Icf Spark Podcast

Tune in to Energy in 30 hosted by Joan Collins and David Meisegeier. On our sixth episode, "Breaking down the Inflation Reduction Act," hear from ICF thought leaders Justin Rogers, Maci McDaniel, Mark Pignatelli, and Erica Larson as they offer an initial breakdown of the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) as it relates to the energy, climate, and utility industries. While our experts comb through all of the details, the team is here to provide a high-level overview of some of the act’s most impactful facets to these industries. Topics in today’s special flash episode include: High-level overview: Understanding the IRA Comparing the IRA to previous federal legislative efforts Leveraging tax credits that impact midstream programs and utilities The impact of the IRA on home construction and new homesPushing efficiency into the electrification space: Understanding the role of gas utilities

Tune in to Energy in 30 hosted by Joan Collins and David Meisegeier. On our fifth episode, "Addressing energy efficiency in Indigenous communities,” hear from Yasmin Abraham and Karim Abraham, the brother-and-sister founders of Kambo Energy Group. Their organization focuses on equity-based social enterprise that designs solutions to reduce energy poverty and improve housing in underserved communities. Specifically, they work directly with Indigenous Nations, lower-income households, and new Canadians.Yasmin and Karim are joined by ICF Senior Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Specialist Dany Kahumoku. The three recently teamed up to present at the 2022 NEUAC Conference in New Orleans. There, they presented “A Holistic Approach of Addressing Climate, Weatherization, and Capacity Needs through Housing Programs in Tribal Nations,” sharing their experiences and learnings of working in this sector and the historical context of why this work should be prioritized as part of the energy transition.Some of the topics di

Editor’s Note: The following content deals with the sensitive topic of mass violence. Some listeners may find it distressing. This podcast was recorded in April 2022. ICF has been providing immediate assistance to communities after a mass violence incident (MVI) for over 30 years. In this podcast we share guidance and advice on how communities can create a plan to respond to MVIs and identify and develop strategies to address the short- and long-term needs of the people they serve.We invite you to listen to the second episode in a new series discussing large-scale violence and domestic terror—a sensitive topic that impacts us all.In this conversation, Corina Solé Brito, an ICF director of Public Health Preparedness and ICF’s Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ASPR TRACIE, joins victims support services experts Diane Alexander, with OVC TTAC, and Tara Hughes, who is also the director of Improving Community Preparedness to Assist Victims of Mass Violence and Domestic Terrorism T

Tune in to Energy in 30 hosted by Joan Collins and David Meisegeier. On our fourth episode, "Scaling an affordable clean energy transition,” hear from Jigar Shah, Director of the Loan Programs Office at the U.S. Department of Energy. Throughout his career, Shah helped pioneer climate solutions at scale and low-cost infrastructure. This includes founding SunEdison, which led the way in pay-as-you-save solar financing, serving as the first CEO of the Carbon War Room—founded by Sir Richard Branson—and co-founding and serving as president of Generate Capital. Shah is joined by Patty Cook, ICF Senior Vice President of Market Development, Distributed Flexibility Solutions, who designs innovative customer programs that support electrification, resiliency, and flexible load management. Together with our hosts, this episode takes a look at some of the current and future energy trends piquing their interest. Some of the topics discussed in this episode include:Scaling the industry toward renewables and distributed ener

This podcast series was recorded in April 2022. ICF has been providing immediate assistance to communities after a mass violence incident (MVI) for over 30 years. In this podcast we share guidance and advice on how communities can create a plan to respond to MVIs and identify and develop strategies to address the short- and long-term needs of the people they serve.Editor’s Note: The following content deals with the sensitive topic of mass violence. Some listeners may find it distressing.We invite you to listen to the first episode in a new series talking about sensitive topics that affect us all to some degree—large-scale violence and domestic terror. Mass violence incidents that occur in our communities in places such as schools, churches and other locations have both immediate and long-term impacts on victims, their families, and the immediate community. These incidents often shake our sense of safety to the core and reverberate across communities near, far, and the world at large. Joining this conversation

