Using Software, AI To Reduce CO2 & Increase Resilience – Lydia Walpole & Chris Bradshaw of Bentley Systems
Release Date: 02/10/2026
"Healthcare Without Harm" to People & Planet – Dr. Katherine Gergen-Barnett & Dr. Anna Goldman, Boston Medical Center
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“Healthcare Without Harm is more of an advocacy organization that works with clinicians and other healthcare workers to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare and pollution as well as climate impacts. And then Practice Greenhealth advises hospitals on how to get there and they do this awards process…(which is) about having people aware of all these different metrics that impact your operational sustainability…(and) raise awareness among the people who are running the hospital and leadership about how they're using water, food waste, where they're buying their food from, their...
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New Nuclear Energy Is Growing Fast – Maria Korsnick, President and CEO, Nuclear Energy Institute
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“I've been in this industry for 40 years and we have never been at a moment like we are today. …About 10 years ago, a little bit more than that, the narrative at that time was we were closing down plants…. Now the narrative today is, Hey, you know what? Some of those plants you shut down, we've changed our mind. How hard would it be to restart that?... All of these hyperscalers (Google, Amazon, e.g.) are figuring out partnerships and marriages, if you will, with nuclear and trying to help nuclear be brought to the marketplace….I mean, the demand is off the charts, and that's really the...
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How To Pressure Electeds For Climate, Clean Air – Dominique Browning, Mom's Clean Air Force
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“We, the people we can definitely keep the pressure on, not only on our lawmakers, our governors, our mayors, our senators, our Congress people. We have to keep reminding them that we care about these issues…There's a real key also to the future reimagining, asking companies to reimagine themselves as energy companies, not oil companies or gas companies, but energy companies. So all of these pressure points are incredibly important. We all have favorite stores, favorite brands that we shop on. If you love Walmart writing to the customer services and to the president of Walmart saying,...
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How Hospitals Can Juggle 24/7 Care & Climate Impacts – Carol Gomes, CEO & COO of Stony Brook University Hospital
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“I believe in the power of people wishing to volunteer for initiatives rather than assignment of duties and responsibilities and having people feel as though it's a chore… (They) serve as champions in their areas to educate their fellow peers on what it means to be sustainable, what they can do that's in their power to contribute to the outcomes….And then as we started to become more mature…we formed structured committees, we leveraged those champions on the units to participate. We made it enjoyable in terms of participating. We actually have contests… (I)t just breeds excitement...
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How Utilities Are Evolving While Keeping The Lights On – Nicole Pearson & Brad Johnson of Bentley Systems
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
How Utilities Are Changing While Keeping The Lights On – Nicole Pearson & Brad Johnson of Bentley Systems “The really great thing about electric utilities is that they maintain a singular focus almost regardless of what's going on around them. It's safety, reliability, resilience. So they'll adapt and flex…They're not going to take a risk that sacrifices safety, that sacrifices your light coming on….The difference now that I've noticed is their willingness to move forward with technology and change decades, long processes and workflows and legacy built systems……. because...
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Using Software, AI To Reduce CO2 & Increase Resilience – Lydia Walpole & Chris Bradshaw of Bentley Systems
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
Using Software, AI To Reduce CO2 & Increase Resilience – Lydia Walpole & Chris Bradshaw of Bentley Systems “For example, if we have a concrete pile, we can change the parameters and use AI to suggest actually a more optimal design with regards to how much concrete is going to be used. So we quite often, as engineers, we are risk averse. So sometimes you can over design to make sure consequences in construction and infrastructure are real. We do need to be precise, but we can use AI to ensure that we have a reduced amount of carbon and concrete in that pile, but still meeting...
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88% of Companies Say Sustainability Creates Long-Term Value – Maura Hodge, KPMG Chief Sustainability Officer
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“There is value in being able to articulate the qualitative value of sustainability…And yes, obviously revenues can be attached to that, but obviously just the opportunity to open up new markets more broadly and innovate…There's the risk and compliance component, which tend to be more easy to actually quantify. And then there's the brand reputation…So you can make the case qualitatively in any of those three areas…There's this movement from morality to materiality now that CFOs are involved…We actually take that all the way to the financial statements, to the balance sheet, to the...
