The Climate Champions: Recent Episodes
Lee Krevat
Lee Krevat, CEO of Krevat Energy Innovations, sits down with leaders in the fight to mitigate climate change to discuss what they do, what drives them, and their visions for the future!
John McDonald, CEO, JDM Associates, the face, driving force, and long-time Business Development Leader of GE Vernova's Smart Grid Solutions business. 55 years as a member of IEEE, 30 years on the DTECH Conference Advisory Committee, 5 books, and a patent
Congressman Mike Levin, representing California's 49th, which includes North County San Diego and South Orange County, combating climate change, protecting our natural resources, and capitalizing on the economic benefits of a sustainable energy future.
Damien Quentin, Head of Strategy for Engineered Intelligence. Built by power engineers, ENGIN™ unifies real-time asset data into a holistic view so utilities can make smarter, faster, and more strategic decisions about risk, reliability, and ROI.
Jane Chen, CEO & cofounder, StepWise, enabling people to control and profit from their energy use by making it easier, faster, and more affordable for homeowners to electrify, removing the barrier of costly and time consuming electric panel upgrades.
Charles Murray, CEO at Switch Source, discussing Phase-EQ capability to unlock hidden capacity in existing distribution systems, defer infrastructure upgrades, improve voltage stability, and create more flexibility during switching and restoration events.
Kaitlyn Albertoli, CEO & Co-Founder, Buzz Solutions and Tom Lenzen, Infrastructure Industry Team Specialist for Imagery and Remote Sensing, Esri, engage in an in-depth conversation on how to use asset management to drive resiliency across an aging grid.
Special DistribuTECH Episode, including 20% Discount Code, in all caps, D26CMTINV. Catch live episodes of The Climate Champions from the floor of DistribuTECH where I'll be interviewing Jane Chen & John McDonald in San Diego on February 3rd and 4th, 2026!
Rick Cutter, President of the non-profit August Palm Creative, leading the development of media projects that make a difference, focusing on climate change education. Look for his first film - The Grid Unplugged - in early 2026.
Dr. Mani Vadari, President, Modern Grid Solutions, is an IEEE Life Fellow and electric industry visionary delivering next gen solutions for 35+ years. He teaches future students @ multiple universities and published two popular books on the future grid.
Franklin Jones, CEO and Founder, B-Line Urban Delivery, solving the challenges of the “last mile” of a distribution network, reducing congestion, supporting local food producers, and developing green collar job opportunities.
Talieh Zargar, Co-founder & CTO, GridWrap: Resilient Grid Hardening Solutions for the Electric Grid. When it comes to electric infrastructure, she can rebuild it. She has the technology. She can make it better, stronger, and do it faster with no outage.
Richard McIndoe, Executive Chairman, Edge Zero. From coal to a net zero goal, enabling more solar, more EVs, and more reliability for customers.
Rinaldo Brutoco, Founding President, World Business Academy & Founding President & CEO of H2 Clipper, Co-Founder & Board, JUST Capital, and served with many non-profits including the Gorbachev Foundation, National Peace Academy, and the Chopra Foundation.
Maria Robinson, Inaugural Director of the United States Department of Energy Grid Deployment Office. Special annual "HOT SEAT" edition of The Climate Champions, recorded live in Washington DC at GridWise Alliance's gridCONNEXT Conference on December 10th.
Joshua Goldman, Senior Director of Sales, eMobility, ABM Industries. 25+ years experience in over 50 configurations of electric and hybrid heavy-duty buses, trucks and Vans. Proterra, Autocar Truck, Volta Trucks, and more!
April Bolduc, President of S Curve Strategies, helping states, counties, school districts and utilities across the U.S. go EV by developing regional transportation electrification strategies. The result: more EVs, cleaner freeways and neighborhoods.
Elizabeth Cook, Vice President of Technical Strategy at The Association of Edison Illuminating Companies and the host of the Grid Mod Pod, a podcast featuring conversations with electric power executives and experts about the future of the electric grid.
Gunars Valkirs, CEO of Maui Ku'ia Estate Chocolate. My #1 favorite chocolate of all time! And it's green! Will dark brown, but... powered by an off-grid microgrid supplying over 99% renewable energy.
Whit Fulton, CEO, ConnectDER. Focused on enabling anyone to connect solar panels or EV chargers to their home in minutes, at a fraction of the typical time and cost, with no electrical upgrade required. Recorded LIVE at DistribuTECH International.
Gene Rodrigues, Assistant Secretary of Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, Leading the Office of Electricity for the United States of America. Recorded Live consuming Hot Ones level hot sauces at The GridWise Alliance's annual gridCONNEXT conference!
