Zero-Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity - with Jeffrey Rissman
AWESome EarthKind
The entire world is transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy sources for our electricity, heating, cooling and transportation. Technologies such as energy efficient light bulbs and appliances, solar and wind powered electricity, air and ground source heat pumps, and electric vehicles are transforming our lives. Communities, schools, and workplaces are adopting zero-carbon technologies that will also reduce costs and improve our health and safety. But did you know that the industrial sector is responsible for one third of global greenhouse gas emissions and that industry is...
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Durable Change Only Happens at the Speed of Trust - with Erik Wohlgemuth, Future500
AWESome EarthKind
Quantum Quote: "We build too many walls, and not enough bridges." - Isaac Newton We live in an incredibly polarized world. Every day, we witness the widespread, massive distrust of almost everything and everyone. How can we overcome the escalating anger and mistrust that pervades close to every aspect of our society? Well, in today's episode, we meet Erik Wohlgemuth of Future 500 (www.future500.org) with over two decades of experience in stakeholder engagement and corporate sustainability. Erik is trusted by diverse leaders across industries, sectors, and political...
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Robison’s Evolution - from Fossils to Clean Energy – with Dan Singer
AWESome EarthKind
Quantum Quote: “It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold...
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University Sustainability with UB Chief Sustainability Officer Ryan McPherson
AWESome EarthKind
Quantum Quote: "The peacemaker taught us about the seven generations. He said, when you sit in Council for the welfare of the people, you must not think of yourself or your family, not even of your generation. He said, make your decisions on behalf of the seven generations coming, so that they may enjoy what you have today." - Oren Lyons "It's not the critic who counts; nor the man or woman who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and...
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Saving the Climate with Sustainable & Profitable Ocean Wave Energy - with Jan G. Skjoldhammer, NoviWave
AWESome EarthKind
Quantum Quote: “Save the climate with profitable wave power.” – Jan G. Skjoldhammer Each and every year, uwe are burning more fossil fuels, ruining our children’s futures and all of our lives. What we’ve been missing is a more cost-effective and climate-saving solution that’s been around since the very beginning of time. Wave power—about three times more stable than wind—has the potential to provide energy equal to all the electric consumption of everyone in the world right now! Jan’s message is that wave power alone could provide most of our...
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Climate-Smart Agriculture: How Eco-Friendly Farming can Protect You & Mother Earth - with Sara Waldner
AWESome EarthKind
Quantum Quote: “Save our soil in the hopes that the soil might just save us.” - Woody Harrelson We all have to eat - but agriculture is something we often don’t think about And, even when we do, we don’t think much about how it affects our environment. But climate smart grants, carbon credits, and goals to become “net zero” have now made agriculture a hot topic in the mainstream media over recent years. Sustainable agriculture provides a fast and direct path to the eco-friendly changes we want, and climate smart farming can create more resilient crops and healthier...
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Organic Batteries to Power IoT using Electricity from Paper and Enzymes - with BeFC’s Marie Berthuel and Jules Hammond
AWESome EarthKind
Quantum Quote: “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” –Jules Hammond “To learn to succeed, you must first learn to fail.” –Michael Jordan Batteries may be just shrugged off as something small - but did you know that 15 billion batteries end up in landfill or are incinerated every year? The power of science and technology is now creating a change in how we produce batteries - using only paper and enzymes. Today’s podcast explains this new sustainable energy solution and how it will pave the way for a cleaner and brighter...
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Why Homeowners & HVAC Contractors are Switching to Geothermal - with Emily Ostrander, ClimateMaster
AWESome EarthKind
Geothermal heating and cooling systems are no longer new in the market. Contractors and homeowners are recognizing that cash and tax incentives reduce both upfront investments and monthly operating costs - while creating quiet, sustainable and & more comfortable indoor air environments. Truth be told, some geothermal systems have a price tag that at first appears to be a lot more than a conventional system. But with a 30% federal tax credit, additional local tax credits and utility rebates, that number can make a geothermal HVAC system cost only slightly more than a conventional...
