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One of the big stories in clean energy in recent years has been the electrification of transportation. For our first show of 2018 we're sticking with that theme and discussing the EV landscape in New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic. Our guest is Pam Frank, CEO of ChargEVC, a new organization based in New Jersey.

References mentioned in the show include:

• Gabel Associates
• New Jersey Coalition of Auto Retailers (NJCAR)
• Gov.-Elect Phil Murphy's Transition Team
• Isles, a Trenton-based non-profit
• Forth
• Alliance for Transportation Electrification (ATE)

Recorded January 3, 2018.

Published January 8, 2018.

Since MPTY launched nine months ago, we've covered the clean energy landscape from solar to wind, hydrokinetic to nuclear, biofuels to electric vehicles, battery storage and more. Our shows have been downloaded thousands of times, in 45 states and more than 30 countries. Enjoy this brief audio mashup that sprints through all of our 2017 interview episodes, starting with our very first show.

Thank you to my podcast mentors Tim Hamilton (The Maryland Crabs) and Scott MacMullan (The Annapolis Podcast) for their early guidance and encouragement. Thank you as always to The New Mastersounds for permission to use their tune Freckles. And thank you listeners for your feedback, suggestions and for listening this year! 

Our electric grid is in the midst of arguably its biggest transformation of the last hundred years. Changes in technology, different regulatory approaches, new business models, as well as the rise of distributed generation in which consumers generate their own power behind the meter—all of these factors are fundamentally upending our traditional electric grid, as well as making people question what the role of the utility should be in the future.

Joining the podcast to discuss the grid of the future are Christine Stearn, Senior Manager, 51st State Initative, and Tanuj Deora, Chief Content Officer, at SEPA, the Smart Electric Power Alliance based in Washington, D.C. 

Resources mentioned include:

• Baskin-Robbins' Old Fashioned Butter Pecan
• MPTY Podcast Episode 21: Electric Vehicles, Managed Charging and Utilities
• Light and Hope for Puerto Rico

Recorded: December 4, 2017.

Published: December 11, 2017.

This is the third of three episodes recorded at the Electric Drive Transportation Association’s first Leader Series Event, held at the National Press Club in downtown Washington, D.C. Titled Beyond the Beltway, the event brought together market and policy influencers to detail market trends and policy initiatives outside Washington that are driving the future of electric transportation.

This episode brings you the event’s closing panel, The New Movers in Electric Mobility: Public/Private Collaboration. Its panelists include:

• Matthew Nelson, Director of Government Affairs for Electrify America
• Elaine O’Grady, Senior Policy Advisor at NESCAUM, the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management
• Ashley Horvat, VP for Public and Private Partnerships at Greenlots
• Colleen Quinn, SVP for Global Public Policy at ChargePoint
• Terry O’Day, VP for Product Strategy and Market Development at EVgo

Nick Nigro, Founder of Atlas Public Policy, moderates the discussion.

Recorded: November 1, 2017.

Published: November 3, 2017.

This is the second of three episodes recorded at the Electric Drive Transportation Association’s first Leader Series Event, held this week at the National Press Club in downtown Washington, D.C. Titled Beyond the Beltway, the event brought together market and policy influencers to detail market trends and policy initiatives outside Washington that are driving the future of electric transportation.

This episode brings you remarks from Sue Gander, Director of Energy, Environment and Transportation at the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices.

Recorded: November 1, 2017.

Published: November 3, 2017.

This is the first of three episodes recorded at the Electric Drive Transportation Association’s first Leader Series Event, held at the National Press Club in downtown Washington, D.C. Titled Beyond the Beltway, the event brought together market and policy influencers to detail market trends and policy initiatives outside Washington that are driving the future of electric transportation.

This episode brings you the event’s opening panel, titled Scaling Solutions: Regional Electrification Strategies. Its panelists include:

• Bill Elrick, Executive Director of the California Fuel Cell Partnership
• Roland Hwang, Director of Energy and Transportation for the National Resources Defense Council
• Jeanette Shaw, Director of Governent Relations for Forth
• Chris Budzynski, Director of Utility Strategy at Exelon

Lisa Jerram, Principal Research Analsyt at Navigant Research, moderates the discussion.

Recorded: November 1, 2017.

Published: November 3, 2017.