Congressman Mike Levin is serving his third term as California's 49th District representative. He's a member of both the House Committee on Natural Resources and Veterans’ Affairs, where he's Ranking Member on the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee.
Carolina Ortega, Vice President of Sustainability at Milestone Environmental Services, the largest independent energy waste sequestration company in the United States, helping customers sequester almost 3 million metric tons of CO2 since 2014.
Peak Load Management Association Webinar: Jenny Roehm, Sr. Manager, Utility Solutions, Schneider Electric; Michael Brown, Dir., Energy Services, NV Energy; Ross Malme, President & CEO, Malme Energy Consulting; Judy Knight, Chief Development Office, PLMA
Kim Getgen, Founder and CEO, Innovation Force, a serial entrepreneur delivering a SaaS platform that drives innovation by providing visibility through metrics, increased teamwork, and improved performance, while eliminating analysis/paralysis.
Mark Gabriel, President and CEO, United Power; Chair of the Board of Directors, GridWise Alliance; Award-winning author of Visions for a Sustainable Energy Future; Former CEO, WAPA; and led the EPRI Electricity Sector Framework for the Future effort.
Greg Hale, co-founder and principal, The Catskill Project. Also, Senior Advisor for Energy Efficiency Markets and Finance, NYSERDA. The Catskill Project is a carbon-neutral/ passive house community being developed in the Catskills, about 2 hours from NYC.
Kristian Hansen, Founder & CEO of SLO, is a on mission-driven journey to solve the climate crisis through eco-conscious capitalism, the power of consumerism, and data. His Slow Fashion movement is a call to action against exploiting humanity for profit.
Jesse Charfauros, Founder & CEO, RestorVault. 30+ years in the data storage industry at EMC & NetApp, founded restorWare in 2004 and restorVault in 2017 to reduce the cost, risk, and GHG emissions associated with the exponential growth of data storage.
Dr. Surinder Singh, CEO & Co-founder, Relyion Energy is an entrepreneur, scientist, and visionary technical & business leader. Relyion is doubling lithium-ion battery life & performance by repurposing second-life EV batteries as stationary energy storage.
Graham Hill, Founder and CEO, The Carbonauts, Founder of TreeHugger.com, designer and creator of the ceramic version of the iconic New York paper cup and on a decades-long, multi-company mission to help humanity move into the bright green future.
Bridgette McAdoo, VP & Chief Sustainability Officer at Genesys, holistically optimizes the economic, social, and environmental impact of the organization. She's a founding member of Chief, a private network driving more women into positions of power.
Richard Argentieri, President of NextEra Analytics (NEA), an energy analytics and consulting firm leading the industry in advanced modeling, predictive analytics, data science, high-performance computing, and he's a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt.
Andy Klump, CEO & Founder, Clean Energy Associates, with developer, IPP, and EPC customers in 70+ countries,155+ GW of solar PV/15+ GWh of energy storage projects, leading 200+ professionals operating in 15 countries, with 135+ engineers and inspectors.
Peter Kelly Detwiler (PKD), Co-Founder, Northbridge Energy Partners, Author of "The Energy Switch: How Companies and Customers Are Transforming the Electrical Grid and the Future of Power." Energy Industry Thought Leader, Consultant, and Speaker.
Stephanie Krubsack, Founder and CEO of Purevant Living, Editor and Chief of Person & Planet Magazine, and Host of the Person & Planet podcast. Purevant Living stands for health, wellness, the environment, and giving back.
Andrew Boyd, writer, humorist, activist, CEO (Chief Existential Officer) of the Climate Clock, and author of the new book, I Want A Better Catastrophe: Navigating The Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor - BetterCatastrophe.com
Sharon Vidal, Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability, Ilumina, improving human health by unlocking the power of the genome, over 25 years working on environmental, health, safety, sustainability and corporate social responsibility
Zach Fox Devol, 11-year-old host of We The Children, a podcast about climate change and global warming solutions, interviews expert guests and tackles hard topics on caring for our planet in a less depressing way than I. Check out WeTheChildrenPodcast.com
James Clegern, CEO & President, KineticCore Solutions leads KineticCore Solutions developing the world's best short-duration and cost-effective Energy Storage System reducing CO2, NOx and SO2 pollution to preserve our environment for future generations.
David Elve, Executive Consultant, Vass Solutions, energy, utility, and IT executive with 30 years of experience at global positions based in Atlanta, Houston, Denver, Paris, Brussels, and London. Prior Board Member, EVP & Chief Marketing Officer, PayGo.
