Flanigan's Eco-Logic

Ted Flanigan
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Flanigan's Eco-Logic, hosted by Ted Flanigan, provides cutting-edge information and insights in sustainability and the clean energy space. Episodes address alternative energy -- featuring solar, storage, microgrids, vehicle grid integration, and energy access. In addition, the podcast covers resources issues -- like water and food issues, and even slow fashion. Flanigan’s enthusiasm, vast experience, and deep network in the energy and environmental arena are palpable as he brings exciting and encouraging green developments to the fore, interviewing and engaging leading policy makers and practitioners throughout the United States and in many countries around the world.

  1. Ben Airth -- Making Residential Solar Work

    3D AGO

    Ben Airth -- Making Residential Solar Work

    Ben Airth is the Policy Director for Freedom Forever, the largest residential solar company in the country. Freedom Forever installs solar systems in 30 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. For Freedom Forever's management, Ben tracks state regulations, state legislation, and federal policies to guide program development and sales. The conversation begins with a discussion of the fall-off of the Internal Revenue Service 25D investment tax credit for solar... an issue for residential solar companies nationwide. Ben makes the case that there are solutions such as prepaid leases that allow for commercial ownership of solar systems on homes, and that the commercial tax credit is still in place. To get this 48E tax credit, the issue is ownership. Commercially owned systems can be on residential or commercial properties. In fact, given the bonus credits possible for commercial installations, homeowners might even see a better than 30% value through this pathway. Ted brings the discussion back to California and to Net Billing, California's regulatory policy. While a blow to the solar industry in California, Ben suggests that it may well be a good thing in the long run as it has caused consumers to add batteries to their systems. This allows consumers to self-consume solar power and to realize each solar kilowatt-hour's retail energy cost value. Ted asks about which states provide the most value to homeowners interested in solar: Ben notes that California is the top of the list given its high power prices. The Illinois Shines program has an enhanced value stack for solar, providing homeowners there with the upfront value of Renewable Energy Credits that solar will generate. Maine is a small market but one with attractive consumer economics. Puerto Rico is also a leader for residential solar and storage given hurricanes and the great value of resilience for homeowners there. Texas's deregulated electricity market allows for virtual power plants, another revenue stream and effective means of amortizing the upfront cost of solar. Texas has also enabled third-party permitting and inspections, addressing these bottlenecks in residential installations and shortening installation times. Ted then asks about the 20 states that Freedom Forever does not serve: In some cases, Ben explains that these are nascent markets that have prematurely adopted California's net billing as a precedent, well before any form of solar saturation and without adequately priming the solar market. States such as Idaho assigned fixed fees that destroyed the economics of consumer-owned solar. Building on the discussion of virtual power plants and their promise for the future, the discussion shifts to the potential for vehicle-to-grid programs and the integration of e-mobility with our electric utilities. Ben notes that this, like solar and storage, has been inhibited by the One Big Beautiful Bill, but is still promising. He states the need for effective rates and tariffs to make these strategies viable for utilities as well as consumers. The conversation ends with a discussion of what utilities call "the cost shift" related to distributed generation, and in this case residential solar. Ben discusses the unusually large amount of consumer investments in solar, a public resource that has helped to build the utility infrastructure. While the utility position is this has hurt other consumers with no solar, Ben calls it a mind set. The problem is not technical -- which can be overcome -- but instead a mind set that overlooks the great value of consumer investments that utilities do not have to make. The key is to find win-win solutions that benefit both consumers and utilities charged with providing reliable and affordable power.

    33 min
  2. Dr. Bonnie Nixon - Decarbonizing the Long Beach Container Terminal

    FEB 23

    Dr. Bonnie Nixon - Decarbonizing the Long Beach Container Terminal

    Dr. Bonnie Nixon is the Sustainability Director for the Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT), one of the world's busiest and greenest ports. The terminal handles 3.5 million, 20-foot containers annually. Its 4,200 foot long wharf can unload three of the largest container ships in the world at once. Air quality is an issue that drives Bonnie. She grew up in an industrial community in Northern New Jersey and knows painfully well the devastating impacts of bad air on human health. The San Pedro port complex receives 40% of all goods entering the United States. Bonnie explains that ports have five major sources of emissions: ships, short and long-haul drayage trucks, cargo-handling equipment, locomotives, and tugs. The result is that the communities surrounding LBCT have suffered from some of the worst air quality in the country.  LBCT has addressed this head on. When ships come to its wharf, they receive shore power and turn off their engines which run with dirty bunker fuel. The Port's 93 cranes work without emissions as do the 102 automated electric transport vehicles that are guided by sensors embedded in the concrete that move containers on site. The Port is home to the largest battery exchange buildings in the world that automatically exchange batteries in 5 - 8 minutes. In 2030 Bonnie completed a net zero strategy for LBCT with a $250 million price tag. So far, she has raised $130 million of this to drive down Scope 1 (onsite combustion) and Scope 2 (purchased electricity) emissions. The Port has reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 85 - 90%. Thanks to monetizing Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits, LBCT has been able to purchase offsets for Scope 3 emissions related to ships, trucks, and trains run by its vendors.  Bonnie is now working to clean up the Port's 270 rolling stock vehicles -- tractors, forklifts, trucks, buses, sweepers, etc. She is working with shipping lines to promote e-methanol to power the ships that come to and from Long Beach to achieve net zero status at the Port in time for the Los Angeles Olympics. She is also focused on resiliency strategies. Her quest is to demonstrate that even massive industrial complexes like LBCT can fully decarbonize their operations.

