Welcome to the new Energy Central — same great community, now with a smoother experience. To login, use your Energy Central email and reset your password.

👉 Watch drones inspect power assets live—click here to register for the June 17 webinar.

Home
Energy Central Podcasts
Energy Central Podcasts
 · Posted in Home

Episode #173: "Boosting Energy Literacy, Starting with a Community's Schools" with Eric BenSalah, Energy Consultant for Omaha Public Power District [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast]

Be sure to sign into your Energy Central account (register for free here) to access this full post with the podcast recording.

Ensuring the future population is filled with community members who understand the world of energy and utilities starts with educating the children today, a topic that is too often overlooked in the utility sphere. That's not the case in the Omaha metro and surrounding areas, though, as today's guest on the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has a unique role to fill in that gap. While his colleagues at Omaha Public Power District know him as Eric BenSalah, energy consultant with the utility, many across the wider community know this innovator in energy education as the orange suit sporting Mr. E.

Eric has taken a unique approach to spreading awareness and understanding of energy conservation. As Mr. E, Eric has become a local celebrity in the Omaha region, captivating schoolchildren and community members alike with his engaging educational initiatives. In today's discussion, Eric shares with podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester his journey from a conventional role at OPPD to becoming a passionate advocate for energy literacy. Whether you're a parent, educator, or energy professional, this episode offers valuable perspectives on making energy education a cornerstone of community engagement. Tune in and get inspired by Mr. E's mission to empower the next generation with the knowledge they need to make informed energy choices.

Prefer to Read vs. Listening? Scroll Down to Read Transcript

Thanks to the sponsor of this episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast: West Monroe. 

 

Key Links:

 National Energy Education Development Project: https://www.need.org/ 

OPPD Energy Education Program: https://www.oppd.com/community/education-corner/energy-education-program/   

Eric BenSalah Profile on Energy Central: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/eric-bensalah 

Ask a Question to Our Future Guests: Do you have a burning question for the utility executives and energy industry thought leaders that we feature each week on the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast? Do you want to hear your voice on a future episode? Well starting in 2024, we’re offering you that opportunity! Head to this link where you can leave us a recorded message, including a question you’re eager to have answered on a future episode of the podcast. We’ll listen through them, pick out the right guests in our upcoming lineup to address them, and you’ll hear yourself as a part of the conversation! Energy Central on SpeakPipe: www.speakpipe.com/EnergyCentralPodcast 

 

TRANSCRIPT

Jason Price:

A National Energy Foundation study gives failing grades on energy literacy in our country. How can we make learning the importance of energy conservation and our energy system simple and understandable? And why it matters more than ever. Today we're going to bring in an innovator and leading educator, and some will say a local celebrity in energy education. We'll talk about this and a whole lot more on today's episode of Energy Central's Power Prospectives Podcast.

Welcome to the Energy Essential Power Prospectives Podcast where we continue to bring leading minds from the energy industry into the podcast booth to discuss the challenges and trends that are transforming and modernizing our energy system. And our listeners can now submit a recorded question to a future podcast episode. Just look for the SpeakPipe link in the show notes below this episode, and leave us a voicemail with a question for a future guest. And a quick thank you to West Monroe, our sponsor of today's show.

I'm Jason Price, Energy Central Podcast host and Director with West Monroe coming to you from New York City. And with me as always, from Orlando, Florida, is Energy Central Producer and Community Manager, Matt Chester. Matt, from what you've observed, is the topic of energy education and energy literacy top of mind for our community members.

 

Matt Chester:

Well, actually I think this conversation that we're about to have today is going to be a welcome addition to the Energy Central discourse. But yeah, much of the discussion we see on our platform, it's a little bit more insular. It's energy professionals talking to fellow energy professionals. And while we do have some robust discussions of customer care and utilities placed in a community, the type of work that can be done to educate the next generation on all topics related to energy and utilities of today and tomorrow, it doesn't really get the amount of spotlight that I think it deserves. So, hopefully today's episode will be a great first step in resolving that.

