The Energy Revolution

Why North Sea Oil Won’t Make Us More Secure, With Tessa Khan

For decades, the North Sea has played a major role in Britain’s energy system, economy and industrial base. But production has been declining for years, and the debate over what should happen next remains highly contested. Why are projects like Jackdaw and Rosebank still being reconsidered? What does the government’s position on new licences mean in practice? And what would further domestic production mean for bills, energy security, jobs and the UK’s climate targets? This week, Tessa Khan joins host Sulaiman Ilyas-Jarrett to discuss the future of the North Sea oil and gas sector. They cover the history of the basin, the arguments for and against further extraction, and what a successful transition for North Sea workers and communities could look like. Keywords: North Sea | Oil and Gas | Energy Security | Rosebank | Jackdaw | Jobs | Just Transition | Climate | Net Zero | UK Energy

Green Tech and the "Valley of Death", with Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE (GFI)

This week we're live from Innovation Zero, to talk the challenges of scaling new climate technologies. The so-called "valley of death" affects all sectors, but clean tech is particularly difficult to move from research to wide-scale adoption. Why? And what can we do about it? Our guest this week is Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE, CEO at the Green Finance Institute and the first person to win an OBE for services to Green Finance. Our host is Sulaiman Ilyas-Jarrett, former UK government advisor and Policy Fellow at Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy. The two discuss why new energy techs are so hard to finance, the importance of failure for some techs, and why innovation is crucial for the world's climate ambition.

Can Britain really go Electric? with Ben Westerman

The Hormuz Oil Crisis is reminding Britain just how reliant we still are on oil and gas. Our electricity is fairly clean, but only 21% of final energy use is electrified. The rest - in our homes, our cars, and our industries - relies on increasingly volatile and expensive oil and gas. Why is Britain so far behind in electrifying compared to countries like France, the Netherlands, or Norway? And what can be done to reverse course and insulate our economy from global shocks like this in the future? This week Ben Westerman, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Electrify Britain, joins our host Sulaiman Ilyas-Jarrett to discuss the state of Britain's electrification. Keywords: Iran | Oil | Renewables | Trump | Geopolitics | EVs | Reform

Can we power the AI revolution, with Lucy Yu (government's AI Champion for Clean Energy)

Lucy Yu is one of the UK's most influential minds in the energy and AI space. She is CEO at the Centre for Net Zero, and recently appointed as the UK government's AI Champion for Clean Energy. Today she joins our host Sulaiman Ilyas-Jarrett (Policy Fellow at the University of Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy), to discuss the future of these two crucial sectors. Can the grid cope with the new data centres needed? How will local communities be affected? And how can AI be used to make our energy system smarter and cleaner? Keywords: Artificial Intelligence | Data | Anthropic | ChatGPT | Renewables | Electricity

How to Stop an Energy Crisis: renewables and security, from Ukraine to Iran (with Ana Musat)

Energy security is on everyone's mind right now. Since Israel and the US struck Iran and Iran's strikes across the Gulf nations, oil prices have soared over $100 a barrel and the Straits of Hormuz remain blockaded. But this isn't the first time we've seen such a shock. Just 4 years ago Russia's full invasion of Ukraine caused a global energy crisis, and any historian will remember the shocks of the 1970s that near collapsed the world economy. So what is the future of energy security, and can a renewable based system make us more resilient in an uncertain world? This week we're joined by Ana Musat, an Executive Director at Renewable UK, to discuss a recent report in collaboration with Public First and the Royal United Services Institute, the world's oldest defence think tank. The episode is hosted by Sulaiman Ilyas-Jarrett, who served as energy security advisor at No10 Downing Street during the 2022 energy crisis, and as Head of Policy and Strategy for Renewable Delivery at the UK Department for Energy. We touch on the recent crisis in the Middle East, lessons from Ukraine, and what future security challenges we'll have to watch out for as renewables become the norm. Keywords: Geopolitics | Energy | Trump | Renewables | Solar | Wind | Gas