    35 min
  3. Nigel Mason - The Rescue and Care of Sumatran Elephants

    FEB 16

    Nigel Mason - The Rescue and Care of Sumatran Elephants

    After growing up in England and Egypt, and a 25-year stint in Australia, Nigel Mason moved to Bali, Indonesia. There he met his wife, they ran a restaurant and a rafting company, and became highly concerned about the plight and extinction of Sumatran Elephants. Visiting Sumatra, seeing the gross attack on its forests, the dire consequences of deforestation for palm oil that displaced elephants, orangutans, tigers, monkeys, and rhinos, Nigel and his wife decided to take action. Over three trips and a seven-year period, they rescued 27 elephants and created an elephant park in Taro, Bali. Ted asks Nigel about moving the herd to Bali, a 1,700-kilometer voyage over land and sea. Nigel explains that yes, it was very challenging, particularly getting enough food and water to sustain the elephants for the five-day trip. Elephants consumer 250 kilos of food a day... plus lots of water, the latter made hugely challenging during one trip during an intense drought in Java. But the transport was successful, and the elephants that would have lived only 3 - 7 years in captivity in Sumatra, now had a special park in Bali with all the food and drink and care that they needed to live for 50 - 60 years. Today there are less than 1,000 Sumatran Elephants in the wild. Nigel describes the care that his herd of elephants get. Elephants tend to succumb to death in many cases due to problems with their feet. Nigel devised a special material for the paths that they walk that is cooler than concrete yet with enough grit to properly scale back the elephants' nails and to maintain the health of their feet. Each elephant has a "mahout," a "carer," who looks after the elephant from morning to night... bathing it, feeding it, and giving it the interaction with which they thrive. Since opening the park in 1997, six babies have been born and raised there too. The park is proud of having met the strict, 200+ standards of the Asian Captive Elephants Standards, being certified for over ten years. Despite Nigel's good rescue deed, for the past few months the park has been embroiled in a major controversy with animal rights groups that claimed that elephants in Indonesia have been subject to cruel behavior. The groups took particular exception to the practice of riding elephants. While Nigel made clear the need for elephants to get sufficient exercise -- they normally walk 20 kilometers a day, versus 7 - 8 km in the park -- and the relative light weight of the riders, the animal rights groups would hear nothing of it. Then the Indonesian government suddenly banned riding elephants outright causing the number of visitors to the park to plummet from 400 to 40 a day. Nigel and his family have had to subsidize the park -- which employs nearly 200 locals -- to care for and feed the elephant herd. The park continues to be supported by Nigel and his family with only the fees paid by park visitors. The park gets no government funding. Now the challenge continues... finding new ways to bring in visitors without the popular riding. Visitors now walk the elephants, and wash them, and swim with them. Visitors also enjoy the lush habitat and the park's restaurant. Nigel, his wife, and two sons remain dedicated to the park. Nigel makes clear that they will carry on and will find new ways to care for the elephants and to welcome visitors to this unique experience. If and when you're in Bali, please make sure to visit the Mason Elephant Park.

