Energy 101: We Ask The Dumb Questions So You Don't Have To

Micro turbines hitting 83% efficiency could replace flares and turn stranded wells into tiny neighborhood power plants. Mark Ronkin of Grid Energy Solutions came down from Edmonton to talk with Jacob and guest host Britt Breaux about jumping from five years in the Canadian Army to wireline to running his own MWD shop, then stumbling into the tech at a gas show in Milan. Plus getting sick next to a flare, the oilfield marketing problem in eastern Canada, and why a 9 to 5 and entrepreneurship can coexist.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 0:00 Intro and the FDE model at Collide5:46 Mark's path through the Canadian Army9:25 Oil and gas as a polarizing industry across Canada13:19 Louisiana refineries, Cancer Alley, and Alberta boomtowns19:08 Living downstream of a flare21:18 Military to wireline to MWD25:09 Going independent and the entrepreneurship bug28:14 Peak oil and modern directional drilling32:44 Turning your day job into your business36:54 Career advice and finding the Collide community43:14 Imposter syndrome and the entrepreneur grind45:59 Stumbling into micro turbines at Gastech Milan52:46 Commercializing the tech in Canada1:00:02 Replacing flares with neighborhood power plants1:01:29 What the next 5 to 10 years look like1:06:18 Grid Energy Solutions and what's nexthttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

Building software inside a frac and wireline giant is a different beast than doing it at a startup. Ben Dickinson and Raleigh Bumpers from NexTier Completion Solutions get into life under the Patterson UTI umbrella, the EOS platform, the Vertex automated pump control system, the shift from diesel to natural gas powered fleets, agentic AI in the field, and why the world genuinely stops if oil and gas stops. Plus Pittsburgh shale stories and a Colorado School of Mines reality check.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 0:00 The NexTier 60-second pitch2:00 Why integrating every service on location wins4:30 Ben's path from Pittsburgh to wireline to digital11:15 Raleigh's jump from computer science to the Eagle Ford17:00 If oil and gas stops, the world stops19:30 Pittsburgh, the shale boom, and incoming data centers21:30 Completions 10123:30 The EOS platform and Vertex automated pump control27:00 Earning trust from veteran hands on new software32:00 Generative AI versus agentic AI in the field34:00 Diesel, natural gas, and electric frac fleets41:30 Colorado School of Mines and the next generation44:00 The road to a fully autonomous well site46:30 The 80 percent AI failure rule debatehttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

Dan Grech, Founder and CEO of Global OTEC, swung by from London to break down ocean thermal energy conversion, a technology that turns the ocean's heat into 24/7 baseload power. Jacob asks the dumb questions about warm surface water meeting cold deep water, why Jimmy Carter is the unsung hero of ocean energy, how OTEC stacks up against offshore wind and Peter Thiel's new wave bet, and why Hawaii and the Caribbean might lead the way.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 Welcome Dan, tacos, and OTC week in Houston01:20 From luxury fashion to ocean energy08:45 What OTEC actually is12:15 Coastal versus offshore deployments16:00 From Jules Verne to Jimmy Carter19:20 Why ocean energy isn't sexy yet21:00 Peter Thiel's wave energy bet26:15 Offshore wind, solar, and dumb questions33:00 DeepStar and working with the majors35:54 Reinvented submarines and crossover tech37:00 Energy mix futures and Hawaii pilots40:25 Collaborators, no enemies42:20 Five-year ocean predictionhttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

Three decades of front-row energy seats and takes you genuinely can't argue with. Mark Meyer gets into the Strait of Hormuz mess, Heathrow's jet fuel shortage, countries sitting on hydrocarbons while importing them, the IEA's net zero detour, BP's expensive U-turn, and why 2 billion people still cooking over dung deserves more airtime than another COP summit. Astros predictions and a Joe Rogan tangent included.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 0:00 Intro3:21 Strait of Hormuz and energy attention spans6:23 Heathrow's jet fuel crisis8:06 Land Man tour through a barrel of oil9:55 New England's oil-fired electricity paradox14:07 Countries sitting on hydrocarbons while importing them21:39 Gas prices and the political blame game25:12 California, the Jones Act, and US shipbuilding decline28:46 ASU hackathon and hope for the next generation35:22 Chris Wright as energy secretary37:49 Advice to 2016 Jacob about the climate narrative46:28 OPEC, IEA, and the agencies shaping the conversation51:34 The IEA's Net Zero by 2050 detour and BP's pivot1:00:38 EPA rescinds the 2009 endangerment finding1:03:33 Wood pellet accounting and the China India reality1:08:20 The global South and the moral case for hydrocarbons1:14:38 Mark's daily media diet1:17:23 Price gouging vs Big Tech margins1:21:39 Joe Rogan, cable news fatigue, and Peggy Noonan1:29:01 Astros baseball predictions1:36:22 Wrap uphttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