 

Jason Price:

Thanks for that, Matt. Now let's introduce our next guest, Eric BenSalah, or some of the students in Omaha Metro and the surrounding area may know him better as Mr. E. Eric's official title is Energy Consultant for Omaha Public Power District. And it's his educator persona, Mr. E, that schoolchildren have seen him. Donned in an orange suit and bow tie, Eric is committed to encouraging energy literacy from an early age. And so he is regularly found in classrooms on local newscasts and at regular community events, educating the region on the what, where, and why of energy. And he's here to tell us about the value of these efforts. So every parent out there, listen up. Eric BenSalah, welcome to the Energy Central Power Prospectives Podcast.

 

Eric BenSalah:

Thank you very much. I'm quite happy to be here.

 

Jason Price:

So Eric, I don't imagine you respond to a job listing from OPPD speaking out someone to be Mr.E. So tell us, how did your time with the utility start? And how did you come to embody this role of educating the community on all things energy?

 

Eric BenSalah:

Well, that would've been something if it was a job title looking for a Mr. E. I would've been like, "How are you in my head?" But no, I've been with OPPD now for about 12 years. And actually just started out as a part-time payment specialist, went into residential and commercial customer service. And then ultimately about five years ago, I ended up with the product development and marketing as an energy consultant. Now, that's really just a fancy title for a product manager and an energy advisor.

So the product manager part is, yes, let's create products and services for our customers to use that have to do with energy efficiency. And then the consultant side, well the director at the time said, "You know what? You come up with that. Figure out what that looks like for you." So these kind of end up working in tandem with the products that I designed, the consultant side and then the actual product management.

Now, the whole education program in general came from a DSM potential study in 2019. It said you should do energy efficiency school kits. And we interviewed various school districts about these school kits and teachers told us, "Hey, you know what? We really like the ideas, but it's kind of separate from what we need to teach. So, we might participate in it once and then maybe not after that." Part of that came from the state standards for science changed in Nebraska in the late 2010s, which introduced environmental education, especially energy efficiency, energy in general, as well as the environment. And it also included solar energy, wind energy, which has now become ubiquitous in this part of the country. So essentially the teachers were saying, "Look, we need more education. We need to better understand these improved science standards. They're a little bit more complex. And we also want our students doing hands-on stuff in the class."

So from that, we interviewed various vendors that had offered different types of energy education programs for students and for teachers, because that was an important part of it. And we landed with the NEED Project, the National Energy Education Development Project. From that situation, we created a partnership with them where NEED essentially, just to really water it down, NEED teaches the teachers these complex subjects and whatnot through teacher workshops that we have twice a year. I teach the students these various classes about energy efficiency, solar energy, wind energy, and even an energy source exploration.

 

Jason Price:

Well, it sounds comprehensive. So tell me, I'd like to hear your impressions of the state of energy literacy in your county, in your community, but also nationwide. Just what is the sort of national perspective that you have on how we're doing? Are there certain areas that surprise you that aren't well understood, or others where people are more plugged into than you would've thought?

 

Eric BenSalah:

So I go back to when I was in school, some 30 years ago. Now, the understanding of utilities was really just left up to the parents or guardians. In school, we didn't touch anything like that. Electricity was covered, but its relationship to our everyday lives was really portrayed very loosely, and maybe for about 10 minutes. They kind of just were like, "That's something you're going to learn at home." Now, this was of course no fault to the teachers. Those were just the standards back then. And it also depends on what school district that you're a part of.

Now we fast-forward here to the 2020s, and I'm seeing a tremendous misunderstanding of energy generation, renewable energy, and even just the grid. For example, two big events that have occurred in the last few years, the big polar vortex situation that happened in February of 2021. And I'm not talking about the Texas situation that happened during that time, that's probably an entirely different podcast. But at least in the Nebraska area, we saw temperatures drop down to negative 25 air temperature during that time. And the utility sends out these communications saying, "Hey, help us curtail energy usage. Here's some ways you can be energy efficient. Here's some way you can conserve energy." But a lot of that was met with vitriol in a way.