    34 min
  4. Richard Savoie -- Super-Efficient Delivery Logistics

    FEB 9

    Richard Savoie -- Super-Efficient Delivery Logistics

    Richard Savoie is the CoFounder and CEO of Adiona Tech, a high-tech logistics company that helps suppliers of both B2B and B2C -- business and consumer services -- optimize the efficiency of their delivery fleets. Richard's passion for and contribution to sustainability is pronounced. Since 2021, his firm has enabled delivery fleet operators to save millions of miles of travel, hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel, and 7.2 million kilograms of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. Using machine learning, and artificial intelligence, Adiona Tech optimizes the efficiency of delivery fleets in real time, reducing the number of trucks and clarifying delivery times. Richard was born and raised in New Hampshire. After studying at Northeastern University in Boston, Richard and his wife moved to Australia where he worked for a number of years in medical device engineering. Then Richard flexed his entrepreneurial side... ultimately cofounding Adiona Tech with a partner who specializes in optimization and computer science. They saw massive inefficiencies in the delivery supply chain and built software address this. Their first client was CocaCola.  Today Adiona Tech has clients throughout Australia, New Zealand, in parts of Southeast Asia, and pilot programs in the United States. He notes that Australia Post... one of the world's largest postal distributors... is a key client that Adiona Tech helped to greatly increase the efficiency of its operations. In fact, Adiona Tech helped it to cut its fleet size, increase its delivery services, while providing a 100x return on the cost of the delivery optimization. The conversation hits on several facets of the supply chain, notably the last mile. Traditionally and on average, trucks serving the last mile have been only 60% full. Using Adiona Tech's services, delivery trucks can be 80-90% full, fleets can be smaller, and tremendous financial and environmental gains can be realized.  Adiona Tech starts with its focus on both the supply side -- where products originate -- and the demand side, where they are delivered to businesses and consumers. Factors and optimization parameters considered include cargo size, weight, and volume; whether the products are palletized or not, the types of fleet vehicles used and more. Routes vary based on demands and on actual traffic patterns through what Richard calls "dynamic routing." The conversation shifts to the rise and potential for electric vehicles, noting range considerations that alter routes, but also the efficiency of EVs and their promise to further increase the efficiency and decarbonization of logistics. Autonomous vehicles are discussed, with Richard explaining the necessary orchestration of three technologies: AI, autonomous vehicles, and robotics. We are not there yet, but Richard anticipates the effective convergence of these in the next ten years... further enhancing the efficiency of delivery services. These advances will continue to boost Adiona Tech's outsized beneficial environmental impact.

    31 min
  5. Farhad Abasov -- Potash Mining to Feed the World

    FEB 2

    Farhad Abasov -- Potash Mining to Feed the World

    Millennial Potash has a big mission... to feed the world's growing population.  Global population growth is expected to rise from 7+ billion currently to some 12 billion by 2050. Millennial Potash is in the fertilizer business. Potash is a form of potassium - potassium chloride. It is considered the king of fertilizers. It strengthens crop roots, enhances water retention, replenishes the soil, and thus boosts agricultural yields. Potassium is one of the big three chemicals that make up NPK, nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Today, many countries are classifying it as a critical mineral given its huge importance with agriculture and food production. Farhad Abasov is the Chairman, Director and Co-Founder of Millennial Potash. It's his 8th company. His past works have also been mining ventures, extracting lithium, uranium, and other minerals. Millennial is based in Saskatchewan, but Farhad is based in Dubai and beams in from the the United Arab Emirates for the podcast conversation. He explains that Dubai is strategically located as Millennial's big new venture is developing a potash mine in Gabon, Africa. The mine, known as the Banio project, is 1,238 square kilometers in size, about half the State of Rhode Island. Potash is naturally occurring in soils, and is also found in rich deposits that formed from ancient seas that evaporated over time. Farhad explains that there is a huge amount of potash on the planet... enough for centuries and centuries of production at today's use rates. The challenge, he explains, is that potash reserves are not where potash is used. The biggest users of potash are the United States, China, Brazil, and India, while the largest potash reserves are in Canada, Russia, and Belarus. The Gabon location is strategically located in a politically stable country and along the coast. Millennial is building an export port in the Atlantic to move its material to key global markets. Ted asks about the environmental impacts of potash mining. Is it strip-mined like coal? No, explains Farhad. Instead solution mining used, a process in which water (in this case sea water) is injected into the Earth forcing the mineral to the surface where it is dried and the loaded onto cargo ships for export. There is very little impact on the surface, no underground work, no subsidence or sink holes, the mine appearing more like a natural gas facility than mineral mine. As for the impact of drying the material in a jungle-like environment, Millennial is building a 25 MW natural gas power plant for this function, a relatively small facility given the enormity of the mine that will be Gabon's largest industry and largest employer... and the billions of tons of potash that will be extracted there to feed the world.