Andrew Richard, CEO and Co-Founder of Automated Rig Technologies, flies in from Calgary to break down why the oilfield spent 70 years optimizing brute force instead of rethinking the process. He gets into the jointed pipe injector that strips 97% of operator input out, what rig hands call the "barbecue basket," why everyone in oil and gas wants to be first to be second, and the IKEA chatbot that accidentally solved the automation jobs debate.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - Calgary, metaverse throwbacks, and meet Andrew02:20 - What Automated Rig Technologies actually does05:50 - Starting in the basement in 200907:44 - The jointed pipe injector breakdown09:13 - Red zone risk and the barbecue basket17:05 - From Energy Tech Night pitch to the Bakken trial20:22 - How 15 people get in front of major operators24:14 - Marketing, trust, and selling the sizzle30:30 - The automation jobs debate, ATMs and IKEA36:03 - The dangerous jobs that shouldn't exist38:11 - Change management and first to be second42:15 - Bad data is a platform problem44:59 - What's next with AI and datahttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

Chlorine is in your pipes, your microchips, your drinking water and somehow nobody talks about it. Roxanna Delima, Co-founder and CBO at Rushnu, breaks down why this overlooked chemical is critical to US manufacturing and how her team is flipping the script on a 100 year old industry by using heat instead of electricity and turning waste carbon into actual product. No government subsidy dependence, no gigaton fantasies, just hard tech with a real business model.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 0:00 Intro and background on Roxanna2:05 What is Rushnu and the chlorine industry4:22 The product and why chlorine matters6:36 How traditional chlor alkali works and its problems8:01 Rushnu's thermochemical approach9:30 How costs are cut by 60%11:32 Pilot site at Silicon Valley Clean Water14:06 Texas connections and TotalEnergies partnership15:58 Carbon capture without the gigaton hype19:26 Why VC funding models are broken for hard tech21:09 Carbon capture as a polarizing topic24:50 Building a profitable business from the start27:17 Startup advantages over big industry29:01 Inside the Chlorine Institute conference31:08 Chlorine safety and the Ohio train derailment32:10 Energy transition and realism34:31 The 60 second chlorine elevator pitch36:13 AI in the chlorine industry36:45 What the future looks like for Rushnuhttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

David Holt, President of Consumer Energy Alliance, sits down to unpack 20 years of fighting for affordable, reliable energy for regular Americans. From NIMBYism and lazy politics to the data center power surge, nuclear's comeback, carbon capture, and why the price of eggs is actually an energy story, this one covers a lot of ground and makes it all make sense.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - What is Consumer Energy Alliance01:12 - Energy affordability and who it hits hardest03:14 - Politics, NGOs, and policy by soundbite05:34 - You can have clean energy and oil and gas08:31 - New England's self-inflicted energy crisis10:04 - Term-limited politicians and long-term problems12:19 - Gas prices and what consumers actually misunderstand14:41 - US energy self-sufficiency and geopolitical insulation16:42 - Reshoring, AI, and the new energy demand reality18:48 - Breaking down the Biden energy policy23:41 - Infrastructure deficits and the permitting war26:42 - How data centers should pay for their power29:51 - Inside data centers and why they use so much energy33:35 - Nuclear is back and it's actually cool37:27 - Texas, nuclear, and energy diversity41:10 - Carbon capture and community education44:28 - The next 10 to 15 years of energy change47:28 - What every American should know about energy49:29 - Energy Day festival in Houstonhttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

Shawn Cutter, Founder & CEO of EnergiAcres, went from sixth-generation Ohio farmer to Discovery Channel reality TV star to selling his oil and gas software startup to Quorum before Series A. Now he's building circular energy infrastructure that pairs power plants with data centers and greenhouses to make energy count twice. We get into the grid crisis, the cloud vs on-prem debate, and whether data centers will ever make it to space.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - Intro and guest background01:24 - Sixth-generation farmer and family oil and gas roots02:39 - The Discovery Channel reality TV show07:44 - Building an oil and gas software startup10:45 - Getting acquired by Quorum before Series A15:39 - Life inside a big company post-acquisition19:15 - Mistakes, pivots, and finding his way back21:49 - What EnergiAcres actually does24:07 - The data center power crisis.28:20 - Energy mix and fixing the grid31:13 - How data centers evolved and why power demand exploded36:27 - Cloud vs on-prem and the cost reality39:28 - Water usage and cooling problems41:54 - EnergiAcres' greenhouse and circular energy model45:23 - SMRs, space data centers, and what comes nexthttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