The same thing happened also with a cold snap that we had here in early January of this year, where it got so cold. The Missouri River's really low, and if you have coal plants, you need that river to not be so low and not to mention, frozen. So that caused some complications with energy generation. So another email and some communication goes out to our customers saying, "Hey, help us curtail some energy. Let's conserve, do some energy efficiency measures." But yet again, you get on social media and all of a sudden everyone's like, "This is what happens when you shut down coal plants. You don't have enough energy."

And it was actually quite the opposite. We would've loved to have been able to use our coal plant for the day or two that it ended up having to be down, just because of the conditions at that situation. But it was actually wind energy that kind of saved us in some respects. We got a tremendous amount of wind energy during that time because it was so windy. This area is a very, very windy area. So seeing that misunderstanding of renewable energy's role in the world and in the utility industry, as well as just how the grid works and how energy generation works, it's ubiquitous unfortunately, in this day and age.

So I look at the students and about 75 to 80% of the students that I interact with didn't know who OPPD was or what we even do. Now by the end of class, it seems like they all did. Maybe part of that might've helped because I was wearing an orange jacket and bow tie. It's kind of hard to miss that, and you might be able to correlate that together. But that's kind of part of my point is being able to get at a young age and get them excited about it, and have them understand it.

 

Jason Price:

Yeah. No, for sure. And I'm sure you're lining up a future workforce for OPPD, so that's a great, great education. Speaking of education, we were chatting earlier about the difference between informing and educating. And you take that to heart. So, how do you differentiate the two? And how do you really embrace the full education of what you're doing?

 

Eric BenSalah:

Sure. Informing to me, is providing the information with little or no interpretation. It's essentially Googling something. Educating is interpreting the information for the audience to the point of understanding. So in other words, it's educating is often a relationship between the individual and the subject matter, which usually requires an active medium, something like a teacher, essentially. Relationships, as we know work well and best when they're a two-way street. It's give and take, trial and error. It's experiential. Absorbing information, whether it's just by memorizing or Googling it, is a one-way street, and is often subject to our own biases.

Now, if informing was the same thing as educating with the ubiquity of cell phones, tablets, and computers and all that, I feel like knowledge of energy, electricity, utilities among many other things, would be a lot better than it currently is. So, it kind of turns out that the cliche is true. So if you just tell a student something, they might remember it. If you show a student something, they'll probably remember it. But if you include them in learning something directly, hands-on activities, asking them questions about what they might know, now they'll remember it and learn it.

Now this is all just based on my experience of being a kid, a student, and now being an educator. It's a bit full circle, in a way. This role has really shown me how important teachers really are to our society and especially, especially to our youth.

 

Jason Price:

I'm really interested in understanding OPPD's perspective in all of this. So, what is the value they are hoping to gain from your educational efforts? And what are the stated objectives and the overall motivations to keep energy literacy at the top of the priority list?

 

Eric BenSalah:

The teachers really helped us design the goals for the program. They essentially told us what their goals were, which were kind of, make science fun for the kids, help us teach these concepts. Don't add to our workload. Whatever it is that you're going to teach, it has to be what we're already doing. Maybe you just do it better.

So, how do we make that work out for us as a utility? We look at an improved relationship between the utility and the education community. We really genuinely want to be the education community's energy partner. This helps us create a sort of brand trust with the utility, and then not only just the students and the teachers, but their parents as well. It's one thing to really care about your customer, you should, we all should. They're what helps make this work right next to the employees, of course. But it is a whole other thing to care for their kids, their students, their youth. If you do it because it's the right thing, the right thing will happen. Students are a part of our utility. Just because they aren't paying a bill doesn't mean they aren't part of the public power.

So some of the other goals that we had here was making sure the curriculum itself was applicable to students everyday lives. It has to be tangible material, otherwise the students are just going to see it as just something very separate from what they do on a daily basis. Renewable energy is becoming more and more common in their lives, as I alluded to earlier, and in the industry. So teaching that to them now so that they're better prepared for the future, is incredibly important.

