Category

Podcast

Economy / Finance, Energy, Podcast

Columbia Energy Exchange: Jamie Webster

October 3, 2016

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries took many by surprise last week with its decision to consider making cuts in crude oil production to help lift prices and rebalance the market. Now the world will wait to see if a firm decision is made at OPEC’s next regular meeting in November. Host Bill Loveless sits down with one of our Fellows at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Jamie Webster, to discuss OPEC’s decision, a change in course from the last two years of free-flowing oil. (Listen here)

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by Bill Loveless
Energy, Government and Politics, Podcast, Policy

Columbia Energy Exchange: Mary Landrieu

September 19, 2016

The political debate over U.S. energy policy has grown more polarized in recent years, making consensus difficult to reach and leaving the country with an uncertain roadmap for supply and demand. Former U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, who served as Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee and gained a reputation on Capitol Hill as a centrist who worked with Republicans on energy and other national priorities, sits down with host Bill Loveless to talk about why it’s time for the U.S. to take an entirely new approach to making those decisions. Landrieu weighs in on: The differences among regions of the U.S. over energy production and demand; How Democrats and Republicans managed to strike deals and enact major new energy legislation in the past; Fundamental changes in the political parties that have deepened divisions between lawmakers and made legislating more difficult; The opportunities for…

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by Bill Loveless
Defense, Government and Politics, Podcast

Columbia Energy Exchange: Dennis McGinn

September 12, 2016

The Great White Fleet, dispatched by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 and a milestone in U.S. Navy history, is today becoming the Great Green Fleet. Admiral Dennis McGinn, the Navy’s assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment as well as a retired rear admiral and former commander of the Third Fleet, sits down in his Pentagon office with host Bill Loveless to discuss the Navy’s commitment to sustainable and green energy in order to cut the service’s energy costs, reduce its emissions and make its fuel supplies more secure. (Listen Here)

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by Bill Loveless
Consumer, Corporations, Energy, Podcast, Utilities and Providers

Columbia Energy Exchange: Exelon’s Chris Crane

August 9, 2016

Electric power companies across the U.S. are going through a period of unprecedented change. Low-cost natural gas, new technology, rapid expansion of renewables, and initiatives to reduce carbon emissions are some of the major factors shaking up the electricity sector. Moreover, for some power companies, keeping their nuclear power plants alive is another big challenge. On this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, we welcome Chris Crane, the president and CEO of Exelon Corp., a Fortune 100 energy company with the most utility customers in the U.S., and the nation’s leading operator of nuclear reactors. Crane talks with host Bill Loveless about the ways in which he is piloting his company through this transformation. And on a timely note, they discuss a new clean energy standard in New York that would keep some nuclear power plants alive. (Listen here)

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by Bill Loveless
Energy, International, Podcast, Policy

Columbia Energy Exchange: Richard Nephew

July 14, 2016

One year ago, the United States and its partners concluded their negotiations with Iran on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement intended to reduce the threat from Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for economic sanctions relief. Implementation of the agreement began in January 2016. Richard Nephew, program director for economic statecraft, sanctions and energy markets at the Center on Global Energy Policy, who was the lead sanctions negotiator for the United States from 2013-2014, has written a report on six months’ implementation of the nuclear deal, particularly with respect to sanctions relief. He concludes that sanctions relief has been stalled as much by concerns over residual sanctions as domestic regulatory factors and low oil prices globally. On this special episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless sits down with Nephew to discuss his report and the status of the Iran agreement’s implementation at…

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by Bill Loveless
Consumer, Energy, Government and Politics, People, Podcast, Policy, Regulations, Utilities and Providers

Columbia Energy Exchange: Phil Sharp

July 11, 2016

Phil Sharp understands energy policy as well as anyone in Washington, having spent 20 years as one of the leading lawmakers on the topic and the last 11 as the president of Washington’s oldest think tank devoted exclusively to analysis of energy and the environment. Best of all, in my estimation, he comes from an era when Congress worked on a bipartisan basis to enact policies addressing concerns over the production of energy and how we consume it – and often did so under a lot of pressure. Phil recalls some of the biggest battles over energy policy on Capitol Hill, the dramatic changes in U.S. energy fortunes, and what we can learn from this experience. Among his new pursuits, Phil is joining the Center on Global Energy Policy as a fellow who will teach and perform research on climate…

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by Bill Loveless
Climate, Government and Politics, International, Podcast

Columbia Energy Exchange: David Sandalow

June 20, 2016

Seven years ago, David Sandalow pitched an idea that’s turned into one of the biggest international gatherings on clean energy. While an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy, Sandalow proposed to then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu an annual meeting of energy ministers from around the world to help accelerate the transition to clean energy technologies. The first Clean Energy Ministerial was held in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2010. Recently, the seventh Clean Energy Ministerial took place in San Francisco.  Delegates from 23 governments and the European Union participated.  Sandalow, the Inaugural Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy, was in San Francisco and, not long after returning, joined Bill Loveless on the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast (Listen here).

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by Bill Loveless
Energy, Podcast, Technology

Columbia Energy Exchange: Ellen Williams

May 31, 2016

Breakthrough technologies can transform the way that energy is produced and consumed. But pursuing them is often beyond the means of the private sector for a host of reasons. Enter the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy, a program at the US Department of Energy founded in 2009 that supports high-potential, high-impact technologies with funding, technical assistance and market preparedness. On this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange podcast, host Bill Loveless sits down with Dr. Ellen Williams, Director of ARPA-E, to discuss the future of energy technology. (Listen Here)

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by Bill Loveless
Energy, Government and Politics, International, Podcast

Columbia Energy Exchange podcast: Outlook for Russian oil, gas

February 11, 2016

On this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, Tatiana Mitrova, Head of the Oil and Gas Department at The Energy Research Institute in the Russian Academy of Sciences, discussed Russia’s energy outlook with host Bill Loveless. Their conversation touched on topics ranging from the impact of the oil price drop on Russia’s budget and investment strategy, to the role of sanctions in the domestic economy, to the response of Gazprom to changing global natural gas markets, among others. (Listen Here)

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by Bill Loveless
Corporations, Energy, Podcast, Utilities and Providers

Columbia Energy Exchange: Nick Akins, CEO, American Electric Power

January 19, 2016

Responding to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan is just one of the major tasks for U.S. electric utilities in 2016. New technologies and customer expectations, not to mention shareholder demands, are presenting new challenges and opportunities for the nation’s utility executives. In this episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange, a podcast at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy, host Bill Loveless interviews Nick Akins, the chairman, president and CEO of American Electric Power, one of the largest investor-owned utilities in the U.S., and the chairman of the Edison Electric Institute. (Listen Here)

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by Bill Loveless