Podcasts · Business · Science

Switched On

Bloomberg

300 episodes

The future of energy, transport, sustainability and more, as told by BNEF analysts. Each week, Dana Perkins and Tom Rowlands-Rees sit down with BloombergNEF (BNEF) analysts to uncover the key findings and stories behind their latest research.

Episodes page 1 of 6

  1. Oil Shock Puts Heat Pumps in Play: Analyst Reaction

    · 15 min

    The economics of heating your home are shifting. Whether a heat pump saves money increasingly depends on what heats your home, where you live and when you use electricity. Heating oil prices have surged to a two-decade…

  2. Gas Turbine Makers Cash In on Global Power Rush

    · 33 min

    Gas turbines are a hot topic. Orders for this critical piece of infrastructure are surging alongside rising power demand and the need to refurbish aging power plants. Data centers are adding urgency, particularly in…

  3. Europe's Power Markets Face a New Balancing Act

    · 31 min

    Europe’s power mix is changing fast. Ample output from wind, solar and nuclear means that northwest Europe could require significantly less power from fossil fuels this winter than last. At the same time, rising…

  4. Where Transition Risk Meets Corporate Opportunity

    · 28 min

    The energy transition is reshaping how companies make money. BNEF’s new Transition Risk and Opportunities Outlook models revenues for more than 70,000 companies as demand shifts across energy, transport and…

  5. Water Stress Brings Risks for Thirsty Power Generators

    · 25 min

    Power plants have a water problem that’s getting harder to ignore. Coal, gas and nuclear facilities rely heavily on water for cooling, leaving some exposed as drought and heat intensify pressure on freshwater supplies.…

  6. Global Gas Tug of War Is Brewing for Winter

    · 28 min

    Europe’s gas market is heading into winter with little room for error. Lower storage levels and disruption in the Middle East have left the region more exposed to weather and competition for LNG. BNEF’s base case sees…

  7. Food and Farming Caught in Geopolitical Crossfire

    · 27 min

    No country can feed itself entirely on its own. The global food system depends on a complex web of trade, not just for food but for fertilizer, animal feed, pesticides and labor. Even major agricultural exporters rely…

  8. US Grid Ban Hits Batteries Hardest: Analyst Reaction

    · 17 min

    US efforts to secure its power grid could come at a cost. A new executive order could restrict grid and power equipment supplied by companies tied to China, with batteries particularly exposed. Around 60% of US…

  9. BNEF Pioneers: Buses, Bioleaching and Better Batteries

    · 45 min

    Some of the most interesting climate technologies don’t fit neatly into a category. That is the idea behind the Wildcard entries in BloombergNEF’s annual Pioneers competition, which recognizes promising innovations…

  10. Six Months In, the Iran War Redraws the Energy Map

    · 33 min

    The Iran war is redrawing the global energy landscape. Six months of high oil prices and disrupted trade have strengthened the case for technologies that reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels. Chinese exports of…

  11. Turkey's Renewables Boom Has More Than Climate in Mind

    · 33 min

    Turkey is quietly becoming a renewables heavyweight. Rapid wind and solar deployment is helping the country meet rising electricity demand while reducing exposure to imported fossil fuels. Turkey ranked among the…

  12. States Put Data Centers on Pause: Analyst Reaction

    · 15 min

    America’s data center boom is running into political resistance. Texas, New York and Pennsylvania are moving to slow or pause new projects amid concerns over electricity costs, infrastructure and local impacts. Texas…

  13. EV Boom Changes Lanes as New Markets Take the Wheel

    · 32 min

    The electric vehicle boom is entering a new phase. As China’s market matures and the US steps back from EVs, emerging markets are becoming the new hotspot for electrified transport. At the same time, autonomous and…

  14. EU Electrification Push Lacks Pull: Analyst Reaction

    · 19 min

    Europe’s electrification ambitions are running ahead of its policies. The EU wants electricity to account for 46% of final energy consumption by 2040, but BNEF’s modeling suggests even a maximum-effort net-zero pathway…

  15. Offshore Wind Is Outgrowing the Boats That Build It

    · 27 min

    Offshore wind turbines are getting too big for the ships that install them. BloombergNEF estimates more than 30 gigawatts of offshore wind installations could struggle to find suitable vessels through 2035 if turbine…

