of This Week in Cleantech, our 15-minute-ish roundup of the biggest stories in climate and clean energy every week.You’re listening to this on Friday, March 20th, 2026. We are deep in March Madness—I’ve got basketball games on all around me right now, Mike Casey.We’ve also got a returning guest in the lobby—Jennifer McDermott from the Associated Press will be joining us shortly.I’m Factor This content director Paul Gerke, joined as always by cleantech commentator Mike Casey of Tigercomm. Mike, how are ya?Mike Casey...