Rick Kornfeld, President & CEO at Kitu Systems, delivering a new generation of interconnection of solar PV, battery storage, electric vehicles, and other Distributed Energy Resources. Prior: VP Engineering Qualcomm, GM Wireless Chipsets Texas Instruments.
Hanna Grene, Worldwide Power & Utilities Leader, Microsoft, working alongside Microsoft's partners, customers, Fortune 500 executives, and policymakers to accelerate investment to enable a more resilient, decarbonized, secure, and affordable energy grid.
Chris Black, CEO, GridX, previously a Principal Partner at Huck Capital, CTO & COO of Tendril where he led an aggressive strategy, acquiring five of the leading companies, that together with Tendril, form a new entity, Uplight, recently valued over $1.5b.
Congressperson Paul Tonko, representing New York’s 20th District, serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, is serving his 7th term, and was elected by his peers in the 116th Congress to chair the Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change.
Tanya Barham, CEO & Founder, Community Energy Labs, offering modern AI-powered clean building control solutions that make smart energy management and decarbonization accessible and affordable for community building owners to accelerate decarbonization.
Tim Barat, CEO & Co-Founder, Gridware, an ex-power pole field worker, named in Forbes’ 30 under 30 innovator list for developing a 24/7 monitoring system increasing visibility along power distribution lines - after getting his EECS degree at UC Berkeley.
Chris King, Senior Vice President, e-Mobility, Siemens is an entrepreneur that thrives on taking new technologies to market. A true decarbonization evangelist, he co-hosted the U.S. Congressional delegation at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Marzia Zafar, Deputy Director of Strategy & Decarbonization, Ofgem, Great Britain's Independent Energy Regulator, ensuring design of a multi-year clean and green environment strategy and roadmap protecting energy consumers, especially vulnerable people.
Suzanne Russo, Chief Executive Officer, Pecan Street, accelerating innovations in climate and conservation solutions, on the Board of the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute, Member of the Forbes Technology Council and a Board Advisor for CleanTX.
Suzanne Russo, Chief Executive Officer, Pecan Street, accelerating innovations in climate and conservation solutions, on the Board of the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute, Member of the Forbes Technology Council and a Board Advisor for CleanTX.
Andrew Beebe, Managing Director, Obvious Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage, purpose-driven entrepreneurs reimagining trillion-dollar industries in three investment pillars: Sustainable Systems, Healthy Living, and People Power.
Andrew Beebe, Managing Director, Obvious Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage, purpose-driven entrepreneurs reimagining trillion-dollar industries in three investment pillars: Sustainable Systems, Healthy Living, and People Power.
Katie Tweed, Senior Director of Content & Partnerships for Canary Media, an independent nonprofit journalism dedicated to chronicling the transition to a decarbonized economy. She manages relationships with partners and clients to tell meaningful stories.
Katie Tweed, Senior Director of Content & Partnerships for Canary Media, an independent nonprofit journalism dedicated to chronicling the transition to a decarbonized economy. She manages relationships with partners and clients to tell meaningful stories.
Dr. Raj DasGupta, CEO, Electrovaya has been there for 10+ years and been involved in every aspect of the business: cell manufacturing, engineering, business development, a successful ceramic battery, and hopefully, a transformational solid-state battery.
Dr. Raj DasGupta, CEO, Electrovaya has been there for 10+ years and been involved in every aspect of the business: cell manufacturing, engineering, business development, a successful ceramic battery, and hopefully, a transformational solid-state battery.
Debbie Dekleva, CEO and Milkweed Maverick at Monarch Flyway and Founder of Sustainable Monarch. Monarch Flyway is the longest running milkweed business in history! She's a 2nd generation milkweed entrepreneur who apprenticed for her patent attorney father
Matt Schlegel, Founder and Principal, Schlegel Consulting. Matt is a Bestselling Author of Teamwork 9.0, an Entrepreneur, Consultant, Engineer, and Speaker, focused on applying Enneagram to teams as well as individuals to maximize work-team effectiveness.
Amanda Freick, Chief Revenue Officer for Altruistic, a leader in end-to-end solutions in data, digital, and AI. She's on a mission to enable a responsible energy future, never content with the status quo if she, or somebody she can help, has a better way.
Deborah Magid, Director of Software Strategy at IBM Ventures is IBM's primary liaison with the venture community for IBM's software business; she has worldwide responsibility and shares insight from the venture community to IBM’s growth strategies.
Lizzie Horvitz, Founder & CEO, Finch, tackling social and environmental sustainability from the angle of consumer behavior, incentivizing and educating consumers to make sustainable purchasing decisions. Check out ChooseFinch dot com to get started.
