“Nobody listens to new music after the age of 35.” was a statement I read as I turned 50 that made me die a little inside. What ‘new’ band had I got into since 35? Only one, really: The Low Anthem – saw them twice live and named my youngest after their first album… but that’s it.

As we enter middle age there is a massive risk of getting stuck in our ways and using our gut instinct/comfort zone as our guide. To me this explains why climate change denial and anti-clean energy thinking are prevalent in the 65 year + age group and scarce amongst young people. Older people grew up with the huge material wealth boom delivered by the petrochemical sector and ‘stuff’; younger people see a wind turbine as perfectly normal and just want some electrons.

I think I’ve said before that I started the Net Zero Business Podcast because I felt stuck in a rut and wanted to got back to my learning zone where I thrive. My fear that I was getting left behind by the younger generation was short-lived. The knowledge and techniques I had developed over the last 27 or so years were not only relevant, but still cutting edge in a way I hadn’t expected. Where I have been learning most is around the evolving economics of clean (and dirty) energy, but I’m reassured that the fundamentals of what I do are solid.

If there was one issue I’ll admit to being mistaken on in my career, it is heat pumps. 25 years ago, they just felt wrong to my engineering mind – how could you magic 4 units of heat out of 1 unit of electricity in a world where the second law of thermodynamics rules supreme? I was convinced they would be exposed as a scam in practice. And, hands up, I was completely wrong.

But I fear that same gut instinct in my generation (and older) is holding back the transition to clean energy. The hydrogen, nuclear, carbon capture and storage crowd just can’t get their heads out of the old molecule-based energy systems (I’m looking at you, Tony Blair). They keep telling us that these technologies are cheap when they are far more expensive than wind, solar and/or battery storage.

Of course some of ‘them’ are shills for the oil and gas industry, trying to slow the transition so vested interests can wring some more cash out of the old ways of doing things. But how rarely those ‘do nothing’ tropes get challenged in the mainstream media or in political discourse is quite extraordinary. We hear about the cost of the transition, but never the cost of business as usual.

To make the transition happen, it is essential for all of us to keep learning, keep challenging our presumptions (and those of others), stay hungry for more.