The NetPositive Podcast: Recent Episodes
Ted Flanigan
The NetPositive Podcast, hosted by Ted Flanigan, provides information and insights in sustainability and the clean energy space. Flanigan's enthusiasm and vast experience in the energy and environmental arena is palpable, whether bringing cutting-edge developments to the fore, or interviewing and engaging with leading practitioners. The NetPositive Podcast has three categories: Conversations (Convo), Crash Courses, and News. Each covers good news, sustainability solutions, and perspectives intended to educate, inspire, and engage. Checkout EcoMotion's website: https://ecomotion.us/
In EcoNet News, Volume 25, Issue #8, Ted shares highlights from his daughter's wedding weekend, and just how honored he was to be the father of the bride. He also highlights Maine boasting heat pumps, BTS fans taking on coal, the formation of the charging coalition, Porsche's charging lounges, powering Rivian's adventure network, and rural electrification in Africa.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, father-daughter duo, Ted and Sierra Flanigan host the clean energy crash course focusing on the Millbrook solar story, a project in which all the stars aligned. Not only did the solar system take a huge chunk out of an institution's carbon footprint, but it was a good deal from the start, no money down and first year savings of over $50,000.
They start at the very beginning of the story, first sharing their family history - Ted being the grandson of the founder - then fast forwarding to 2013 when the solar system story begins. They then dive into the first steps: sizing the solar system, netting out efficiency, providing capacity for additional geothermal, and figuring out where to put the system.
They also discuss financing. The goal was to finance the system and to save money. Ted explains the Benefactor Investment Model that was developed for the project, giving credit to Millbrook Alum Mark Hopkinson. However, thanks to a New York State Grant, the system was ultimately financed with a highly favorable PPA.
Ted concludes by sharing the challenges and solutions along the way, as well as the next steps for Milbrook. He thanks all the key players for the success of the solar story.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with George Lindsay, Jr., President of the Christeen Oyster Sloop Preservation Corp, a non-profit in Oyster Bay, Long Island with the mission of preserving Oyster Bay's Marine Heritage by involving the community in traditional boat building.
He also serves on the boards of the Atlantic Class One Design Association, Camp DeWolfe, Concerts By The Pond, and the Long Island Traditional Music Association.
George is a lifelong resident of Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor, New York. He studied theater at Harvard College and the Yale School of Drama, and retired in 2017 after thirty four years as General Manager of Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at Long Island University. He is an avid sailor and, with his wife, Nancy Metz, enjoys folk music and dancing, and traveling to visit their three children and two grandchildren.
He and Ted discuss the launch of the Ida May, the first diesel powered oyster-dredging ship, which he rebuilt from scratch with other community members. They also discuss the health benefits of oysters, the history and preservation of oysters in Oyster Bay, and the future of Oyster farming.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Jenny Tse, founder and owner of Sipping Streams Tea Company, which has the distinction of operating the only geothermal-powered tea farm in the world. Jenny is also the best-selling author of The Essence is Tea: The Transformational Journey of a Tea Connoisseur, and the host of the Essence of Tea podcast.
Her extensive knowledge, expertise and experience has made her a sought-after speaker and trainer for the specialty tea industry. Sipping Streams’ custom tea infusions have won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the North American Tea Championships and 2nd at the Global Tea Championships, along with earning Jenny a 1st prize for the Top Tea Infusionist at the 2011 World Tea Expo. Sipping Streams also has been featured in Fresh Cup Magazine, Edible Alaska, and NPR.
Jenny and Ted discuss her background, born in Hong Kong and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, leaving only for five years to attend Boise State University in Idaho to study education and health. She shares how Alaska has shaped her and that tea was medium to help her with her self identity.
Her company began as a vision in 2004 when Jenny was making a career pivot from teaching high school and noticed the way that tea was able to bring different people together. Jenny’s passion for community, sustainability, and quality have allowed the Sipping Streams Tea Company to specialize in high-quality organic loose leaf tea, tea education, and running a specialty tea shop. Every blend is handcrafted and curated to be unique and fresh, and sourced directly from all over the world. Sipping Streams emphasizes the importance of sustainability through packaging, and especially with their non-GMO compostable pyramid tea sachets. In 2021, Sipping Streams Tea Company started the first ever tea farm in Alaska, and the only geothermal powered tea farm in the world. Jenny highlights the environmental and social impacts of tea.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Esha Chhabra, Author of Working to Restore: Harnessing the Power of Regenerative Business to Heal the World.
Esha is an accomplished author who specializes in writing about sustainability, international development, and the emergence of mission-driven brands. In the last decade, she has made significant contributions to numerous national and international publications, such as The Guardian, New York Times, Wired UK, Washington Post, Atlantic, Fast Company, Forbes, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and more, establishing herself as a prominent voice in her field. Her writing offers insightful perspectives and nuanced, thought-provoking analyses of pressing issues. Her work has been supported by the UN Foundation, and has been awarded multiple fellowships from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in Washington, D.C.
Esha and Ted discuss her background, Delhi-born, first-generation immigrant moving to California at the age of 6, and her interest in journalism from an early age. She moved to Washington D.C., received her undergraduate from Georgetown University, and then attended the London School of Economics and Politics Science for her graduate degree.
Her latest book is one of the first of its kind. It is a journalistic work with a series of case studies across industries that sheds light on the businesses which have restorative and regenerative practices at their core, going beyond the greenwashing to a shift in mindset that is helping heal the world. She describes her travels and the entrepreneurs and activists she met across the world, hitting every continent except Antarctica. She also unpacks the social and environmental innovations in relatable industries that people have everyday interactions with, such as coffee, shoemaking, healthcare, energy, and hospitality, highlighting companies that are genuinely doing the work and part of a global movement.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Gina McCarthy, the first-ever White House National Climate Advisor under President Biden and former U.S. EPA Administrator under President Obama.
Gina McCarthy is one of the nation’s most respected voices on climate change, the environment, and public health. As head of the Climate Policy Office under President Biden, McCarthy’s leadership led to the most aggressive action on climate in U.S. history, creating new jobs and unprecedented clean energy innovation and investments across the country. Her commitment to bold action across the Biden administration, supported by the climate and clean energy provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, restored U.S. climate leadership on a global stage and put a new U.S. national target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 within reach.
Throughout her years of public service in both Republican and Democratic administrations, McCarthy is credited for her common-sense strategies and ability to work across the aisle, with states, communities, business leaders, and the labor community, to tackle our nation’s toughest environmental challenges in ways that spur economic growth, and improve public health for workers and families, especially those living in environmental justice communities.
Prior to her appointment as White House National Climate Advisor, McCarthy was president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council. She served as professor of the practice of public health in the department of environmental health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she served as the director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment. McCarthy was also a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she engaged students, faculty, professionals, and climate leaders on actions to promote sustainability and justice. She also served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and an advisor to five Massachusetts governors.
Gina and Ted discuss her background, growing up in Boston, and spending her formative years playing outside in natural resource areas within the boundaries of the City. She shares that nature was in her blood and that being outside was all she cared about, so it was inevitable that the challenges that we are seeing with climate change is something that attracted her attention. She landed in the climate arena as a career when she was working as the Board of Health Agent in the town of Canton, intrigued with the intersection between environment and health, and the challenges that can be tackled to make people's lives better by remaining positive and showing them the future that can be delivered.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with William Boyd, Michael J. Klein Chair, Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law, and Professor at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. He is also a Faculty Co-Director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, and Project Lead for the Governors' Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF).
William and Ted discuss his background, growing up in South Carolina. He received his B.A. from University of North Carolina, his M.A. and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group, and his J.D. from Stanford Law School. He then moved to Washington D.C. and worked for the World Resources Institute, and was previously a Professor of Law and a John H. Schultz Energy Law Fellow at University of Colorado Boulder School of Law.
His primary research and teaching interests are in energy law and regulation, climate change law and policy, and environmental law. He continues to be actively involved in climate, energy, and environmental policy matters at multiple levels of governance. Since 2009, he has served as the Project Lead for the Governors' Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF), a unique subnational collaboration of 38 states and provinces from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Spain, and the United States that is working to develop regulatory frameworks to reduce emissions from deforestation and land use. Boyd is also the founding Director of the Laboratory for Energy & Environmental Policy innovation (LEEP), a policy innovation lab based in Boulder, Colorado that works with partners around the world to develop and support real-time policy experiments, establish robust networks for learning and exchange, and contribute to effective and durable policy outcomes.
In EcoNet News, Volume 25, Issue #7, Ted puts China's renewable revolution in perspective. He also highlights the U.S. EV charging networks, celebrates clean energy job growth, and shares some renewable energy news from around the world. There are stories on the Volkswagen Group commissioning a major solar installation in France, the EPA's rating of most efficient cars in 2023, and wind updates out of China and Sweden, as well as global wind capacity breaking record - 1 terawatt, or 1,000 gigawatts, or 1 million megawatts, or one billion kilowatt of wind capacity globally!
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Dr. Evan Mills, a recently retired Senior Scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), operated by the University of California--one of the world's leading research centers on energy and environment. He was past leader of LBNL's Center for Building Science, which represented the work of about 400 people, and continues his collaborations with "The Lab" as an Affiliate. He is also a Research Affiliate at the Energy Resources Group, operated by the University of California.
Dr. Mills is a member of the international body of scientists under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC collectively shared the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 with former U.S. Vice President Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr.