Les Mood, #LesMood, Public Affairs Officer, SineWatts and Host of GreenTech Talks on LinkedIn. Les helps drive millions of organic impressions every month on LinkedIn within the Greentech industry. He is the poster boy for "Sharing is Caring!"
Rebekah Eggers, Global Client Engagement & Innovation Director, Energy Sector, IBM. Over 20 years of partnership and strong solution leadership, creating sustainable go-to-market and portfolio leadership that always delivers customer satisfaction.
Ana Leary is a multi-disciplinary consultant based in Boston, climate advocate, and conservation commissioner. A champion of a low-carbon future and worldwide net-zero economy, committed to creating a better future by advocating for global climate action.
Cory Connors, Sustainable Packaging Consultant at Landsberg Orora, Founder and Host of the Sustainable Packaging Podcast, Sustainability Public Speaker, and he's @Corygated on Tiktok. Packaging and container industry guru. https://sustainablepackaging.buzzsprout.com/share
Manik Suri, Founder & CEO, Therma (hellotherma.com), whose mission is to help protect our food, health and planet. He co-founded the Governance Lab (GovLab) to develop government tech solutions and was recognized amongst the Top 100 Harvard Alumni in Tech
Laurence Kotlikoff, Professor of Economics, Boston University, has written 20 books and hundreds of professional articles and Op-Eds. He's a New York Times best-selling author and named by The Economist as one of the world’s 25 most influential economists
Jigar Shah, Director, Loan Programs Office at U.S. Department of Energy, founder of Sun Edison and Generate Capital, founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, author of Creating Climate Wealth: Unlocking the Impact Economy.
Nico Johnson, 15-year solar industry veteran, podcaster extraordinaire, investor, advisor, executive coach & mentor, focused on mitigating climate change and helping others to do the same. The greatest weapon we have to fight climate change is our voice!
Jack Azagury, Senior Managing Director, Northeast Market Lead for Accenture, leading 10,000+ people in the Northeast United States. Jack is also a member of Accenture’s Global Management Committee and North America Leadership Team.
Giel Linthorst, Executive Director at Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) and Director of Sustainable Finance at Guidehouse. Utrecht Area, Netherlands.
Eddy Badrina, CEO, Eden Green Technology, a vertical farming technology company dedicated to changing the way we farm our food, and feed our communities. Eddy was co-founder of BuzzShift, a digital strategy agency for mid-sized brands and organizations.
David Johnson, Stanford Law Professor, Design-Thinker, experienced lecturer, and seasoned courtroom lawyer, representing corporations like Apple and Cisco. He spoke to Congress and wrote articles on how technological and legal design can effect climate.
Chris Villarreal, President, Plugged In Strategies, providing regulatory, policy and technical consulting services to companies seeking greater understanding and awareness of the electricity market evolution. Formerly CA and MN Public Utility Commissions.
Jan Vrins, Segment Leader, Global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure at Guidehouse, advises on developing and implementing policies and strategies in areas such as climate action planning, decarbonization, resiliency, and grid modernization.
Dr. Josh Feder, Global Advisory Board, OurWorldToo; Medical Director, Positive Development; Editor In Chief, The Carlat Child Psychiatry Report; with special interest helping children and families living with autism; Al Gore's Climate Reality Project
Lee Krevat, the host of The Climate Champions, raps a wrap-up summary (a "rap-up") of the first 100 episodes of his podcast. Lee improvises a rap-up each episode, but rap #100 is prewritten. Every guest and a highlight from that interview is referenced.
Michael Grunwald, ex-Senior Writer, Politico & Time Magazine, Staff Writer, Washington Post & Boston Globe. Author, “The New New Deal” and “The Swamp.” Both received the gold medal for non-fiction in the Florida Book Awards, to go with many others awards.
Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis at BloombergNEF, leads the global analyst team across renewable energy, storage, smart technologies and advanced transport, providing perspective on global commodity markets and the technology driving decarbonization
Dr. Sylvia Earle, Explorer-in-Residence at National Geographic Society, Author of the upcoming book, National Geographic Ocean: A Global Odyssey. Ex-Chief Scientist, NOAA, founder of Mission Blue, SEAlliance, and Deep Ocean Exploration and Research.
Eric Dresselhuys, CEO, ESS (Energy Storage Systems), the leading provider in long-duration energy storage, a key to enable the decarbonization of the energy system, and a catalyst for a sustainable planet. He was a Co-Founder of Silver Spring Networks.
Jim Madej is CEO, Franklin Energy, and ex-CEO, VEIC (Vermont Energy Investment Corporation). His mission is to help catalyze the transition to a clean energy economy where businesses profit from the end of climate change and the growth of our planet.
