Change Makers: Alfred Johnson, Crux CEO (Ep 205)

Crux is a Capital Markets platform, designed to streamline and modernize commercial workflows in the energy sector, particularly for upstream oil and gas companies. Alfred Johnson, Crux’s co-founder and CEO, joins Hill Vaden and Sam Humphreys to discuss the company's journey and the market intelligence offering customers can benefit from, so they not only facilitate transactions, but also offer insights into market behaviors. Learn more about Crux at: https://www.cruxclimate.com/ Learn more about S&P Global Commodity Insights energy coverage at: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en

San Francisco-based Halcyon is developing an AI-assisted search and information platform that aggregates and summarizes regulatory information that pertains to US power and gas markets. The sector-specific software is designed to improve workflows and decision-making by energy professionals.  Alex Klaessig, Halcyon Chief Data Officer, joins Hill Vaden and Sam Humphreys to discuss how his experience as an energy expert informs Halcyon product development and why domain specialization improves the user experience and generated results when working with artificial intelligence models. Learn more about Halcyon at: https://halcyon.io/about Learn more about S&P Global Commodity Insights energy coverage at: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en

London-based Pavegen makes triangular floor tiles that convert kinetic energy from human footsteps into electricity. The company’s technology has been installed in places that include airports, schools, dance floors, and stadiums in more than 40 countries. Laurence Kemball-Cook, founder and CEO of Pavegen, joins Hill Vaden and Sam Humphreys to discuss the idea behind converting footsteps into renewable energy and how Pavegen is embarking on a fresh funding round as it positions itself for scale within the smart-city sector. Learn more about Pavegen at: https://www.pavegen.com/ Learn more about S&P Global Commodity Insights energy coverage at: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en

Energy Recovery, with roots in the desalination industry, designs and manufactures energy-efficiency technology solutions to generate cost savings and support environmental sustainability for its global set of customers. Rodney Clemente, Energy Recovery Senior Vice President of Water, joins Hill Vaden and Sam Humphreys to discuss how the company is using its membrane-separation technologies to improve the energy intensity and economics of water desalination. Learn more about Energy Recovery at: https://energyrecovery.com/about/ Learn more about S&P Global Commodity Insights energy coverage at: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en

Oxford Policy Management (OPM) is a global consultancy working across climate policy, finance, disaster risk, energy, and urban planning helping governments and communities build resilience and reduce emissions.  Katherine Cooke, Principal Consultant and Hub Lead for Climate Finance, and Apar Paudyal, Senior Consultant for Climate Resilience and Sustainability, join Hill Vaden and Sam Humphreys to discuss energy and climate financing and the challenges around raising funds relating to adaptation in every changing environmental landscape.

The United States in 2025 surpassed the technical milestone of more than one gigaton of CO2 injected due, in large part, to CO2’s use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations. Oilfield expert Derek Gonsuron joins EnergyCents with hosts Hill Vaden and Sam Humphreys to discuss how EOR is helping to pioneer carbon capture and utilization technologies that can help mitigate the emissions from hard-to-abate sectors. Read more on the S&P Global Commodity Insights blog here: https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/news-research/blog/energy-transition/050925-us-hits-gigaton-milestone-in-co2-injection Learn more about S&P Global Commodity Insights energy coverage at: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en

ENFRA, formerly Bernhard, provides energy-as-a-service solutions for customers in the healthcare, higher education, hospitality, and industrial market segments. ENFRA CEO Rob Guthrie joins EnergyCents with hosts Hill Vaden and Sam Humphreys to discuss his experience leading the 106-year-old company through its rebranding to ENFRA and how its energy-as-a-service model helps health care and higher education customers focus on their core operations and worry less about managing their energy infrastructure. Learn more about ENFRA at: https://enfrasolutions.com/ Learn more about S&P Global Commodity Insights energy coverage at: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en

Carbon differentiation allows market participants to assign value to the role of greenhouse gas emissions associated with an economy’s goods and services. Carbon markets experts Kevin Birn and Jonty Rushforth join EnergyCents with hosts Hill Vaden and Sam Humphreys to discuss the evolution of differentiated carbon markets and how consistency in measurement and reporting can align participants’ economic incentives with environment ambitions. Learn more about S&P Global Commodity Insights energy coverage at: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en

Annual coal use in U.S. power generation has declined since the early 2000s as plants retire and renewables and natural gas win market share. However, 2025 may pause or slow the trend, if only temporarily. Coal-markets expert Wendy Schallom joins EnergyCents with hosts Hill Vaden and Sam Humphreys to discuss how two years of stockpile build and higher gas prices in 2025 have increased the near-term competitiveness of coal in U.S. power markets. Learn more about S&P Global Commodity Insights energy coverage at: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en 

The data-hungry upstream sector has been working with artificial intelligence for more than 40 years to, among other things, mitigate subsurface risks and predict production. Upstream expert Rachael Moreland joins EnergyCents with hosts Hill Vaden and Sam Humphreys to discuss the oil and gas industry’s history with AI adoption and where in the upstream value chain she’s most excited about the applications of modern innovation. Learn more about S&P Global Commodity Insights energy coverage at: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en