S5 Ep3: Season 5, Episode 3: Banking on the Planet

A couple weeks ago, Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live, a gig typically reserved for A-list movie stars, Grammy Award winners, and stand-up legends. But Musk has risen to fame through his electric vehicle and clean energy company Tesla. 

 

Musk and Tesla have become a social, political, and cultural force in our country, driving an interest in environmental business, investing, and innovation. Through his company, Musk has put renewable energy on the map. His creations may be notoriously expensive, exclusive, and well beyond the reach of many Americans, but the movement he’s leading is growing. And mainstream investors are starting to put money behind it. 

 

When it comes to innovation and clean energy, there’s a wide range of players building new technology and sourcing terrains to scale renewables. Funding for those projects comes from a host of financiers, from banks to private equity firms to, perhaps, everyday consumers. 

 

In this episode of Connect the Dots, host Rob Verchick and his guests discuss the fiscal complexities of successfully transitioning to renewable energy and achieving energy justice. They note that the newfound drive to do so results from a dedicated consortium of political agendas, business prerogatives, and consumer demand. 

 

When the stakes get high, supply moves fast, and hopefully, it moves forward to a clean, equitable energy future for us all. 

Joining host Rob Verchick in this episode are: 

• Lawrence Early, engineering graduate at Yale University
• Pete Hellwig, co-founder of Atmos
• Alice Kaswan, CPR Board Member and professor and associate dean at the University of San Francisco
• Hannah Wiseman, CPR Member Scholar and professor at the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and Institutes of Energy and the Environment at Penn State University
• Laura Zapata, founder and CEO of Clearloop