In this episode, we dive into energy storage with Chief Content Officer Tanuj Deora and Senior Associate Nick Esch of SEPA, the Smart Electric Power Alliance. SEPA recently issued its annual Utility Storage Market which serves as the basis for our conversation. I start off with a ridiculously corny joke, then we get into the types of energy storage SEPA tracks; SEPA's methodology and key findings; ways in which state policies drive deployment; several different ways in which utilities are using storage both to address emergency power needs and in conjunction with distributed energy resources (DERs); how island grids can use storage to make their grids more resilient; how 2017's storage numbers are shaping up; and predictions for storage five or ten years from now, including the potential synergies with energy storage and electric vehicles. We also cover the neat analogy SEPA uses to explain the difference between power capacity and electrical energy. 

Resources mentioned in the show include:

• SEPA's 2017 Utility Energy Storage Market Snapshot
• Glasgow, Kentucky Electric Plant Board
• Village of Minster, Ohio Electric Department
• California's Self-Generation Incentive Program

Recorded September 28, 2017.

Published October 16, 2017.

National Drive Electric Week, sponsored by Plug-In America, the Sierra Club and the Electric Auto Association, is billed as a "national celebration" of electric vehicles. Hundreds of locally organized ride-and-drive events are held throughout the week across the country and overseas.

I was in Chicago last month during the last few days of National Drive Electric Week 2017, and stopped by two nearby events to check out the current EV landscape in the Midwest.

First up in this episode is the Naperville, Illinois event located about 30 miles west of Chicago, where I speak with Bruce Jones, a longtime board member of the Fox Valley Electric Auto Association. Then we head to Portage, Indiana, about 40 miles east of Chicago, where I interview Lauri Keagle, Membership and Program Manager for South Shore Clean Cities. Neither of these interviews were scheduled ahead of time, and I appreciate Bruce and Lauri for being so game when this stranger showed up unannounced with a field recorder and asked to interview them. So with that, we will start right in as I'm interviewing Bruce Jones in Naperville, Illinois, and then cut to my interview with Lauri Keagle in Portage, Indiana.

Some references in the show include:

Naperville:

• Fox Valley Electric Auto Association
• Naperville Auto Test Track

Portage:

• South Shore Clean Cities
• Midwest EVOLVE
• Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission
• DOE's Plug-In Electric Vehicle Handbook for Consumers
• DOE's Plug-In Electric Vehicle Handbook for Fleet Managers

Recorded September 15 and 17, 2017.

Published October 2, 2017.

In this episode we focus on rural America with two former state directors for USDA Rural Development: Bill Menner and Bill McGowan. Our conversation begins with a discussion about the need for homegrown local leadership to act as a sparkplug, and continues with why some rural communities struggle while others survive; the importance of broadband connectivity for rural economic development, and the need for government financial support for it; the economics and politics of clean energy in rural communities; and the political divide between rural and urban America. We wrap up the conversation with predictions about sustainable development and the future of rural America.

References include:

• USDA Rural Development
• Chesapeake Heritage Center
• B-CROP Act of 2017
• Iowa's Cultivation Corridor

Recorded September 10, 2017.

Published September 18, 2017.

North Carolina's Outer Banks are a popular vacation spot for millions of families who come for the hundreds of miles of sandy beaches, the surf and the sun. The Outer Banks are also well known historically as the place where the Wright Brothers first pioneered controlled flight more than 100 years ago.

These days, the Outer Banks are also the site of research into a new clean energy technology: marine hydrokinetic energy. On this episode of the podcast we are joined by Dr. Lindsay Dubbs, Co-Director of UNC Chapel Hill's Outer Banks Field Site, and Research Associate at the Renewable Ocean Energy Program at UNC's Coastal Studies Institute. We begin with Lindsay explaining what the Renewable Ocean Energy Program is and does. We then discuss some of the types of work its researchers are doing; some of the unique challenges that marine energy faces; how researchers are collecting oceanographic data and how it is being used; some of the different types of marine energy devices such as underwater turbines and kites; and the potential impacts of marine and hydrokinetic energy on marine life and ecosystems. We close with Lindsay describing the career path that led to her to working in the Renewable Ocean Energy Program, and offering a prediction about the future of renewable ocean energy.

Some of the projects and resources mentioned during the show include:

• Ocean Renewable Power Company's Maine Tidal Energy Project
• Verdant Power's Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project
• European Marine Energy Centre
• Resolute Marine Energy
• SAROS

Recorded August 10, 2017.

Published August 21, 2017.