[Below is an exact transcript of this podcast.]

Steve Mirsky here, sitting in for David. On June 4th, I interviewed Jeff Wolfe, the CEO of groSolar, a leading solar energy distribution and installation company. I asked him why Germany was developing solar energy at a faster pace than the U.S.

“Culture, and culture that extends all the way to the government. They recognize at a federal level climate change is a problem. They recognize that renewable energy to replace fossil fired energy is critical. They also recognize that it’s very important for energy security. They get a lot of their energy from Russia, who they’re trying to wean themselves off of. So for a whole lot of reasons that apply to the U.S., as well, they actually understand that renewables will help their overall economy. And while some of their big energy companies fight it, the big energy companies are also figuring out now how to make money off of this. And so they’ve transitioned the energy company culture, as well.

“Thirty years from now, is ExxonMobil going to be in the solar energy business?”

“I think that they’ll either be in the solar energy business or they won’t be in business. It won’t be all of their business by far. We’ll still be using oil, we’ll still be using gas, we’ll still be using coal. But we’ll be using those at far diminished levels than we are today.”

To hear the full interview with Jeff Wolfe, tune in to a future episode of the weekly Science Talk podcast of Scientific American.

—Steve Mirsky