Campus Energy and Sustainability Podcast

Community colleges are emerging as powerful climate leaders, and this episode explores how institutions at different stages are turning vision into action. Host Dave Karlsgodt talks with leaders from Monterey Peninsula College, Gavilan College, and College of Marin about how financial stewardship, campus modernization, and sustainability planning are shaping resilient, future-ready campuses. ...

Transformational sustainability projects live or die at the intersection of ambition and institutional finance. This conversation pulls back the curtain on how credit ratings shape what campuses can actually approve, explaining why CFOs and boards evaluate sustainability initiatives through the lenses of risk, affordability, and long-term resilience. Using familiar examples like student housing be...

Electrifying vehicle fleets is no longer a distant goal—it’s happening now in school districts, cities, and campuses across the country. In this episode, we explore what it takes to transition large fleets to all-electric, from financing to infrastructure and community impact. Our guest shares lessons the K-12 perspectives, highlighting challenges and opportunities. Listeners will gain practical i...

Energy public-private partnerships (P3s) have moved beyond the pilot phase. They’re now a serious, scalable strategy for institutions facing aging infrastructure, decarbonization targets, and budget constraints. But a maturing market also brings complexity — in procurement models, financing tools, and internal alignment. In this episode, we talk with three experienced voices from across the P3 dea...

What does it take to embed sustainability across an entire university—from academic buildings to athletic arenas? In this episode, we sit down with Andy Berki, Director of the Office of Campus Sustainability, and Paul Dunlop, Associate Director of Facility Operations for Michigan Athletics, to explore how the University of Michigan is turning ambitious climate goals into everyday action. From high...

This episode was recorded live during a session at the 2024 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit co-sponsored by Second Nature and the Intentional Endowments Network in Long Beach, California, in February 2024. Guests from higher education and the private sector discuss the evolving nature of climate action planning and the emergence of decarbonization planning on college and university camp...

In this episode, we feature guest host and recent Lewis & Clark graduate Lena Essak. Lena interviews regular host Dave Karlsgodt and two other guests: Dr. Lisa Benjamin, Associate Professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, author and climate negotiator, and Tim Swinehart, a social studies teacher from Lincoln High School in Portland, OR. The topic is climate communication.

In this episode, you'll hear a session recorded earlier this year at the 2023 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit hosted by  Second Nature  and the  Intentional Endowments Network . The next frontier in campus decarbonization is the transition of thermal systems away from fossil fuels. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. This expert panel shares experiences in decarbo...

In this episode, you'll hear a session recorded earlier this summer at the 2023 Appalachian State University energy summit in Boone, North Carolina. This panel included my B&D colleague, Kevin Mara, and two industry experts, Chris DePodesta and Carolyn Arida, from the infrastructure investment group at Harrison Street. The topic evolving Energy public-private partnerships or energy P3s for hig...

In this episode we interview two professors and researchers discussing a recently published paper in the journal One Earth entitled: “Carbon neutrality should not be the end goal: Lessons for institutional climate action from U.S. Higher education.” You’ll hear lead author Alex Baron of Smith College and co-author Aaron Strong from Hamilton College. We also want to recognize key collaborators and...

In this episode we will talk with journalist, author, and energy consultant Peter Kelly-Detwiler. Our topic: Cutting Edge Campus Climate Tech. Our mission: help campus decision makers and stakeholders understand "cutting edge" campus decarbonization / reliability / resilience technologies. How can they take advantage of new and emerging technologies while avoid wasting time on ideas that are eithe...

In this episode, we talk with with Dr. Katrina Kelly-Pitou, Energy Systems Strategist at SmithGroup. The discussion focuses on what higher education can expect from federal, state and local governments in the near term, but also a broader discussion about the politics and business model of higher ed. itself.  She both challenges conventional ideas and paints a compelling vision for a sustaina...

In this episode, we talk with Kenny Seeton, central plant and energy manager at California State University Dominguez Hills. The wide-ranging conversation spans everything from LED retrofits to solar powered golf carts. Kenny talks about how to safely take risks and how to connect systems seeking continuous improvement. He offers up sound advice for energy managers on metering, sensors, occupancy...

In this special episode of the podcast, we present a recording of Podcasting for Sustainability in Higher Education from AASHE’s 2020 Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education. Dave Karlsgodt, Katie Boyle and Brian Campbell talk about what it’s like to run a podcast and how they utilize their shows to further the conversation on energy and sustainability. All three delve into the mis...

What can a higher education institution learn from an international bank? In this episode, we talk to Brailsford & Dunlavey’s own Ron Herbst, whose long and varied career in energy eventually led him to work with Deutsche Bank establishing and managing their Eco Performance Management Office (PMO.) An EcoPMO is a team that coordinates all of the functions needed to achieve an organization’s su...

Co-executive directors of the Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET), Zeyneb Magavi and Audrey Schulman both entered the climate change fight as mothers concerned for the futures of their children. In this episode, they share the history of their work on fixing super-emitting natural gas leaks in their neighborhood and across the state of Massachusetts. They tell the story of building relationships wi...

In this episode, Kaia talks with Abena Sackey Ojetayo, chief resilience officer and director for the City of Tallahassee, Florida. We talked about her childhood in Ghana and her sustainability projects in Florida. We also discussed code-switching and the ways that age, race and gender can place pressure on people in the workforce.

Krista Murphy has long had a passion for engineering. She studied architectural engineering in school, honed her skills in project management and now works as a principal at Affiliated Engineers, Inc., in San Francisco. Her experience as a leader in the engineering field led her to take on leadership in another aspect of her life, one where she speaks up for other women in the workplace. In this e...

With the new year in full swing and a new decade ahead, what better time to explore a cache of sustainability-related podcasts? In this episode, the Campus Energy and Sustainability Podcast partners with the Modern Energy Management Podcast to highlight some of the great stories being shared about the climate, energy and sustainability in the podcast world. This episode features interviews with su...

As an engineer, there’s nothing Kayla Dawson finds more frustrating than seeing a problem and being unable to solve it. But in an environment where biases influence behavior, she sees this happening all too often. In this episode, Kayla and host Sarah Barrr discuss how dominant, “status quo” leadership and mentorship styles favor certain groups of people, and how breaking down that status quo can...

If you travel by car to visit the University of Washington, your transportation choice will be a minority of those on campus. About 81 percent of the university community travels by transit, by foot, by bike and by carpooling. Even with a high number of people taking sustainable transportation, director of transportation services Anne Eskridge has big hopes for an even more sustainable future at t...

The United State’s transportation sector lays claim to 29 percent of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Cars, buses, trucks and airplanes, used as a part of daily life, present sustainability challenges that college and university sustainability officials feel poised to tackle. In this episode, host Dave Karlsgodt sits down with Arjun Sarkar, Sustainable Transportation Coordinator for t...