    34 min
  6. Sammy Roth -- Climate-Colored Goggles

    JAN 26

    Sammy Roth -- Climate-Colored Goggles

    Sammy Roth is a diligent investigator and journalist who has established himself as one of California's leading climate columnists. He explains that he has used the power of the media for his entire career, since elementary school. From an early age he recognized the big voice that one could have as a journalist reaching the masses. He began to focus on the environment and sustainability when he was a student at Columbia University studying sustainable development. Ted met Sammy ten years ago when he was the Desert Sun's energy reporter, covering California's Coachella Valley, based in Palm Springs. There he reported on the conflicts and controversies surrounding desert solar and wind projects, raising awareness of the tradeoffs between development of renewables and wildlife habitat and conservation. He also researched and wrote extensively about water issues in the West. Then he moved back to his home town of Los Angeles where he worked for the LA Times, writing 1 -2 articles a week in addition to producing a blog and podcast called The Boiling Point. Sammy clearly has a reputation as a hard-hitting environmental reporter. Ted asks him about how he has been able to balance the interests of his readers and whether he has had to walk a fine line. No, he replied, he has always been able to tell it like he sees it, noting the unwavering support of his colleagues, editors, and readers. His guiding principle has been to dig in and find the story, reveal what's accurate, and to report on what's going to make the world work better. It's all about advancing solutions and fixing problems, he states. When asked about the results of his reporting, he bifurcates results: First is raising awareness which he explains is really hard to measure. Second is creating impact. He discusses raising awareness about how oil companies sponsor sports... like Union 76 being a major sponsor of his beloved LA Dodgers. Then he shifts to Disneyland and discusses his reporting about a ride at Tomorrowland... where he raised awareness about polluting engines powering cars in Autopia. His articles caused Disneyland to pledge to switch to electric vehicles... much more in line with current times. Clearly Sammy has melded his interests with his journalism, something he wants to amplify in his new pursuit, his independent work with Climate-Colored Goggles. The conversation shifts to his reporting on the Ivanpah solar concentrating power plant that millions of motorists see each year on their way to Las Vegas. The pronounced three towers surrounded by fields or mirrors was a potent symbol of the future of solar. But Sammy supported the plant's closure, as its largest off-taker, Pacific Gas and Electric, wanted. But despite bird deaths, operational deficiencies, and the rise of more cost-effective, utility-scale photovoltaic plants, California regulators insisted on keeping Ivanpah operational despite its operating deficiencies... resulting in Sammy's article that he titled "The Solar Stupidity is Blinding." The conversation shifts to water, its shortage in the West and its overlap with energy. Drought not only crimps water supply in the Colorado River basin, but affects hydroelectric production. Agrivoltaics is another nexus between energy and water, the potential to reduce evaporation and the amount of water needed for crop yields, while generating electricity. And while nearly every part of California is out of drought conditions thanks to good rainfall and a robust snowpack, the snowpack in the Rockies which supplies the Colorado River is below average. No, he noted, we are not out of the woods. Ted asks about the solution. Sammy makes clear that everyone in the seven-state watershed (30 million people and 5 million acres of farmland) needs to use less water, a challenging scenario indeed. Sammy left the LA Times towards the end of 2025 after seven years in what he called a great niche, to do his own thing, namely writing a blog called Climate-Colored Goggles, a subscription-based venture. In his eyes, everything is a climate issue. It's not just relegated to policy and politics. Climate change is ubiquitous... intertwined with entertainment, media, sports, music, etc. He explains that he was ready for a change and ready for even greater independence as a journalist... stretching his creativity, reporting in new formats and new frequencies. While he misses his colleagues at the LA Times, Climate-Colored Goggles is where he is focused now. Check him out at ClimateColoredGoggles.com.

    36 min
  7. Bill McKibben -- Here Comes the Sun

    JAN 19

    Bill McKibben -- Here Comes the Sun

    Bill McKibben is an author and activist who Ted met in 1990 after the release of Bill's New York Times best seller, The End of Nature. In that book, he raised awareness about the reality and perils of global warming, now known as climate change. Since then, Bill has written 20 books and has earned over 20 honorary doctorates from colleagues and universities. He also is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, considered the alternative Nobel Peace Prize, and the Gandhi Peace Prize. The conversation begins with a discussion of his most recent book, Here Comes the Sun. Without question, emphasizes Bill, the time has come for solar to power our global society. Despite recent setbacks by the current United States presidential administration, Bill cites the remarkable rise of solar worldwide. China, for instance, has been adding solar at a rate of 3 GW a day. In 2023, solar became the cheapest and fastest-growing source of power. But in that same year, our climate was heated to record levels. We have reached 430 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere, well above the 350 limit  that climate scientists warned us about. But there is more good news, even in California, despite its political leaders attempts to limit solar, natural gas use is down 40% just in the past few years. Bill co-founded 350.org nearly 20 years ago to raise awareness about climate. Since then 350.org has organized over 20,000 rallies, protests, and other events in every country except North Korea. It continues to engage and raise alarms about catastrophic environmental degradation. He talks about SunDay and its 500 events in 2025. Recently, Bill founded Third Act, an organization group led by "elders" such as he in their Third Acts that promotes clear energy solutions and defends democracy. Just like the third act in a theater production, this is the time and chance for resolution of a number of subplots. He insists that there is still time to fully utilize the giant solar reactor in the sky, some 93 million miles away. And he notes that solar provides a great opportunity for our global civilization to unify around a mission, much like we did in the United States with the moonshot in the 1960s.

