More Than Eight Minutes - Extended Interviews

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It's been about 6 and a half years since Hurricane Maria laid waste to Puerto Rico's power grid. As the island continues its recovery, it is pioneering a more distributed, renewable and resilient power infrastructure that the rest of us can learn from.

In this episode, Paul sits down with Javier Rua of the Solar and Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico to talk about the recovery process and what's next for the island.

For further reference:

Javier Rua

Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act - Act No. 17

Fossil-dependent Puerto Rico can fully shift to clean energy by 2050, a two-year federal study says - The Independent

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Thermal Energy Networks are matriced assemblies of pipes and heat pumps where buildings can not only utilize the heat from the ground beneath us, but repurpose heat from the buildings around us to make certain we're not wasting anything. And, because of that, these systems may be a super efficient and cost effective means to decarbonize large swaths of cities and neighborhoods.

Paul sits with Matt Rusteika, Director of Market Transformation at the Building Decarbonization Coalition, to talk about these emerging networks, why they show so much promise, and what's holding them back, so far, from a scaled up, mass roll-out.

For further research:

Matt Rusteika

Neighborhood Scale: The Future of Building Decarbonization

Building Decarbonization Coalition Webinar

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In this episode, Paul is joined by DR Richardson and Jan Keleher of Elephant Energy to discuss the challenges of the residential heat pump market. With an array of federal, state and local incentives, a myriad of technology options, sizing requirements, electrical upgrade decisions and other factors that play into installing these units, Elephant Energy has found a niche as a "one-stop shop" in helping homeowners.

We explore why business model innovations such as Elephant's may be necessary to ensure that this useful decarbonization technology gets deployed at scale.

For further research:

DR Richardson

Jan Keleher

Elephant Energy

Global Heat Pump Sales Continue Double Digit Growth - International Energy Agency

After Maine Surpasses 100,000 Heat Pump Goal Two Years Ahead of Schedule, Governor Mills Sets New, Ambitious Target

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In this episode, recorded a few weeks ago, Paul sits with Catherine Atkin, co-founder of Carbon Accountable and one of the chief architects of California's new carbon disclosure law, SB 253. This legislation will, for the first time, require large companies doing business in California to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions.

Paul and Catherine discuss the history of this groundbreaking law as well as the implications and impact that it could have on the climate crisis.

For more information on Catherine, please visit her LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherineatkin/

And for more information on Carbon Accountable, you can visit their website here:

https://www.carbonaccountable.org

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In this episode, Paul sits down Ashley Allen, Chief Sustainability Officer of the plant-based company, Oatly, to discuss the food system and the impact food has on climate change. In addition to discussing what Oatly is doing to mitigate their impact on GHG emissions, the two also discuss how the company is helping farmers and suppliers adapt to changing climate conditions as well as how Oatly is supporting consumers in reducing their planetary handprint through more informed product choices.

For more information on Oatly, visit:

https://www.oatly.com

And for more information on Ashley, please visit:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-n-p-allen-9483b0b3/

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In this week's episode, Paul sits down with Kathy Loftus of Retail Business Services, the services company for Ahold Delhaize USA which includes supermarkets such as Food Lion, Stop & Shop, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Giant Food. Kathy, RBS and the local retail brands of ADUSA are doing amazing work in helping to build sustainable supermarkets for the future. In addition to helping reduce operating emissions, ADUSA is also helping to drive down supply chain emissions.  

For more information on Ahold and their brands, visit:

https://www.aholddelhaize.com/en/Sustainability/

And for more information on Kathy:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathy-loftus-9105692/

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Not all of the energy challenges facing us are technical in nature. Equally important to scaling clean energy solutions are in lowering costs, investing in novel, newer technologies, and implementing processes that make it easy for consumers to transition.

In this episode, Paul sits with Tom Chase from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, MassCEC, to discuss how that organization is helping needed ideas come to market. And they take a bit of a deeper dive into what's needed to promote high performance buildings.

For those wanting to learn more about MassCEC and their programs, please visit:

https://www.masscec.com

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The next decade could be that of battery storage. Boosted by new tax credits in the IRA, batteries are poised to become one of the most powerful tools in our tool belt for shifting to cleaner electricity. But storage isn’t just about storing solar power for use at night. They represent security, resiliency, flexibility and an opportunity for consumers to take advantage of utility programs designed to lessen the overall burden on the grid.

Paul interviews Mike Goldman of Generac Grid Services to dive into behind-the-meter storage, the value stack making these investments ever more affordable, and the policies and regulations enabling this technology.

You can find an Eight Minute overview of the discussion on our sister podcast here

And you can find Mike on LinkedIn

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In this episode, Paul sits down with Greg Stevenson of Consumers Energy to talk about the utility's challenges and opportunities when it comes to helping the small and medium sized business (SMB) market. SMBs are something of a forgotten middle in the energy transition - as so much focus has been on large companies or on residential homeowners, but Greg and his team are putting in the effort to segment and understand this market in order to better serve it.

To find Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gestevenson/

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Not all renewable power projects are alike. A wind project placed next to another wind project may not have the same impact on reducing carbon emissions as one placed near a coal facility. The location and timing of when the renewable power is produced is important in order to truly maximize the impact. 

Enter Resurety, an analytics firm that is providing large commercial & industrial consumers of electricity with the data and insight needed to maximize the value from these renewable projects. Lee Taylor, CEO of REsurety, joins Paul to discuss the importance of an Emissions First perspective on project development.

The following are resources referenced during the episode:

www.resurety.com
https://www.emissionsfirst.com/principles

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