Eco-Logic Podcasts – 2023

In EcoNet News, V25 #12, 12/20/2023 Ted shares his first EV road trip experience in a Tesla from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. He salutes COP28 in Dubai, and highlights EV charging, virtual power plant strategies and much more.

Kristian Hansen is Founder and CEO of Slø Jean Company, a denim power house on a mission to tackle fast fashion issues within the industry. He and Ted discuss navigating sustainability in an industry built on exploitation and waste, pioneering eco-conscious capitalism to combat the climate crisis, leveraging consumer power and data, and the importance of community building vs. traditional marketing.

In EcoNet News, V25 #11, 11/30/2023Ted shares perspective on the highs and lows of climate change. In advance of COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, he highlights the largest, single-site photovoltaic plant in the world. He also highlights the first sustainably-fueled TransAtlantic flight and much more.

Feliz Ventura is Resilience Programs Manager for Ava Community Energy (formerly East Bay Community Energy), an innovative Community Choice Aggregator in California providing more renewable energy at competitive rates to its customers. Feliz brings nearly two decades of experience in making the case for investments that ensure communities thrive in the context of the rapid technological and climatic changes of the 21st century.

EcoNet News, V25 #10, 10/31/2023 features Ted's perspective on tackling the car bloat and transforming social expectations. He also highlights Green Mountain Power's plan for zero outages by 2030, heat pumps, filling the tree equity gap, rural electrification in the Maldives and more.

Chris Larsen is Senior Director for Clean Energy at Dynapower. A 25‐year clean energy veteran, Chris has been instrumental in positioning Dynapower as the leading power electronics provider for hybrid solar plus storage systems. He partnered with other industry leaders to bring DC‐DC technology to life. He discusses that and its broader application. Chris is now responsible for commercial applications including renewable energy, microgrids, e‐mobility, and green hydrogen.

In EcoNet News, V25 #9, 9/30/2023 Ted shares news on cutting-edge EV technology that get 600+ miles per charge, eliminating EV range anxiety, as well as the American Climate Corps, the dual use of land for agriculture and solar production and more.

Laura Friedman is California State Assemblymember from the 44th District. She represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, and Los Angeles, as well as the communities of La Crescenta, Lake View Terrace, Montrose, North Hollywood, Shadow Hills, Sherman Oaks, Sunland-Tujunga, Studio City, Toluca Lake, and Valley Village. Laura’s legislative work is focused in three primary areas: addressing the housing affordability and homelessness crisis, combating climate change, and protecting vulnerable communities.

Chelsea Congdon is Co-founder of the Global Biodiversity Narrative Project. She also served as a Water Resources Specialist for the Environmental Defense Fund, Water Program Director for Public Council of the Rockies, and is a Film and Media Producer. She is deeply engaged in creating and promoting the stories that help people see themselves as a part of nature and engage a broad global movement in transforming relationships with the planet.

EcoNet News, V25 #8, 8/30/2023 featuress Ted's daughter's wedding weekend, and just how honored he was to be the father of the bride. It 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.

George Lindsay, Jr. is 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 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, as well as the health benefits of oysters, the history and preservation of oysters in Oyster Bay, and the future of Oyster farming.

Esha Chhabra is Author of Working to Restore: Harnessing the Power of Regenerative Business to Heal the World. She 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.

William Boyd is 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). His primary research and teaching interests are in energy law and regulation, climate change law and policy, and environmental law.

Dr. Evan Mills is a recently retired Senior Scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), operated by the University of California. He is also a Research Affiliate at the Energy Resources Group, operated by the University of California. 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.

Jay Turner is Professor of Environmental Studies at Wellesley College and Author of Charged: A History of Batteries and Lessons for a Clean Energy Future. He 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.

Janice Lin is 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 has advised 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 she founded the Green Hydrogen Coalition.

Wiktor Dotter is Chief Executive Officer at ZeBeyond, 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.

Crash Course: Climate Action 101: Ted and host Sierra Flanigan 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. Addressing the push for practical solutions, they unpack materialism and quality of life and the benefits of making individual lifestyle changes and intentional decisions that serve oneself, community, and the planet at large.

EcoNet News, V25 #5, 5/31/2023 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.

EcoNet News, V25 #6, 5/28/2023 salutes 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 that clean energy investments globally are outpacing investments in fossil fuels, and much more.

Ted Bardacke is Chief Executive Officer at Clean Power Alliance (CPA), the locally-operated electricity provider for 32 communities and approximately one million customers across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. He is an innovator with a unique career focusing on sustainability and economic development that spans three continents. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the California Community Choice Association (CalCCA), where he actively works on CCA and energy market issues across California.

Jeff Horowitz Jeff is a seasoned market strategy professional with 10 years of experience scaling new businesses in the areas of solar project finance and clean energy. He is Director of Business Development and Partnerships at NEXT Energy Technologies. Jeff has negotiated millions of dollars worth of business venture agreements between U.S. and Chinese clean-tech companies and supported the closing of >30MW of distributed solar energy across the country.

John Perlin is the author of A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization. He has also written three books on solar energy: A Golden Thread: 2500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology; From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity; and Let It Shine: The 6000-Year Story of Solar Energy, as well as a visiting scholar in the department of physics at UC Santa Barbara. John emphasizes the mitigation of climate change by renewing our symbiotic relationship with the trees that have sustained us.

Steven Nadel is the Executive Director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a non-profit research organization. Steven has worked in the energy efficiency field for over 40 years and has over 200 publications on energy-efficiency subjects. He has testified many times before the US Congress on energy efficiency subjects and was a major contributor to multiple new US energy laws including the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

EcoNet News, V25 #3, 3/28/2023 features an essay on the small waterfront Village of Oyster Bay where Ted grew up, highlighting three things it is known for: oysters, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, and Billy Joel. The issue also digs deeper into oysters, a story on Elon Musk wanting Tesla to get into the heat pump business, a bullet train from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and more.

James Richmond is President of Sunwater Marine. James has been sailing since he was 4 years old and has 37 years of experience in the renewable and energy-efficiency industry, having developed and managed over $140M in energy-savings projects in the USA. He is a Certified Energy Manager, Association of Energy Engineers. With a broad spectrum of lifetime accomplishments and innovations, James’ new frontier is to expand the benefits of renewable energy and electric propulsion to boat owners in California.

Karin Burns is Chief Executive Officer of San Diego Community Power, the 2nd largest Community Choice Aggregator in California. She served as Executive Director for Code REDD, an environmental company she built into a globally recognized brand. She then became the Chief Executive Officer of Build It Green, where she oversaw a portfolio of energy efficiency programs across California, developed a low-income line of business, and fostered a culture of innovation and purpose-led growth. Karin later served as Regional Vice President for Franklin Energy Services LLC.

Nicolò Brambilla is Chief Technology Officer at Nanoramic Laboratories, and an expert in energy storage and nanotechnologies. He and Ted discuss his early life in Italy, attending a Polytechnic University, and his studies in engineering and physics. He shares his experience in moving to the United States, and delves into his current works in nanotechnology.

Drew Shula is a social entrepreneur, environmentalist, and force in the industry. He founded the world's largest annual net zero event, the Net Zero Conference and Trailblazer awards. He is also one of just six individuals who have been honored as both a LEED Fellow and Living Future Hero. His company, Verdical Group, specializes in green building certifications, engineering services, strategy, and events.