Show Notes
Tim Noakesmith and George Peppou of Vow explain the carbon free revolution soon to come to our dinner plates - cultured meat. *** Welcome back to Season 2 of A Positive Climate! We’re thrilled to be bringing you another ten episodes EVERY TUESDAY covering everything from sustainable plastics, seaweed to stop cows burping methane and Australia’s potential mega role in the battery revolution. Today’s episode continues our investigation of alternative proteins with the absolute rock-stars Tim Noakesmith and George Peppou, the co-founders of Vow. Vow is a leading Australian company in the global race to create cultured meat (often called cell-based or lab grown meat). Cultured meat has the potential to give us the protein from the animals we’re used to and from some animals we’re not - without the carbon emissions, with minimal land use and with zero animal cruelty. This episode ties in well to our very first episode featuring plant based meat company V2Food with Nick Hazell - we also learnt that Nick was the reason Tim and George actually met! We cover a whole lot in this episode Why did humans end up consuming the five main animals we eat today? What on earth is cultured meat? Is creating cultured meat similar to a beer homebrewing operation? How critical will cultured meat be to address the climate challenge? What is the future of the dinner plate? How does Vow intend to market its products when available within the next 18 months? What is Tim and George’s common bond over slow release laxatives?
Not only are Tim and George a regular entry on various 30 under 30 lists, they are also a great chat. We hope you enjoy the episode! If you enjoy the show, subscribe! You can also follow us: on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or say hi at [email protected] Music by the late, great Nick Weaver Production by our hero Mark Spencer from Here.Media Socials by the legend Rebecca Sather Jenkins *** Some more reading if you’re interested in the topic Tim’s TED talk - Why eating Tortoise could save the planet The Good Food Institute - just a wealth of knowledge and handy primers of the world of plant based and cultured meat
*** About the podcast Climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity. The consequences are so dire that the media usually focuses on the negative and many of us have no idea where to begin. To flip the script, clean energy experts Alex McIntosh and Nick
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Nick chats with Mike Lazelle and Dr Rob Turner, co-founders of Kwetta, to discuss their groundbreaking approach to electrifying heavy vehicles. Kwetta has just raised ~$17 million AUD in Series A funding from the likes of Blackbird and Virescent Ventures to address the “grid issue” for EV charging. And they’ve given us a podcast exclusive! Their innovative chargers connect directly to the high-voltage grid, providing up to 10 times more power, cutting installation times by up to 70%, and avoiding costly grid upgrades. We dive into: Why electrification is the key to near term emissions reduction Why the hardest part of electrification is no longer the vehicles or batteries - it’s getting power from the grid. How Kwetta’s technology solves grid bottlenecks while being a “good grid citizen.” How a small, world class team from Napier New Zealand (founded with CEO Dustin Murdock) is competing with global giants How much Canterbury Beer was consumed at Rob and Mike’s first meeting
Nick and producer-turned-”shark” Mark hear pitches from ten up and coming Australian climate startups! Our third annual pitch episode with some incredible ~seed stage startups in the latest cohort from EnergyLab - Australia’s leading climate accelerator. Previous guests on the Pitchfest and podcast have gone on to raise hundreds of millions in capital (you can review these here), so let's dive in to the latest group! You can also watch on YouTube here. The lineup: (02:16) Stralis Aircraft - Hydrogen-electric planes for emission-free flights (Bob Criner) (12:38) Enaxiom - Harnessing low-grade waste heat to decarbonize wastewater treatment (Tia Collings) (23:58) OptiGrid - Smarter energy management for batteries (Sahand Karimi) (33:31)GridStore Energy - Boosting solar panel output and profits (Garth Paton) (42:47) CLT Toolbox - Structural design software to accelerate timber building (Adam Jones) (53:51) Dewpoint Innovations - Novel coatings for passive cooling and atmospheric water collection (Dil Khosa) (01:02:23) X-Centric - Accurate soil data for agriculture (Roozbeh Ravansari) (01:11:22) Brownee - Empowering SMEs to thrive in a sustainable economy (Renate Crollini) (01:21:06) InfigoLabs - Decarbonizing industries with ultra-high-temperature heat solutions (Prashant Parulekar) (01:28:54) Planet Price - Quantifying the real costs of everything (Debbie O'Byrne) If you liked the pitch? Reach out! And if you didn't like the pitch, send feedback! *** As always if you don’t want to miss any eps, hit that follow button! We’d also love it if you gave us a review / rating on Apple or Spotify! It really helps other listeners find us. You can sign up to our mailing list, say [email protected] or follow us at www.instagram.com/apositiveclimatepodcast and https://au.linkedin.com/company/a-positive-climate. ** About the podcast A Positive Climate is an uplifting podcast about tackling climate change. An entertaining look at the products, people and technologies making a real difference. Hosted by Australian renewable energy and climate investment experts Nick Zeltzer and Alex McIntosh. Previous guests have included innovators from JET Charge, Goterra, 5B, Amazon, Zoomo, V2Food, All G Foods, Vow, Sea Forest, Great Wrap, Infravision,...
