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Peter Fairley

Peter Fairley Profile Photo

Senior Journalist

Peter Fairley is a freelance science journalist tracking the clean energy story, from the coal mines and solar farms of Inner Mongolia to the offgrid villages of Bolivia’s Cordillera Real and the tarsands of Alberta. His coverage of renewable energy, electric vehicles and power grids has earned top awards from Covering Climate Now, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Environmental Journalists, and the American Society of Business Publication Editors, among others. Fairley's byline appears in a wide range of publications including The Atlantic, Nature, The New York Times, MIT Technology Review and IEEE Spectrum, as well as regional and specialized publications.

14
Aug. 31, 2026

S4E14: The Forgotten Father of Modern Wind Power: The William Heronemus Story

Today, wind power is a mainstream part of the global energy system. But in the early 1970s, it was widely dismissed as outdated, impractical and incapable of producing electricity at scale. One man saw a very different future. William Heronemus was a decorated U.S. Navy engineer who helped design and build nuclear submarines before becoming one of the earliest champions of modern wind power. In 1972, he was already imagining vast offshore wind farms, floating platforms, multirotor turbines...
Guest: Peter Fairley