He and Ted discuss his background, growing up in the LA Hollywood Hills amongst creatives of all sorts. His academic career began at an alternative high school in Southern California. He then attended the University of California at Santa Cruz and was exposed to energy and building energy, and transferred as a sophomore to the University of California at Berkeley. While completing his Bachelors of Science degree in Conservation and Resource Studies at Berkeley, he studied and taught about green buildings with Sim van der Ryn. He received a Masters of Science degree from Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group (where he is now a Research Affiliate) and a Ph.D. from the Department of Environmental and Energy Systems Studies under Thomas B. Johansson at Lund University in Sweden.
In Sweden, he worked closely with the Swedish State Power Board (Vattenfall) and the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development on national energy planning projects, while serving as an energy advisor to the Swedish Parliamentary Working Group on Energy Futures. He then spent most of his career at LBNL. His closest mentor and collaborator there was Art Rosenfeld, for whom he served as his Deputy Director of the Center for Building Science, later leading the Center. He also currently consults widely for private industry and the public sector.
Dr. Mills research centers on the impacts of climate change and mitigating those impacts through reduced emissions and loss prevention. His specialties are energy efficiency in buildings and industry and the intersection of energy technology, global climate, and risk management. His interests further center around pinpointing "sleeper" uses of energy and empowering policymakers, consumers, and non-traditional market actors to capture improved efficiencies, reduced greenhouse-gas emissions, resilience, and other non-energy benefits.
Specifically, he highlights the edge cases and topics that don't get attention from mainstream policies, programs, or research agendas like the problem of kerosene lighting in the developing world, the issue of housing insurance in the face of climate change, green-gaming, the carbon footprint of cannabis cultivation, and remaining optimistic about the areas of improvement in building commissioning.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, father-daughter duo, Ted and Sierra Flanigan host the clean energy crash course focusing on the power grid and its stresses as things start to heat up across the country this summer. They discuss “the electricity traffic jam” and the importance of raising awareness of peak conditions.
They start by bringing the power grid down to basics – power plants, transmission lines, distribution lines – and how the grid handles this kind of stress. The conversation uses California and its Independent System Operator which manages our 50 GW system. Ted and Sierra then shift to responsible actions that each of us can take on the demand side to alleviate peak demands that are costly, and at times are highly disruptive and sometimes even life threatening.
Ted breaks what he calls “smart energy management” into four actions: conservation, energy efficiency, load management, and local distributed solar energy. Sierra asks Ted to link these actions with grid duress. What can be done right away? Ted encourages incremental action on the home front, we can all cut our power use by at least 5%, and encourages listeners to back policies that support innovation and an accelerated path to the ubiquitous clean energy future.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Jay Turner, Professor of Environmental Studies at Wellesley College and Author of Charged: A History of Batteries and Lessons for a Clean Energy Future.
Jay is also Author of The Promise of Wilderness: American Environmental Politics since 1964 (2012), which focuses on debates over public lands protection in the United States. His second book, The Republican Reversal: Conservatives and the Environment from Nixon to Trump (2018, co-authored) details the evolution of conservative opposition to environmental reform, culminating with the Trump administration.
He and Ted discuss his background, growing up in Virginia, attending Washington and Lee University, Brown University, and Princeton University for his PhD in environmental history. Jay has been teaching in the Environmental Studies Program at Wellesley College since the fall of 2006, and has also been active in sustainability initiatives at Wellesley and nearby communities, especially those pertaining to energy and climate change. In 2017, he helped lead a community solar campaign in Natick, Massachusetts that resulted in more than 150 new solar installations.
His most recent book, Charged: A History of Batteries and Lessons for a Clean Energy Future, unpacks the history of batteries to explore why solving the battery problem is crucial to a clean energy transition. He highlights their many uses: powering zero-emission vehicles, storing electricity from solar panels and wind turbines, and modernizing the electric grid, and demonstrates that they are essential to scaling up the renewable energy resources that help address global warming. He also digs into batteries' unique environmental impact—including mining, disposal, and more—questioning a clean energy transition risk trading one set of problems for another. With new insight on questions of justice and sustainability, Charged draws on the past for crucial lessons that will help us build a clean energy future, from the ground up.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Ari Matusiak, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rewiring America, the leading electrification non-profit, focused on electrifying everything in our communities. Ari is also the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Purpose Venture Group, a social impact incubator building ventures to address climate and economic inequality.
He and Ted discuss his background, growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, attending Brown University for his undergraduate degree, and Georgetown University for his Law degree. Following law school, he served in the Obama White House as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Private Sector Engagement, where he focused on economic policy related to jobs and competitiveness and oversaw the Administration’s relationship with the private sector.
Prior to Rewiring America and Purpose Venture Group, Ari was Chief Strategy Officer at Renovate America, which was the largest residential renewable energy and financing platform in the U.S., financing $3.5 billion of improvements across 150,000 homes. He also co-founded Young Invincibles, a nonprofit delivering economic opportunity to young adults. As the senior executive responsible for strategy and impact investing at the Rhode Island Foundation, he secured over $1 billion of new affordable housing and thousands of new, local jobs.
In his current role, Rewiring America is working to launch a movement that electrifies everything. His team is motivated by the fact that 90 percent of all emissions in the U.S. are energy-related, and 42 percent of those energy emissions come from the decisions made at around kitchen tables: how we heat our air and water, cook our food, and dry our clothes, and what kind of cars we drive. Through accurate, accessible, and actionable data and storytelling tools that power smart, inclusive advocacy and market-transforming partnerships, Rewiring America aims to achieve national emissions goals, improve health, lower monthly bills, and create millions of clean energy jobs.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Janice Lin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Strategen, a mission driven consulting firm that specializes in accelerating the clean energy transition.
Janice has distinguished herself as a leading clean energy changemaker and visionary. She brings more than two decades of experience in clean energy market development and corporate strategy to her current role. She has won numerous industry awards, including the 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year Cleanie® Award; the 2014 NAATBATT Market Development Award; and the ESA 2013 Phil Symons Energy Storage Award. She has served on the Electricity Advisory Council of the US Department of Energy, the Board of Advisors for the Energy Policy Initiatives Center (EPIC), and the Energy Storage Committee of Joint Venture Silicon Valley.
She and Ted discuss her background, growing up in Philadelphia, moving to Taipei, returning to the US following her high school graduation, and attending the University of Pennsylvania to receive a BS in Economics from the Wharton School, and a BA in International Relations from the College of Arts and Sciences. Janice also holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Prior to founding Strategen in 2005, Janice held several senior management positions with PowerLight Corporation (now SunPower Corporation), including Vice President of Product Strategy and Vice President of Business Development. During her tenure at PowerLight, Janice led initiatives in product and new market strategies, business development, regulatory affairs, strategic partnerships, investor relations, and customer finance.
She co-founded the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA) in 2009, where she successfully served as Executive Director for ten years, growing the organization into the definitive voice for energy storage in the state and beyond with over 100 active members. Janice also co-founded and for seven years chaired the annual Energy Storage North America (ESNA) conference and expo, the only mission-driven and the leading standalone grid-connected energy storage event in North America.
In her current role at Strategen, she has advised a diverse range of clients including renewable energy technology and service providers, developers, large corporations diversifying into clean energy, utilities, investment funds, and non-governmental organizations such as the World Bank. In 2019 Janice founded and serves as President at the Green Hydrogen Coalition, an educational non-profit dedicated to advancing the production and use of green hydrogen in all sectors where it will accelerate the transition to a carbon free energy system.
EcoNet News, Volume 25, Issue #6, highlights the impacts and achievements of Tai Chi master, Guo Jie, founder and leader of the Guo Jie Tai Chi Academy in Los Angeles as he received the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Traditional Chinese Martial Arts Federation. Ted shares good, tipping-point news; clean energy investments globally, are outpacing investments in fossil fuels. The issue also highlights the University of California’s flagship climate action, space solar, India's pause on new coal, nitrogen and digital-data footprints, and Arnold Schwarzenegger's climate change semantics.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Rod Matthews, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Brevian Energy, a renewable energy technology company based in California.
Rod is an experienced business technology consultant and microgrid solution provider with a background in aligning energy and technology initiatives with core business objectives. He is passionate about slowing down the impacts of climate change and believes the deployment of microgrids is a part of the solution.
He and Ted discuss his background, growing up in Shreveport, Louisiana, ranking nationally in High School as a fencer, joining the Navy as an electronics technician, and attending Southern Illinois University studying workforce development before delving into the IT world at Next Solutions, Inc.
At Brevian Energy, he's currently on a mission to take what he's learned as a business technology consultant and microgrid solution provider to educate real estate developers and property owners who are considering how and when to add microgrids, or other renewable energy infrastructure to their projects.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Wiktor Dotter, Chief Executive Officer at ZeBeyond, a global SaaS company.
Wiktor has a corporate development background in original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1 and 2 businesses where he has facilitated decision making for boards of directors of both listed and privately held companies. The ever-changing amount of input parameters (e.g., sustainability, investment capex, profitability, electrification) driven by an increasingly volatile investment environment led Wiktor to develop tools such as ZeBeyond's ePOP technologies, which enable instant change of assumptions and turn large-scale investments into footprint or platform developments.
He and Ted discuss his background, growing up in Southern Germany, attending university in Italy, and moving to Sweden ten years ago to pursue his career. In his current role as Chief Executive Officer at ZeByeond, a new global company leading the way in providing innovative and reliable system level simulation software, Wiktor and his team are providing manufacturers with an innovative, reliable, and cost-effective set of tools they can trust for their products, ensuring reductions in R&D time while supporting their sustainability commitments.
