An Electric Revolution

About An Electric Revolution

An Electric Revolution is a podcast about how the world is being transformed by clean energy. Each episode I dive into the stories behind today’s shift — from the history of past energy revolutions to the minerals shaping our future. If you want more context, analysis, and reporting on the geopolitics of clean energy, subscribe to my newsletter Volt Insight on Substack—your companion to this podcast.

Publisher

Henry Sanderson

Category

history

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Mar 2025

Latest episode

4 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

4 of 16 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   4 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   The Aluminium Crisis Nobody Saw Coming

   Henry Sanderson interviews Paul Adkins of AZ Global Consulting about the unexpected aluminium crisis, exploring market shifts, supply chain disruptions, and the future of global smelter locations.

2. 

   18 Mar 2026TRANSCRIPT

   China's Rare Earth Weapon: Inside the 'Mineral War' with Tomasz Nadrowski

   Host Henry Sanderson interviews author Tomasz Nadrowski about China's rare earth dominance and the West's urgent need to rebuild critical mineral supply chains.

3. 

   30 Jan 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Why can’t the world quit coal?

   Lucy Shaw, author of the Slow Burn substack newsletter, explores why global coal consumption reaches record highs despite falling renewable energy costs in this interview.

4. 

   10 Dec 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Unlocking Chile’s Lithium: Boric’s Legacy and the Future of Supply

   Ignacio Mehech, CEO of CleanTech Lithium, analyzes President Boric's National Lithium Strategy in Chile and its potential impact on future lithium production and sustainability through Direct Lithium Extraction in this interview.

5. 

   12 Nov 2025

   Bill Gates-backed Mantle8 and the race for natural hydrogen

   Geologist Emmanuel Masini, CEO of Mantle8, discusses the exploration of naturally occurring hydrogen and the geological trifecta needed for its economic extraction, potentially overcoming the high costs of green hydrogen in this interview.

6. 

   17 Oct 2025

   China’s Battery Export Curbs and the Future of LFP

   Dan Blondal, CEO of Nano One Materials, analyzes China's new export rules for lithium iron phosphate battery materials and their potential impact on global electric vehicle and clean energy supply chains in this interview.

7. 

   7 Oct 2025

   9. Is the West Losing the Uranium Race?

   Nick Clarke, founder of Curzon Resources, analyzes the evolving uranium market, highlighting China's lead in securing supply and the potential risks for the West in this interview episode.

8. 

   30 Sept 2025

   8. The UK's EV Charging Revolution — From Home to Grid

   Peter McDonald, Mobility Director at Ohme, discusses the UK's EV charging revolution, highlighting how home charging transforms EV ownership economics and positions the UK as a potential leader in Vehicle-to-Grid technology; this is an interview.

9. 

   17 Sept 2025

   7. How mining for clean energy is sparking opposition — a conversation with Thea Riofrancos

   Thea Riofrancos, Associate Professor of Political Science, discusses the dilemma of balancing the need for clean energy technologies with the environmental and social impacts of mining, particularly lithium extraction, in this interview.

10. 

    18 Jul 2025

    6. How Solar Got Cheap: Gregory Nemet on the Global Story Behind Solar’s Rise

    Professor Gregory Nemet explores solar energy's global history, highlighting the pivotal roles of the U.S., Japan, and Germany alongside China in driving down costs through innovation and policy in this interview.

11. 

    6 Jun 2025

    5. The Rare Earth Reckoning: How China Won the Supply Chain War

    Author David Abraham discusses China's dominance in rare earth element supply chains, its impact on Western electric vehicle and wind turbine industries, and the geopolitical lessons for building resilient supply chains in this interview.

12. 

    15 May 2025

    4. A Wind Turbine on Every Farm: How Wind Power Shaped 1930s America

    In the 1930s, fewer than 10% of U.S. farms had electricity. One solution? Small wind turbines. My guest, Brandon Owens—author of The Wind Power Story—explores how wind power brought electricity to rural America long before the grid. We dive into the story of the Jacobs Wind Electricity Company, which delivered over 30,000 turbines to farms across the country. Known as the “Cadillac of the trade,” one even powered a station at the South Pole. We also discuss how federal policy, like the 1937 Rural Electrification Act, helped end this early era of decentralized, off-grid power. SOURCES: The Wind Power Story: A Century of Innovation that Reshaped the Global Energy Landscape by Brandon N. Owens.

13. 

    9 Apr 2025

    3. Did the kidnapping of a solar pioneer in 1909 set back solar power?

    This week we are talking about the life of George Cove, a Canadian inventor and entrepreneur. Born in Nova Scotia in 1863 or 1864, Cove presented his first “solar electric generator” in 1905 in the Metropole Building in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He then moved to the US to continue work on his solar device. In 1909 he exhibited four solar panels on a New York rooftop, which were used to charge lead-acid batteries. This was decades before the first conventional photovoltaic solar panel as we know it today was invented at Bell Labs. Cove intended to use the heat of the sun to generate electricity, a so-called thermoelectric generator. But he may have accidentally created a solar panel that generated electricity via the photovoltaic effect - similar to current panels we have today. In October of the same year Cove was kidnapped. Some reports say his life was threatened if he did not cease work on solar power. Afterwards his company, Sun Electric Generator Company, collapsed. I’m delighted to be joined by Dr. Sugandha Srivastav. She is a Lecturer in Environmental Economics and a Senior Research Associate at the University of Oxford. In 2023 she published a fascinating paper on George Cove which argued that solar powercould have become cheaper than coal at least a decade earlier than it did, if Cove’s business had succeeded. She argues that in the early 1900s people were remarkably positive about solar power and its potential, yet that attitude then disappeared for decades. Lost potential: how the kidnapping of a solar energy pioneer impacted the cost of renewable energy and the climate crisis (https://www.inet.ox.ac.uk/news/lost-potential-how-the-kidnapping-of-a-solar-energy-pioneer-impacted-the-cost-of-renewable-energy-and-the-climate-crisis) How to Build a Low-tech Solar Panel? (https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2021/10/how-to-build-a-low-tech-solar-panel/) Untangling the Mystery of the World’s First Rooftop Solar Panel (https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/08/16/untangling-the-mystery-of-the-worlds-first-rooftop-solar-panel/) (https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/08/16/untangling-the-mystery-of-the-worlds-first-rooftop-solar-panel/)

14. 