Dr. Thomas Delworth is Senior Scientist at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, NJ, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is one of the world's leading climate modeling centers. He's been there since 1984!!
Rasha Hasaneen, Vice President of Innovation and Product Management Excellence for Trane Technologies, Executive Director of the Center for Healthy & Efficient Spaces, and expert on indoor environmental quality. Check out her podcast!
Marco Vangelisti, Author, Speaker, 100% Aware & No-Harm Investor, Founder of Essential Knowledge for Transition (EK4T.com), a curriculum designed to teach economic and financial systems and the knowledge to redesign them and founding member of Slow Money.
Dr. Karen Wayland, CEO, The GridWise Alliance, CEO, KW Energy Strategies, Secretary Moniz @ DOE, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid. GridWise convenes industry stakeholders ensuring a safe, secure, reliable, resilient, affordable grid that supports decarbonization
Joe Gantz, Emmy Award-winning Producer/Director for his HBO documentary series, Taxicab Confessions, is an Activist, Writer, and Filmmaker of documentaries: The Race to Save the World, being released Earth Day, 2021, American Winter, and Ending Disease.
Jay Hakes, Speaker & Author on Energy Issues, has a new book, Energy Crises: Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Hard Choices in the 1970s. He served and focused on energy issues for President Carter, President Clinton, and President Obama.
Yifei Huang, Volunteer & co-lead of the Presenters & Schedulers Action Team, Citizens' Climate Lobby. She's a 28-year-old software engineer mitigating climate change with a Master's in Comp Sci from Stanford and Bachelor's in Engineering from Caltech.
Matt Arnold, Managing Director & Global Head of Sustainable Finance, JP Morgan Chase. Leads client engagement on sustainability across all sectors globally, helping clients navigate environmental and social risks, engaging stakeholders and partners in advancing environmental and social progress, and structuring targeted impact investment funds.
Jetta Wong, President of JLW Advising & Senior Fellow in the Energy Program at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Created the Office of Technology Transition and served as a presidential appointee of the Obama Administration at the DOE.
John Hofmeister is former President of Shell Oil, Founder and CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy, and Author of Why We Hate the Oil Companies: Straight Talk from an Energy Insider.
J. Drake Hamilton, Science Policy Director at Minnesota's Fresh Energy, leveraging her expertise in climate and energy policy at state and national levels, shaping and driving bold policy solutions to achieve equitable carbon-neutral economies.
Craig Ebert, President, Climate Action Reserve, an Offset Project Registry for the Compliance Offset Program under California’s Cap-and-Trade Program: "We know how to do it now, what we lack right now is the will. And that needs to change right now."
CB Bhattacharya, Chair of Sustainability and Ethics, University of Pittsburgh, author of Small Actions, Big Difference, and business strategy innovation expert on how companies can leverage “intangible assets” and "psychological ownership" to unlock value
Peter Asmus, Research Director at GuideHouse Insights, author of three books addressing environmental issues, and global expert on maximizing value of microgrids, distributed energy resources, virtual power plants, nanogrids and other renewable technology
Robert Yost is the Founder and President of American Wind, inventor of two issued patents for the MicroCube micro wind turbine, a former employee of Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas), GE Aircraft Engines, and Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Engines.
Doug Houseman, Principal Consultant at 1898 & Company, A Burns & McDonnell Division. Previously, CTO at Capgemini and Vice President of Technical Innovation at EnerNex. And certainly one of the premier Grid Modernization movers and shakers in the world.
Barbara Bry, President Pro Tem of the San Diego City Council for the 1st District, candidate for Mayor of San Diego, high-tech entrepreneur, and community leader. "I can't say it enough: this is the only environment we've got, so we need to protect it."
Todd Gloria, California State Assemblymember and candidate for Mayor of San Diego. Serving as the City's Interim Mayor from 2013 to March 2014, he introduced San Diego’s groundbreaking Climate Action Plan, moving the City to 100% renewable energy by 2035.
Neil Bellefeuille, Partner and Senior Design Thinking Strategist, BILD, a strategic consultancy that helps mid-market companies integrate social and environmental sustainability into core business strategy to accelerate performance and create value.
Alan Scheller-Wolf, Professor of Operations Management, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, teaches the importance of sustainability in business and researches stochastic processes, often applied to the energy and sustainability domain.
Peter Fox-Penner, Author of the widely acclaimed Smart Power and the newly released Power After Carbon: Building a Clean, Resilient Grid. Peter is Founder & Director of Boston University's Questrom School of Business, and wears many other awesome hats!
