James Lawler
Viewing 24 of 173 Podcast Episodes
Climate Now: Jul 23, 2024
Sustainable Aviation Fuel: Episode 3
Ethanol-to-jet is one pathway to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Until recently, this pathway was out of reach for commercial production. That changed this year when LanzaJet opened the world’s first ethanol-to-SAF plant, the Freedom Pines Fuels
Climate News Weekly: Jul 16, 2024
Climate News Weekly: Hurricane Beryl, Tesla’s minority market share, peak oil predictions, and more…
Climate News Weekly is back to cover the week’s biggest stories in climate news. James Lawler, Julio Friedmann and Darren Hau begin this episode with a discussion of the latest extreme weather events, including Hurricane Beryl and record-breaking heat ove
Climate Now: Jul 9, 2024
Sustainable Aviation Fuel: Episode 2
Sustainable aviation fuel can use a variety of feedstocks, from used cooking oils to oily seeds. When those feedstocks are heated under high pressure with a catalyst, the process produces hydrocarbons – the essential component in fuel. This process is
Climate News Weekly: Jul 2, 2024
Climate News Weekly: The end of Chevron deference, special report on solar, anti-greenwashing lawsuits, and more
In the latest installment of Climate News Weekly, James Lawler and Dina Cappiello (RMI) discuss a variety of stories on climate, sustainability, and technology. Dina and James cover a breaking story out of the Supreme Court: the ruling that ended Chevron defe
Climate Now: Jul 1, 2024
Sustainable Aviation Fuel: Episode 1
Aviation accounts for 12% of CO2 emissions from transportation and 2% of all CO2 emissions globally. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is fuel made not from petroleum hydrocarbons, but from other sources of carbon and hydrogen. These non-fossil hydrocarbons inc
Climate News Weekly: Jun 24, 2024
Climate News Weekly: Hajj aftermath, European climate law, changing benchmarks, and more…
Climate News Weekly is back to cover the week’s biggest stories in climate news. Host James Lawler, joined by Julio Friedmann (Carbon Direct), begins this episode with follow-up coverage of heat-related fatalities at the Hajj pilgrimage. Up next, James and
Climate Now: Jun 18, 2024
Clearing the air: How the DOE is tackling carbon dioxide removal
The US Department of Energy (DOE) was established in 1977 with two key missions: to carry out defense responsibilities relating to nuclear weapons, and to bring together under one department the “loosely knit amalgamation” of various energy projec
Climate News Weekly: Jun 18, 2024
Climate News Weekly: Europe’s elections, climate impacts around the world, NYC congestion pricing, and more
On this week’s Climate News Weekly, James Lawler and Julio Friedmann discuss the latest in global climate news. Up first, James and Julio cover the latest developments in Europe; namely, green parties suffering losses in the latest elections as EU st
Climate News Weekly: May 21, 2024
Climate News Weekly: Record CO2 accumulation, US-China climate collaboration, Climeworks opens DAC plant, and more
Climate Now is back to tackle six of the biggest stories in recent climate news. James Lawler, Julio Friedmann, Dina Cappiello, and Darren Hau discuss recent developments in the U.S., from electric grid planning and finance to the Department of Energy’
Climate Now: May 15, 2024
Climate Change Bites: The Proliferation of Vector-Borne Diseases
According to the CDC, the spread of vector-borne diseases (those spread by blood-feeding bugs like mosquitos, ticks, and fleas) is linked to climate change. Rising temperatures and humidity influence breeding rates and can extend the range of disease-spreading
Climate News Weekly: May 6, 2024
Climate News Weekly: Tesla Layoffs, World Bank Investment, G7 Coal Phaseout
Julio Friedmann and Darren Hau join James Lawler to discuss the latest climate news: Tesla lays off its supercharger team, historic flooding and heat in Asia, $11 Billion committed to the World Bank, G7 agree to phase out coal by 2035, and several new rules from the CEQ and EPA to advance permitting reform and expand solar in the United States.
