Net Zero Energy Podcast

Kelly Lucci from Efficiency Vermont and Justine Sears from VEIC join Jen to discuss the 2023 Vermont Energy Burden Report that details the percentage of a household’s income spent on electricity, heating, and transportation. Measuring this burden is a powerful way to understand the impact of energy costs across the state, and where energy expenses are highest.

Rob Conboy from Glavel, a foam glass gravel manufacturer out of Burlington VT, talks about the versatile and lightweight building material.

Daryoush Khmanei shares his story of learning to cook and creating the all-electric Micro Mobile Kitchen vehicle to bring his lunch menu to locations all around Burlington.

Charles Dillard is Burlington’s Principal Planner in the office of City Planning. He joins us today to talk about Transportation Demand Management or, the more friendly term, Transportation Options. The goal of TDM is help get people out of cars as often as possible and, for when cars are necessary, making that option more accessible to all of our neighbors.

BED Regulatory Specialist Amber Widmayer and General Manager Darren Springer talk about the recent legislative session. Amber and Darren talk about the progress made on the Clean Heat bill, fee structuring for EV drivers, and how they contribute to the legislative process at both the State and Federal level.

Our next door neighbors at the Department of Public Works, Lee Perry (Division Director for Maintenance) and Dave Hammond (City Fleet Manager) join us to discuss the successes and challenges of moving our city’s fleet of vehicles to electric.

Cristina Garcia is back! This time, she talks about Latinx In Sustainability, an organization she founded out of New York, NY. She talks with us what the group is doing to help underrepresented and under-resourced Latinx communities in an effort to diversify the sustainability workforce.

Essex High School senior Chase Desroches has channeled his passion for sustainability into organizing the first Vermont Future Fest. The festival is taking place in Jeffersonville, Vermont on Wednesday, June 14 at 4:30pm. 

In commemoration of Asian American pacific Islander Heritage Month, we speak with Ita Meno, an Indigenous Islander of the CHamoru diaspora, and BED’s first ever Project & Equity Analyst. They bring over a decade of experience working for the City of Burlington (CEDO and the Department Permit & Inspections) to help us bring a fresh perspective to our department’s work and to their work with CQ Strategies. Ita is helping us reach all of our customers including those who may not be able to switch to various Net Zero Energy technologies right now.

VEIC Senior Consultant Adam Sherman and BED’s Chief Forester Betsy Lesnikoski discuss the harvesting practices we support
Private vs. public forests; misconceptions surrounding biomass harvesting; how they support the future of Vermont’s forests; and carbon emissions at McNeil Generating Station.