Fascinating discussion with Dr. Enric Sala, National Geographic Explorer-In-Residence, Founder of Pristine Seas, and Author of "The Nature of Nature: Why We Need the Wild," with foreword written by HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. On sale 8/25/20.
Jukka Kukkonen, Founder & Chief EV Educator, Shift 2 Electric, an EV market and business consulting and training company in Minnesota. He has a deep knowledge of the electric vehicle market, specializing in market dynamics and real-life user perspectives.
Andres Carvallo, CEO & Founder at CMG Consulting LLC, Professor of Innovation & Co-Director of CIEDAR at Texas State University, Smart Grid Godfather, Author, and Editor of 38 Power Engineering, Telecom/IoT, and Building Technologies titles at Artech House
Jason Rodriguez, CEO, Zpryme, leads strategy and direction of the company's market research, events, and advisory work in the clean-tech and energy industry. Their flagship event, the Energy Thought Summit (ETS) has featured legends such as Steve Wozniak.
Gerald Kutney is the creator of #ClimateBrawl! With 40,000+ Twitter followers, he unifies the silent #ClimateChampion majority, raises each voice into a chorus, defends social media from climate denier propaganda, ensuring science and facts rule the day!
Patty Durand, President & CEO, Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC); a consumer-focused non-profit promoting, among all US stakeholders, the understanding and benefits of a consumer-safe, consumer-friendly, smart modernized electrical system.
Ron Pernick, co-author of The Clean Tech Revolution and Clean Tech Nation, founder/managing director of Clean Edge, a clean-tech research firm offering a suite of stock indexes, benchmarking reports and events, creating a clean-energy, low-carbon economy.
Jorge Elizondo, engineer at Heila Technologies, leads the technical vision of enabling the grid of tomorrow by with renewable-based microgrids. Heila software powered Stone Edge Farm, a vineyard in Sonoma, California, during the devastating fires in 2017.
Conrad Chase, co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Point Load Power, unlocks the solar potential of millions of commercial rooftops by following the sun as it moves across the sky; the PV Booster rooftop tracker Double Platinum'd at SPI - check it out!
Hagen Ruff, co-founder & CEO of Chava Energy and Chava Wind, sold his Business Intelligence company to Sapient and launched Chava, an energy technology research company, to conduct research in new energy technologies that go beyond conventional paradigms.
Courtney Blodgett, Founder of Yield Positive, has worked for more than 15 years on sustainable finance. She was a climate finance advisor to the UN and led the Impact Investing Team at Vulcan, the family office of Paul G. Allen, Microsoft’s co-founder.
Bryce Yonker, Founder, Executive Director & CEO of Grid Forward, a non-profit organization that takes a collaborative approach to bring together utilities, solution providers, government agencies, regulators, advocates, and others to create a modern grid.
Terry Oliver was the first Chief Technology Innovation Officer at Bonneville Power Administration where he was honored with BPA's highest award, the Meritorious Service Award. After a fantastic adventure of a career, Terry's is now retired, but not tired.
Jessica Toth, Executive Director at Solana Center for Environmental Innovation, the nonprofit organization that brings environmental solution design, education, and consulting services to businesses and communities at every corner of the San Diego region.
George Ashton III, Managing Director of Strategic Investments at LISC, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Founder of Hope Impact Investments, and co-founder of Sol Systems. Forging resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across America!
Julia McLaughlin, VP of Commercial Origination at Cogentrix, is also a writer and novelist. For Scientific American, she wrote Increasing Irrelevance of Climate Change Denial: Even if you don’t accept the science, you’ll need to deal with the consequences.
Josh Wong, Founder & CEO of Opus One Solutions, is a Smart Grid Innovator focused on grid modernization and strategic development. He's a visionary and business model innovator who delivers results and is a believer and practitioner of win/win solutions.
Patrick Lee, President & CEO of PXiSE Energy Solutions & VP of Infrastructure & Technology, Sempra Energy, has over 30 years of energy industry experience in electric system planning, design, construction, operations, markets, renewables & technology RD&D
Wade Troxell is the Mayor of Fort Collins, Colorado, on the Dept of Mechanical Engineering faculty at Colorado State University, and an internationally recognized expert in the areas of intelligent robotics and intelligent control of distributed systems.
Daniel Palken is a conservative outreach fellow with Citizen’s Climate Lobby. He’s graduating with a PhD in Physics, doing research on Quantum measurement and statistical analysis techniques for dark matter detection at University of Colorado at Boulder.
Julia Hamm, CEO of The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) - envisioning a carbon-free energy system by facilitating the electric power industry’s transition to a clean and modern energy future through education, research, standards, and collaboration.
