Alternative Power Plays

The movement to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, enhance air quality, address energy cost disparities, and transition to clean energy infrastructure is growing by the day. Neighborhood decarbonization has the power to not only deliver health benefits but positive climate implications as well. On this episode of Alternative Power Plays, Nicole Abene, Senior New York Legislative & Regulatory Manager at the Building Decarbonization Coalition, chats with Alan Seltzer and John Povilaitis about the implementation and benefits of neighborhood building decarbonization in New York. Nicole discusses strategies to achieve the federal goal of zero net emissions by 2050 and working to promote union-led workforce initiatives for building decarbonization. To learn more about Nicole Abene, visit: https://buildingdecarb.org/about-us/our-team  / https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-abene To learn more about John Povilaitis, visit: ⁠https://www.bipc.com/john-povilaitis⁠ To learn more about Alan Seltzer, visit: ⁠https://www.bipc.com/alan-seltzer

In a world where there is more focus than ever on energy efficiency and the need to reduce carbon emissions, one company is offering energy-efficient equipment and software upgrades for businesses looking to lower their energy usage and meet their net-zero goals. On this episode, Alan Seltzer and John Povilaitis welcome Al Subbloie, Chief Executive Officer at Budderfly. Through Budderfly's energy management service model, the company invests 100% of the capital towards energy infrastructure upgrades for their customers. These changes reduce companies’ energy bills, increase their sustainability, and ensure continuous improvement that leads to better outcomes for Budderfly’s customers. For more information on Budderfly, visit www.budderfly.com. To read more about Alan Seltzer, visit: ⁠https://www.bipc.com/alan-seltzer⁠⁠. To read more about John Povilaitis, visit: https://www.bipc.com/john-povilaitis.

While it’s not new, fusion energy generation has long seemed a little too out of reach to be commercially practical. That is, until now. On this episode, Alan Seltzer and Frank Graves welcome Andrew Holland, Chief Executive Officer of the Fusion Industry Association. The Fusion Industry Association is a non-profit organization made up of private companies working to make commercial fusion energy a reality through advocacy and education. FIA is driven by a belief that affordable, clean energy is desperately needed in the world, and that fusion power is a viable solution. The episode gets into how fusion energy works in its many forms, where it’s at in the development process, how companies can join the Association, and dispels some common myths about the technology. For more information on the Fusion Industry Association, visit https://www.fusionindustryassociation.org. To read more about Alan Seltzer, visit: https://www.bipc.com/alan-seltzer⁠. To read more about Frank Graves, visit: https://www.brattle.com/experts/frank-c-graves/.

On this episode, Alan Seltzer and John Povilaitis welcome David Arfin, CEO and co-founder of NineDot Energy. NineDot is a true innovator in the urban energy space. The company is developing and implementing clean energy business models for New York City. Evolving from a fuel cell project company started in 2015, NineDot was created in 2021 to build community-scale energy systems that support a more resilient electric grid and deliver economic savings, all while reducing carbon emissions. The episode gets into how solar energy can work in a big (shadowy) city like New York, the ins and outs of battery storage in urban areas, and what the future of renewable energy in cities may need to look like in order to work in what can be a complex energy and regulatory environment. For more information on NineDot, visit https://nine.energy/. To read more about John Povilaitis, visit: ⁠https://www.bipc.com/john-povilaitis⁠. To read more about Alan Seltzer, visit: ⁠https://www.bipc.com/alan-seltzer⁠.

Hydrogen is becoming an increasingly popular fuel in the energy sector. Discussion of the fuel source as an alternative to natural gas has continued to grow. It can be combusted to deliver energy without producing carbon emissions and can come from a variety of sources domestically. But what’s the real story behind hydrogen, and how does it work? On this episode of Alternative Power Plays, our hosts John Povilaitis and Alan Seltzer welcome friends from the Brattle Group, Ragini Sreenath and Josh Figueroa, to talk about where hydrogen may be headed as an energy source and the potential it may have. Since hydrogen is such a growing topic, this episode will be a primer and the first of a handful of episodes in which we’ll discuss hydrogen in more detail. To learn more about Josh Figueroa, visit: ⁠https://www.brattle.com/experts/josh-figueroa/⁠ To learn more about Ragini Sreenath, visit: https://www.brattle.com/experts/ragini-sreenath/ To learn more about John Povilaitis, visit: ⁠https://www.bipc.com/john-povilaitis⁠ To learn more about Alan Seltzer, visit: ⁠https://www.bipc.com/alan-seltzer