  16. Rhine Drought Drives Fuel Costs Up: Analyst Reaction

    · 15 min

    Europe’s energy supply chains are running out of water. Weeks of heat and drought have pushed Rhine water levels to exceptional lows, restricting barge traffic and sending gasoil freight rates to record levels. That is…

  17. Battery Tax Credits Are Rewriting US Solar Economics

    · 28 min

    US solar developers are building projects around batteries, not panels. Federal tax credits for energy storage are reshaping the economics of new solar projects, encouraging developers to install larger batteries and…

  18. China Builds Nuclear Power While the West Reinvents It

    · 40 min

    Nuclear power is gaining momentum around the globe, but the industry’s path has diverged. China and India are rapidly expanding conventional reactor fleets, while the US and Europe are betting on smaller and more…

  19. Gas Is Letting Data Centers Grow Beyond the Grid

    · 29 min

    Artificial intelligence is heating up the race to build data centers, and with BloombergNEF projecting 194 gigawatts of demand by 2035, the biggest challenge isn't computing power…. It's electricity. Faced with…

  20. AI’s Edge in Hurricane Forecasting: Analyst Reaction

    · 15 min

    Artificial intelligence is beginning to transform weather forecasting. New AI models are proving remarkably accurate at predicting hurricane tracks, in some cases matching or outperforming traditional forecasting…

  21. Mexico's Energy Future Sits Between Two Superpowers

    · 38 min

    Mexico is entering a pivotal period for its energy system. A new wave of reforms is opening the door to greater private investment in clean power, storage and grid infrastructure after years of subdued activity,…

  22. How Bitcoin Could Save Texas From an AI Power Crunch

    · 34 min

    Texas is becoming a test case for one of the biggest questions facing electricity markets. As AI-driven power demand for data centers accelerates, grid operators are exploring whether large loads can do more than…

  23. China Bets Big on Green Hydrogen: Analyst Reaction

    · 27 min

    China is emerging as the standout exception in the global hydrogen market. While many countries are scaling back ambitions, Beijing has set a new target to increase green hydrogen production eightfold by 2030, a level…

  24. The Hidden Economics of EV Charging Networks

    · 36 min

    What does it take to build an electric-vehicle charging network that really works? As EV adoption accelerates, charging operators are shifting from installing as many chargers as possible to designing networks that can…

  25. Battery Boom Is Upending Australian Power Market Rules

    · 38 min

    Australia is becoming a proving ground for the future of electricity markets. With renewables now supplying a large share of generation and batteries being deployed at unprecedented scale, the country is offering an…

  26. Defending the Power Grid in an Age of Digital Threats

    · 35 min

    As power grids become more digital and interconnected, they are also becoming more exposed. Utilities are facing a growing mix of physical and cyber threats, from attacks on substations to increasingly sophisticated…

  27. How Super El Niño Hits Power Markets: Analyst Reaction

    · 18 min

    El Niño has officially arrived, and there are concerns this time that the weather phenomenon might be more intense than most years, a so-called “super” event. With Pacific Ocean temperatures now exceeding the threshold…

  28. Heat Pumps and the Economics of Clean Heating

    · 39 min

    Heat pumps are at a crossroads. After a decade of growth, global sales fell in 2025 as weaker construction activity weighed on key markets. Yet the longer-term picture remains resilient. Heat pumps have continued to…

  29. What Explains the Growing Divide Between Oil and Gas

    · 35 min

    Gas and oil are on a sharply divergent path. In BloombergNEF’s Economic Transition Scenario, oil demand peaks before the end of the decade, while gas demand continues to grow as expanding power systems seek reliable…

  30. China Data Signals Clean Tech Shift: Analyst Reaction

    · 22 min

    China’s latest export data is offering an early glimpse into how higher fossil fuel prices may be reshaping trade in clean energy technology. Shipments of solar products, batteries and electric vehicles rose sharply in…

  31. Wind Power Expands as Competition Heats Up

    · 36 min

    The wind industry is entering a new phase of scale. Offshore installations are set to surge in 2026 as a new generation of massive projects comes online, while onshore markets continue expanding across the globe. But…

  32. Japan Nuclear Revival Reaches Tokyo: Analyst Reaction

    · 13 min

    Japan’s journey back to nuclear power is entering a new phase. Fifteen years after the Fukushima disaster and the shuttering of the country’s nuclear fleet, the return of the Kashiwazaki Kariwa 6 reactor marks the…