ZeBeyond has established a broad set of relationships with multiple partners and collaborators including automotive OEMs, Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, as well as sustainability life cycle centers and universities. Through these partnerships, the software company has had the opportunity to help embed sustainability into their early research and development efforts and ensure greener solutions for their systems. Wiktor shares that his vision is grounded in a commitment to engineering beyond net zero.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Dan Nadav, Chief Executive Officer at Enviro Power.
Dan has 20 years of experience in developing and deploying Distributed Generation (DG) technologies in North America and Europe. He is an expert in the commercialization of advanced energy technologies, and has led multiple product launch campaigns of various renewable technologies including geothermal, wind, waste heat recovery, and combined heat & power (CHP).
He and Ted discuss his background (originally from Israel), and before joining the energy space, being a concert pianist. Prior to joining Enviro Power, Dan held management positions at Ormat Technologies, Repower AG, Siemens Gamesa, and Qnergy where he led business development, sales, and marketing activities. He holds an M.B.A. from Cornell University, Johnson Graduate School of Management.
In his current role as Chief Executive Officer at Enviro Power, an advanced climate technology company that is revolutionizing the multi-billion heating system replacement market, Dan and his team are allowing property owners to generate on-site electricity within their existing heating system infrastructures. Enviro Power’s patented SmartWatt Boiler technology integrates a simple, low-pressure steam turbine into a condensing boiler structure. The product helps reduce carbon emissions at the same purchase, installation, and maintenance costs as replacing a traditional boiler. Dan shares that the SmartWatt Boiler is also positioned to become hydrogen-ready for future production of CO2-free heat and power.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, father-daughter duo, Ted and Sierra Flanigan host the clean energy crash course on climate action.
They start by discussing the wild fires on the East Coast, leading into a discussion on the climate crisis and how to be a part of the solution.
They break down their discussion into three three parts: the electricity, mobility, and manufacturing sectors. Ted highlights developments in offshore wind, EVs, and buildings and industry.
In addressing the push for practical solutions, they unpack materialism and quality of life. Part of the solution is making individual lifestyle changes and intentional decisions that serve oneself, community, and the planet at large.
EcoNet News, Volume 25, Issue #5, digs into intentional communities and leading sustainable lives, Ted shares a story out of Portland, Oregon where a couple bought a dilapidated building in 2007 and turned it into an intentional community brimming with community gardens. The issue also highlights rechargeable batteries, Dutch solar cycling paths, the City of Long Beach's plan to construct an offshore wind hub, tribal and Chinese storage projects, and rural electrification.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Mark Jacobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and Director of its Atmosphere/Energy Program. He is also a Co-Founder of the non-profit, Solutions Project.
Mark discusses his youth in Northern California, traveling down to Southern California for tennis matches, and his early concerns about air pollution. He then describes a distinguished academic career which started in civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, and progressed into atmospheric science at UCLA. Mark goes on to share his works as a prolific researcher, pioneering air quality monitoring as well as global wind potential modeling.
He then dives into his work co-founding Climate Solutions, a consortium of business leaders, actors, and scientists working together to present WWS (wind, water, and solar) solutions for cities and globally.
Mark has published textbooks and peer-reviewed journal articles, been featured on TED Talks, and was a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman. He shares his optimistic view on better understanding air pollution and global warming problems, and developing large-scale clean, renewable energy solutions for them.
In this issue of Flanigan's Eco-Logic, Ted takes listeners along on a journey aboard a cruise to Alaska. He starts by describing the geography of Alaska, then shares highlights of the trip, starting with Juneau and Whale-Watching, then to Icy Straits, Glacier Bay, and Ketchikan. He also dives into Alaska's key industries: oil, fishing, and timber, concluding with trip reflections.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Chris Lane, Chief Executive Officer at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies.
Chris discusses his awakening to nature and early fascination with birds, his upbringing in the southern United States, and his studies in environmental engineering at University of Florida, touching on his collegiate boxing prowess, and ultimately his move west to Colorado. He describes his early works with Ted at IRT Environment conducting case studies on exemplary energy efficiency programs.
Chris goes on to share his experience as the first Environment Affairs Director at Aspen Skiing Company, building a LEED certified building -- The SunDeck -- at the top of Aspen Mountain. He also talks about his work at Xanterra, where he directed the resort management firm's sustainability program, and was instrumental in building a 2 MW solar field in Death Valley.
He then dives into his work at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES), leading a staff of 45 employees who work with partner organizations, schools, government agencies, and other key decision makers to tackle regional environmental issues around ecological literacy, forest health, regenerative agriculture, land restoration, and climate change to advance conservation and education outcomes and create life-long commitments to the Earth.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Rick Heede, Director of the Climate Accountability Institute.
Rick discusses his early roots in Norway, his move to the United States, and his studies in energy and climate change that brought him to Colorado. He describes his early works studying carbon concentrations at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO, and later joining the Rocky Mountain Institute as one of the first staff members. He and Ted reminisce on the early days and the creativity of founder, Amory Lovins.
Rick goes on to share his experiences in quantifying carbon emissions, conducting greenhouse gas inventories, and calculating Scope 3 aviation emissions. He then dives into his work at the Carbon Accountability Institute, describing "The Carbon Majors" study, which details countries and companies that have the largest carbon footprint on a global scale. Rick demonstrates his passion for detailed quantification, ensuring that all aspects of the energy chain are accounted for, and that accountability is taken by those companies that knowingly contributed to the dire consequences of climate change.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Jigar Shah, Director of the Loan Programs Office at the U.S. Department of Energy.
Jigar discusses how the Loan Programs Office operates in terms of lending and taking risks to achieve its goals. He gives the example of how it helped Tesla scale up, and how they are now working to support the conversion of the Intermountain Power Plant from coal to hydrogen.
Jigar demonstrates the incredibly broad reach of the Loan Programs Office, especially now that they have significantly more funding since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. He also shares the fulfillment of working in the nation's capital at this time in history, when energy security has become a national priority. It is time to scale up to become energy independent, and to drive down energy costs and carbon in the process.
In this issue of Flanigan's Eco-Logic Podcast, Ted features Yvon Chouinard and his family’s gift of Patagonia to fight climate change. He also salutes Californians all who defeated proclamations of rolling black-outs and effectively kept the power grid on. Ted goes on to dig into the Inflation Reduction Act and its climate and energy funding and implications. Other stories feature Green Hydrogen Electrolyzers, the Little Free Library movement, and Air Canada’s purchase of electric planes.
Ted and David have a substantive discussion ranging from the roots of his environmental passion in Tehran, Iran as a child, to his long standing and official role as a Member of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. He's been appointed by four governors to this position. A division of Cal EPA, the Board is responsible for potable water, non-drinking water, stormwater, ocean waters and more throughout the region made up of 99 cities.
The current three-year drought is a big part of the conversation. David discusses the drought and its motivating effect as water supplies become scarce and more costly. This drives opportunities for local leadership and investments in efficient water use and reclamation. He salutes Orange County's wastewater reclamation. And while Los Angeles may not zero-out imports of water, the region is now squarely on a trajectory to lead the nation in managing water resources now further threatened by climate change.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Lauren Faber O'Connor, Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Los Angeles.
Ted and Lauren discuss her early career at the British Embassy promoting sustainability solutions, as well as the relationship between British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, which led to her moving home to California to serve as Assistant Secretary of the California EPA for Climate.
She goes to share how she landed back in Los Angeles to work for Mayor Garcetti to serve as deputy, and then Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Los Angeles, highlighting LA's unique role and its opportunity to create a potent model for sustainability. She digs into the breadth of environmental and equity issues the Mayor has spearheaded, and the responsibility and opportunity that LA has to serve in a local government leadership capacity. That opportunity includes demonstrating how the City has turned a major corner, completely transforming its environmental posture...from a City choked with traffic and pollution...to a model for the country and world.
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Mona Newton, former Executive Director of CORE (Community Office of Resource Efficiency), serving Aspen and Pitkin County, Colorado.
Ted and Mona discuss her background and early career working in Colorado’s Governor’s Energy Office, segueing into her role at CORE. CORE has an interesting community energy model made up of elected officials, utility representatives, and committed citizens to help people, businesses, municipalities, facilities and nonprofit organizations save natural resources and lower energy bills while reducing their carbon footprint.
Mona highlights three of CORE’s programs and projects: placing fees on mega-home developers to offset their carbon footprints, the genesis of the 5 MW solar farm near the Aspen Airport (and the collaboration that made it possible), as well as CORE’s work with capturing methane from abandoned coal mines, notably the five mines that constitute Coal Basin.
In this episode of Flanigan's Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Walter "Wally" McGuire, Retired CEO of the Flex Your Power Campaign.
Ted and Wally discuss his background and early career in campaign organizing, White House trip planning for President Jimmy Carter, his involvement in two Olympics, and managing the Pope's visit to Los Angeles. He also highlights his role in developing and managing the enormously successful Flex Your Power campaign for 15 years, demonstrating the importance of thanking the public for helping to avert blackouts versus them thinking that their contribution was not meaningful.
In this episode, Father - Daughter Duo, Ted and Sierra Flanigan, hold a Crash Course on offshore wind. They have a lively discussion on its fantastic potential, and unpack its challenges and its benefits. Listen to gain insight and learn more on the topic!
In this issue of Flanigan's Eco-Logic, Ted takes listeners along on a journey aboard Zephyr, sailing the Coast of Maine. He starts by introducing the State of Maine, then highlights each day of the sailing trip, starting at Falmouth and ending in Rockland. Along the way, Ted highlights Maine's lobster industry, renewable energy, and light houses. He also announces EcoMotion's B Corp certification and the company's long-standing tradition of eco-conscious work.