Of course, as with any utility energy reduction and energy efficiency. We have to start early about the importance of energy efficiency, with the environment and sustainability. Explaining why wasting energy is a bad thing, wasting anything is a bad thing really, has to start early. Kind of as to the illusion of the National Energy Foundation paper that stated that in order for kids to really adopt energy efficiency measures, you have to educate them first. And the last thing we've been talking about, energy literacy. Now at OPPD, we do strive to lead the way we power the future, but we can't do that just by saying it. We have to live it. And part of living it, for me at least, is educating the public and our student customers about it.

 

Jason Price:

For sure. And certainly seeing is believing. So seeing those wind turbines on the highway conjures up conversations and gets the thinking going. Tell me about your relationship with the teachers a bit more. I'd love to hear about what is their level of understanding and education around this topic. And what is the kind of feedback you're hearing from teachers, as you help them shape the thinking about this topic?

 

Eric BenSalah:

So this is where our partner, the NEED Project really helps us out with this whole energy education effort. They provide the full training and education and teaching through our teacher workshops, whether that's a level one workshop, which is much more localized. It's science of energy, how the grid and generation works, energy efficiency, careers, things of that nature, to the level two workshops work, where it gets a little bit more complicated. Electrical circuits, grid activities using math, energy in their lives, and more. They do a fantastic job of preparing them to prepare our future, in a sense.

And when I go and teach these other classes, solar energy, wind energy, energy efficiency, and more, I end up going to some of these schools more than once. Sometimes more than once in a school year. It kind of depends on what curriculum asks for and what time of year. But there are some teachers that I've grown to create a friendship with over time, having a like ideal of helping prepare our future, those student customers.

Now, some of the comments that we've gotten from teachers, whether it's from the teacher workshops or just the classes themselves of just that they really appreciate that everything that's being taught is through hands-on activities, learning by doing. Now, they're always asking for more workshops. They want more learning experience and other opportunities that they can get their hands on. And making this program absolutely free for them, whether it's the classes that I teach or the teacher workshops that NEED does, has just been a tremendous advantage for teachers. And they've been incredibly thankful for it and they are very eager to participate in it.

Now through this process, we're in year three of the program now, and we're starting to really see and learn when each district needs certain classes to be taught or the participation rate, and kind of what the students are learning. So with each request, I ask teachers, "What are you working on right now? What can I help tie this into with the students?" And a lot of times they're like, "This is exactly what we need. This is perfect. This is what we're looking for. This is going to work for my students wonderfully." Now, every district has a little bit slightly different approach to certain things. But it really helps me bring it home for the kids, depending on where they live, what they're learning in school, and what they will be learning.

 

Jason Price:

Eric, when we were chatting before the show, you mentioned that this is unique in the United States. So my question to you is, why do you think other utilities aren't jumping aboard with similar programs like yours? And if they want to get started, what advice would you give them? And I guess as a follow-up, is can you draw any parallels to any examples either in the United States or outside the United States that is doing something similar around energy literacy and education?

 

Eric BenSalah:

So for this, we really, again, have to thank NEED for helping OPPD make this program what it is. The flexibility that we have for this type of program comes from the fact that Nebraska's just not state mandated for energy efficiency measures. So creating a more customized program for our communities is a lot easier to do. So NEED created the classes that I teach, gave me a crash course in some of the subject matter. And then I took these and adjusted them to my teaching style, threw on that orange blazer and bow tie, created the persona, Mr.E, and went to work.

The program and role I have with the education program though, it does take time. It is a more active than passive type of program than your traditional product or program. In other words, I am part of the product itself, not just the manager of it. I do both of those things. The energy education program does occupy about a third of my work time. So in some situations, I could see where staffing might be a concern with other utilities depending on their size and needs. But this is where, well, essentially NEED can help. They can also do those classes for the utility itself.

