PG&E hopes for an innovation glow-up
The California utility is trying to meet the moment and California net-zero goals with innovation over infrastructure. Plus: weather forecasting as a service, and a don't-buy meal service review.
This week on Everybody in the Pool
PG&E doesn’t actually want to be like this. I know, I’m as surprised as anyone to hear myself say that. But I put on my open mind hat for a chat with Quinn Nakayama, the Senior Director of Grid Research Innovation and Development (GRiD, see what they did there?) at PG&E, which is one of the nation’s largest investor-owned utilities.
PG&E serves some 5.5 million customers in northern and central California. It is unfortunately best known for the aging infrastructure that caused catastrophic fires in 2018 and 2019, including the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest in California history.
The utility entered bankruptcy after being found criminally liable for the fires, exited bankruptcy in 2020, and has been trying to rehabilitate its image and, to be fair, its infrastructure, ever since.
So that would be a lot even if utilities in America weren’t also facing massive load growth coming from data centers, electrification, and growth in usage across the board. But that’s the reality, and it’s further complicated by the fact that California has set a statewide goal to be net zero by 2045 or sooner.
So what’s a beleaguered utility to do?
Look for some startups, obviously!
That’s not the only thing, of course, but among other things, the utility will invest $25 million to pilot innovative solutions resulting from a Pitch Fest held last summer (we’ll take a look at some of the finalists once they’re announced).
In addition, Quinn and I had an interesting conversation about making the most of the grid we already have, minimizing new infrastructure in favor of efficiency, clever demand-response programs, dealing with data center demand, managing electric car charging, and oh, right, keeping rates at something less than the cost of a mortgage.
Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts!
Don’t Look Up
Climate change shouldn’t be political. The only reason it’s political is because of money, and simple fact is that in America, that money mostly goes to Republicans. And the Trump-Vance administration, with help from Congress, is, as the New York Times put it recently, “[adding] fuel to a warming planet.”
At the same time, the administration wants to weaken weather forecasting, and likely already has. Deep cuts to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration put accurate weather forecasts at risk during the height of hurricane season (Brookings: How politics is weakening America’s weather service), and stopped sharing data with international researchers, putting a dent in global weather forecasting and monitoring.
Most recently, the administration has threatened to close the National Center for Atmospheric Research, based in Boulder, CO, which is one of the premier facilities doing climate research — and weather forecasting — in the world. Officials referred to it as a center for “climate alarmism,” “left-wing climate lunacy” and something something “Green new scam.” This is not the language of serious people engaging in serious policy. It’s objectively insane.
The climate is changing. Weather and storms are getting more severe, and I write this as winter storm Fern has already caused death and dangerous power outages across much of the US. And in truth, none of this is about “alarmism” or “left-wing lunacy” or even a “scam.” It’s about privatizing weather forecasting — something specifically called for in Project 2025, and something that would benefit people with deep ties to the Trump administration.
Buying advice
I’m a recent empty nester, I work from home, and honestly, I get tired of thinking about preparing and shopping for food all the time. I was a prime target for the ads from Factor — high-protein, nutrient-dense, convenient, ready-to-eat meals, wheee! Reader, I’m not proud. But I signed up. I just wanted a little help, already!
I was filled with immediate horror and regret. How, in the year of our lord 2026, did I receive a box filled with plastic-covered packing material (Factor says this is made of recycled material but must be thrown away once you receive it) and two plastic-wrapped ice packs? One was the kind you can empty into the trash (leaving you with a plastic bag), and the other proudly proclaimed “reuse me.” If you were getting this box of meals every single week, you’d end up with a tower to the sky made of reusable ice packs.
And then each food container itself plastic, with plastic wrap on top, and all of it is of dubious reyclability, even by the company’s own admission. And there are, of course, zero instructions in the box on how to deal with all this material — I had to hunt around for it on the website (I think I ended up searching their help articles).
The packaging is obviously an issue — I found an entire Reddit thread of people trying to figure out how to get rid of the ice packs, and an entire guide from the Institute for Environmental Research and Education (um, BLESS you guys) on how to recycle Factor meal packaging specifically.
I canceled. It turns out that having meals prepared for me actually doesn’t save any time when dealing with the packaging of those meals is itself a part-time job. By comparison, when Leaft Foods sent me the Leaft Blade protein gel packs, the box and all the interior insulation were recyclable cardboard, and the cooling materials were dry ice, which simply evaporated into air — yes, that was wrapped in plastic, but I put it in my Ridwell plastic recycling and that was the end of it.
Too bad though, I admit the Factor food was actually pretty good. But not that good!
After my convenience fever dream passed, I realized my local grocery store has premade meals for when I’m really desperate, and the real key to not having to make food that often seems to be to make a lot of it at once, and eat leftovers.
A friend recommended Locale, which is doing my dream thing of delivering food in glass jars that they pick up the following week!! It’s startlingly expensive, but … maybe? If anyone has tried it, let me know!