Campus Energy and Sustainability Podcast Dave Karlsgodt

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 decarbonizing campus thermal systems - from antiquated steam to efficient low temp hot water, from fossil fuels to the stable temperature of the ground. The panel will feature how to engage and collaborate with institutional constituents in the beginning stages all the way through complete projects covering planning, financing, implementation.

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 higher education.

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 co-authors the who each made significant contributions the paper we discuss including Maya Domeshek and Lucy Metz who were students at Smith at the time of publication and Laura Drauker from the Boston-based non-profit Ceres.

Link to the paper: https://www.cell.com/one-earth/fulltext/S2590-3322(21)00472-3

Alexander R. Barron, et al. "Carbon Neutrality Should Not Be the End Goal: Lessons for Institutional Climate Action From U.s. Higher Education." One earth, v. 4 ,.9 pp. 1248-1258. doi: 10.1016/j.oneear.2021.08.014

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 either empty hype or operationally irrelevant for their campus context?

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 sustainable future for higher education and the communities in which they operate.

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 controls, valves, dampers, trend analysis and even phase change materials. This engaging episode is perfect for anyone looking for creative energy solutions for their campus, whether this is your first introduction to energy management or, like Dave and Kenny, you geek out over topics energy efficiency, storage, and more.