In this episode of Flanigan's Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Paul Schwer, President at PAE Consulting Engineers, Inc. As the president of PAE, Paul leads a talented group of over 380 engineering, design, and business professionals creating the most energy and water efficient buildings in the world.
Ted and Paul discuss the Living Building Challenge, and how it is the next step past LEED. Paul goes on to highlight the potential for timber framing, the PAE office building using waste as a product, and the concept for the "Irresistible Stairway" at the Bullitt Center. He also digs deeper into changing human behavior through curiosity, and expanding our thinking through our connection to nature.
In this issue of Flanigan's Eco-Logic, Ted Flanigan digs into all things elevators: cable-less, mag-levs, and high-rise gravity storage. He goes on to highlight The U.K.’s low-cost renewable tender, agrihoods and farm-centered communities, batteries addressing California's heat waves, swiss pumped-hydro storage, sand batteries, and shared mobility and active transportation.
In this episode of Flanigan's Eco-Logic, Ted Flanigan speaks with Christopher Klinga, Owner / Principal Engineer at Solmotiv, a Boulder, Colorado-based firm focused on applications of architectural glass. Ted and Chris discuss the definitions of BIPV-- building integrated photovoltaics - and architectural solar, the latter being fully baked into a building's design process.
Chris notes that in many cases, architectural solar can replace building construction components, like window walls of PV IGU -- the insulated glass units common in commercial buildings and skylights. They also dig deeper into PV Rapid Shutdown requirements, and then switch to the personal, discussing the magnet that drew Chris to Colorado, and his love for skiing and climbing.
In this episode of Flanigan's NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Susan Eirich, Executive Director of the Earthfire Institute, a wildlife sanctuary and rehabilitation center in Driggs, Idaho. She discusses her deep sentiments on the value of Reconnection Ecology, a framework created to reawaken our relationship with wildlife and nature, expanding our sense of community to include all living beings and moving us to protect thriving habitats for all life.
She talks about her love for the West, and her deep connection and instinctive understanding of wolves. Today, Earthfire Institute houses bears, wolves, and a menagerie of mammals native to the Yellowstone to Yukon wildlife corridor. Visitors, by appointment only, are welcome to observe and connect for a few hours, or even a few days!
In this issue of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan reflects on his trip visiting Esalen at Big Sur. He described the beauty, origins, and sustainability features.
He goes on to highlight two major stories out of Hawaii: the state's last coal-fired power station - the Kapolei station on Oahu – is slated for closure, and they are rewarding households for sharing clean energy with the grid at useful times. Ted also shares stories on EV equity, peecycling, Germany slashing train fares, European solar rooftops initiative, and the world's largest wind turbine.
In this episode of Flanigan's NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Rob Pratt, an extremely accomplished national and international leader in clean energy, on his career in Washington, DC and Central America developing renewable energy projects, founding the International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC) originally in China, founding GreenerU which focuses on American campus efficiency, and his current works in the South Pacific.
Rob is a for-profit and non-profit entrepreneur, a clean energy funder, and a governmental leader. He has founded or co-founded four companies and four non-profit organizations, raising more than $70 million in equity, grant and project funding and more than $250 million in energy project financing.
In this episode of Flanigan's NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Salem Afeworki, sustainability professional, on her resilient past and upbringing, which has led to her discovering her passion and career in sustainability.
Salem discusses her youth in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and how her parents pushed education as a pathway out of the turbulent region. She shares that her early job in the UN Peacekeeping Mission shaped her view of local conflicts, and exposed her to her world view. She later moved to Chile, earning degrees, and then to California as an environmental specialist. Salem's impressive resume of academic accomplishments speaks to her drive.
Up until very recently, Salem guided the City of Costa Mesa in its earliest works with sustainability as the Energy and Sustainability Services Division Manager, winning the 2022 Heroes Award.
In this episode of Flanigan's NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Dave Munk, Board Chair at Holy Cross Energy, on his vision for a customer centric utility industry transition for rural electric cooperatives to increase their business resilience and strengthen the communities they serve. Dave notes that Holy Cross Energy has made great strides toward advancing his vision and has been recognized for its "aggressive pursuit of economical clean energy."
Ted and Dave discuss his earlier career works, promoting water and energy efficiency in schools, supported by utility programs. They also touch on how shower head manufacturer, Ray Engel, had a vision for high efficiency / high performance shower heads, which were a key part of his kits that students got to take basic steps at home.
In this episode of Flanigan's NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Matt Harper, a clean-tech entrepreneur and product developer, on commercializing battery technology and bringing it to scale. Matt is an MIT educated engineer with a lifelong passion for innovation, and Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Invinity Energy Systems.
Ted and Matt discuss various battery chemistries and how they each have roles in energy storage: lithium for the short term, vanadium flow 8 - 12 hours, iron air for 100 - 150 hours, and green hydrogen for seasonal storage. Matt also shares great insights on coupling battery chemistries to "stack" revenue streams and benefits.
In this episode, Father - Daughter Duo, Ted and Sierra Flanigan, hold a Crash Course on their experimental solar home. They discuss the experience of taking an existing experimental home with perfect orientation and changing it from active solar heating to a passive house opening up great views and streams of sunshine. They delve into the history of the land and home, the design and goals of the home, and lessons along the way. Listen to learn about what you can do to integrate some of these practices into your home.
In this issue of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan reflects on the memorial of his late stepbrother, Chris Avery. He attended the dedication ceremony of Restoration Ranch, and shares the vision of Kathryn Avery, Chris' wife, to create a haven for first responders to relax, reflect, recreate, and focus on wellness.
He goes on to highlight electric Class 8 trucks with 200 hundred miles of range, a Texas-based builders plan to focus on sustainability and build 200,000 homes that are each an energy-resilient microgrid, and China boasting the world's biggest energy corridor. He also shares stories on the Las Vegas turf-ban, Stanford University's new school of climate, green roof's in France, and the clean heat standard aimed at driving down emissions from heating fuels.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Rob Watson, known as the "Founding Father of LEED," on the current state of productivity in the building sector. Under Rob’s direction, LEED became the largest and fastest-growing international green building standard, though he notes with concern the structural capabilities of delivering sustainability at scale, scope, and speed.
Ted and Rob also discuss the SWEEP Standard (Solid Waste Environmental Excellence Performance), launched in 2016, which is a LEED-like standard, but for standard solid waste. In his current role as a Principal with Upland Road, LLC, Rob develops eco-industrial campuses around a disruptive technology and business model that revolutionizes the global materials management industry by separating, diverting, and recycling up to 95% of municipal mixed waste that is collected in one bin.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Laurel Rothschild, Vice President of Programs at The Energy Coalition, on overseeing one of California's most important and impactful energy-based nonprofit's diverse portfolio of programs. She collaborates with stakeholders across the state to advance the organization’s mission of empowering and educating communities to leap into the clean energy future. Laurel has over 13 years of experience working with local governments, students, and under-resourced communities to promote transformative programs, as well as energy efficiency action, effectively and efficiently.
In this issue of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan reflects on the 52nd anniversary of Earth Day and encourages listeners to to take action and invest in our planet. He goes on to highlight CAISO (California Independent System Operator) setting a new record by delivering 97.6% renewable energy to the State’s power grid. He also shares stories on tidal power in the United Kingdom, Spain’s first wave energy power plant, carbon neutral lithium, Southern California mass transit milestones, the European Hydrogen Backbone Initiative, and the US mandating new vehicles sold to have an average 49 MPG fleet wide by 2026.
In this special episode, Father - Daughter Trio, Ted, Sierra, and Skye Flanigan, hold an Earth Day Special on the origins and future of the sustainability movement, and what gives them optimism about ability to tackle climate change. Ted reflects on his conversation with Denis Hayes, Founder of Earth Day, and his personal experiences on past Earth Days. Skye then brings in a fresh take on what Earth Day now means to the youth, and shifts the focus on climate justice, a call to action, and accessibility to the environmental movement for all.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Craig Perkins, President and Executive Director at The Energy Coalition, on his extensive experience in designing and implementing energy programs and policies in Southern California. Prior to joining TEC in 2008, he was Director of Environmental and Public Works Management for the City of Santa Monica, where he served for over 25 years. Craig has played a key leadership role in shaping regulatory energy efficiency policies that have resulted in successful program implementation.
In this episode, Father - Daughter Duo, Ted and Sierra Flanigan, hold a Crash Course on Green Hydrogen. Ted educates listeners on the basics, breaking down the chemistry of the element, where it comes from, and once it is formed, the various options for its use. He delves into its many different applications as a fuel used in transport, buildings, or industry, and opportunities on the distributed, residential, and big scale, commercial level. Listen to learn about the colorful renewable resource, its challenges, and its potential in securing a renewable energy future.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, an environmental scientist, founder of the Green Sports Alliance, and advisor to the Olympics and sports teams around the world. He shares his background, motivation for his work, and passion to alleviate human suffering, demonstrating the connection between greening and global issues. Dr. Hershkowitz was a solid waste expert in New York City, founded the Green Sports Alliance, and is the Environmental Science Advisor to the New York Yankees.
In this issue of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan shares his experience serving as a Commissioner for Glendale Water and Power, and the controversy that comes along with civic duty. He also digs into hydrogen, highlighting stories on hydrogen mega projects, hydrogen and thermal nitrogen oxides, and pumped hydro storage.
Ted goes on to share big stories coming from down under, like Australian billionaires plans to bring solar power from Australia to Singapore via an undersea cable link known as the Australia - Asia PowerLink and Redflow, an Australian redox flow battery maker, planning a second United States project, which will be its largest to date.