    33 min
  8. Alix Lebec -- Scaling Innovative Finance for Sustainability

    JAN 12

    Alix Lebec -- Scaling Innovative Finance for Sustainability

    Alix Lebec is the Founder and CEO of LEBEC. She grew up in Paris, then her family moved to South Korea and China. She was educated in Paris and in London, and now lives in Miami. Ted notes at the onset, "You are truly a global citizen." She and her colleagues are working on global solutions. Her specialty is innovative finance for sustainable development. LEBEC's mission is to democratize access to capital, opportunity and knowledge. The women-led team has grown into a platform to mainstream and scale innovative finance. Alix explains that its three pillars are its strategic advisory services, managing its own boutique investment fund, and making funders and non-profits and others aware of innovative finance. At its core is blending forms of finance and bringing together different capital tools. Her firm is expert at using philanthropy to catalyze initiatives, to de-risk them, then bringing in institutional and larger investors to scale initiatives. Alix's work is sector agnostic. She and her colleagues are advising clients and raising funding across sectors including water, energy, agriculture and food, affordable housing, and health. It's all about scaling solutions by using an innovative finance playbook to shape a resilient and healthy economy and climate. For the past five years, LEBEC has worked with families, foundations, corporations, and banks, all looking to put capital to work in more impactful ways. At the other end of the process are recipients: The firm is supporting socially responsible entrepreneurs. Ted asks for a few examples and Alix presents four: She began developing the innovative financing model working with Water Equity, an organization founded by Gary White and actor Matt Damon. Its mission was to help women and their families get small loans to access drinking water, originally in India and Bangladesh. They began by using private sources of capital to provide micro-financing for water taps into main lines. Based on a track record of consistent repayments, they effectively de-risked larger investments of more conventional grants and loans from major organizations. Ultimately, the initiative secured $5 billion in capital for a range of water infrastructure and sanitation projects scaled up on several continents. Seeing that "financing playbook" work so well encouraged Alix to launch LEBEC. Other consulting works, included working with a Fortune 500 company that required strong returns for its investments, but that also wanted to have greater societal impact. Alix helped the company mix its financing tools, strategically blending its philanthropic endeavors with more conventional financial instruments. For the Miami Foundation, Alix built an innovative for affordable housing and environmental protection in Florida, using its philanthropic activities to prove the model and then seed conventional financing. LEBEC also works with non-profits and entrepreneurs with sourcing capital and using limited funds for the greatest impact. The conversation shifts to Alix's assertion that the world is falling short some $5 trillion in funding for the new economy - investments in low-carbon, climate-resilient solutions. "Clean energy is the future," she says, things like scaling solar-powered water pumping. Closing the funding gap is critical to enhancing food production for a growing population. There is also a huge need for health care and education. While some think that foundation grants and program-related investments will be sufficient, Alix believes that philanthropy has to be leveraged to tap into larger sources of financing, like big banks such as JP Morgan. Another key driver, she asserts, is proper valuation of climate risk. As the insurance industry forces us all to get real on these risks, capital will flow to help close the multi-trillion-dollar gap. Ted closes with asking Alix where she got the passion for her work. She responded that early exposure to different cultures, growing up abroad, and traveling across the Southeast Asia region, opened her eyes. Her first job, working on a documentary in Sudan, reinforced her sense of need and direction. Then working for The World Bank, she saw first-hand the struggles of underserved communities, and the disparity with people who have so much. This rooted her passion and LEBEC's important drive to democratize access to capital, opportunities, and wealth.

    34 min
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About

Flanigan's Eco-Logic, hosted by Ted Flanigan, provides cutting-edge information and insights in sustainability and the clean energy space. Episodes address alternative energy -- featuring solar, storage, microgrids, vehicle grid integration, and energy access. In addition, the podcast covers resources issues -- like water and food issues, and even slow fashion. Flanigan’s enthusiasm, vast experience, and deep network in the energy and environmental arena are palpable as he brings exciting and encouraging green developments to the fore, interviewing and engaging leading policy makers and practitioners throughout the United States and in many countries around the world.

Information

  • Creator
    Ted Flanigan
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    260
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Flanigan's Eco-Logic
  • Show Website
    Flanigan's Eco-Logic