Nick chats to Simon Holmes à Court about nuclear energy in Australia. “When are you covering nuclear?” is one of the most common questions we’ve received from APC listeners. So we finally went there. And it was great to have Simon on to explore it all before we go back to our startup roots next episode with our THIRD pitch fest. (00:00) Intro (03:55) What people get wrong about nuclear (05:38) Simon’s background (07:27) Global Nuclear Energy Landscape (15:03) Safety Concerns (20:23) Waste (26:10) Construction Time (32:39) Cost and Generation Profile (39:21) Flexibility (40:48) Economics (50:02) Political and Regulatory Challenges (01:00:42) Uncomfortable Questions To ultimately answer the question: does Australia need nuclear energy? There was so much to cover we didn’t have time to explore all the questions, including the role of AI and covering the next 15 of the transition in more detail. Excuses for new episodes! ** If you like the show, please subscribe/review/rate or comment. We really appreciate your support! You can sign up to our mailing list at www.apositiveclimate.com, say [email protected] or follow us on https://au.linkedin.com/company/a-positive-climate or www.instagram.com/apositiveclimatepodcast. ** About the podcast A Positive Climate is an uplifting podcast about tackling climate change. An entertaining look at the products, people and technologies making a real difference. Hosted by Australian climate technology investors and experts Nick Zeltzer and Alex McIntosh. We cover it all on the show while keeping things optimistic and accessible: electric planes, waste eating maggots, plant-based meats, hydrogen made from beer, the solar revolution, the coolest new sustainable products and much much more. The podcast rated in 2022 and 2023 as the top Australian made podcast in Apple’s Technology podcast charts. Previous guests have included innovators and technologists from JET Charge, Goterra, 5B, Amazon, Zoomo, V2Food, Vow, Sea Forest, Great Wrap, Infravision, Zero Co, Hysata, Sicona, OneSmallStep, Tenacious Ventures, CarsGuide, AMSL Aero, Nori, EnergyLab, MicroTau and many more. Music by the late, great Nick Weaver Production by our hero Mark Spencer from Here.Media
Nick chats to Tim Washington from JET Charge about using electric vehicles as batteries for our homes. Vehicle to grid technology could transform not one but *two* trillion dollar industries in energy and transport. All while paving the way to materially reduce carbon emissions and costs. It is simple enough but does it work? When will consumers have it? What impacts will it have? And what is it like running a startup with your wife? Thanks to Ellen Liang who also hopped on the mic! You can enjoy this episode here or in full HD on Youtube. (00:00) Teaser (00:38) Introduction (05:23) Australian EV Uptake Check-in (11:00) Australian EV Charging Check-in (13:46) How does Vehicle to Grid work? (23:46) Consumer Perspectives (29:54) Economics (38:31) Challenges for Energy Retailers (54:15) When Your Co-founder Is Your Spouse (59:23) Uncomfortable Questions ** If you like the show, please subscribe/review/rate or comment. We really appreciate your support! You can sign up to our mailing list at www.apositiveclimate.com, say [email protected] or follow us on https://au.linkedin.com/company/a-positive-climate or www.instagram.com/apositiveclimatepodcast. ** About the podcast A Positive Climate is an uplifting podcast about tackling climate change. An entertaining look at the products, people and technologies making a real difference. Hosted by Australian climate technology investors and experts Nick Zeltzer and Alex McIntosh. We cover it all on the show while keeping things optimistic and accessible: electric planes, waste eating maggots, plant-based meats, hydrogen made from beer, the solar revolution, the coolest new sustainable products and much much more. The podcast rated in 2022 and 2023 as the top Australian made podcast in Apple’s Technology podcast charts. Previous guests have included innovators and technologists from JET Charge, 5B, Amazon, Zoomo, V2Food, Vow, Sea Forest, Great Wrap, Infravision, Zero Co, Hysata, Sicona, OneSmallStep, Tenacious Ventures, CarsGuide, AMSL Aero, Nori, EnergyLab, MicroTau and many more. Music by the late, great Nick Weaver Production by our hero Mark Spencer from Here.Media Alex is taking a podcast break so if you miss everyone's favourite host, let her know via our website!
That’s a wrap! It's our annual review episode, with Alex and Nick covering all the climate technology news from 2023. The hottest year on record brings a reminder that we need to be doubling down on the right solutions, so we hope you enjoy our reflections about what we think matters. Thanks again to all you listening out there! It’s been a big year for us - where we hit the Top 5 in tech podcasts (in Malawi) - and we’ve loved hearing from many of you throughout the season. Chapters (00:00) Intro (01:20) We announce the Pitch Fest Winner! (02:23) Our Years Reviewed (05:32) Large Scale Solar, Batteries and Global Developments (including Alex’s strange love of steel mills) (21:32) Nuclear Energy (!) (27:55) APC Season Portfolio Review (38:41) BIG PREDICTIONS Companies mentioned: Microtau, All G Foods, Samsara, Uluu, Novalith, SunDrive, Jolt Charge, Infravision, Nourish Ingredients, Goterra, Antora Energy, ahem Positive Ventures, JET Charge, Sicona, AMSL Aero, Renewable Metals, SeaForest, GridMo, Hysata, MGA Thermal, Eku Energy, Akaysha Energy, Zenobe, Raygen, Vast Solar, ThyssenKrupp, NuScale, and the EV company formerly known as “Build Your Dreams” See you next year! *** As always if you don’t want to miss any eps, hit that follow button! We’d also love it if you gave us a review / rating on Apple or Spotify! It helps other listeners find us. You can sign up to our mailing list, say [email protected] or follow us at www.instagram.com/apositiveclimatepodcast and https://au.linkedin.com/company/a-positive-climate. ** About the podcast A Positive Climate is an uplifting podcast about tackling climate change. An entertaining look at the products, people and technologies making a real difference. Hosted by Australian climate technology experts Alex McIntosh and Nick Zeltzer, two friends on a mission to find the solutions to keep our existential crises at bay. Previous guests have included innovators from JET Charge, 5B, Amazon, Zoomo, V2Food, All G Foods, Vow, Sea Forest, Great Wrap, Infravision, Zero Co, Hysata, Sicona, OneSmallStep, Tenacious Ventures, CarsGuide, AMSL Aero, Nori, EnergyLab, MicroTau and many more. Music by the late, great Nick Weaver Production by our hero Mark Spencer from Here.Media Social Media, Comms and PR by Alistair Perkins See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.