The Beetaloo Basin in Australia's Northern Territory is one of the most exciting shale plays nobody is talking about yet. Jason Finlay and Aiden Anderson-Barr from Vantage North Group, both former NT government officials, break down why Australia had a fracking moratorium, how a left-leaning government lifted it, what the East Coast energy crisis actually looks like, and why US technology is the key to unlocking it all.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 0:00 - Intro and the Beetaloo Basin8:30 - Australia's energy landscape and LNG exports10:00 - East Coast energy security crisis22:00 - The fracking moratorium and how it got lifted35:00 - Traditional owners and community engagement45:00 - US technology and gas recovery59:00 - Vantage North Group and bridging the US-Australia gaphttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

Offshore driller Justin Forrest of Valaris Limited joins Jacob and Mark Meyer to break down what it actually means to sit in the driller's chair on a seventh-gen drillship, why managed pressure drilling is the offshore equivalent of horizontal drilling, what 28 days on a rig really looks like, and how Justin has been quietly documenting the hidden world of offshore drilling one black and white photo at a time.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - Introductions and offshore backgrounds04:00 - Justin's career path: Navy to drillships06:00 - What is managed pressure drilling?09:00 - Drilling in Australia: culture, regulations, and water depths15:00 - The modern driller's role and rig floor automation23:00 - Life on a drillship: schedules, food, and losing the social scene to Starlink30:00 - BOP testing and the regulatory landscape37:00 - Real-time data and remote monitoring39:00 - Offshore market outlook42:00 - Close calls and scary rig stories44:00 - Justin's offshore photography hobbyhttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

The Collide team takes over Energy 101. Jazmia Henry, Canisius Rozario, Jon Slominski, and Sam Texas from Collide break down why they went all-in on Claude, how they are building AI tools specifically for oil and gas, and what agentic workflows actually look like day to day. Plus, Sam once took down Candy Crush for 15 minutes and he is still employed.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 0:00 - Intro and meet the Collide team1:27 - What everyone does at Collide3:23 - How AI has evolved over the last four years7:22 - Why Collide chose Claude over ChatGPT9:48 - Claude Code explained for non-developers16:43 - How the team uses AI outside of work23:28 - How LLMs actually handle math and numbers26:52 - Agentic workflows at Collide36:21 - Solving oil and gas problems with AI43:17 - Jacob reflects on his own AI journey at Collide45:48 - Sam's Candy Crush infrastructure disasterhttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

Pressure testing, cold calls from Wendy's parking lots, and a family logo that goes back generations. Clint Wagner, Owner of Wagner Energy Services, Juan Macias Jr, Operations and Business Development Manager at Wagner Energy Services, and Peter Brecht, Commercial Insurance Broker at Falcon West Energy Insurance Solutions pull up to the NAPE edition of Energy 101 to talk about what hydrostatic testing actually looks like in the field, how TikTok comments turned into real business relationships, getting kids excited about energy careers in Ohio schools, and why the oilfield might be the most accepting industry out there for anyone willing to put in the work.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 0:00 Intro and welcome from NAPE0:37 Wagner Energy Services and what pressure testing actually is4:27 Peter Brecht and the Local Energy Podcast origin story7:04 How TikTok and LinkedIn built real oilfield connections13:38 The Wagner logo and its multigenerational family history17:34 Starting a business from your garage at 4am18:42 Being dads in the oilfield22:30 The famous crystal gauge photo and how art led to a job25:06 Social media culture in oil and gas31:26 Platform personalities from LinkedIn to X to TikTok35:41 Ohio Natural Energy Institute and getting kids into energy careers40:04 Why the oilfield is open to everyone46:14 Northeast vs Texas vs California energy talk52:15 Shout out to Macias Industries52:59 The surfer and rig photo storyhttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

Sean Hanrahan, Founder and Managing Partner of Platypus Brewing in Houston, spent 25 years in global minerals and oil and gas before trading the corporate world for a brewmaster apron. From offshore exploration in Australia and the Gulf of Mexico to opening a craft brewery in the First Ward, Sean breaks down what those two worlds actually have in common.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 0:00 - Sean Hanrahan intro and background1:35 - Global oil and gas career and Australian energy landscape5:14 - Australia vs US infrastructure and energy markets13:11 - Texas and Australia culture comparisons20:36 - How Sean ended up in Houston and started Platypus Brewing25:11 - Australian Day in Houston and Chamber of Commerce28:20 - Career lessons and building relationships35:20 - Craft beer industry trends and where it's headed43:06 - Platypus Brewing operations and distribution strategy52:52 - AI in brewing and closing thoughtshttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

Prabhdeep Sekhon, CEO of Eclipse Energy, breaks down the hydrogen rainbow and why it doesn't tell the whole story about cost, carbon intensity, and water use. From farm boy in Canada to petroleum engineer in the Bakken to clean tech founder, Prab explains how his team is using microbes to eat leftover oil in abandoned fields and produce hydrogen without water, turning billion-dollar liabilities into clean energy assets. He walks through their first-of-a-kind California project that hit 40% hydrogen production, the West Texas deployments coming next, and why co-locating data centers in oil fields solves both the molecule transport problem and the cooling water challenge. They discuss hitting $0.50 per kilogram hydrogen by 2028, why natural gas isn't going anywhere, and how oil and gas companies are actually paying them to figure out the future of their abandoned reservoirs.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - Prab's journey from farm to petroleum engineer03:15 - Skills oil and gas taught him for clean tech08:26 - Energy pragmatism and decarbonization economics10:30 - Breaking down the hydrogen rainbow14:01 - Green hydrogen costs and water intensity15:53 - Gray and blue hydrogen trade-offs17:55 - Natural and geological hydrogen potential21:14 - Eclipse's approach to the problem24:17 - Eating oil with microbes for hydrogen26:20 - California first-of-a-kind project results28:41 - Field operations walkthrough32:10 - Hydrogen use cases and volumes36:01 - Cost parity with natural gas38:07 - Data centers solve the transport problem43:03 - Path to commercial scale by 2028https://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

Austin Draughon spent nine years at BP keeping Gulf of Mexico wells producing tens of thousands of barrels per day from floating platforms in 6,000+ feet of water. He breaks down why offshore is ten times more expensive, takes ten times longer, and involves ten times more people than onshore drilling, from robots tightening bolts on the seafloor to the ice problem that can kill a well in eight hours. Jacob and Julie learn why you can't just build 6,000-foot concrete pillars, how Christmas trees got their name, and what happens when asphalt buildup shuts down a 10,000 barrel per day well worth the energy consumption of Montana. Plus: helicopter crash training, North Slope darkness, and why AI's best trick is turning 35-page documents into the one sentence you actually needed.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - Gulf of America officially renamed01:41 - Nine years producing offshore Gulf of Mexico wells02:59 - North Slope Alaska: darkness and extreme cold survival05:06 - Production engineer managing 12 high-stakes offshore wells07:11 - Asphalt buildup can kill a 10,000 barrel per day well09:13 - Building technology to predict well failures early11:03 - From Excel spreadsheets to cloud-deployed Python scripts12:07 - Dry tree versus wet tree subsea completions explained18:19 - Wildcat exploration: finding elephants to justify $30B platforms20:09 - Blowout preventers and seafloor robots with little hands23:11 - Five-mile flowlines connecting subsea wells to platforms24:23 - Onshore takes weeks, offshore takes 90+ days minimum26:29 - Automation levels on offshore drill ships29:00 - 300+ people living on floating production facilities32:06 - ROV operators controlling robots like video games34:16 - Why offshore wells produce 1,000x more than stripper wells36:16 - Pushing spaghetti four miles to hit a four-foot target37:47 - Hydrate ice problem: eight-hour clock before well dies39:08 - North Sea waves versus Gulf of America conditions41:15 - Helicopter crash training at the YMCA pool44:17 - AI's killer use case: many to one summarization46:26 - Narrative layers surface buried statistics automaticallyhttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

Texas electricity is way more complicated than flipping a switch. Brittany Devlin from DOB Ai breaks down the deregulated energy market where customers can actually choose providers and save serious money, but most people just overpay out of laziness. From how the grid physically works to why your AC destroys your summer budget, she explains the whole pipeline. The real hack? Like energy aggregation companies that negotiate contracts for you, breaking deals when better rates appear. Plus: why unplugging appliances matters, how battery storage is fixing solar's sunset problem, and the truth about those "free nights and weekends" billboard scams.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - From nano photonics to energy risk management02:22 - Aviation business intelligence mirrors energy markets04:15 - Flight pricing tricks you shouldn't try07:33 - Deregulated Texas electricity explained08:15 - Why those billboard energy deals are sketchy09:14 - Fixed rate contracts beat variable pricing10:29 - How aggregators find cheaper electricity plans12:08 - The Griddy lawsuit and contract regulations13:06 - No monopolies: you can switch providers anytime15:28 - Energy Ogre cuts bills in half for $10/month18:10 - How contract switching and negotiation works22:12 - The power grid is literally all connected24:58 - Power to Choose website limitations27:31 - Energy mix and the renewable integration29:19 - California's duck curve problem hits Texas31:03 - Battery storage: use it or lose it technology32:25 - AI data centers and grid infrastructure36:31 - Natural gas fueling most Texas electricity38:01 - Why correlation between gas and electricity prices weakened40:12 - Complex gas contracts and pipeline capacity43:14 - Did deregulation actually help consumers?44:13 - Rapid fire tips to lower your electricity bill48:55 - Smart meters track usage every five minutes51:12 - Insulation and weatherstripping matter more than you think52:36 - Three story homes are wildly inefficienthttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

