How GM Is Going All Electric – Kristen Siemen, Chief Sustainability Officer, General Motors

“We’ll have over 50% of our facilities producing EVs here in the U.S. by 2025. We’ve announced four battery plants here in the U.S., a number of supply chain agreements, again, to really get those critical minerals happening here. So, so really excited to see where this, this is going to take us.” Kristen Siemen… Continue reading How GM Is Going All Electric – Kristen Siemen, Chief Sustainability Officer, General Motors

Electric Vehicle Basics – Mia Bevacqua, CarParts.com Chief Technical Writer & Mechanic

“A pure EV does not have an internal combustion engine on board, whereas a hybrid does. So, the two vehicles share most the same electric powertrain components. Both hybrids and EVs are going to have one or more electric motors, a high voltage battery, inverter, a converter, those kind of components. But with a hybrid,… Continue reading Electric Vehicle Basics – Mia Bevacqua, CarParts.com Chief Technical Writer & Mechanic

Clean Energy Portable Generators? – Connie Stacey, Growing Greener Innovations

“Energy storage kind of cuts across multiple sectors…vehicles, that’s a big one…and quite frankly, to move ahead with a lot of the smart cities initiatives, we have to look at centralizing storage in order to maintain the current grid, because the grid can’t handle increased load…So storage really runs the gambit in touching our lives… Continue reading Clean Energy Portable Generators? – Connie Stacey, Growing Greener Innovations

Democratizing Energy, Innovation & STEM Careers – Dr. Sophie Vandebroek, CTO of Xerox

Listen to this fascinating discussion with one of the world’s foremost business leaders and innovators, Dr. Sophie Vandebroek, Chief Technology Officer of Xerox, talk about “democratizing energy,” and driving innovation in large organizations. (Note: She went on to be COO of IBM Research and now is at MIT leading an innovation group. This was recorded… Continue reading Democratizing Energy, Innovation & STEM Careers – Dr. Sophie Vandebroek, CTO of Xerox

Energy Innovation Needs Women – Katie Mehnert, Pink Petro

“Your biggest challenge is your biggest opportunity. Get people into the system so they can change the culture and the industry to clean energy” – Katie Mehnert on Green Connections Radio podcast.
At the 2020 World Economic Forum where global leaders across industry gather in Davos, Switzerland every January, climate change took “center stage,” as The New York Times headline put it. A key topic of debate was the conundrum of providing clean energy to everyone on the planet and it is abundantly clear much more rapid innovation is needed, including of the oil and gas sector. But how?
Listen to Katie Mehnert, who spent 20 years in the oil and gas sector and remains devoted to it, in this surprisingly candid interview on Green Connections Radio podcast with Joan Michelson. Katie passionately lays out the urgent need for the sector to innovate and why bringing more women into the industry is key. Katie left a job in Big Oil that she loved to start Pink Petro to get more women into energy industry leadership.

Innovating Energy Storage – Praveen Kathpal, AES Energy Storage

“Everywhere we go in the utility industry, utilities, regulators, stakeholders…there’s broad recognition that…the way utilities do business has to change.” Praveen Kathpal on Green Connections Radio Every time there’s a natural disaster, huge swaths of people lose power for days, weeks, even months in the case of Puerto Rico (from Hurricane Maria). That means their… Continue reading Innovating Energy Storage – Praveen Kathpal, AES Energy Storage

Eco-Battery Technologies – Shirley Meng, U.C. San Diego, Sustainable Power & Energy Center

Imagine if a substance so common and inexpensive that it’s in your kitchen cabinet could hold the secret to the next revolution in battery technologies! That’s the truly ground-breaking work that Dr. Shirley Meng is leading at the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion at U.C. San Diego and as the Founding Director of its Sustainable Power and Energy Center.This brilliant woman is innovating batteries for the 21st century – and they aren’t all lithium ion – for the grid, electric vehicles and those small alkaline batteries in your flashlight or portable emergency radio. These breakthroughs expand renewable energy. Listen to GCR Host Joan Michelson’s fascinating conversation with Shirley.

Inventing New Batteries – Esther Takeuchi, Inventors Hall of Fame & Stony Brook

Anyone you know of who has a pacemaker, literally owes their life to Dr. Esther Takeuchi of Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Lab. She invented the pacemaker battery and is in the Inventors’ Hall of Fame as a result. This remarkable woman is now innovating batteries for the 21st century – for everything from cars to the electric grid — to enable greater expansion of renewable energies by addressing the storage-intermittency issues. Listen to GCR Host Joan Michelson’s fascinating conversation with Esther new battery technologies.

Democratizing Energy, Innovation & STEM Careers – Dr. Sophie Vandebroek, CTO of Xerox

What does it mean to “democratize” energy? What’s the best way to drive innovation in a big organization? Listen to this fascinating discussion with one of the world’s foremost business leaders and innovators, Dr. Sophie Vandebroek, CTO of Xerox, to find out! You’ll also get excellent career advice, especially for women in mid-career.