Episodes

This week on The Energy Show, Barry sits down with Anoushka Tamhane, an MIT Climate Systems Engineering student who's researching battery storage and exploring an ingenious approach to geothermal heating and cooling. The technology is brilliant. The politics? Not so much. While students at MIT are developing the next generation of energy solutions, research funding cuts and changing policies are making their work more difficult. Barry and Anoushka discuss what happens when technological progre...

This week on The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon sits down with Tom Werner, who led SunPower from 2003 to 2020 and helped build it into one of the world's largest solar companies. Tom has ridden the solar coaster through booms, busts, policy changes and technology revolutions. And his assessment of 2026? It's actually worse than he expected. In some U.S. markets, Tom says residential solar is down 25–50% or more, as the industry deals with the loss of the residential tax credit, changing net-mete...

This week on The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon sits down with longtime solar industry leader Tom McCalmont, CEO of Paired Power and president of McCalmont Engineering, to talk about one of the biggest challenges facing electrification: how do we add massive new electrical loads when there simply isn’t enough grid capacity? Tom's answer is surprisingly straightforward: stop thinking of the grid as the only source of power. By combining existing grid capacity with solar, battery storage, and intel...

Solar Is Installed. Now Who Keeps It Running? There are millions of solar panels, batteries, EV chargers and other energy systems installed on homes and businesses around the world. There's just one little problem: Someone has to keep all that stuff working. This week on The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon sits down with John Berger, founder and CEO of Otovo Energy, to talk about what may be one of the biggest—and most overlooked—opportunities in clean energy: service and maintenance. Episode H...

With the 30% residential solar tax credit gone, the industry entered the year expecting installations to fall by as much as 20–30%. But rising electricity rates, cheaper batteries, new financing products and an increasingly unreliable grid are changing the math yet again. This week on The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon talks with Charlie Herche, CEO of Aurora Solar, about where the residential solar and storage industry actually stands and what comes next. Episode Highlights: • Why residential s...

2025 was a record year for residential solar and batteries. 2026 is shaping up to be a record bad one. The 30% homeowner solar tax credit is gone ... is residential solar in serious trouble? Not so fast. This week on The Energy Show, Barry sits down with Raghu Belur, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Enphase, to talk about what comes next for homeowners, installers and the solar industry. Raghu and Barry have both been riding the solar coaster since the early days of residential solar ...

With the 30% residential solar tax credit gone, the effective cost of going solar has jumped dramatically and residential installations are already down roughly 20–25%. For installers that historically relied on cash sales, the drop can be even worse. But before we start writing solar’s obituary, there are a few important plot twists. Electricity rates are still climbing. Blackouts aren’t exactly going out of style. Battery prices continue to improve. And, most importantly, leases, PPAs and pr...

Utilities, finance companies, and software aggregators have suddenly discovered something valuable: Your battery. Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) promise easy money by letting utilities tap into thousands of home batteries during periods of high demand. Sounds great... until you discover who actually makes the biggest profits. In this week's Energy Show, Barry digs into the fine print behind today's VPP programs and explains why some are a fantastic deal and others are little more than a money gr...

Everyone wants lower utility bills. Unfortunately, many homeowners start with expensive projects that deliver disappointing returns. That's because most energy audits focus on generic recommendation not the upgrades that make the biggest difference for your home. This week on The Energy Show, Barry shares the Low Hanging Fruit of home electrification, the affordable improvements that often pay for themselves in just a year or two. Episode Highlights: • Which DIY projects deliver the biggest ...

If you're considering solar, adding battery storage, or simply preparing for the next outage, this episode could save you thousands of dollars and a lot of frustration. Battery ads make everything look simple: backup power, lower bills, AI-powered energy management, and easy savings. Reality? Not so much. After installing thousands of battery systems over the last 25 years, Barry shares the candid advice most manufacturers and salespeople never mention. Episode Highlights: • Why complete ba...

Think your electric bill is high because of rooftop solar? That's exactly what AI told us... and AI IS WRONG. This week on The Energy Show, Barry sits down with Tom Beach, Principal Consultant at Crossborder Energy and one of California's leading experts on utility rate design, to expose what's really driving record-high electricity prices. Spoiler: It isn't your neighbor's solar panels. Episode Highlights: • Why AI repeats utility talking points instead of considering independent expert ana...

Everyone's asking AI for answers these days. • How big should my heat pump be? • Should I get mini-splits? • Will a heat pump save money? • Can AI actually design a comfortable HVAC system? This week Barry decided to find out. He asked AI a series of common homeowner questions about heat pumps and then brought in heat pump design expert Daniel Rares to see how the answers stacked up in the real world. The results were surprisingly good... and occasionally completely wrong. Turns out desi...

