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Energy

Wind boom, wind bust (Two Windicators)

March 13, 2024 6:41 PM

By:

Darian Woods,
Wailin Wong,
Cooper Katz McKim,
Julia Ritchey, and
Kate Concannon

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Technician Konnor Therriault inside of a Vestas wind turbine in Bingham, Maine.

Technician Konnor Therriault inside of a Vestas wind turbine in Bingham, Maine. / NPR

The wind power business is a bit contradictory right now. It's showing signs of boom and bust seemingly all at once.

The story of wind energy markets in two acts today. First, the Gulf of Mexico saw its first-ever auction of leases for offshore wind this summer. It was another sign of the Biden administration's desire to get more renewable energy online as fast as possible. Expectations were high, but results did not deliver. Two of the three patches of sea didn't get any bids at all. Hidden in the flop for this auction are some keys to what it takes to spark a whole new market, quickly.

Then, the booming side of wind power: the job that's projected to be the fastest-growing in the U.S. is wind turbine service technician. Is it a "good" job? Reporter Darian Woods suits up to see a green-collar job above the clouds for himself.

Today's episode is adapted from episodes for Planet Money's daily show, The Indicator. Subscribe here.

The original Indicator episodes were produced by Cooper Katz McKim and Julia Ritchey with engineering by Valentina Rodriguez Sanchez and James Willetts. They were fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and edited by Dave Blanchard and Kate Concannon.

Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

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Music: NPR Source Audio - "New York Nights," "Try Being Me," and "Sleeping Grad"

Tags: Planet Money Series: Planet Money

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But in 2018, in a story that seems like it's straight out of a spy novel, the FBI was approached with an offer: Would they like to get into the encrypted cell phone business? What if they could convince criminals to use their phones to plan and document their crimes — all while the FBI was secretly watching? It could be an unprecedented peek into the criminal underground.

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Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

May 31, 2024

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By:

Nick Fountain,
Jess Jiang,
and 1 more

Junkman Jon Rolston has spent the last two decades clearing out houses and offices of their junk. In that time, he's become a kind of trash savant.

Economy

The junkyard economist

On today's episode, we ride through the streets of San Francisco with a long-time junkman, Jon Rolston.

Jon has spent the last two decades clearing out houses and offices of their junk. He's found all sorts of items: a life-time supply of toilet paper, gold rings, $20,000 in cash. Over the years, he's developed a keen eye for what has value and what might sell. He's become a kind of trash savant.

As we ride with Jon, he shows us the whole ecosystem of how our reusable trash gets dealt with — from metals (ferrous and non-ferrous) to tires to cardboard. And we see how our junk can sometimes get a second chance at life.

If you can understand the junk market like Jon, you can understand dozens of trends in our economy.

This episode was hosted by Erika Beras and James Sneed, and produced by James Sneed with help from Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Jess Jiang. Engineering by Josh Newell. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

May 24, 2024

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Last month, the world narrowly avoided a cyberattack of stunning ambition. The targets were some of the most important computers on the planet. Computers that power the internet. Computers used by banks and airlines and even the military.

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A strange fact about modern life is that most of the computers responsible for it are running open source software. That is, software mostly written by unpaid, sometimes even anonymous volunteers. Some crucial open source programs are managed by just a single overworked programmer. And as the world learned last month, these programs can become attractive targets for hackers.

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May 17, 2024

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By:

Jeff Guo,
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