One of our favorite guests from last season makes a return appearance to discuss the energy space as it relates to our elected officials in Washington, D.C. Ed Hild, a principal in Buchanan’s Government Relations practice in D.C., stops by to discuss the fallout from the midterm elections that left Democrats in control of the Senate and the Republicans with slim control in House. With this new power structure in place, Ed gives his expert opinion on if he expects a standstill in energy policy. Ed also provides insight on the fluctuation of energy prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For our new listeners, Ed has spent years with Buchanan after nearly two decades on Capitol Hill serving in various positions, most recently as chief of staff for U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and as a legislative assistant, legislative director and deputy chief of staff for former U.S. Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM). To read more about Ed Hild, visit: https://www.bipc.com/edward-hild. To read more about John Povilaitis, visit: https://www.bipc.com/john-povilaitis To read more about Alan Seltzer, visit: https://www.bipc.com/alan-seltzer

On this episode of Alternative Power Plays, Anul Thapa, a Principal with the Brattle Group, discusses New England’s natural gas supply, transmission and distribution system and the challenges it faces in this winter. Anul has more than a decade of experience applying economic and finance principles in complex oil and gas-related litigation, arbitration, and regulatory proceedings. He co-authored “Understanding Natural Gas Markets,” which was prepared for the American Petroleum Institute in 2014. New England gets about 80% of its electricity from natural gas fired generation. Anul discusses how the already heavily utilized gas pipeline capacity into the region, combined with high natural gas prices, will impact the New England electric market and how the demand of LNG will impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This episode wraps up by the trio discussing how policy makers address the New England gas system supply issues and could avoid economic disruptions in the future. To read more about Anul Thapa, visit: https://www.brattle.com/experts/anul-thapa/ To read more about John Povilaitis, visit: https://www.bipc.com/john-povilaitis To read more about Alan Seltzer, visit: https://www.bipc.com/alan-seltzer

On this episode, Alan Seltzer and John Povilaitis welcome two Power Players who are helping revolutionize the energy space by developing technology that they say will allow existing electric power generation plants to use natural gas with absolutely zero carbon emissions. Brothers Joel and Jeff Haas say, unlike other carbon emission technology that requires significant upfront cost and a major overhaul of a power plant’s existing infrastructure, their company, G2 Power promises to make this process incredibly simple and cost-effective. This episode explores how G2 Power’s technology would impact decommissioned or soon-to-be decommissioned coal plants, key legislation that would create incentives for more use of their technology, how much power plants could save in operating cost by using their technology and much more.   To read more about John Povilaitis, visit: https://www.bipc.com/john-povilaitis. To read more about Alan Seltzer, visit: https://www.bipc.com/alan-seltzer.

Natural gas has always been a focus on Alternative Power Plays. From its use in CHP facilities and much more, it is the dominant fuel source for electric power across much of the country. On this episode, the focus has shifted to discuss another strong influence on the future of natural gas – the increasing pressure on utilities to shift away from natural gas to conservation, electrification, and cleaner fuels, out of concern for the climate.  Policy initiatives could alter the availability and/or cost of natural gas for everyone, yet unfortunately, there is no way to exactly know when and how that might occur because there is a patchwork of approaches under consideration. Our guests for this episode, Jay Balasbas, president of JMB Strategies, and Josh Figueroa, senior associate at the Brattle Group, will give us an overview of the pressures facing the natural gas industry and how they might play out in the form of changes in gas service and energy end-use requirements, as well as what some of the alternatives may be and some examples from actual proposals on regulatory treatment of gas infrastructure. To learn more about Josh Figueroa, visit: https://www.brattle.com/experts/josh-figueroa/ To read more about Jay Balasbas, visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-balasbas-b9abb816/ To read more about John Povilaitis, visit: https://www.bipc.com/john-povilaitis To read more about Alan Seltzer, visit: https://www.bipc.com/alan-seltzer

Hosts John Povilaitis and Alan Seltzer of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney are joined by a former member of PA’s House of Representatives, Jaret Gibbons. Gibbons is the current executive director of the Appalachian Region Independent Power Producers Association, a non-profit whose mission is to turn coal waste into an energy source. Connecting back to our episode on the blockchain coalition, this podcast will also discuss how the use of coal refuse is important in mining bitcoin. In this episode, Jaret Gibbons gives a deeper insight into what his organization does and how coal waste, or refuse, is turned into electric energy in the Appalachian region, with the added benefit of cleaning up the mess coal leaves behind – click here (https://arippa.org/projects-before-after/) to see some incredible before and after photos. Gibbons paints a picture of the before and after of coal refuse clean up while explaining how the waste is then turned into electric energy. He ends off with the importance of making sure people are educated about his organization’s mission and not just grouping land and coal clean-ups as environmental hazards, instead of what they actually do.