Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This week on Cleaning Up, Michael Liebreich is joined by Emmanouil Kakaras, engineer, academic, and Senior Advisor at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries EMEA, for a grounded, technical conversation about the intersection of emissions and engineering: gas turbines pushing the limits of thermodynamics, the trade-offs between hydrogen, ammonia, and synthetic fuels, and why carbon capture keeps coming back into the conversation.
Kakaras draws on decades in both academia and industry to explain how decisions actually get made inside large engineering companies, and why the energy transition isn’t about picking a single “winner,” but deploying a mix of solutions at scale.
Leadership Circle:
Cleaning Up is proud to be supported by its Leadership Circle. The members are Actis, Alcazar Energy, Arup, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Cygnum Capital, Davidson Kempner, Ecopragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schneider Electric, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information about the Leadership Circle, visit cleaningup.live
Links and more:
• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries: mhi.com
• Iron-Air Man - Ep144: Mateo Jaramillo: youtube.com/watch?v=Ih0gBGCkROM
• Cracking the Geothermal Code - Ep58: John Redfern: youtube.com/watch?v=MU8TDupVvjM
• The Dane who Harnessed the Wind - Ep139: Henrik Stiesdal: youtube.com/watch?v=7rjuZ_aCsFQ
• Ep121: Prof. Rob Miller "Jet-Zero Hero": youtu.be/zqMHiyyWlZo
• Padeswood CCS: Decarbonizing cement production in the UK padeswoodccs.co.uk
• Primetals: A decade of pioneering green steel solutions
spectra.mhi.com/energy-transition/a-decade-of-pioneering-green-steel-solutions
• Large Heat Pumps and the future of district heating
spectra.mhi.com/energy-transition/the-untapped-potential-of-district-heating
• The geothermal plant behind Europe’s lithium push
spectra.mhi.com/energy-transition/the-geothermal-plant-behind-europes-lithium-push
• What role will ‘new nuclear’ play in the energy transition?
spectra.mhi.com/energy-transition/what-role-will-new-nuclear-play-in-the-energy-transition
Chapters:
00:00 - Coming Up
00:37 - Introduction
04:55 - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
08:30 - More Than Gas Turbines?
12:00 - Hydrogen
16:00 - Ammonia
20:00 - Energy Economics
24:45 - Carbon Capture
29:00 - Hard To Abate Sectors
36:00 - Green Steel
42:00 - Large-Scale Batteries
46:10 - Heat Pumps
49:00 - Geothermal
54:00 - Nuclear
58:00 - Synthetic Fuels
01:02:30 - Methanol
01:08:45 - Outro
This week on Cleaning Up, Michael Liebreich is joined by Emmanouil Kakaras, engineer, academic, and Senior Advisor at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries EMEA, for a grounded, technical conversation about the intersection of emissions and engineering: gas turbines pushing the limits of thermodynamics, the trade-offs between hydrogen, ammonia, and synthetic fuels, and why carbon capture keeps coming back into the conversation.
Kakaras draws on decades in both academia and industry to explain how decisions actually get made inside large engineering companies, and why the energy transition isn’t about picking a single “winner,” but deploying a mix of solutions at scale.
Leadership Circle:
Cleaning Up is proud to be supported by its Leadership Circle. The members are Actis, Alcazar Energy, Arup, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Cygnum Capital, Davidson Kempner, Ecopragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schneider Electric, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information about the Leadership Circle, visit cleaningup.live
Links and more:
• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries: mhi.com
• Iron-Air Man - Ep144: Mateo Jaramillo: youtube.com/watch?v=Ih0gBGCkROM
• Cracking the Geothermal Code - Ep58: John Redfern: youtube.com/watch?v=MU8TDupVvjM
• The Dane who Harnessed the Wind - Ep139: Henrik Stiesdal: youtube.com/watch?v=7rjuZ_aCsFQ
• Ep121: Prof. Rob Miller "Jet-Zero Hero": youtu.be/zqMHiyyWlZo
• Padeswood CCS: Decarbonizing cement production in the UK padeswoodccs.co.uk
• Primetals: A decade of pioneering green steel solutions
spectra.mhi.com/energy-transition/a-decade-of-pioneering-green-steel-solutions
• Large Heat Pumps and the future of district heating
spectra.mhi.com/energy-transition/the-untapped-potential-of-district-heating
• The geothermal plant behind Europe’s lithium push
spectra.mhi.com/energy-transition/the-geothermal-plant-behind-europes-lithium-push
• What role will ‘new nuclear’ play in the energy transition?
spectra.mhi.com/energy-transition/what-role-will-new-nuclear-play-in-the-energy-transition
Chapters:
00:00 - Coming Up
00:37 - Introduction
04:55 - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
08:30 - More Than Gas Turbines?
12:00 - Hydrogen
16:00 - Ammonia
20:00 - Energy Economics
24:45 - Carbon Capture
29:00 - Hard To Abate Sectors
36:00 - Green Steel
42:00 - Large-Scale Batteries
46:10 - Heat Pumps
49:00 - Geothermal
54:00 - Nuclear
58:00 - Synthetic Fuels
01:02:30 - Methanol
01:08:45 - Outro