In addition to hydrogen and Australian renewable energy projects, Ted discusses 24/7 CFE carbon-free accounting, the DOE's action plan for the safe and responsible handling of PV end of life materials (EOL), Europe’s Beyond Coal Campaign's new report on the solar potential of “coal sites” in Turkey, and New York becoming the first state in the nation to surpass 1 GW of community solar installed.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Aura Vasquez, a leader, advocate, and activist for environmental and social justice issues with extensive experience in policies that improve the lives of the frontline communities. She shares her origin story, inspiration, and career in advocacy, policy, and community organizing for social change. Aura was a former candidate for Los Angeles City Council in 2020, organized with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, and served as Commissioner, appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Joel Levin, Executive Director at Plug In America, a leading advocate for EVs, clean energy, and effective climate policies. He is chair of the Global EV Drivers’ Alliance, which links together EV driver associations around the world. He is also a member of the Los Angeles Metro Sustainability Council. Ted and Joel discuss the history of EVs in California, their benefits, and the growing variety of EVs while their costs are coming down and range is increasing.
In this issue of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan shares several stories on green hydrogen, including the Hydrogen Shot initiative to drive down the cost of clean hydrogen, a brand-new initiative to pipe green hydrogen into the Los Angeles Basin, plus green hydrogen projects in Spain and New Zealand. He also highlights federal funding for Amtrak, EV charging, and hydrogen through the the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, iron-air batteries, the U.S. Army's announcement to install a microgrid at every one of its 130 bases worldwide by 2035, rooftop community solar on Long Island, New York, and embodied carbon in buildings.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Nurit Katz, Chief Sustainability Officer at UCLA for over 12 years, where she also teaches in the sustainability certificate program. They discuss the breadth of sustainability initiatives on such a huge campus, with a daytime population of 80,000, as well as statewide and regional collaborations to promote sustainability.
In this episode, Father - Daughter Duo, Ted and Sierra Flanigan, hold a Crash Course on Net Energy Metering. Ted breaks down the electricity billing mechanism, its origin, and evolution. Listen to gain perspective on the controversial topic, and its future trajectory in guaranteeing solar incentives to customers.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Peter Rumsey, founder and CEO of Point Energy Innovations, a consulting firm specializing in ultra-efficient buildings and decarbonization. They discuss his extensive career in technological innovation, and all the contributions he has made in the design of low energy and zero energy buildings internationally. He pioneered such key building innovations as chilled beams, radiant cooling, data center economizers, zero energy buildings and affordable LEED Platinum buildings. Peter has transformed the building industry by creating examples of the world's most innovative and most sustainable buildings.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Kitty Adams, Executive Director and founder of Adopt a Charger. They discuss the genesis of the nonprofit organization, and the work she has done to facilitate the installation of over 400 charging stations in 11 states, all funded by corporate donors, grants from utilities, agencies, and foundations, as well as private contributions. In its early years, Adopt a Charger was awarded a CEC grant to install EV charging at California State Parks. A recent announcement featured the partnership for charging she recently forged at Yosemite National Park with Rivian Motors. Kitty Adams continues to advocate EV access through ubiquitous charging, and to keep the price of charging down so that more people can benefit from the low-cost operating costs of electric vehicles.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan shares an op-ed advocating for the acceleration of well-designed solar + storage programs. He highlights lithium-ion battery recycling, big American solar in Indiana, the repurposing of a former coal strip mine to a pumped hydro storage system, GAF Energy’s solar roof shingles, and Ubiquitous Energy’s solar windows. He also shares stories on Adopt a Charger's recent collaboration with Rivian, EV hubs, and Shell's strategic partnership with Chinese automaker NIO for innovative battery swap stations.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Steve Lewis, architect and a tireless advocate for social justice, on diversity within the field of architecture and shaping the vision of present and future sustainable and equitable development. He discusses his time as President of the National Organization of Minority Architects, traveling around the country advocating for architects of color, while cultivating the next generation of diverse architects and designers who seek to effect positive change to our world.
In this episode, Father - Daughter Duo, Ted and Sierra Flanigan, hold a Crash Course on electric vehicles. Ted takes listeners on a concise trip around the EV industry, from its roots to its explosive growth and current status in the market. Listen for a high-level overview on the EV world, and its potential to stem the ravages of climate change towards a more sustainable energy future.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan discusses taking responsible climate action, sharing his insights on CPUC's proposed decision on NEM. He highlights many developments in the EV world, including Toyota's announcement to spend $70 billion to electrify its lineup of vehicles, BYD’s LFP batteries being shifted to electric cars, Ford reporting nearly 200,000 reservations for its F-150 Lightning pickup truck, California passing the million EV mark, Electrify America planning to offer a drive-in experience at its new charging stations at the Westfield Valley Fair shopping center in Santa Clara, California, and the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) announcement to form the National Electric Highway Coalition. He also shares stories on Ithaca being the first U.S. city committed to 100% decarbonization of its buildings, pairing crops with solar, blue and green hydrogen and ammonia, and Chinese wind production.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Dan Mabe, the Founder of the American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA), on a systems approach to electrifying garden equipment, making landscaping more sustainable, and practical solutions for working professionals. Mabe describes AGZA as “A group of people whose mission is to ‘prudently’ help facilitate low impact, cleaner, and quieter technologies and operations for the grounds maintenance industry.” Mabe and his team work with cities, towns, academia, landscape maintenance companies, contractors, and air quality management agencies providing sustainable grounds maintenance education and consultation.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan speaks with Gary Gero, LA County's Chief Sustainability Officer, on recently completing a comprehensive Climate Vulnerability Assessment that identifies communities and populations at risk of climate hazards. The Climate Vulnerability Assessment found that those communities face an increased exposure to climate hazards, combined with factors that will make it harder to respond and recover from those events, such as age, health, income and infrastructure. The findings demonstrate how social and economic inequality leaves millions at a disadvantage as the climate crisis heats up, underscoring the urgent need to take action.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan commends all those that participated in the COP26. He also highlights stories on 24/7 renewables, the $100 million Carbon Removal X Prize funded by Elon Musk, synergy in microgrid functionality with utilities, organic foods, floatovoltaics, sustainable vacations, and the recently released episodes of the NetPositive Podcast.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast Convo with Ted Flanigan, Craig Ebert, the Executive Director of Climate Action Reserve, presents his perspectives on COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland. As a veteran of 13 COPs, and leader of a 15-state delegation in Glasgow this year, Craig is as frustrated with the slow progress, but optimistic about private-sector movements toward a clean energy economy.
In this episode, Father - Daughter Duo, Ted and Sierra Flanigan, hold a Crash Course on Vehicle to Grid technology (V2G). Ted goes into early experiments, the mutual benefit of the technology for both consumers and utilities, power walls, EVs, and a leading V2G case study. Listen for a high-level overview on the topic, and more immediate applications.
In this episode of The NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan interviews Dave Houghton, a professional engineer that Ted originally hired at Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado. Dave has since had a colorful career as an engineer, educator, and most recently pilot! He discusses the engineering principles of the soft path, as well as one exemplary cooling chimney project.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan shares his passion for fall hiking in Aspen, Colorado with family and friends. He highlights Hertz's planned new electric vehicle rental car fleet, McKinsey & Company employees demanding climate responsibility, the greenest colleges, transcontinental wind and solar delivery from Morocco to the UK, and a perspective on the world's largest energy storage facility and the complementary value of distributed storage. The microgrids series comes to end with the release of the 10th and final part, discussing the challenges and opportunities related to EcoMotion's current work building energy resilient buildings/microgrids in California.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan reflects on lunch with a childhood friend and their discussion on climate optimism. He also shares his experience at sea aboard the Ramblin' Rose hybrid sailing. He encourages readers to pledge and join the California Clean Air Day movement, in addition to highlighting LA accelerating its climate pledge, future studies on solar potential in the U.S., decarbonizing shipping, the world’s largest direct air capture and storage plant, Amazon investing heavily in renewable energy, and carbon-negative cement.
In this episode, Sierra Flanigan picks Ted Flanigan's brain on energy storage: What is it? Why does it matter? What is the history and future of energy storage, anyway? Listen for a high-level overview on energy storage and its important role in decarbonizing our economy.
Father-daughter duo Ted Flanigan and Sierra Flanigan hold a live crash course on microgrids, their genesis and exciting developments. Thanks to the rise in energy storage, Ted Flanigan explains that today's microgrids combine solar and storage with sophisticated controls. The result is systems that can "island" and operate indefinitely when the grid fails. New-age microgrids also have "day jobs," earning revenues and paying for themselves over time.
Phyllis E.Currie discusses her career, leadership roles, and accomplishments as a female utility executive in California with Ted Flanigan. Ms. Currie discusses steps to becoming the Chief Financial Officer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and then as General Manager of Pasadena Water and Power.
She is currently the Chair of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator Board of Directors, an executive consultant for Hometown Connections, while serving on the national board of directors of GRID Alternatives.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan reflects on his trip to New York and Vermont to celebrate his mom's birthday and spend time with family. He also releases the ninth part of a 10 part series on microgrids, sharing microgrid perspectives by industry leaders. He goes on to highlight fascinating stories in the ecosphere, from fossil-free steel and delivery drones to San Francisco's hydrogen ferry, highways that charge EVs, German coal plants closing, and latest episodes of The NetPositive Podcast Convo series.