Brandon Wamsley from Flatirons Chemicals joins the show to explain how the $100 billion oil and gas chemical industry actually works - from killing bacteria that sours wells to keeping pipelines from corroding in minus 58 degree North Dakota winters. He shares his journey from laying tile in construction to becoming a field technician in Williston during the Bakken boom, where people literally camped in tents chasing oil field opportunities. The conversation breaks down why chemicals are cheap insurance for producers, how bacteria creates hydrogen sulfide downhole, what H2S scavengers actually do, and why the industry churns through chemical providers every 2-3 years in an expensive honeymoon cycle that Flatirons is trying to disrupt with AI-powered solutions.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 Why chemicals are essential to oil and gas production03:45 Brandon's construction background and move to North Dakota08:01 Williston during the Bakken boom and tent cities11:19 Learning the chemical industry from the ground up14:08 Meeting mentor Ed and his 40 years in midstream18:01 Frack chemicals and evolving completion designs22:03 How bacteria contaminates wells and creates H2S27:11 The stream analogy for disrupting formations31:24 Turning wells on to production and artificial lift36:03 Midstream chemicals and H2S scavengers explained40:12 Innovating the chemical procurement process with AI45:09 Houston meetings and vertical integration strategy48:16 Life back in Colorado after two years in Willistonhttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

Joe Natale from Knight-Chemstar joins the show fresh off pulling off something pretty remarkable in Massachusetts - successfully running the first 100% renewable diesel pilot program for commuter rail locomotives in the country. He breaks down the wild logistics of moving renewable diesel from Midwest producers to New England, why heating oil is basically diesel's cousin, the bacon grease problem that happens when biodiesel gets cold, and why drop-in fuels make way more sense than ripping out all our infrastructure for electrification.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 Joe's background from terminal operator to renewables08:08 Development of Providence biodiesel rail terminal14:06 Winning and executing the MBTA renewable diesel pilot20:21 Sustainable aviation fuel distribution strategy25:04 Breaking down fuel types: ethanol, diesel, heating oil33:00 Northeast heating oil versus natural gas infrastructure38:15 Renewable diesel logistics and clean heat standards43:35 Drop-in fuels versus full electrification51:05 Cloud point and the biodiesel gelling problem55:33 Future of sustainable aviation fuel and incentiveshttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

Building startups turns into a rapid fire philosophy session on founders, culture, money, and why velocity beats speed when Jacob asks the dumb questions we all think about. Collin McLelland of Collide breaks down how real companies get built, why talent density matters more than headcount, how power, AI, and energy collide, and what actually keeps teams motivated when the grind gets real.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 Cold open and founder mindset03:00 Why founders matter more than CEOs06:00 Startup ideas and power generation10:00 Storytelling and clarity over time15:00 Culture, motivation, and communication19:00 Building a high velocity company25:00 Hiring, pay, and talent density31:00 Remote work and office culture38:00 Work ethic, burnout, and holidays44:00 Money, capital, and long term betshttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

Trying to make geophysics cool again, and honestly Peter Duncan from MicroSeismic, Inc. makes it easy. We bounce from a bear encounter in Newfoundland to why geophysicists are basically treasure hunters with pricey toys, then land on the simple difference between seismic and microseismic, why sound travels so freakishly well through rock, and how listening to tiny underground pops helps fracking and now geothermal get smarter without wrecking nearby wells.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. https://www.microseismic.com/2026-forum/00:00 Panel shoutout and event mention00:23 Peter’s back, making geophysics cool02:12 How he became a geophysicist07:18 Bear story in the field11:34 Geophysics shows up everywhere14:22 Geologist vs geophysicist basics23:13 Sound waves, earthquakes, and why seismic works26:05 Seismic vs microseismic explained28:11 Microseismic and geothermal’s comeback40:57 What MicroSeismic actually does in the field45:34 Frac hits and protecting neighboring wells48:52 Wrap-up and round three teasehttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters