Nicolas Pinkowski of Nitricity on Lightning-Powered Fertilizer and the Decarbonized Future Of Food

50% of the global food supply relies on nitrogen fertilizer, which emits tons of greenhouse gasses. But startup Nitricity is making electrified climate-smart fertilizer by literally capturing lightning in reactors. Co-founder and CEO Nicolas Pinkowski joins the podcast to share the startup’s remarkable origin story from a make-shift lab in a Stanford backyard, to a full-fledged company revolutionizing agriculture and the future of our food supply.

Hear how Nico went from engineer to entrepreneur, testing ideas on lemon trees and destroying a few toasters in the process, on Consensus in Conversation streaming now wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Episode Highlights

• 00:00 Nicolas Pinkowski destroys a toaster in the name of science
• 00:51 Conor Gaughan introduces Nico Pinkowski and Nitricity 
• 03:49 Growing up, Stanford engineering, and Silicon Valley
• 13:00 Nitricity’s origin, capturing lightning to decarbonize fertilizer
• 26:26 Pitching and scaling decarbonized nitrogen fertilizer
• 35:03 Working with farmers, potential impact, and future growth 
• 44:06 What’s next and where to learn more
• 45:33 End credits

If you liked this episode, listen next to Matt Rogers of Mill Industries on Food Waste, Impactful Product Design, and Innovation

More on Nitricity and Nicolas Pinkowski:

• nitricity.co
• linkedin.com/company/nitricity 
• linkedin.com/in/nicolaspinkowski 
• https://ifdc.org/ (the International Fertilizer Development Center) 

Connect with Conor Gaughan on linkedin.com/in/ckgone and instagram.com/ckgone 

Have questions, or a great idea for a potential guest? Email us at CiC@consensus-digital.com

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Consensus in Conversation is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media produced in association with Reasonable Volume.