{"podcast":{"title":"Business for Good Podcast","slug":"business-for-good-podcast-641837","podcast_index_feed_id":641837,"rss_url":"https://businessforgoodpodcast.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"http://www.businessforgoodpodcast.com/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/2/b/9/6/2b963ca360081ecfd959afa2a1bf1c87/B4G_Green.jpg","author":"Paul Shapiro","episode_count":201,"summary":"Join host Paul Shapiro as he talks with some of the leading start-up entrepreneurs and titans of industry alike using their businesses to help solve the world's most pressing problems. Whether it's climate change, unsustainable agricultural practices, cyber threats, coral reef die-offs, nuclear waste storage, plastic pollution, or more, many of the world's greatest challenges are also exciting business opportunities. On this show, we feature business leaders who are marrying profit and purpose by inventing solutions to both build a better world and offer investors a bang for their bucks.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-16T04:23:17.883096+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-for-good-podcast-641837"},"episode":{"title":"The Geothermal Startup That Made It Big","slug":"the-geothermal-startup-that-made-it-big","published_at":"2026-08-15T23:55:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-for-good-podcast-641837/the-geothermal-startup-that-made-it-big","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-for-good-podcast-641837","url":"https://businessforgoodpodcast.libsyn.com/the-geothermal-startup-that-made-it-big-0","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/businessforgoodpodcast/EP_196_Fervo_-_Tim_Latimer.mp3?dest-id=761849","summary":"What if the same drilling technology that powered the shale boom could be redirected to produce clean, carbon-free electricity around the clock? In this episode of Business For Good, Paul Shapiro sits down with Tim Latimer, CEO and chairman of Fervo Energy, to explore how a former oil and gas drilling engineer built one of the most celebrated clean energy companies in the country in under a decade. Tim started Fervo in 2017 with two core beliefs: that the world would need more reliable clean electricity, and that advances in horizontal drilling had made geothermal energy dramatically more cost-effective than anyone in the geothermal industry realized. Those beliefs led to a partnership with Google, a pilot project in Nevada that produced the first horizontal geothermal well ever drilled, and a 2026 IPO that raised over $2 billion. The conversation covers why geothermal has remained a rounding error in the energy mix for over a century, how Fervo reduced drilling times from 70 days to 21 days in just four years, why their process differs fundamentally from oil and gas fracking, and what milestones investors should watch as the company scales toward 500 megawatts at its Project Cape site in Utah. Things You Will Learn: Why geothermal energy has remained less than 1% of U.S. electricity despite being over a century old. How horizontal drilling technology borrowed from oil and gas is transforming the cost structure of geothermal power. Why Fervo's process is structurally different from fossil fuel fracking, even though it borrows similar techniques. How Fervo went from startup to a multi-billion-dollar publicly traded company in under a decade. Where the next wave of geothermal entrepreneurship opportunities may emerge across the value chain. Tools & Frameworks Covered: Ho…","meta_description":"What if the same drilling technology that powered the shale boom could be redirected to produce clean, carbon-free electricity around the clock? In this e…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2699,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/business-for-good-podcast-641837/episodes/the-geothermal-startup-that-made-it-big/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-for-good-podcast-641837/the-geothermal-startup-that-made-it-big.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}