Learn about the life and career of Monica Campagna, as she discusses her involvement with the Glendale Environmental Coalition (GEC), the Grayson Power Plant story, micro-recycling at a local elementary school, and other eco-passions with Ted Flanigan.
Join us in a conversation with Bryan Hannegan, the President and CEO of Holy Cross Energy, an electric cooperative high in the Colorado mountains. Hannegan is leading Holy Cross to a carbon-free and distributed energy future, encouraging members to be part of the utility in ways never foreseen before.
There's no denying that climate coverage is increasing, but are we talking about climate change in a way that will spur action? This episode of The NetPositive Podcast features climate communications expert, Susan Joy Hassol. She delves into how we can communicate climate change impacts effectively so people feel inspired to take climate action.
Johnny Weiss is the co-founder of Solar Energy International, a Colorado based non profit. Its mission is to train the global workforce in practical application of solar technology. SEI has trained tens of thousands of students who come from 180 countries around the world. Johnny's careers and tales range from powering solar systems in the heart of Tanzania to developing training programs for Native Americans throughout the Great Plains. A passionate teacher, his story is one of great meaning and fulfillment.
Peter Asmus is a Research Director at Guidehouse Insights, the firm that recently acquired Navigant Research where Peter worked for a decade. An investigative reporter and seasoned researcher, he provides valuable insights and perspectives on microgrids and the changing utility landscape. Peter discusses the genesis of microgrids in the developing world, shunned in Europe where reliability has never been an issue, and microgrids in America, notably California, given concerns about PSPS events and wildfires. Peter covers microgrid issues including utility culture, interconnection, generators, modular UL-approved systems, and energy as a service, fully financed and operated systems with no upfront capital costs.
This issue of EcoNet News celebrates current and upcoming innovations in the EV world. Ted Flanigan delves further into stories on the EU pushing hard on climate protection, General Motors greening suppliers and customers, the Extended Producer Responsibility program in Maine, recycling old wind turbine blades and forming them into blocks for gravitational storage, and the uptick in PPAs being used by corporate America. He also presents the eighth installment of a 10 part series on microgrids, discussing generators.
This episode features great news, from the IKEA / Rockefeller billion dollar solar initiative, to electrifying shipping and commuter aviation, to setting records for fuel cell cars, to greening NATO, blowing up coal plants, and the rise of offshore wind in the Gulf of Mexico. Also Microgrids 1.7: A technical piece on Interconnection.
This episode features a conversation with Michael Shepard, a longstanding friend and colleague I worked with many years ago at Rocky Mountain Institute. For many years, Michael headed up E Source, a spinoff of the Institute that has had a global impact.
Now Michael is devoting his time to raising awareness about a huge and largely invisible environmental problem… exposure to cooking smoke. Some 4 billion global citizens rely on primitive, “stone age,” cooking techniques with many health, ecological, and social problems… costing our society trillions of dollars each year.
There is a solution: A model developed in Africa is based on gasification of wood pellets for basic, but clean burning cookstoves. The highly efficient stoves require far less fuel, and hold great promise. Michael is now raising awareness and money to take this problem head on.
Across the country, there is a growing regulatory movement to dramatically reduce the net energy metering incentive for solar. AB 1139 -- a California bill that aimed to reduce the buy back (the export value) of residential solar -- did not pass, but the battle for those that advocate for distributed energy resources is not over. In this episode, Kate Unger, Senior Policy Advisor at CALSSA, discusses the future of local solar.
Kirk Stokes provides a seasoned perspective to interconnecting distributed energy resources, notably solar and storage, featuring lessons learned connecting six microgrids in Monterey County to the PG&E grid.
- Flanigan's Eco-Logic- Dinner with Amory (5/21) - 0:13
- Hybrid Sailing on the Ramblin’ Rose (9/21) - 6:02
- Carbon-Negative Cement (9/21) - 12:11
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan reflects on his dinner with Amory. He also releases the sixth part of a 10 part series on microgrids, unpacking the concept of giving batteries a “day job.” He presents Ford’s all-electric, brand-new F-150 called the Lightning, Montreal hosting the world’s largest rooftop farm, futuristic mobility filtering the air and oceans, geographic wind diversity, and the newest additions to the NetPositive Podcast.
In this episode, Ted Flanigan interviews Jonathan Parfrey, founder and Executive Director of Climate Resolve. The conversation covers his youth, his awakenings, then his works with the OC Catholic Worker, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and as a Commissioner for Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. At Climate Revolve, Jonathan is transforming sustainability from being a virtue to a necessity.
In this Earth Day/Climate Action special of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan interviews Denis Hayes, the coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970 and the founder of the Earth Day Network. Ted also releases the fifth part of a 10 part series on microgrids, discussing critical loads. He highlights corporate executives around the country pushing for climate action, as well as other climate action related stories on repurposing power plants, constructing the loop in Vegas, microbial soil sequestration, and Helsinki's offshore thermal energy storage concept.
In this episode of The NetPositive, Ted Flanigan interviews Denis Hayes, the coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970 and the founder of the Earth Day Network, perhaps the largest secular movement in history. What a time of strife... Vietnam, Cambodia, Nixon, overlaid with air and water pollution. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter, Denis discusses his work at Solar Energy Research Institute, now NREL, and brings us up to date with his current regional work promoting sustainability at the helm of The Bullitt Foundation in Seattle.
Ted Flanigan interviews Angelina Galiteva, Chair of Board of Governors of California Independent System Operator, about her background, love for renewable energy, and her reappointment by Governor Gavin Newsom to a third term to CA Grid Operator Board. They dissect the essence of the ISO, the transmission system, managing the wholesale power market, the grid collapse in Texas, and her influence on other ISO's.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan salutes the Aspen Skiing Company for Climate Action. Ted also releases the fourth part of a 10 part series on microgrids, telling the story of EcoMotion’s first adventures with microgrids at the Santa Rita Union School District. In addition to climate action and microgrids, there are stories on net negative bioenergy works, all-electric tankers, hydrogen updates on Saudi Arabia and hydrogen goop, energy storage news, and hillside solar.
This edition of The NetPositive Podcast features a conversation with Auden Schendler, Vice President of the Aspen Skiing Company for Environmental Sustainability. Nearly ten years ago, SkiCo invested in a methane capture project at a mine in the next county, tackling a major environmental problem since methane is like "carbon on steroids," while generating enough green power for all of SkiCo's operations.
Ted Flanigan interviews Andrew Waddell, EcoMotion's newest addition to the solar team, about his recent findings on hillside solar. A client prompted the EcoMotion to take a closer look at similar projects across California. They discuss the fundamentals of hillside solar: design and procurement, potential obstacles, and savings outcomes for residential and commercial owners.
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on virtual power plants:
- Portland’s Virtual Power Plant (7/20) – 0:13
- Virtual Power Plants (12/20) – 1:28
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on wind:
- Black Wind Turbine Blades (8/20) – 0:13
- Offshore Wind “Floaters” Poised (11/20) – 2:01
- Tidal Power Turbines (11/20) – 4:43
- Recycling Wind Turbine Blades (12/20) – 5:59
- Green Hydrogen from Offshore Wind (1/21) – 8:25
- Big Wind Projects in Denmark and South Korea (2/21) – 10:08
- America's First Big Offshore Wind Project (5/21) - 12:46
- Geographic Wind Diversity (5/21) - 16:03
- Wind Catchers and GOM Wind (6/21) - 17:35
- Mash-Up- Spent Blades / Gravitational Storage (7/21) - 19:40
- Transcontinental Wind Delivery (10/21) - 21:37
- Setting the Bar Higher on Renewables (11/21) - 23:13
- Big-Time Floatovoltaics (11/21) - 26:43
- Chinese Wind Production (12/21) - 30:44
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on water:
- Laundry to Landscape (5/20) – 0:13
- Smart Pressure Management (12/20) – 2:20
- Big-Time Floatovoltaics (11/21) - 3:48
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on storage:
- LA’s Hydrogen Energy Storage (4/20) – 0:13
- Big Energy Storage (7/20) – 2:30
- Battery-Ready Homes (8/20) – 4:39
- Energy Storage Rising (12/20) – 6:15
- Residential Hydrogen Energy Storage (1/21) – 7:37
- Energy Storage News (3/21) - 9:00
- Helsinki’s Offshore Thermal Energy Storage Concept (4/21) - 11:27
- Mash-Up- Spent Blades / Gravitational Storage (7/21) - 13:42
