The ZENERGY Podcast: Energy Leadership, Finance, and Technology

The mission of the Maryland Public Service Commission is to ensure safe, reliable, and economic public utility and transportation service to the citizens of Maryland. Today’s guests are Chair Frederick Hoover and Commissioner Kumar Barve. Frederick H. Hoover was appointed Chair of the Maryland Public Service Commission by Governor Wes Moore for a five-year term beginning on July 1, 2023. He most r...

The New York City Comptroller’s office works to promote the financial health, integrity, and effectiveness of New York City government, in order to strengthen trust, secure a thriving future for all New Yorkers, and build a more just, equitable, and resilient city. Led by an independently-elected citywide official, the Comptroller’s office provides checks and balances needed to hold City governmen...

Elemental Excelerator is a nonprofit investor focused on scaling climate technologies with deep community impact. They bring more than a decade of experience across the climate sector, with an active and maturing portfolio of more than 150+ companies. Elemental fills two gaps fundamental to addressing climate change: funding projects for climate technologies in communities, and embedding equity an...

The URBAN-X platform provides tailor-made programming, connections and resources to early-stage founders. Founders in their portfolio tackle some of the toughest challenges that cities face today as they confront a new climate reality. As mechanical engineer, Tristan Bel first designed packaging machines, medical equipment, and consumer goods, and then managed products and operations for a non-pro...

To stave off the worst effects of the climate crisis we must leverage our greatest ally, the ocean. To do so with the speed needed to meet this moment, we need to build companies—with repeatable, scalable business models—that can achieve global impact. This is our collective challenge, and our great opportunity. Dr. Julie Pullen is an oceanographer and meteorologist focused on climate resilience,...

NY Green Bank is a New York State-sponsored investment fund dedicated to filling financing gaps in clean energy and sustainable infrastructure markets. Their investments contribute to greenhouse gas emissions reductions, energy efficiency, clean energy generation, and the mobilization of private capital in key market sectors.  NY Green Bank uses public capital to mobilize private investment into u...

Transitioning the global car refill supply chain to electric will take decades of focused and intense work to solve the fundamental engineering challenges required to generate, store, transmit, and distribute electricity for a global fleet of electric cars. The mission is to decarbonize and electrify transportation by powering all of EV charging. Quincy Lee, Co-Founder and CEO of Electric Era, sta...

What does it take to scale sustainable technologies from promising ideas to world-changing solutions? That's the challenge at the heart of today's discussion on sustainable energy and climate innovation. Today, we're thrilled to have Eoin Ó hÓgáin, Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Power Sustainable, joining us. With over 20 years of experience in the energy and climate sector, E...

Getting to zero by 2050 might be the most difficult challenge humanity has ever taken on. That’s because nearly everything we do in our daily lives contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, from how we plug in to how we grow things, make things, get around, and stay cool and warm. Breakthrough Energy is committed to supporting new technologies that change the way we live, eat, work, travel, and mak...

Biomimicry is a practice that learns from and mimics the strategies found in nature to solve human design challenges in a regenerative way. The Biomimicry Institute empowers people to create nature-inspired solutions for a healthy planet. Their goal today is for biomimicry to become a natural part of the design process, to create a new generation of innovators who support all life on this planet....

Terraformation provides early-stage financing for biodiverse carbon projects. They function as an extension of a team to identify, design, and grow reforestation projects that deliver a portfolio of high-quality carbon credits. Their partnership team connects with forestry organizations around the world to build a pipeline of future reforestation projects across Africa, Latin America, and Southeas...

Azolla Ventures invests in breakthroughs that could avert catastrophic climate change. They focus on ventures at the earliest stages, where risk and reward are highest. Their priority is impact first: every investment holds the potential for large-scale greenhouse gas reductions and a more just climate for all. Founded by Prime Coalition and enabled by catalytic capital, they seek out bold entrepr...

The mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and the environment. To accomplish this mission, the EPA strives to develop and enforce regulations, provide grants, study environmental issues, sponsor partnerships, teach people about the environment, and publish information to keep the public informed. Sanjay Seth is Chief of Staff & Senior Advisor for...

The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) is an enabler of pioneering climate-smart planning and climate action in low and middle-income economies, many of which are the least prepared yet the most prone to the challenges of climate change. CIF responds to the worldwide climate crisis with large-scale, low-cost, and long-term financial solutions to support countries in achieving their climate objectives....

The mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and the environment. To accomplish this mission, the EPA strives to develop and enforce regulations, provide grants, study environmental issues, sponsor partnerships, teach people about the environment, and publish information to keep the public informed. Surabhi Shah has been working at the intersection of en...

C40 is a global network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities that are united in action to confront the climate crisis. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using an inclusive, science-based and collaborative approach to cut their fair share of emissions in half by 2030, help the world limit global heating to 1.5°C, and build healthy, equitable and resilient communities. Zachary Tofi...

The Office of Policy advises and supports priorities of the Secretary of Energy and other departmental elements on a range of topics related to domestic energy and climate policy issues, including technology policy, deployment and infrastructure policy, state, local, tribal, and territorial policy, and energy jobs.  The Office of Policy works collaboratively across the department and federal gover...

Getting to zero by 2050 might be the most difficult challenge humanity has ever taken on. That’s because nearly everything we do in our daily lives contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, from how we plug in to how we grow things, make things, get around, and stay cool and warm. Breakthrough Energy is committed to supporting new technologies that change the way we live, eat, work, travel, and mak...

Greater New Orleans, Inc. is the regional economic development nonprofit organization serving the 10-parish region of Southeast Louisiana. Their mission is to create a region with a thriving economy and an excellent quality of life, for everyone. The ultimate indication of their success will be the presence of a robust, accessible, and growing middle class in Southeast Louisiana where our children...

Ari Matusiak is the CEO of Rewiring America. He is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Purpose Venture Group, a social impact incubator building ventures to address climate and economic inequality. He served in the Obama White House as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Private Sector Engagement, where he focused on economic policy related to jobs and competitiveness and oversaw...

Because buildings run on guesswork, and energy analysis is hard, there is so much waste. While buildings themselves and the complexity of their electrical load have significantly changed over the past two decades, the tools and processes to manage them haven't evolved to keep up. Verdigris has developed advanced sensor technology that can be quickly and easily installed into any building’s ele...

Valerie Shen is Partner and Chief Operating Officer at G2 Venture Partners. She oversees all operational aspects of the firm and fund including fundraising / LP relations, recruiting / HR, fund administration, impact reporting, legal, compliance, and marketing. Prior to business school, Valerie was an analyst at Kleiner Perkins’ $1B Green Growth Fund, where she helped the team found G2. Before tha...

The science is clear: to avoid the worst impact of climate change, it won’t be enough to just reduce emissions. We’ll also need to permanently remove gigatons of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere and ocean. A wide range of technologies could deliver permanent and measurable carbon removal, from enhanced weathering to biomass carbon removal and storage to direct air capture. And today’s gues...

Julia Souder, the Chair of Global Renewables Alliance and CEO of LDES (Long Duration Energy Storage) Council, joins the Zenergy Podcast today for a really interesting conversation about renewable integration, as well as what LDES is and its impacts. Julia has over 22 years of strategic experience in the energy and environmental sectors. She has been a longtime advocate of clean energy technology,...

Welcome to an eye-opening episode where we explore the cutting-edge world of manufacturing carbon-negative materials and products using biochar. Our guest today is Allison Dring, the CEO and co-founder of Made of Air, a company dedicated to revolutionizing the building materials industry with sustainable solutions. Allison, a trained architect with a passion for environmental sustainability, share...