And as I mentioned, my role, it's not very common in the utility industry. We do have energy efficiency information available on our website in a more passive role, as well as YouTube and things of that nature. But we also have me go out and educate the public by request at local events like an Earth Day event, career fairs, and more. So other utilities not participating or maybe just not thinking about it at the time, I think it kind of comes down to that maybe some of them need energy efficiency kit programs more than just a kind of wholesale education program. And that's okay. I suppose our education program is unique in a way because Nebraska itself is unique, being entirely powered by nothing but public power. So, there is an old motto that we have for Nebraska. It's not for everyone, but I guess if it's anything, it's for us, those of us that live here.

So at the end, what's my advice? Look, a lot of utilities, a lot of companies always talk about the future. But I just am not seeing them including not always, educating the youth that are going to be involved in that future. The ones that are going to be responsible for carrying on that future to the next future. Try not to give too much advice, but rather I hope that what I'm talking about here resonates with someone or maybe sparks an opportunity within a utility, a product manager, or I'll even take a political figure. That would be nice too.

 

Jason Price:

Nice. Curiosity, do you get into gas and water conservation as well, or water issues? Or is it just really electricity?

 

Eric BenSalah:

Primarily just electricity. Now, if I'm talking to a customer one-on-one on the phone or via email or something to that effect as an energy advisor and they're really looking at ways of reducing their whole energy load, then I'll get into some conservation efforts and some other things like that. Especially when the price of natural gas started getting really high, I had a lot of questions about, "Should I switch to all-electric?" I do have a little bit in there, but that's not necessarily our main purview. We try to stick to electricity.

 

Jason Price:

Gotcha. Okay. I mean, listen, I'm a father and I know how challenging it can be to drive home these messages for my kids. So I'd love to hear from you, your experience, how do you make it matter for these children?

 

Eric BenSalah:

I do my best to make it fun and also funny. I have jokes, I have dad jokes. I'm not a dad, but I'm familiar with some dad jokes. So I really try to... I'm very animated when I speak. I mean, even right now I'm talking with my hands quite eccentrically. But in a way, the way that I teach is sort of an improvised acting method in a sense.

And when I'm talking to the students and I'm getting them to understand these complex subjects, a lot of times, yeah, you'll get a few kids that are kind of staring at you like, "I have no idea what you're talking about." And so I will talk to them and I'll say, "Okay, hey, are you really terribly passionate about wind energy?" And they're like, "Well, it's neat but..." I said, "Okay, what do you really like?" And they'll tell me a sport they play or a hobby.

And I said, "Do you think that you could talk to me about that sport you love or that hobby you love the same way you could talk to me about what you learned today in school?" And they said, "No, I would talk about it differently." I said, "Well, think about that when you're trying to learn. Try to find something about it that might be exciting to you or a way that relates to the thing that you're doing." It's kind of bringing it down to their level in a sense of their young minds. They're really going to want to focus on the things that make them excited or enthusiastic about anything. So I try to do that to them, be enthusiastic, be happy, and try to be contagious in that way.

And I guess the other part of it too is that I don't think I could teach this if I didn't believe in it, or at least maybe it wouldn't be as effective. So bottom line for me is I really become a caricature, in a sense. I really try to, it's not animated, but I try to be animated. And I know that tends to resonate pretty well with young students.

 

Jason Price:

And I'm sure that bright orange coat and bow tie help make the connection too, right?

 

Eric BenSalah:

Yep, absolutely. It does. Very much so. They always make a comment about it and then they wonder where I got it from. They'd be surprised. I just got it from Amazon.

 

Jason Price:

Tell me, do you ever take them on field trips? Do you bring them to OPPD to see the utility or any field trips to wind farms or anything like that?

 

Eric BenSalah:

Field trips have happened in the past. I've done the solar farm. One of the solar farms that we have in Fort Calhoun, I did take some high school students out there to give them crash course on how all this works. It's interesting to see it up close and personal. But unfortunately we haven't done a whole lot when it comes to generating or wind turbines or anything of that nature. So, I try to do that in the class as best as I can with the way that I adjust the presentations and the pictures and things of that nature. But tours are kind of a whole different animal that I don't generally handle. But a lot of times if students are involved, the representative from OPPD will say, "Hey, Eric, oh, excuse me, Mr. E, could you come along?" And then I'll come along.