    19 Mar 2025

    2. How Poul la Cour Launched Denmark's Wind Power Dominance

    Denmark is a global leader in wind energy, with Danish company Vestas standing as one of the world’s largest producers of wind turbines. Wind power accounts for around 58% of Denmark’s electricity—the highest share among OECD countries, according to Ember. But how did Denmark rise to this level of dominance? The roots of the country's wind power success can be traced back to history, specifically to Poul la Cour, the man who built Denmark's first wind turbine to generate electricity in 1891. In this episode, Jytte Thorndahl, former curator at the Danish Museum of Energy, delves into the life and groundbreaking contributions of Poul la Cour to Denmark's wind energy development. At the time la Cour was working, Denmark’s first power stations were being built, but they did not reach rural areas. Additionally, Denmark had to import fossil fuels. La Cour wanted the rural population to benefit from electricity. “The plan was to ease farm labor, make it more efficient, and provide light for reading and working during the long, dark winter evenings,” according to the Poul la Cour Museum. La Cour’s pioneering work laid the foundation for Denmark’s modern wind industry. Unlike Charles Brush, whom we discussed in our previous episode, la Cour didn’t just innovate—he shared his knowledge. In 1903, he founded the Danish Wind Electricity Society, which trained rural electricians in three-month courses in Askov. These courses covered not only how to install wind turbines but also subjects like accounting, physics, and geometry. By the early 1900s, Denmark’s wind power industry was taking off. By 1908, the year la Cour passed away, Danish company Lykkegaard had built seventy-two wind turbines based on his designs, supplying power to rural Denmark. By early 1906, forty windmills were already generating electricity across the country. SOURCES: Link to the Poul la Cour Museum (https://www.poullacour.dk/en/home/)

15. 

    10 Mar 2025

    Introduction to the podcast

    Clean energy is under attack like never before. President Donald Trump has said “the wind is bullshit.” Right-wing parties in Europe have opposed climate legislation introduced by the European Union. There’s never been a more important time to understand the real history of clean energy - how did we get here; who were the pioneers? And critically why it has taken so long to come of age. An Electric Revolution will take listeners through the story of clean energy, from its origins to the present day, through the stories of idealists and inventors who challenged the status quo and dreamt of a better way of powering the planet. From Charles Brush to Wang Chuanfu. It will answer key questions such as  - who designed and built the first wind turbines and solar panels? Why did electric cars fail over a hundred years ago? Why did clean energy lose out to fossil fuels? Why did China come to dominate the industry and the West lose out? I’m Henry Sanderson, the author of the book Volt Rush, the Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green (https://oneworld-publications.com/work/volt-rush/), and a former journalist for The Financial Times and Bloomberg. Each episode I will introduce one person from the history of clean energy. What made him or her tick? Why are they important to this story, and how did they inspire others? And critically, what can we learn about today’s challenges from history? Please click subscribe to get all future episodes and leave a rating or review - that really helps. Thank you for listening.

16. 

    7 Mar 2025

    1. Charles Brush – America's Wind Power Pioneer

    In 1888, a tall wind turbine in the backyard of a grand mansion on Cleveland's Euclid Avenue caught the attention of many. To most passers-by, it seemed like an unusual curiosity—perhaps the toy of a wealthy man. But this was no ordinary decoration. It was the pioneering work of Charles Brush, one of the first people to harness wind power for generating electricity. Brush's wind turbine had 144 wooden blades which were mounted on a sixty-foot tall tower. He stored the electricity in twelve batteries in his basement. Yet Brush, a businessman, never patented the wind turbine, nor did he seek to start a company to manufacture the device. In this episode, we dive into Brush's invention and its significance. My guest today is Paul Gipe, a wind power advocate for over four decades. Paul is the author of several influential books on the wind industry, including Wind Energy for the Rest of Us and Wind Energy Comes of Age. He also runs an excellent website (https://wind-works.org/) full of information on the wind industry. Join us as we explore the history of wind power and its evolution with one of the leading experts in the field. BOOKS MENTIONED: Wind Energy in America (https://www.oupress.com/9780806140001/wind-energy-in-america/), by Robert Righter.

Inside a recent episode

The Aluminium Crisis Nobody Saw Coming

Published 4 Jun 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] And of course, you have to have all the raw materials. And it's not just one, it's all of them. They have to last through until supply is going to arrive. You've seen people like JP Morgan say the market could face its biggest supply deficit in more than 25 years. I mean, do you think this year is going to be that kind of crisis? I don't remember 25 years ago, so I'm not going to sit here and try to compare. But the fact is, we've lost, as I said, 1.6 million tons at Otoila. That's a hole in the ground. That's been hit by a rocket. We've lost some material at Alba. We've lost some material at Catalum. […]

Who has been a guest on An Electric Revolution

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Paul Adkins
• Tomasz Nadrowski
• Lucy Shaw
• Ignacio Mehech
• Emmanuel Masini

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

5,167

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Podcast Authority Score: 34 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

41

Social presence

0

YouTube

65

Engagement

0

Contact An Electric Revolution

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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