Cutting through the climate tech hype and looking for profit

Reporter Akshat Rathi speaks to Eric Toone of Breakthrough Energy Ventures about what’s hype and what’s not in the world of energy startups. Breakthrough is one of the world’s biggest funders of early stage climate technologies and has poured billions of dollars in more than 120 startups. Toone weighs in on everything from carbon removal to the grid, nuclear fusion, nuclear fission, and green hydrogen. Explore further: • Past episode about Commonwealth Fusion System’s reactors • Past episode about the drilling techniques employed by geothermal startup Fervo • Past episode about the plethora of carbon capture startups • Past episode about the energy startup trying to replace coal with a very cheap battery • Past episode about TS Conductor’s approach to reconductoring • Past episode with Bill Gates about the areas of the energy sector he’s investing in Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Sharon Chen, Ethan Steinberg, and Jessica Beck. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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