 

Jason Price:

I like that. All right, now you're talking to kids and kids whip out questions that will likely take you by surprise. So do you have any, you can share with us? Any of those kids say the darnedest things, types of wisdom that you've heard?

 

Eric BenSalah:

Yes. Actually one of them completely shaped the way that I teach energy efficiency, not only to students but to adults. It was one of the first presentations I went and did as an energy advisor. I had a fourth grade student said, "Hey, why are you telling us to save energy when you're in the business of making money off of selling energy?" And I was surprised 'cause I definitely, at 10 years old, would've not thought about that. But I explained to him the importance of energy efficiency and renewable energy, and how renewable energy is an energy source of course. And that helps us, and especially being in a very windy area, we can use a lot of it. But how energy efficiency itself and conservation kind of acts like a reverse generating station by reducing how much energy. And then the less power plants that we have to create, the less energy that we have to purchase from the grid and the amount of money it costs.

And of course, the kids just had more and more questions. It was that case of like, "Okay, but why? Okay, but why?" So, we went down that rabbit hole for about 20 minutes. But that was one of my favorite ones because it completely shaped the way that I present now. So, thank you to that 10-year-old from a few years ago.

And then the other one in the solar energy class that I teach, I talk a little bit about astronomy 'cause I really like it. And I know the kids will relate to the sun and learn. I always get to blow their minds when they realize that the sun is actually white. It's not orange, it just appears that way. But then one kid said, "Why is space so cold if stars are so hot and there are so many?" And it was just, I know it's not energy related, but it was brilliant. A lot of times we think that the younger someone is, maybe sometimes they're not as wise or intelligent. But sometimes it's beautiful to see how these kids' brains work. And hearing those types of questions shows me that they are eager to really understand the world that we live in.

 

Jason Price:

Yeah, that's a good question. It's also a head scratcher, so yeah, I agree. Well, that is terrific. Eric, we have to thank you for the great insight and unique work that you are doing and sharing with us. But before we let you go, and we are going to give you the last word, we now want to learn a little bit more about you, the person rather than you, the professional. So we have something called lightning round, where we ask you a series of questions. And we ask you to keep your response to one word or phrase. So, are you ready?

 

Eric BenSalah:

Yeah, I will be as brief as possible.

 

Jason Price:

All right, what's your go-to album, playlist, or radio station for a road trip?

 

Eric BenSalah:

Canadian ambient music artist, Loscil.

 

Jason Price:

Best vacation you've ever taken.

 

Eric BenSalah:

Hiking Pikes Peak in Colorado, though my wife wouldn't agree.

 

Jason Price:

What is the most energy misunderstanding you have to correct?

 

Eric BenSalah:

That. Renewable energy is political, it's not. Politics got inserted into it.

 

Jason Price:

We're collecting lightning round questions from past podcast guests to ask future guests. And so this one comes from our recent interviewee, Steven Martz, of Xcel Energy. He asks, "What is one thing that no one is talking about in the energy sector, but everybody should be talking about it?"

 

Eric BenSalah:

Why energy efficiency is important beyond just saving energy and saving money.

 

Jason Price:

Okay. Now it's your turn. What lightning round question do you want to challenge a future guest to answer? It can be topical and related to energy, or it can be an off the wall question.

 

Eric BenSalah:

What is the silliest or funniest thing you wanted to be when you grew up? Kids say the darndest things, right?

 

Jason Price:

And lastly, what will you consider success when you ultimately look back at your career?

 

Eric BenSalah:

I try not to think of success and failure. Things are just the way that they are. There's nothing more perfect than a mistake, because it means we have a chance to correct it. So I guess if the students I've interacted with learned any one thing and they were inspired to go do something else with it, that works for me.