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Microgrids Keep The Lights On, For Less – Jana Gerber, President of Microgrids, Schneider Electric
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“What is a microgrid?...There's a lot of challenges that folks are dealing with around the grid infrastructure, with weather related challenges and load growth and other elements. And so what a microgrid does is help those customers become not only consumers of energy, but also producers of energy. So we like to call that a prosumer….So a microgrid helps to create that bridge between the building and the big grid…So if the grid's no longer there (e.g., an outage), they can act independently of the grid. It also helps with deploying more renewables on their sites, as well as really...
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How To Talk About Climate In A Polarized Culture – Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist, Professor at Texas Tech University & Chief Scientist at The Nature Conservancy
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“We have to begin our conversations with what really matters to the person or people we're speaking with. And if we don't know what that is, we have to get to know them and build a relationship and then start the conversation where they're at…The second common misconception I see is that we have to load up our wheelbarrow with the biggest load of scary facts we can possibly find and just dump it on people because not enough people are worried about this.…But if we haven't connected the head to the heart, my life, the places I love, the people I love, the things I love my home, the price...
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Critical Minerals 101 – Abby Wulf, Critical Minerals Expert, Former Head of Critical Minerals at the Dept. Of Energy, & Center for Critical Minerals Strategy
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“Critical minerals and materials…are essential for key economic and national security technologies that help to fuel great sectors in the United States and around the world…We're at a very interesting point in the United States for critical minerals and materials because the US Geological Survey… just released their draft version of their newly updated critical minerals list…(But) they're very difficult to come by. And for a lot of these materials, they are mined as byproducts and co-products. They're used in incredibly low volumes, and so it's very difficult for companies to sort of...
info_outlineUsing Software, AI To Reduce CO2 & Increase Resilience – Lydia Walpole & Chris Bradshaw of Bentley Systems
“For example, if we have a concrete pile, we can change the parameters and use AI to suggest actually a more optimal design with regards to how much concrete is going to be used. So we quite often, as engineers, we are risk averse. So sometimes you can over design to make sure consequences in construction and infrastructure are real. We do need to be precise, but we can use AI to ensure that we have a reduced amount of carbon and concrete in that pile, but still meeting the outcomes that we set out to achieve.”
Lydia Walpole on Electric Ladies Podcast
Infrastructure like roads and bridges, as well as buildings today need to be built with strong climate resilience, as well as reduced carbon footprint. Innovative software systems are leveraging AI to increase performance. How?
Listen to Lydia Walpole, Senior Director of Global Performance and Chris Bradshaw, Chief Sustainability Officer both of Bentley Systems in this fascinating conversation with Electric Ladies Podcast host Joan Michelson. It was recorded live at the Bentley Systems “Year in Infrastructure” 2025 conference.
You’ll hear about:
● How Bentley Systems’ digital twin technology is reducing risk, waste and CO2 and improving performance.
● How sustainability and climate resilience shift the approach to infrastructure builds from “reactive to predictive,” as Chris said, as extreme weather increases.
● How their technologies are transforming infrastructure builds across the globe.
● Plus, career advice, such as:
“I often hear about imposter syndrome, and I know it's easy to say, but I've worked in a male dominated environment my whole career, and I've never felt like I shouldn't be here. And it is easy to say, don't feel that, but you deserve to be where you are. You've worked hard and recognize that. …Secondly, be curious and remain curious, and make sure you are continuing to learn and educate yourself every day….Keep abreast of new technologies.” Lydia Walpole on Electric Ladies Podcast
And Chris Bradshaw added: “My biggest piece of advice would be to be bold. Don't be shy. Diverse groups make better decisions, always…. You are bringing a different point of view.”
Read Joan’s Forbes article on whether A.I. makes our infrastructure safer or not here, and her Joan’s other Forbes articles here.
You’ll also like:
· Leveraging AI for Sustainability – Mandi McReynolds, VP of External Affairs & Chief Sustainability Office at Workiva
· Artificial Intelligence and the Climate: Stephanie Hare, Ph.D, author of “Technology is Not Neutral” and BBC Broadcaster
· How Design & Technology Are Redesigning Cities: Nikki Greenberg, Real Estate of the Future, live at the Smart City Expo World Congress 2025
· 88% of Companies Say Sustainability Increases Long-Term Value: Maura Hodge, Chief Sustainability Officer, KPMG
· The Politics of Climate & Energy – with Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, Co-Chair, Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus
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