# Reframing Aluminum As a Sustainable Energy Source: Insights from Peter Godart, Co-Founder and CEO of Found Energy

- Show: [Hardware to Save a Planet](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet)
- Published: 2023-09-14
- Length: 40m
- Episode: 35
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-09-14-reframing-aluminum-as-a-sustainable-energy-source-insights-from-peter-godart-co
- Listen: https://podcasts.fame.so/e/vn504lp8-peter-godart-sustainable-energy-source

## Summary

Peter Godart, Co-Founder and CEO of Found Energy, explains how his company uses aluminum as a high-density, carbon-free energy carrier to replace fossil fuels. He details the chemical process of reacting aluminum with water to generate hydrogen and heat, enabling the recycling of mixed aluminum waste into a usable fuel source. Godart discusses the technical challenges of managing multi-phase reactions in Found Energy's compact megawatt-scale reactors and the company's strategy to decarbonize the aluminum supply chain by turning smelters into 'big primary battery chargers.'

## Chapters

- [0:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-09-14-reframing-aluminum-as-a-sustainable-energy-source-insights-from-peter-godart-co#t=3) Introduction: Peter Godart and Found Energy
- [2:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-09-14-reframing-aluminum-as-a-sustainable-energy-source-insights-from-peter-godart-co#t=142) Godart's background: NASA JPL, Mars rovers, and Europa energy systems
- [9:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-09-14-reframing-aluminum-as-a-sustainable-energy-source-insights-from-peter-godart-co#t=567) The case for aluminum: Energy density, abundance, and the need for an energy carrier
- [12:16](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-09-14-reframing-aluminum-as-a-sustainable-energy-source-insights-from-peter-godart-co#t=736) The chemical process: Overcoming passivation and generating hydrogen from aluminum waste
- [22:34](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-09-14-reframing-aluminum-as-a-sustainable-energy-source-insights-from-peter-godart-co#t=1354) Business model: Serving the aluminum value chain and decarbonizing smelters
- [25:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-09-14-reframing-aluminum-as-a-sustainable-energy-source-insights-from-peter-godart-co#t=1533) Reactor engineering: Managing solid, liquid, and gas phases in continuous flow
- [29:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-09-14-reframing-aluminum-as-a-sustainable-energy-source-insights-from-peter-godart-co#t=1760) Future applications: Maritime shipping, disaster relief, and global energy transport

## Topics

- [Energy & climate tech](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/energy-and-climate-tech)
- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)
- [Mechanical engineering](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/mechanical-engineering)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Sustainability & circular products](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sustainability-and-circularity)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Found Energy (company)
- NASA (company)
- JPL (company)
- Panasonic (company)
- SpaceX (company)
- MIT (company)
- U.S. Department of Energy (company)
- Curiosity Mars Rover (product)

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- [138. How Thermal Batteries Will Scale Sustainable Energy ☀️🔋](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2023-09-05-138-how-thermal-batteries-will-scale-sustainable-energy) (The Next Byte Podcast)
- [279 - Aluminum Tequila Bottles? De Nada!](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2024-08-22-279-aluminum-tequila-bottles-de-nada) (People of Packaging)
- [218 - Big news for hydrogen in the USA with Phil Clark and Kevin Wyss](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2023-10-13-218-big-news-for-hydrogen-in-the-usa-with-phil-clark-and-kevin-wyss) (People of Packaging)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-09-14-reframing-aluminum-as-a-sustainable-energy-source-insights-from-peter-godart-co. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Hardware to Save a Planet.