 

Jason Price:

I like it. Nicely stated. All right, so we told you that we would give you the final word. So with all this expertise and experience that you're bringing to this untapped world of energy education, hopefully you'll find some pearls of wisdom that our listeners will come back to and ask of you. So if the utility leaders and decision makers are listening in on today's episode, summarize the key advice that you have for them and any main takeaways from today that you would like to tell them.

 

Eric BenSalah:

All right, more advice. It's a twofer. As I mentioned before, the youth are our future. If we're going to be building a future for them, please, let's bring them along with. And also, what do they say? You don't know until you ask. So, I would say ask the teachers and students of your community what they need and, or want from you. You will be pleasantly surprised. I promise you. Our future is them and we are going to need them for that future.

 

Jason Price:

Nice. Nicely stated. So this has been amazing, Eric. And I'm sure our listeners will have some comments, questions, and follow-ups. And we invite them to leave those in the comment section of the Energy Central platform. And we do want to invite you, Eric, to hop in and keep the conversation going. And until then though, we just want to thank you for sharing your insight on today's episode of the podcast.

 

Eric BenSalah:

It has been my pleasure to share the airwaves with the two of you.

 

Jason Price:

And you can always reach Eric through the Energy Central platform where he welcomes your questions and comments. We also want to give a shout out of thanks to the podcast sponsors that made today's episode possible. Thanks to West Monroe. West Monroe is a leading partner for the nation's largest electric gas and water utilities, working together to drive grid modernization, clean energy, and workforce transformation. West Monroe's Comprehensive Services are designed to support utilities and advancing their digital transformation, building resilient operations, securing federal funding, and providing regulatory advisory support. With a multidisciplinary team of experts, West Monroe offers a holistic approach that addresses the challenges of the grid today and provides innovative solutions for a sustainable future.

And once again, I'm your host Jason Price. Plug in and stay fully charged in the discussion by hopping into the community at energycentral.com. And we'll see you next time at the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast.

 

About Energy Central Podcasts

The ‘Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast’ features conversations with thought leaders in the utility sector. At least twice monthly, we connect with an Energy Central Power Industry Network community member to discuss compelling topics that impact professionals who work in the power industry. Some podcasts may be a continuation of thought-provoking posts or discussions started in the community or with an industry leader that is interested in sharing their expertise and doing a deeper dive into hot topics or issues relevant to the industry.

The ‘Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast’ is the premiere podcast series from Energy Central, a Power Industry Network of Communities built specifically for professionals in the electric power industry and a place where professionals can share, learn, and connect in a collaborative environment. Supported by leading industry organizations, our mission is to help global power industry professionals work better. Since 1995, we’ve been a trusted news and information source for professionals working in the power industry, and today our managed communities are a place for lively discussions, debates, and analysis to take place. If you’re not yet a member, visit www.EnergyCentral.com to register for free and join over 200,000 of your peers working in the power industry.

The Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast is hosted by Jason Price, Community Ambassador of Energy Central. Jason is a Business Development Executive at West Monroe, working in the East Coast Energy and Utilities Group. Jason is joined in the podcast booth by the producer of the podcast, Matt Chester, who is also the Community Manager of Energy Central and energy analyst/independent consultant in energy policy, markets, and technology.  

If you want to be a guest on a future episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast, let us know! We’ll be pulling guests from our community members who submit engaging content that gets our community talking, and perhaps that next guest will be you! Likewise, if you see an article submitted by a fellow Energy Central community member that you’d like to see broken down in more detail in a conversation, feel free to send us a note to nominate them.  For more information, contact us at [email protected]. Podcast interviews are free for Expert Members and professionals who work for a utility.  We have package offers available for solution providers and vendors. 

Happy listening, and stay tuned for our next episode! Like what you hear, have a suggestion for future episodes, or a question for our guest? Leave a note in the comments below.

All new episodes of the Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast will be posted to the relevant Energy Central community group, but you can also subscribe to the podcast at all the major podcast outlets, including: