Resources Radio

In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls welcomes to the podcast Nick Bratton, who works as a program manager in King County, Washington State, coordinating and promoting market-based conservation through the voluntary transfer of development rights. As an incentive-based approach to land use, transfer of development rights (TDR) programs enable property owners to sell the development rights on some of their land while setting aside some of the land so it remains undeveloped natural space. TDRs have great potential to facilitate both land conservation and residential or commercial development, all without the need for government funding. Walls and Bratton talk about Bratton’s work in King County’s TDR program, his observations on TDRs more broadly, and what he views as factors for success with such programs.

References and recommendations:

“Jazz Cruise Series Vol. 1” album by Kelvin Momo; https://open.spotify.com/album/05PU51SCYUrmmFgV6Qvmvs

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

For this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi is joined by Lauren Dunlap, a project manager at the University of California, Los Angeles, Luskin Center for Innovation—and a former staff member at Resources for the Future. Dunlap describes exciting developments in electrification policy in California, where heat, pollution, and energy costs make the issue as topical as ever. A piece of legislation in California known as Senate Bill 1221 addresses the high financial costs of home electrification jointly with emissions reductions. The bill is novel, Dunlap notes, because it engages a cost-effective solution that directs savings from gas pipelines toward funding electrification. Implementation of the bill will involve efforts to support communities in navigating the unknowns of electrifying a home and aims to help mitigate issues at the intersection of climate change and energy infrastructure.

References and recommendations:

“Understanding Neighborhood Decarbonization in California: What Do We Know About Senate Bill 1221?” by Sooji Yang, Lauren Dunlap, and Gregory Pierce; https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/publication/understanding-neighborhood-decarbonization-in-california-what-do-we-know-about-sb-1221/

“California Has a Neighborhood Decarbonization Law. How Does It Work?” by Sooji Yang, Lauren Dunlap, Elias van Emmerick, and Gregory Pierce; https://legal-planet.org/2026/04/08/california-has-a-neighborhood-decarbonization-law-how-does-it-work/

“Streamlining Home Electrification in the Gateway Cities” by Lauren Dunlap, Sooji Yang, and Gregory Pierce; https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/publication/streamlining-home-electrification-in-the-gateway-cities/

“Impacts of Household Electrification on Energy Affordability in Los Angeles” by Lauren Dunlap, Rachel Sheinberg, Will Callan, Samantha Smithies, and Gregory Pierce; https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/publication/impacts-of-household-electrification-on-energy-affordability-in-los-angeles/

The Los Angeles Residential Energy Transition Tool (LA RESET Tool) from the Luskin Center for Innovation; https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/the-los-angeles-residential-energy-transition-tool/

“Avoiding Gas Distribution Pipeline Replacement Through Targeted Electrification in California” by Sean Smillie, Dan Alberga, Aryeh Gold-Parker, and Dan Aas; https://www.ethree.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Gas-Decommissioning-Fact-Sheet-2024-06-18.pdf

“California Burning” by Katherine Blunt; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/670012/california-burning-by-katherine-blunt/

“Hoppers” movie; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoppers_(film)

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes is joined by University of Michigan Associate Professor Johanna Mathieu, who researches the efficiency and environmental impacts of the electric power sector. By breaking down how electricity is supplied in the power system, Mathieu demonstrates how understanding the potential areas of flexibility in power consumption can point to system-level improvements for when energy demand is straining the electric grid. Mathieu’s research has explored how data centers themselves can be sources of capacity flexibility and be a tool to reduce congestion on the electric grid, if coordinated properly. While engineering allows for a technical understanding of current complications in the electric power sector, Mathieu notes that her research with the Center for Informed Voices for Infrastructure Choices (CIVIC) Forum at the University of Michigan showcases how interdisciplinary perspectives can make headway in developing technical and policy solutions alongside the growth of artificial intelligence. Grid solutions exist, Mathieu notes, and can result in better outcomes for utilities, data centers, and communities.

References and recommendations:

The Center for Informed Voices for Infrastructure Choices Forum; https://thecivic.forum/

“Data Centers” episode of the “Behind the Meter” podcast; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/data-centers/id1800217998?i=1000748223283

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

In this episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Deborah Gordon, a senior principal at the Rocky Mountain Institute and senior fellow at the Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University. Together, they discuss the hit television show “Landman,” which exposes an up-close view of working and living in the oil and gas industry. “Landman” portrays some of the major risks and complications that arise when working for an oil company in the Permian Basin of Texas: injuries, accidents, contaminants, reckoning with automation and climate change, and more. Gordon pulls from her expertise to separate the “frack” from the fiction of working in oil and gas. She also expands on the future-facing questions of the fossil fuel industry and its role in shaping society and addressing climate change. With a third season on the way, Gordon and Raimi riff on some ideas for what the next plotline in “Landman” could be, and the off-screen realities for the oil and gas industry.

References and recommendations:

“Landman” television show; https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/landman/

“There Will Be Blood” film; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Will_Be_Blood

“Argo” film; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(2012_film)

“Dallas” television show; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_(TV_series)

“Private Empire” by Steve Coll; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/303537/private-empire-by-steve-coll/

“Lessons of Darkness” documentary film; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lessons_of_Darkness

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/

In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes is joined by podcast-host-turned-guest Daniel Raimi, a fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF) and director of RFF’s Communities in the Energy Transition initiative, to discuss Raimi’s research on energy communities and his work establishing a highly collaborative ongoing project: the Resilient Energy Economies initiative. Though all communities depend on energy, “energy communities” are communities whose economic livelihoods are dependent on fossil fuels. Raimi recounts how his early career experiences inspired him to study the complex dynamics of fossil fuel–dependent communities amid a shifting energy sector. The oft-overlooked economic complications that arise in energy communities have been motivating federal, state, and local efforts to preserve and protect financial stability for residents after energy companies leave town. Whether in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Texas, or a Tribal nation, Raimi maintains that engaging with the people who actually are living in these fossil fuel–dependent local economies enables a holistic understanding of the mammoth impact of the fossil fuel industry in the development of the United States and in the communities where the industry is central to their life and livelihoods.

References and recommendations:

Resilient Energy Economies initiative; https://www.resilientenergyeconomies.org/

“Building More Resilient Energy Economies,” a webinar series hosted by Resources for the Future; https://www.rff.org/topics/communities-in-the-energy-transition/webinar-series-building-more-resilient-energy-economies/

“Vigil” by George Saunders; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/564991/vigil-by-george-saunders/

Subscribe to stay up to date on podcast episodes, news, and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/