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A Cheaper, Warmer, Cooler, & Cleaner Way to Heat and Cool our Buildings - New York’s Effort to Provide High-Efficiency Clean Heating & Cooling Systems, with Donovan Gordon,NYSERDA
AWESome EarthKind
Quantum Quote: “Passion and commitment. You got to be passionate about what you do and committed to accomplish what you’re passionate about. That’s how I live my life.” – Donovan Gordon How can we save money and help create a better future by transitioning from heating our buildings with fossil fuels to heating and cooling with clean and renewable resources? When we say that we’re going to heat and cool our buildings from the earth, more often than not, people scratch their heads and question how it’s possible to get 72 degrees from dirt. By running...
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How Sustainable Investing Can Help Solve Climate Change with Zach Stein, Carbon Collective
AWESome EarthKind
Quantum Quote: “You can't climb a mountain if it's smooth." -Andre Iguodala Investing is one of the primary ways to secure a better financial future for you and your family. But, did you know that where we bank and how our investments are managed can greatly impact our carbon footprints? Our finances, including our retirement funds, are not charity. Ensuring that these are properly invested is a must. Carbon Collective provides the opportunity to ensure that our investments not only build a better future for us, but also for our planet. As part of its...
info_outlineQuantum Quote: “I don't care that they stole my idea, I care that they don't have any of their own.” - Tesla
If you live in a single family home - you can do all of your electric vehicle charging with a regular electric socket in your garage.
But in urban areas, most people live in apartments and multifamily buildings. How do we create the opportunity to own - and charge - an electric car for everyone?
Across the country, ordinances and laws are being passed to promote EV charging. Today, we focus on the leadership of Illinois, where the state passed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act and the City of Chicago adopted the EV Readiness Ordinance.
Across the US and world, people are creating infrastructure that will provide easy access to charge EVs, and significant incentives are coming for people to shift, save more now, and invest for the future.
Let's learn more with these three EV advocates guests:
Neda Deylami is an EV advocate and attorney from Chicago. She has worked on clean energy legislative campaigns at the city, state, and regional levels, and she aims to make clean transportation accessible, affordable, and feasible for all.
Samantha Bingham is the Chicago Area Clean Cities Coalition coordinator, one of 75 US Department of Energy designated coalitions serving local communities across the country. Sam has coordinated numerous ride and drive events for both fleet professionals and the general public to learn more about electric vehicles. The goal of CACC is to reduce petroleum use in the transportation sector and to improve the health of our communities through improved air quality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Vanessa Perkins founded the Chicago-focused Community Charging Initiative to help mitigate EV charging deserts, promote EV awareness and usage, and support community-owned EV charging installations. Through a research fellowship with Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2.org), Vanessa engaged Chicago neighborhoods to determine how to leverage existing infrastructure and the sharing economy to fill public EV charging gaps. A grant-funded pilot of Community Chargers was launched this year in Chicago's northwest, southwest, and south side neighborhoods, all of which are owned and operated by community host partners.
Today’s AWESome EarthKind podcast is being brought to you by EarthKind Energy Consulting. EarthKind is a clean energy consulting company with over 3 decades of experience in creating clean energy transformations that reduce an organization’s energy costs, provide outstanding financial returns, and create positive environmental impacts. Schedule a free consultation at www.EarthKindEnergy.com to discover how your organization can move toward zero carbon solutions - and save money with clean electricity, heating & cooling, and EV transportation.
Today’s podcast is co-sponsored by EarthKind Energy and the Ampion-Clearpoint Community Solar program.