  33. Hydrogen Moves From Hype Cycle to Hard Economics

    · 38 min

    Hydrogen’s place in the energy transition is changing. After years of hype around its role in reaching net zero, many projects have been delayed or canceled as costs remain high, policy support weakens and demand…

  34. BNEF Tier 1 Lists: The Mark of Credibility

    · 25 min

    BloombergNEF’s Tier 1 lists have become a defining feature of the clean energy industry. Built on real project deployment data, they track which manufacturers’ products are actually being used in large, recently…

  35. Data Centers and the Future of Energy Storage

    · 32 min

    The AI boom is ushering in a new era for energy storage. As data center buildout accelerates, batteries are evolving from short-duration backup tools into larger, more flexible systems that can help bring facilities…

  36. Energy Strategy in an Era of Global Fragmentation

    · 24 min

    Middle powers are navigating a more fragmented global order. As tensions rise between major economies, the countries caught in between are being forced to rethink how they manage trade, security and economic ties.…

  37. Hormuz Delivers an Aluminum Shock: Analyst Reaction

    · 10 min

    Severe disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is rippling far beyond oil markets. Around 10% of global aluminum supply is tied to the Middle East, and with exports constrained, prices are surging and supply chains are…

  38. Nuclear Fusion Powers Up for Commercial Breakthrough

    · 32 min

    Fusion energy is entering a new phase. After decades as a scientific pursuit, the sector is attracting billions in private and public capital, with big tech, oil companies and governments all racing to bring the first…

  39. PJM Grapples With Data Center Load and Supply Gaps

    · 28 min

    PJM Interconnection is entering an era of explosive power demand. Home to a significant share of the world’s data centers, the largest US electricity market could soon be facing sky-high prices and scant supply. Yet…

  40. Spanish Blackout Lessons One Year On: Analyst Reaction

    · 12 min

    It’s been nearly a year since Spain’s catastrophic blackout and key questions remain. Post-mortem reports point to a complex chain reaction in the grid, with no single trigger and gaps in coordination between…

  41. How Fuel Price Shocks Are Rewiring Clean Tech Trade

    · 37 min

    Energy shocks don’t just move prices, they reshape trade. As oil and gas prices rise, countries reliant on energy imports are accelerating the shift toward clean technologies, from solar and batteries to electric…

  42. Beyond Climate: The Rise of Nature Risk

    · 36 min

    Nature risk is becoming a critical challenge for companies. It’s also incredibly complex. Exposure spans an array of largely local issues, from water and biodiversity to waste and pollution, making it harder to measure…

  43. Finding Opportunity in a Complex Energy Transition

    · 20 min

    The energy transition is entering a more complex phase. Geopolitics, trade tensions and rapid technological change are reshaping markets, creating new risks as well as new opportunities. Demand is rising across clean…

  44. Clean Power Costs Split After Years of Alignment

    · 34 min

    The cost to build and run clean-power projects used to be heading in one direction: down. That story is now getting more complicated. Battery storage costs continued to fall last year, while most other technologies…

  45. European Power Confronts Gas Shock: Analyst Reaction

    · 11 min

    Oil and gas prices are rising again as the Iran war shakes global energy markets. But so far Europe’s power system is holding up better than in 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. More renewables and lower demand have…

  46. US Clean Energy Factbook: Generation Hits 20-Year High

    · 37 min

    The US energy transition has hit an inflection point. Electricity generation reached a 20-year high last year, as renewables and energy storage accounted for 90% of new capacity additions. Energy-transition investment…

  47. Private Capital: Turning Mega Funds Into Megawatts

    · 35 min

    Private capital is reshaping the energy transition. Once a niche corner of finance, private markets now manage tens of trillions of dollars globally, with a growing share directed toward clean energy strategies What…

  48. Biofuels Cash In on US Tax Credits: Analyst Reaction

    · 13 min

    New guidance on the 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit has clarified the outlook for US biofuels. The Treasury Department has confirmed that manure-based fuels can earn negative emissions scores, unlocking potential…

  49. Record Energy Transition Investment, But Slower Pace

    · 37 min

    Investment in the energy transition reached a record $2.3 trillion last year. That’s a huge figure, but it tells only part of the story. Renewables investment dipped year-on-year as China shifted its power market…

  50. What Really Determines Where Data Centers Get Built

    · 35 min

    The geography of data center development is being redrawn at speed. BloombergNEF is tracking nearly 23 gigawatts of new capacity under construction worldwide, as AI and cloud workloads drive the next phase of digital…

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