Climate Now: Apr 30, 2024
Are cleaner hydrocarbons possible?
Just over 70% of humanity’s energy consumption comes from hydrocarbons like coal, oil, and natural gas. The world is dependent on hydrocarbons, not just for energy but also for plastics, contact lenses, and computers, and so many other things. Using hyd
Climate News Weekly: Apr 23, 2024
Coal and wind on the rise; advances in home insulation; a climate reality check, and more
This week, Julio Friedmann and Darren Hau join James Lawler to talk about the latest climate news. The news of the week covers Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Fatih Birol’s latest comments on Europe’s energy plans, a new inn
Climate News Weekly: Apr 15, 2024
SEJ, green banks, solar sheep, and more
This week on Climate News Weekly, James Lawler is joined by Dina Cappiello. They discuss the latest on green banks, the recent turmoil at the SBTI, the power of solar sheep, and more.
Climate News Weekly: Apr 8, 2024
Richard Benedick, geoengineering, and more
This week on Climate News Weekly, James Lawler sits down with Julio Friedmann and Darren Hau. They discuss the passing of climate leader Richard Benedict, a new geoengineering experiment, new California rules for energy distribution and use, and the emergence
Climate News Weekly: Apr 1, 2024
Coal plants closing, AI for climate, and more
This week on Climate News Weekly, James Lawler and Julio Friedmann discuss coal-fired power plant closures in New England, how the DOE is spending billions to spur innovation in technologies to decarbonize top-emitting industries, the role that AI can play in
Climate Now: Mar 26, 2024
How climate changes where people live
In the U.S. alone, 162 million people will experience a worse quality of life due to the changing climate within the next 30 years. Rising sea levels stand to displace 13 million Americans in the long run while wildfires and other risks are likely to disp
Climate News Weekly: Mar 25, 2024
Energy demand up, new battery storage, and more
This week on Climate News Weekly, James Lawler is joined by Julio Friedmann and Canary Media Reporter Julian Spector. Julio reports on his experience at CERAWeek, and discusses rising energy demand. Julian shares his thoughts on new battery construction projec
Climate Now: Mar 21, 2024
Charging Electric Fleets (3/3)
In 2023, electric vehicle drivers reported that, when pulling up to one of the more than 140,000 EV public charging stations across the United States, something went wrong about 21% of the time, leaving them unable to charge their vehicles. Such unreliabili
Climate News Weekly: Mar 20, 2024
SBTI, CERAWeek, and more
This week on Climate News Weekly, James Lawler is joined by GreenBiz Editor at Large Heather Clancy, as well as regular contributors Dina Cappiello and Julio Friedmann. They discuss the latest updates to the Science Based Targets Initiative dashboard and what
Climate News Weekly: Mar 11, 2024
MethaneSAT and the SEC
This week we’re joined by Dina Cappiello and Julio Friedmann to talk about the latest climate news. The IEA released its global warming emissions report for 2023, and emissions continue to rise, but at a slower rate than in previous years. Meanwhile, to
Climate Now: Feb 27, 2024
Charging Electric Fleets (2/3)
Today, given route lengths and cargo capacity, it is possible to electrify 65% of medium-duty and 49% of heavy-duty trucks. Commercial fleets’ are responding to this promise, with announced commitments to electrification surpassing 140,000 vehicles in 2022 i
Climate News Weekly: Feb 26, 2024
Natural gas prices, EV leasing, and more
In this week’s episode of Climate News Weekly, James Lawler, Julio Friedmann, and Darren Hau discuss falling natural gas prices and the impact of that on the energy transition, how leasing companies are responding to the EV industry, the need for more su
Climate Now: Feb 20, 2024
Charging Electric Fleets (1/3)
In the United States, nearly one quarter of national greenhouse gas emissions come from the 280 million vehicles that drive on the nations roads each year. And while fleet vehicles – including the ~5 million buses, garbage trucks, law enforcement vehicles an