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Challenges: "In 2018 and 2019, Clean Cities, with the support of stakeholders, was able to hold an electric vehicle ride and drive at the Chicago Auto Show. And we thought we were going to have thousands of people test drive EVs, and found out that it was tough to pull people aside and engage them on electric vehicles and get them to test drive." - Samantha Bingham
Lessons: "Drill deeper into what preconceived perception do they have about electrification? Not just assume their gearheads and EVs are just not going to work out for them. With more infrastructure, over 90% of our trips are 40 miles or less, that's well within the range of even a lower mileage EV. The mission is never accomplished; we keep needing to engage more and more groups about the benefits of electric vehicles and why infrastructure is important, why they should host chargers, why individuals should purchase or look into converting to electric vehicles." - Samantha Bingham
Supernova#1: "I was at those auto show events volunteering. One of the best ways to get people to come was, I asked them if they liked paying for gas – that got their attention. When I do one-on-one presentations in different communities, one of my favorite tidbits is talking about the efficiency between gas engines and electric motors. Because gas engines are really not efficient. And I love telling people that when they buy $40 worth of gas, $8 of it is actually moving the car, and $32 it's just being set on fire." - Neda Deylami
Supernova#2: “There are a lot of really exciting policies t that are going to help solve some of those issues with charging deserts. Illinois just passed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, and Chicago adopted the EV Readiness Ordinance. Hopefully, we'll see that across other municipalities. And then I've been working on a small project where we are building privately owned level two charging stations that can be owned by the host on a small commercial site in the neighborhood and rented out to the general public. It's a way to almost Airbnb a charger.”
Supernova#3: I wrote a bill on the state level that is being considered right now. That would include new and renovated buildings that would recommend requirements for parking spaces dependent on the number of parking spaces and how many of those spaces are EV ready. There are different suggestions based on whether that parking space will be ready for a charger to be installed versus how much extra installation will be required, like having an outlet there or not. But basically, the circuits and the wiring capacity is there in the building such that later on, when more people have EVs and want to charge their vehicles at home or work; we're not going to be having to dig up concrete and spend 10s of 1000s of dollars, which is what the most expensive part of retrofitting right now is. We can save those costs and invest in it now and not have to spend more later.
Aha moment:
"If you've never ridden an electric car, go do it! They're really fun. The first time when we actually started test driving them was a 2016 Nissan Leaf. Boy, Is that easier to drive; more fun to drive! People were like, oh, Tesla's are so fun! But all EVs are fun! You accelerate in seconds. They're quiet." - Vanessa Perkins
"We had a project with some wheelchair accessible compressed natural gas taxis about a decade ago and actually heard from a gentleman who is confined to a wheelchair. He came into O'Hare with his wife, who was attending a conference. They were picked up in a wheelchair-accessible CNG vehicle, and they were both ecstatic about the green option for wheelchair vehicle mobility. The gentleman felt so great about having access to a green vehicle that while his wife was at the conference, he traveled all across the city in a clean vehicle that was able to transport him safely and cleanly." - Samantha Bingham
Most Energized About:
"I'm just excited about the fact that EVs are also mobile batteries. My family is always going through power shut-offs in California from the fires. My aunts are very into the idea and are looking into getting an EV that can also work as a backup battery for their house." - Vanessa Perkins
"A lot of the benefits we can get from EVs that we're noticing now, like… the grid becoming more renewable, stabilization of the grid, and lowering prices for everyone, regardless of if you own an EV or not. I think a lot about Texas during that ice storm. And also passing my bill." - Neda Deylami
"I am super energized about leadership here in Illinois on electric transportation; we have activities going on at the statewide level and the local level that are just all hands on deck supporting the electrification of everything from light-duty passenger vehicles, to mitigating diesel emissions through electric trucks and buses." - Samantha Bingham
Parting Advice:
“Get your butt in the seat of an EV. It'll change your life.” - Samantha Bingham
"Listen to the people who have frontline experiences with the environmental issues that you're trying to advocate for." - Neda Deylami
"Invest in Illinois for what we're doing with electric transportation and beneficial electrification in general." - Vanessa Perkins
Connect:
Neda Deylami: [email protected]
- Website: http://chicagoevs.org
Samantha Birmingham: [email protected]
- Website: www.chicagocleancities.org
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chicago-area-clean-cities
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CACCCoalition/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChiCleanCities
Vanessa Perkins: [email protected]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/09/charging-deserts-evs/