- The World’s Largest Battery (10/21) - 15:39
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic - Storage is the Answer (1/22) - 17:15
- Coal Mining to Pumped Hydro Storage (1/22) - 22:44
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on renewables:
- The Energy Observer Super-Yacht (4/20) – 0:13
- Flanigan’s EcoLogic: Big Time Renewables (7/20) – 1:17
- CCAs’ World-Class Program Designs (8/20) – 5:17
- The Duck Curve in Focus (8/20) – 10:22
- Renewables Outpacing Coal and Nuclear (11/20) – 13:01
- Repurposing Power Plants (4/21) - 16:03
- Helsinki’s Offshore Thermal Energy Storage Concept (4/21) - 21:40
- Filtering Air and Oceans (5/21) - 23:58
- American Solar Booming! (6/21) - 26:45
- Blowing Up its Last Coal Plant (6/21) - 28:00
- Wind Catchers and GOM Wind (6/21) - 29:25
- Corporate PPAs and Hourly Load-Matching Strategies (7/21) - 31:30
- Hybrid Sailing on the Ramblin’ Rose (9/21) - 34:27
- Los Angeles Accelerates Climate Pledge (9/21) - 40:36
- U.S. Solar Futures Study (9/21) - 42:32
- Decarbonizing Shipping (9/21) - 43:29
- NETs- Direct Air Capture (9/21) - 45:04
- Amazon Shout-Out (9/21) - 47:27
- Transcontinental Wind Delivery (10/21) - 48:38
- Setting the Bar Higher on Renewables (11/21) - 50:14
- Big-Time Floatovoltaics (11/21) - 53:45
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic - Storage is the Answer (1/22) - 57:51
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on schools:
- Digging the Green Schools Movement (4/20) – 0:13
- Micro-Schooling (7/20) – 8:55
- The Greenest Colleges (10/21) - 9:55
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on progressive utilities:
- Dave Freeman’s SMUD Legacy (7/20) – 0:13
- CCAs’ World-Class Program Designs (8/20) – 2:17
- Flanigan's Eco-Logic- Dinner with Amory (5/21) - 7:23
- Microgrids: The EcoMotion Challenge (10/21) - 13:12
- Microgrid Utility Synergy (11/21) - 17:44
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic - Storage is the Answer (1/22) - 19:57
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on recycling:
- Paper Bottles (7/20) – 0:12
- Recycling Wind Turbine Blades (12/20) – 2:44
- Mash-Up- Spent Blades : Gravitational Storage (7/21) - 5:07
- Extended Producer Responsibility (7/21) - 7:05
- Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling (1/22) - 8:38
- EV Hubs and Battery Swap Stations (1/22) - 14:37
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on renewable natural gas:
- Renewable Natural Gas in Philadelphia (4/20) – 0:12
- Renewable Natural Gas 201 (5/20) – 1:02
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on solar:
- 47.1% Photovoltaic Efficiency (5/20) – 0:12
- Big Solar and Qatar’s Record Low Price (5/20) – 1:32
- Video of the Largest Corporate Solar System in Orange County (1/21) – 3:35
- Net Energy Metering 3.0 – CALSSA (1/21) – 4:25
- The NetPositive Podcast- Andrew Waddell on Hillside Solar (3/21) - 12:31
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic- $1 Billion for Distributed Solar in the Developing World (6/21) - 12:57
- American Solar Booming! (6/21) - 15:44
- Blowing Up its Last Coal Plant (6/21) - 16:59
- Mash-Up- Spent Blades / Gravitational Storage (7/21) - 18:24
- U.S. Solar Futures Study (9/21) - 20:21
- Transcontinental Wind Delivery (10/21) - 21:18
- Big-Time Floatovoltaics (11/21) - 22:54
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic- Let’s Keep an Eye on the Ball (12/21) - 26:54
- Pairing Crops with Solar (12/21) - 30:54
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic - Storage is the Answer (1/22) - 32:21
- Big American Solar in Indiana (1/22) - 37:49
- GAF Energy’s Solar Roof Shingles (1/22) - 39:17
- Ubiquitous Energy’s Solar Windows (1/22) - 41:53
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on fuel cells:
- Hydrogen Fuel Cell Power Plant (8/20) – 0:12
- Residential Fuel Cells for Energy Resilience (10/20) – 1:49
- Setting Records (6/21) - 5:26
- San Francisco’s Hydrogen Ferry (8/21) - 8:18
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on microgrids:
- California’s Microgrids and Wildfires (8/20) – 0:13
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic: Microgrids 1.1: The Basics (12/20) – 2:50
- Microgrids 1.2: Today’s Components (1/21) – 7:41
- Microgrids 1.3: Two Case Studies (2/21) – 11:58
- Microgrids 1.4: The Santa Rita Union School District Story (3/21) - 17:02
- Microgrids 1.5- Critical Loads (4/21) - 21:41
- Microgrids 1.6- Giving Batteries a Day Job! (5/21) - 26:34
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic- $1 Billion for Distributed Solar in the Developing World (6/21) - 32:36
- Microgrids 1.7- Interconnection (6/21) - 35:23
- Microgrids 1.8- Let’s Discuss Generators (7/21) - 42:16
- Microgrids 1.9- Microgrid Perspectives (8/21) - 47:23
- Microgrids: The EcoMotion Challenge (10/21) - 51:32
- Microgrid Utility Synergy (11/21) - 56:04
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on hydrogen:
- LA’s Hydrogen Energy Storage (4/20) – 0:13
- Hydrogen Fuel Cell Power Plant (8/20) – 2:30
- A Green Hydrogen Future (10/20) – 4:06
- Green Hydrogen in the West (11/20) – 11:31
- Green Hydrogen Update (12/20) – 15:16
- Residential Hydrogen Energy Storage (1/21) – 16:54
- Green Hydrogen from Offshore Wind (1/21) – 18:17
- Hydrogen Updates- Saudi Arabia and Hydrogen Goop (3/21) - 20:01
- Setting Records (6/21) - 24:03
- Blue and Green, Hydrogen and Ammonia (12/21) - 26:56
- Coal Mining to Pumped Hydro Storage (1/22) - 30:19
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on high speed rails:
- High Speed Rail to Vegas (7/20) – 0:12
- China’s MagLev (1/21) – 1:49
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on food:
- Food in the Nude (4/20) – 0:13
- Flanigan’s EcoLogic: Gardening in the Pandemic (8/20) – 1:48
- Nordic Harvest’s Vertical Farm (12/20) – 5:15
- Pink Greenhouses (1/21) – 8:28
- Farmers Now Paid to Sequester Carbon (2/21) – 9:20
- Microbial Soil Sequestration (4/21) - 11:51
- Montreal Hosts the World's Largest Rooftop Farm (5/21) - 13:24
- Organic Foods (11/21) - 14:33
- Pairing Crops with Solar (12/21) - 18:06
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on electric vehicles:
- Hybrid Electric Fire Trucks (4/20) – 0:13
- California to Mandate Electric Trucks (5/20) – 0:56
- Wireless EV Charging (7/20) – 3:35
- French and German EV Sales (8/20) – 5:26
- EV Charger News (1/21) – 8:17
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic: The End of ICE Cars (2/21) – 10:25
- Global Electric Vehicle Sales (2/21) – 14:42
- A Norwegian EV Shout-Out (2/21) – 17:55
- All-Electric Tankers (3/21) - 20:08
- Carbon Negative News (3/21) - 21:03
- Constructing The Loop in Vegas (4/21) - 22:10
- Ford's Radical EV- The Lightning (5/21) - 23:31
- Filtering Air and Oceans (5/21) - 27:40
- Attacking Maritime Pollution (6/21) - 30:27
- Electric Aviation in the Commuter Segment (6/21) - 33:01
- Setting Records (6/21) - 35:32
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic-The EV World (7/21) - 38:24
- Electric Pick-Up Trucks Ready for Blast Off! (7/21) - 42:13
- GM Greening Suppliers & Customers (7/21) - 45:33
- Drone Delivery Services (8/21) - 47:13
- San Francisco’s Hydrogen Ferry (8/21) - 50:30
- Highways that Charge EVs (8/21) - 51:29
- Hybrid Sailing on the Ramblin’ Rose (9/21) - 52:50
- Hertz Plans to Buy 100,000 Teslas (10/21) - 59:00
- Toyota’s Big EV Shift (12/21) - 1:01:54
- EV Updates- Blade Batteries, The Ford Lightning, 1 Million Sold in California (12/21) - 1:03:25
- The Drive-in Diner Comeback? (12/21) - 1:05:50
- The National Electric Highway Coalition (12/21) - 1:07:29
- Adopt a Charger (1/22) - 1:08:50
- EV Hubs and Battery Swap Stations (1/22) - 1:10:40
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on climate action:
- Flanigan’s EcoLogic: Big and Bold Green Steps (4/20) – 0:13
- The Urban Drawdown Initiative (4/20) – 6:10
- Flanigan’s EcoLogic: Crafting a Safe and Sustainable Post-Covid World (5/20) – 7:49
- Three Climate-Hero Trees (5/20) – 12:24
- Sweden is Coal Free (5/20) – 15:03
- General Electric’s Green Pivot (10/20) – 17:05
- Walmart’s Regeneration (10/20) – 18:05
- California To Ban Gas-Powered Cars (10/20) – 21:31
- China’s Carbon Neutrality Commitment (10/20) – 22:44
- Flanigan‘s Eco-Logic: LBJ’s Climate Briefing (11/20) – 24:23
- Oregon is Now Coal-Free (11/20) – 27:45
- The Swift and Fair Energy Transition (11/20) – 29:21
- United Kingdom to Outpace California (12/20) – 35:07
- Denmark Stops North Sea Oil Exploration (12/20) – 36:40
- Protecting the Arctic (12/20) – 38:05
- The United States Rejoins the Paris Agreement (2/21) – 39:08
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic- Saluting the Aspen Skiing Company for Climate Action (3/21) - 43:16
- Carbon Negative News (3/21) - 47:22
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic- Denis Hayes Reflects on Earth Day (4/21) - 49:18
- Corporate Executives Push for Climate Action (4/21) - 55:50
- Repurposing Power Plants (4/21) - 58:07
- Microbial Soil Sequestration (4/21) - 1:03:43
- Helsinki’s Offshore Thermal Energy Storage Concept (4/21) - 1:05:15
- Filtering Air and Oceans (5/21) - 1:07:34
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic- $1 Billion for Distributed Solar in the Developing World (6/21) - 1:10:21
- Attacking Maritime Pollution (6/21) - 1:13:07
- Electric Aviation in the Commuter Segment (6/21) - 1:15:41
- NATO Goes Green (6/21) - 1:18:12
- Blowing Up its Last Coal Plant (6/21) - 1:20:12
- Extended Producer Responsibility (7/21) - 1:21:40
- Decarbonizing Europe (7/21) - 1:23:13
- GM Greening Suppliers & Customers (7/21) - 1:25:38
- Corporate PPAs and Hourly Load-Matching Strategies (7/21) - 1:27:18
- Fossil-Free Steel (8/21) - 1:29:59
- San Francisco’s Hydrogen Ferry (8/21) - 1:31:58
- Highways that Charge EVs (8/21) - 1:32:57
- German Coal Plant Closes Really Early (8/21) - 1:34:19
- Flanigan’s EcoLogic- Climate Optimism (9/21) - 1:36:31
- EcoMotion Joins California Clean Air Day Pledge (9/21) - 1:43:49
