Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Every single scenario for the future that looks at a cleaner energy system has electrification growing to 60, 70, 80% or more, and yet we don't make rapid progress. Why?
One of the reasons we don't make progress lies in narratives and culture wars. We hear about heat pumps that don't work, we hear about electric vehicles that don't work, we hear that electrification can't work for high temperature heat and so on, and then we hear a narrative that there is a false solution that will work much better: hydrogen. So how do we electrify things faster? By focussing on what we can do right now, commercially at scale, and removing the barriers that slow those sectors down.
Presenting the Electrification Staircase, a tool that breaks down the “Electrify Everything” argument into what can be achieved now, what will be in the near future, and what needs more support to come into being by the middle of the century.
This week on Cleaning Up, Michael is joined by the authors of the Electrification Staircase to explore their thinking behind it, how it can be used, and what can be done to get electrification moving even faster.
The authors are Adrian Hiel, Director of the Electrification Alliance, Silvia Madeddu, Solutions Architect at Schneider Electric, William Drake, analyst at Liebreich Associates and Thomas Butler, associate at the Regulatory Assistance Project, as well as Michael Liebreich.
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:
The Electrification Staircase: https://www.watts-next.eu/app/uploads/07b50d4f71ed1ece03c6cbac-electrification-staircase.png
The Electrification Staircase Appendix: drive.google.com/file/d/1qfn6xR7g7dXSZTlfkxcpOa8Pp0WKj7BW/view?usp=sharing
The Electrification Alliance: https://electrification-alliance.eu/
Regulatory Assistance Project: raponline.org
Sylvia Madeddu’s Past appearance on Cleaning Up: perspectives.se.com/youtube-sustainability-business-schneider-electric/ep103-dr-silvia-madeddu-industrial-heat-is-electrifying
Chapters:
00:00 - Coming Up
00:45 - Introduction
04:20 - What is the Electrification Staircase
07:45 - Heat & Industry - What’s Possible?
16:18 - Road Transport
21:30 - Trains
25:50 - Heavy Industry - What’s Hard?
30:00 - Pilot Projects
35:00 - Improving Flexibility
37:45 - Hydrogen
39:40 - Future Tech
42:00 - Using The Staircase
47:00 - Easy Stuff First
52:00 - Outro
Every single scenario for the future that looks at a cleaner energy system has electrification growing to 60, 70, 80% or more, and yet we don't make rapid progress. Why?
One of the reasons we don't make progress lies in narratives and culture wars. We hear about heat pumps that don't work, we hear about electric vehicles that don't work, we hear that electrification can't work for high temperature heat and so on, and then we hear a narrative that there is a false solution that will work much better: hydrogen. So how do we electrify things faster? By focussing on what we can do right now, commercially at scale, and removing the barriers that slow those sectors down.
Presenting the Electrification Staircase, a tool that breaks down the “Electrify Everything” argument into what can be achieved now, what will be in the near future, and what needs more support to come into being by the middle of the century.
This week on Cleaning Up, Michael is joined by the authors of the Electrification Staircase to explore their thinking behind it, how it can be used, and what can be done to get electrification moving even faster.
The authors are Adrian Hiel, Director of the Electrification Alliance, Silvia Madeddu, Solutions Architect at Schneider Electric, William Drake, analyst at Liebreich Associates and Thomas Butler, associate at the Regulatory Assistance Project, as well as Michael Liebreich.
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:
The Electrification Staircase: https://www.watts-next.eu/app/uploads/07b50d4f71ed1ece03c6cbac-electrification-staircase.png
The Electrification Staircase Appendix: drive.google.com/file/d/1qfn6xR7g7dXSZTlfkxcpOa8Pp0WKj7BW/view?usp=sharing
The Electrification Alliance: https://electrification-alliance.eu/
Regulatory Assistance Project: raponline.org
Sylvia Madeddu’s Past appearance on Cleaning Up: perspectives.se.com/youtube-sustainability-business-schneider-electric/ep103-dr-silvia-madeddu-industrial-heat-is-electrifying
Chapters:
00:00 - Coming Up
00:45 - Introduction
04:20 - What is the Electrification Staircase
07:45 - Heat & Industry - What’s Possible?
16:18 - Road Transport
21:30 - Trains
25:50 - Heavy Industry - What’s Hard?
30:00 - Pilot Projects
35:00 - Improving Flexibility
37:45 - Hydrogen
39:40 - Future Tech
42:00 - Using The Staircase
47:00 - Easy Stuff First
52:00 - Outro