Mike Casey, President & Founder of Tigercomm, the leading U.S. cleantech PR, marketing communications and public affairs firm, counsels cleantech executives and investors and passionately designs, builds, and runs winning communications programs.
In hopes of an Elon Musk Climate Champion podcast during 2020, please enjoy this non-improvised rap that honors the contributions of Elon Musk.
Please consider sharing this entertaining rap with your family, friends, colleagues, AND Elon!
Special Live Holiday Edition (Washington DC): Miguel Romero, VP of Energy Supply, SDG&E, oversees the acquisition of energy & capacity to serve SDG&E customers, including meeting RPS goals (currently over 40%), electric generation, and resource planning.
Co-Founders of PI Energy, Phil Layton, CEO & Board Member David Andresen discuss their ultra-thin, inexpensive, high performing, flexible nano-metallic solar material perfect for non-weight bearing roofs, wrapping electric cars, buses, and mobile devices.
Jason Anderson, President & CEO, Cleantech San Diego, manages the overall organization, leads initiatives critical to the mission: Smart Cities SD, advocacy efforts, and economic development programs. Jason was also named one of SD METRO’s “40 Under 40.”
Randy Schimka, Principal Clean Transportation Technical Solutions Advisor, SDG&E’s Clean Transportation Group. Multiple EV Owner, EV road-tripper extraordinaire, and EV King! Don’t forget to visit Belardo Lights and contribute to Stein Education Center.
Joyce Breiner, Executive Director & Co-Founder at Poolesville Green, holds a Bachelor in Professional Aeronautics Degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, is a licensed pilot, aircraft owner, and active in community efforts and education advocacy
New York State Senator Kevin Parker, Chair of the Energy and Telecommunications Committee in the NY State Senate is a product of the New York City Public School system, committed to restoring the overall quality for his constituents in Brooklyn, New York.
Paul Stith, Director of Strategy & Innovation, Transformative Tech @ Black & Veatch, is a business exec with tech, government, and e-mobility background interested in all things green and the business models to support growth in these disruptive markets.
William Volk is the Technical Producer of Return To Zork (40M sold) and Developer/Producer of a new game, The Climate Trail. Set in a post-climate changed world, it’s modeled after all-time #1 selling The Oregon Trail. It is 100% free on all platforms!
Larry Peranich, a retired expert in predictive analytics, volunteers for Citizen’s Climate Lobby. They support him in exercising his personal and political power to mitigate climate change. Larry has a BS, MS, and PhD from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tim Sasseen, Business Development Manager at Ballard Power, has dedicated his career to bringing innovative cleantech energy solutions in hydrogen, electric vehicles, microgrids and wind power from concept to production, leveraging an MS in EE and an MBA.
Vint Cerf, VP & Chief Internet Evangelist, Google & Co-Father of the Internet. He was presented the US National Medal of Technology by President Bill Clinton & the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George Bush and co-founded the Internet Society
Katherine Hamilton, Co-Founder and Chair at 38 North Solutions & co-host of The Energy Gang podcast, has a Cleanie Award for Entrepreneur of the Year and is Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum‘s Future of Advanced Energy Technology Global Future Council.
Michelle Brechtelsbauer, Director of Stakeholder Relations at Energy Impact Center in Washington DC. She leverages her background in engineering research and an expertise in science policy to accelerate deployment of carbon-negative energy technologies.
Neil Kermode has been the Managing Director of the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, since 2005. EMEC has facilitated testing 31 technologies that generate electricity harnessing the power of waves and tidal streams.
Pip Decker, Senior Vice President at BMR Energy, leads development, construction and operation of wind and solar generation projects. Prior, Pip owned US-based solar developer SunEast. He has a degree in Public Policy from the College of William and Mary.
Jim Spano is Managing Partner at Spano Partners, and Founder & Director of Origination for Radiant REIT. He is a dedicated philanthropist that has already put 300 MW of solar in the ground and has created a fund to provide $10B over the next three years.
Scott Carlson is President of New Day Solar. For 30+ years Scott has been leading the installation of California solar systems, training the next generation of developers, and passionately spreading the benefits of powering a world with solar energy.
Larsh Johnson is CTO at STEM. Prior, he was CTO at Siemens Digital Grid, which he joined via the acquisition of eMeter, where he was co-founder and CTO, after co-founding CellNet Data Systems. He earned a BS and an M.S. in mechanical engineering Stanford.
Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director of the CA Solar & Storage Association, graduated Berkeley with a BS, Conservation and Resource Studies, fought against 5 Connecticut coal plants and returned to CA to fight against climate change the last 16 years
Audrey Lee, Vice President of Energy Services at Sunrun, the number one company in residential solar with over 240,000 customers in 22 states, and over 1600 MW of solar deployed. Sunrun’s simple vision? To create a planet run by the sun!