- Los Angeles Accelerates Climate Pledge (9/21) - 1:45:04
- Decarbonizing Shipping (9/21) - 1:47:01
- NETs- Direct Air Capture (9/21) - 1:48:36
- Amazon Shout-Out (9/21) - 1:50:59
- Carbon-Negative Cement (9/21) - 1:52:10
- Hertz Plans to Buy 100,000 Teslas (10/21) - 1:57:27
- McKinsey Employee Concerns (10/21) - 2:00:21
- The Greenest Colleges (10/21) - 2:02:56
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic- COP 26 Thanks (11/21) - 2:05:25
- Carbon Removal XPrize (11/21) - 2:09:59
- Sustainable Vacations (11/21) - 2:12:18
- Flanigan’s Eco-Logic- Let’s Keep an Eye on the Ball (12/21) - 2:15:48
- Decarbonizing New York City (12/21) - 2:19:48
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on active transportation:
- “Biking in the Pandemic” (5/20) – 0:12
- “Flanigan’s EcoLogic: Hiking Aspen’s Lost Man Loop” (10/20) – 4:50
In this series of the EcoMotion University, Ted Flanigan covers stories on building design:
- “Mandragore” (10/20) – 0:12
- “Psychological Resilience, Biophilic Design” (11/20) – 1:18
- “Tiny Houses” (1/21) – 3:53
- "Repurposing Power Plants" (4/21) - 6:11
- "Constructing The Loop in Vegas" (4/21) - 11:48
- "Helsinki's Offshore Thermal Energy Storage Concept" (4/21) - 13:08
- "Setting Records" (6/21) - 15:22
- "Fossil-Free Steel" (8/21) - 18:14
- GAF Energy’s Solar Roof Shingles (1/22) - 20:14
- Ubiquitous Energy’s Solar Windows (1/22) - 22:50
Barry Murrey interviews Ted Flanigan about his journey to energy resilience. The degradation of the energy grid and increase in power outages here in California prompted Mr. Flanigan to take a closer look at what he could do to prepare himself, clients, and the community’s Ecomotion serves to continue to power our lives in the midst of an emergency. He discusses the fundamentals of energy resilience: what it means, potential residential and commercial solutions, and how to implement those options into our daily routine.
Ted Flanigan interviews Jigar Shah, one of the solar industry’s luminaries and the founder of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). He also founded and managed Sun Edison, at one time the world’s largest solar company. He then teamed up with Sir. Richard Branson to manage the Carbon War Room.
Until his recent announcement at the US Department of Energy, heading up the Loans Program Office, Jigar Shah ran Generate Capital, a specialty finance company that builds, owns, operates, and finances infrastructure assets involving the world’s critical resources: energy, water, agriculture and basic materials. Generate’s team has decades of collective experience financing billions of dollars of sustainable infrastructure. https://generatecapital.com/
In 2018, EcoMotion teamed up with Generate Capital to create the nation’s first Powered Emergency Response Centers (PERCs) at Santa Rita Union School District in Salinas, CA. Between solar and storage, and sophisticated controls, SRUSD’s six campuses are able to operate indefinitely during power outages.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, there is a heap of good environmental news to celebrate! To begin with, General Motors announces its plan to completely phase out the manufacturer of vehicles using internal combustion engines (ICE) by 2035. In addition to the end of ICE cars, Ted Flanigan discusses the rise of global electric vehicle sales and Norway leading the revolution by selling more EVs per capita than any other country. He also celebrates the United States rejoining the Paris Agreement, farmers being paid to sequester carbon, and big wind projects in Denmark and South Korea. Lastly, this Podcast delves deeper into the third part of a 10 part series on microgrids, presenting two wildly different microgrid case studies: Co-Op City and Stone Edge Farm.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan introduces Microgrids 1.1: The Basics, the first of a 10 part series. This Podcast also includes stories on virtual power plants, recycling wind turbines, the United Kingdom outpacing California in cutting Greenhouse Gas emissions, Denmark taking a landmark step to end all new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, Toronto Dominion Bank no longer funding oil and gas related activities in the Arctic Circle, Nordic Harvest’s Vertical Farm, energy storage rising, smart pressure management, and an update on developments in the green hydrogen space.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan discusses messaging in 2021 and his intention for the EcoNet Newsletter to be more inviting to readers. This Podcast also delves deeper into the second part of a 10 part series on microgrids, showcases a video of the largest corporate solar system in Orange County, discusses the popularity of tiny homes, gives updates on electric vehicle charging around the world, green hydrogen production from offshore wind, residential hydrogen energy storage, China building and operating the world’s most significant magnetically levitated trains (maglev), pink greenhouses, and Net Energy Metering 3.0.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan discusses Lyndon B. Johnson’s Climate Briefing, offshore wind floaters, coal-free Oregon, green hydrogen in the west, renewables outpacing coal and nuclear, psychological resilience and biophilic design, the swift and fair energy transition, and EcoMotion’s selection by Clean Power Alliance (CPA) to develop 32 microgrids in its service territory in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan digs into gardening during the pandemic, Community Choice Aggregators’ world class program designs, the duck curve, California’s microgrids and wildfires, battery-ready homes, black wind turbine blades, South Korea’s hydrogen fuel cell power plant, and French and German electric vehicle sales.
Jonathan Port is an entrepreneur extraordinaire. He considers himself a sustainability designer and planner. He is the founder and CEO of PermaCity Solar, which just finished installing the largest solar rooftop installation in the world – the Westmont Project in Los Angeles.
Ted Flanigan interviews Michael Ware, a longtime EcoMotion colleague and Senior Solar Specialist. Ted and Michael discuss their work together and the solar industry. Michael joined the EcoMotion team in 2007 to be an “honest broker” of solar power systems. Prior to working at EcoMotion, he worked at PermaCity Solar. At EcoMotion, Michael’s work focuses on solar opportunities, measuring potentials, and developing solar implementation strategies for organizations as diverse as Kimco, CBS, Sempra Utilities, LA Metro, and the Orange County Great Park.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan presents big and bold green steps around the world! There are stories featuring the world’s first energy, self-sufficient, zero emissions sea vessel, renewable natural gas in Philadelphia, hybrid electric fire trucks, a campaign in New Zealand — Food in the Nude — to end plastic packaging for fresh produce in supermarkets, LA’s hydrogen energy storage, the green schools movement, the urban drawdown initiative, and EcoMotion’s works to save the world.
Ted Flanigan interviews Michael Totten, an author, speaker and 40-year advocate promoting a solar powered economy and sustainably flourishing planet, highlighted in his publications: Promoting Sustainable Planetary Prosperity, and Climate for Life. He heads AssetsforLife.net, promoting Internet of Networks for sustainability initiatives, and working with numerous groups, including Jeremy Rifkin’s Third Industrial Revolution initiative in Europe, WWF’s Market Transformation initiative, Rocky Mountain Institute, and Conservation International. AssetsforLife.net works to harness and leverage local human and social capital, ultimately to access financial capital and achieve emission-free cities and rural communities. Working in the U.S. Congress, Totten drafted the 12-title bill, Global Warming Prevention Act of 1989 (HR1079).
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan shares his experience hiking Aspen’s Lost Man Loop. He also discusses the huge role that green hydrogen may have in our future, residential fuel cells for energy resilience, General Electric’s green pivot, Walmart’s regeneration, California Governor’s Executive Order to ban gas-powered cars, a massive, 2,400-foot building for New York City that will trap carbon emissions in the atmosphere, and China’s carbon neutrality commitment.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan presents futuristic concepts that are no longer futuristic: Big time renewables. The topics covered include biking in the pandemic, micro-schooling, a high speed rail to Vegas, Portland’s virtual power plant, big energy storage, SMUD accelerating its carbon neutrality goal by a decade, plastic bottles replaced with paper bottles, wireless electric vehicle charging, and an update on EcoMotion’s works in renewable energy.
In this issue of the NetPositive Podcast, Ted Flanigan discusses the environmental impact on crafting a safe and sustainable post-covid world. The stories feature three climate hero trees, renewable natural gas, researchers in Golden, Colorado creating a six-junction photovoltaic cell that achieved 47.1% efficiency, big solar and Qatar’s record low price, coal-free Sweden, California’s policy makers developing a first-of-its-kind plan to phase-in electric trucks, greywater laundry to landscape systems, and Ted Flanigan’s appointment to the Glendale Water and Power Commission.
Ted Flanigan interviews Michael Peevey and Diane Wittenberg about their new book, California Goes Green: A Roadmap to Climate Leadership. In this book, they show how California built a gold standard environment along with a thriving economy. It’s a very readable and inspiring contemporary account of how to make things happen. To learn more and purchase, click here: https://www.californiagoesgreen.net/