Supercool

Fifteen years ago, smart thermostats promised to save you money and learn your habits. Today, they—and other grid-connected devices and appliances—are forming the backbone of the most sustainable power plant on the grid.

Jeff Gleeson, Chief Product Officer of Renew Home, joins Josh to unpack how his team is transforming everyday home tech into a distributed, intelligent, always-on energy layer—one that cuts carbon, boosts grid resilience, and earns households money, all without asking homeowners to think much about it.

Jeff explains why the industry’s go-to term—“virtual power plant”—doesn’t resonate with consumers and how Renew Home is finding language that actually lands. He shares how the company is scaling a sophisticated, AI-powered home energy platform, why utilities—once hesitant—are now eager to partner, and why the most important power plants in a low-carbon economy may be the ones that never need to be built at all.

Mike Martin helped launch the first climate change concert tour with Dave Matthews. He’s worked with Billie Eilish to flip venues vegan and wrote the green touring playbook years ago that artists still follow today.

But after decades trying to make recycling and compostables work at live events, Mike hit a wall. Zero-waste wasn’t working. Then he remembered what he saw on tour with U2 during the Joshua Tree run—European stadiums using reusable cups.

That moment sparked r.World, the reuse company now transforming how concerts, stadiums, and venues across the country are ditching single-use and building a circular economy. From Red Rocks to Coachella to Alaska Airlines, Mike shares what it takes to scale reuse—and why it all starts with a cup no one wants to take home.

Johnson Controls helped invent modern air conditioning. Now, it’s reengineering how buildings cut carbon — using AI and automation to make infrastructure smarter, cleaner, and more efficient.

Reuben Petty, Principal Digital Sales Engineer, works with business leaders, facility teams, and city officials to connect legacy systems to the digital tools of tomorrow. His focus is OpenBlue — the company’s platform that brings data and intelligence to the heart of building operations.

In this episode, we explore how a 140-year-old company is reinventing itself for a low-carbon future — and what it means for commercial real estate, city infrastructure, and climate action at scale.

Show Notes

E-bikes are booming—nearly as many were sold in the U.S. last year as electric cars. But while EVs get the attention, e-bikes are quietly reshaping how people move, cutting emissions, making urban life easier, and recreation more fun.

The catch? Buying an e-bike is easy. Reselling one isn’t.

That’s where Upway comes in. They’re building the Carvana for e-bikes—a seamless resale marketplace with accessible pricing, warranties, home delivery, and easy returns. And the industry is taking notice.

This week, Max Renson, U.S. General Manager at Upway, joins us to talk about why resale is the missing piece of e-bike adoption, how Upway is powering returns for brands like Aventon and Rad Power Bikes, and what it takes to turn secondhand e-bikes into a mainstream, trusted option.

E-bikes are taking off. Upway is making sure nothing slows them down.

How do you make solar adoption irresistible? By not selling solar.

This week on Supercool, we’re joined by Mary Powell, CEO of Sunrun, and Jessica Bergman, a marketing strategist who’s spent her career figuring out why clean energy adoption stalls—and how to fix it.

Under Mary’s leadership, Sunrun stopped being just a solar company and became something much bigger: a storage-first, customer-obsessed clean energy lifestyle brand. And it’s working—60%+ of customers now add batteries, turning their homes into mini power plants that keep the lights on when the grid goes down.

What’s the secret? Productization. Jessica argues that the industry has been selling kilowatt hours when it should be selling comfort, convenience, and control. Sunrun is proving that when you remove friction, make financing a no-brainer, and give customers a “Pizza Tracker” for their solar installations, adoption skyrockets.

In this episode, we dig into why clean energy isn’t scaling fast enough, what the industry gets wrong, and how Sunrun is changing the game. If you want to know how to move clean energy from “maybe someday” to “why didn’t I do this sooner?”—this one’s for you.

Show Notes