Jamie Fine, Senior Economist at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), gave up the pursuit of trading paper his whole life for a big house and a big Mercedes, and instead packed up his Toyota and headed off to California to help the environment.
Barbara Bry, is the City Councilperson for San Diego District 1 and running for Mayor of San Diego. She earned an MBA from Harvard, reported for the Sacramento Bee and LA Times, started and sold an internet company to Cisco, was a VP at ProFlowers.com.
Keith Mathis, President and CEO of NSAI Energy, and I met 20 years ago, when I first joined the utility industry. Keith is leading projects to clean up coal, provide renewable, sustainable housing to vets, and get more solar projects built.
Jeremy Krevat, Assistant Principal at Aspire’s Alexander Twilight College Preparatory Academy, a public school, discusses how schools participate in the fight against climate change and how educational staff prepare young minds to participate in the solution.
Will Moore, Candidate for San Diego City Council in District 1 – University City, La Jolla, and Carmel Valley - is focused on climate, housing, and jobs. He believes strongly that it’s time for cities like San Diego to lead on Climate!”
Desmond Wheatley is President, CEO, and Chairman at Envision Solar, a San Diego sustainable technology innovation company. They invent, patent, design, engineer and manufacture unique and advanced renewably energized electric vehicle charging systems.
Scott Peters, Member of the United States Congress at the US House of Representatives, representing CA’s 52nd district. “I can’t bet the planet on the results of the next election.” It’s time to get “past the politics and onto the problem solving.” Wow!
Brett Gantt, member of the Town Council in Apex, NC is a statistician for the EPA with a PhD in atmospheric science. The council recently endorsed the Paris Climate Agreement and passed a resolution for 100% renewable energy by 2050.
Jigar Shah, the new Executive Director, DOE Loan Programs, also co-founded and was President of Generate Capital. He founded and was CEO of Sun Edison from 2003-2008. He transformed the solar industry by popularizing no money down solar.
Brian DAgostino is Director of Fire Science and Climate Adaptation at San Diego Gas & Electric. He’s a meteorologist and has wanted to be weather person since he was a little kid in Boston, but never dreamed his forecasts would save communities and lives.
Ronny Sandoval is a Board Member of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and also The GridWise Alliance. Until recently, and when we recorded this conversation, he was Senior Director at the Environmental Defense Fund, all excellent organizations!
Howard Newman, Pine Brook CEO & Trustee of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies asked Dr. Joanne Chory about leveraging carbon sequestering capabilities of plants to help with climate change. Now, Joanne and her scientist team are making it happen!
Lincoln Bleveans, Assistant General Manager of Power Supply at Burbank Water & Power, has a very unique background for a utility executive, from successfully leading international independent power projects to energy start-ups to a public power company.
Dr. Rajit Gadh is Professor at the Samueli School of Engineering at UCLA and Founder and Director of the Smart Grid Energy Research Center (smartgrid.ucla.edu). He is the author of over 200 articles in journals and conference proceedings and 4 patents.
Chris is President and CEO of Rainforest Automation, providing solutions to optimize residential power usage for customers by transforming consumer IoT devices into operational resources for energy providers – connecting the Smart Home to the Smart Grid.
Scott Anders is the Director of the Energy Policy Initiatives Center (EPIC) at the University of San Diego School of Law. EPIC studies energy and climate related policy issues and conducts research and analysis, informing/enabling Climate Action Planning.
Eric Clifton, Founder and CEO of Orison, is an energy storage company with a battery product that is great looking and plug and play behind the meter. Orison enables individuals to plug a unit into an outlet, creating a personal money-saving microgrid.
Cassie Bowe, named 30 under 30 by Forbes, is Vice President at Energy Impact Partners, an investment firm focused on companies optimizing energy consumption and improving sustainable energy. She inspires women and young people to join the energy business.
Ladeene Freimuth is President of The Freimuth Group, a domestic and international energy and environmental consulting firm, specializing in policy and strategic advising, outreach, and advocacy. She also is a Global Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson Center.
Dan Delurey, President of Wedgemere Group, a DC firm that focuses on modernization and transformation of the electricity sector and how it intersects with climate change and resilience. He founded the National Town Meeting on Demand Response & Smart Grid.
Yuri Horwitz, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Sol Systems, has delivered over 800 MW of solar projects from his trading, fund and asset management, and development businesses. Customers include Amazon, Nationwide, 30+ DC public schools, and many others.