AI is hungry. Very hungry. And it's coming for your electricity. Every ChatGPT prompt, AI image, Google search, streaming video, and cloud application runs inside massive data centers that consume enormous amounts of power. But where will that power come from? And who's going to pay for it? In this episode of The Energy Show, Barry explains why utilities, data centers, and consumers are headed for a collision course over electricity. In this episode: • Why data centers are rated by megawa...

The energy world just changed. Again. For years solar, batteries, EVs and heat pumps were sold as clean alternatives. Now they're simply the least expensive alternatives. In this episode, Barry Cinnamon explains why economics -- not politics — is driving the next phase of the energy transition, and why fossil fuel interests are fighting harder than ever to slow this transition down. In this episode: • Why electrons beat molecules every time • The real economics of EVs vs gasoline vehicles ...

Did you know that you can plug solar panels into a WALL outlet! Utility executives are spewing out their morning coffee. Who would have thought a good little solar panel could destroy our wicked trillion dollar business! ???????????? Balcony Solar — AKA Plug-In Solar — is coming and is inevitable. Europeans love Balcony Solar. Renters love Balcony Solar. Utilities…they’d rather come down with Ebola. Because these small solar systems let people make their own electricity without paying a huge ...

Barry’s Heat Pump Promises: 1. Your AC will die on the hottest day of the year 2. PG&E gas rates will keep going up 3. Resistance — to electrification — is futile So… are heat pumps part of the solution, or just part of the precipitate…or problem? This week on The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon sits down with Dana Fischer from Mitsubishi Electric to explore the truths about modern heat pump systems — and why today’s technology is NOTHING like the loud, inefficient, polluting heating and coolin...

Barry' been bashing his head against the wall for over two decades to reduce solar and battery system costs in the U.S. So on his recent “vacation” to Australia, he did a deep dive into solar costs Down Under. As Jigar, Saul and Birchy have observed, solar and battery system costs in Australia are one fourth the price of comparable systems in the U.S. But the REAL reasons for these high costs are not what you may think. • It’s not greedy installers — although there are still too many sleaze ba...

That’s right, in many California cities you MUST replace a broken air conditioner condenser with a dual-purpose heat pump. These Reach Codes — also known as AC2HP Requirements — are currently in effect in Los Gatos, Saratoga, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Menlo Park, Mountain View and Alameda. Barry’s guest on this week’s Energy Show is nationally-known HVAC expert Nate Adams, “The House Whisperer.” Nate and Barry provide a no-BS breakdown of what’s changing, relative costs...

In this episode of The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon talks with Mark Toney, Executive Director of The Utility Reform Network (TURN), about the growing energy affordability crisis in California and across the U.S. Despite increasing costs for homeowners and businesses, utility companies continue to raise rates—while reporting strong profits. So what’s really driving these high electricity bills? This episode covers: • Why utility rates keep increasing year after year • The hidden structure beh...

When you electrify your home – with a heat pump HVAC system, EV charger, induction cooktop or heat pump water heater – your demand for electricity will go up. Duh. Or as Tim Allen would say: “I need more power.” Incentives as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) help reduce the "upfront" costs of these electrification upgrades. But the only way to reduce the "operating" costs of these new electrical appliances is with more solar power on your roof. But upgrading an old solar system is not...

Yes, definitely. Heat pumps are literally and figuratively cool. And without a doubt, the best time to consider installing a heat pump is when your AC (or furnace) dies. Heat pumps do double duty, providing both heating and cooling. They offer significant savings and improved comfort -- which I confirmed first hand after my old outdoor air conditioner compressor died. Replacing both my old AC and gas furnace with a heat pump was one of the best home improvements I’ve ever made. The system opera...

Since our worldwide economy depends on a steady supply of fossil fuels — oil, gasoline, natural gas, LNG, jet fuel — even the mere threat of disruption can cause a large and long-term increase in energy costs. Especially energy that is generated from burning hydrocarbon molecules, which have to be physically transported in pipelines and tankers. But not so much for energy that is generated from photons (I bet you know where I’m going with this). During the first two weeks in March, 2026, Irania...

In this week’s episode of The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon talks with Sean Gallagher (Senior VP of Policy, SEIA) about the new market reality after recent federal changes. As well as the financing tools, state policies, and grid programs that can help homeowners and installers move forward. In this episode: • How installers are adapting to the end of the residential tax credit with leases, PPAs, and newer financing structures • What to ask a financing provider before you sign (risk, Fair Marke...

After more than four decades in the solar industry, Barry Cinnamon breaks down the most common mistakes made by solar installers and homeowners and how to avoid them to ensure long-term performance, savings, and peace of mind. In this episode of The Energy Show, you’ll learn: • The installation mistakes that can cause leaks or system failures • Why some systems are oversized or undersized • How shading, roof orientation, and design affect performance • The truth about solar loans, leases, a...