Tune into our third episode of “Energy in 30: Pressures are motivating tectonic regulatory shifts,” to hear from Cameron Brooks, president of E9 Insight, an information service focusing on regulatory actions and trends that have an impact on clean energy and consumer technologies transforming the electric utility industry. Cameron is also instrumental in creating the coalition Think Microgrid, which provides political leaders with the resources they need to understand how microgrid technologies work, what role they can play in achieving policy goals, and how regulatory reforms can proactively address barriers that exist today. With nearly two decades of experience in public policy, capital markets, and electricity regulation, Cameron brings a unique perspective to this conversation. Join us as we discuss issues in the regulatory environment. Topics in today’s episode include: The decisions policymakers make today lay the foundation for the market designs of tomorrowPolicymakers bear a great responsibility to

Tune in to Energy in 30 hosted by Joan Collins and David Meisegeier. On our second episode, "Customer co-creation advances clean energy future,” hear from Paul De Martini, executive director of the Pacific Energy Institute, more commonly known as PEI. He recently published white papers that are must-reads for anyone in the energy industry. Paul draws insights from what’s happening at the forefront of distributed power systems, including an evaluation of customer choices around energy and resilience.Today, we’ll dive in and talk about the rise of customer-driven utility offerings and how these play a critical role in advancing a sustainable future.In this episode, we will cover such topics as:Building a next-generation energy grid and viewing customers as partnersUsing design thinking as a fundamental path to customer evolutionAdopting to prosumerism and how consumer-centric products and services are on the riseTipping over the midpoint in this transition to a more distributed future

Traditional utility pilots have delivered mixed results. They can be slow to get off the ground and take years to complete. But as utility leaders know, today’s most pressing energy challenges—meeting decarbonization goals, ensuring grid resilience, and delivering solutions that satisfy evolving customer needs—demand a faster and more effective way to test new ideas.Innovation is essential, but it's also important to avoid “death by a thousand pilots.” How can you move beyond ad hoc piloting and learn to innovate quickly?Tune into our inaugural episode of “Energy in 30”, hosted by Joan Collins and David Meisegeier, to hear from Kevin Duffy, an ICF energy innovations guru who leads boundary-pushing pilot programs that pave the way for the utilities of the future. The conversation covers topics such as:How embracing an Agile approach to pilots allows you to shorten timeframes, accelerate ideas, and capture learnings to let data drive decisionsAn overview of ICF’s Innovation Incubator, a data-driven utility pilo

The pandemic has helped shed light on serious gaps in rural broadband access and how these gaps can pose significant challenges for rural education.Experts from the Academic Development Institute, Appalachian Regional Commission, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, and our Child Welfare and Education division discuss how to overcome broadband and educational gaps in rural communities to promote economic and workforce development.We cover: Understanding the tensions rural students face when contemplating higher education Expanding the occupational opportunities within a rural community while elevating the educational prospects of students Recognizing the importance of broadband accessibility Building strategies for rural communities to promote economic and workplace development

In this podcast, Kelli Reddick of ICF is joined by Josh Overmyer, a certified floodplain manager for a coastal county in Florida, and Eddy Bouza, deputy state floodplain manager for the State of Florida, to discuss floodplain management and changes coming to FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

In this podcast, Jen Folsom of ICF Next speaks with Caitlin Howley of the ICF child welfare and education team, Sam Redding from the Academic Development Institute, and Janet Throckmorton, principal of Fancy Farm Elementary School, to discuss the unique aspects of rural schools in the U.S. and how they’re responding to the challenges of COVID-19.

In episode 7 of Energy Renewed, Katie Janik of ICF speaks with Chris Pollack of the ICF technical advisory team, Sandy Calvert from insurance advisor Moore-McNeil, and Eric Daniels, founder and owner of Sun Cycle, to discuss how to get renewable energy projects back online after an unforeseen event. This episode is the third of three in our series; it focuses on the technical aspects of rebuilding and repairing a project that was impacted by unforeseen events.

In this episode of our Climate Risk podcast series, hosted by Brad Hurley, senior communications consultant at ICF, a leading climate expert discusses how floodplain maps alone may misrepresent accurate flood risk, and how climate change and access to flood risk information affects property values.The conversation with Miyuki Hino, Ph.D., assistant professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, environmental science, covers topics such as:The effect flood risk information has on residential property values in the United StatesHow property valuations will shift as flood hazards expand due to climate changeWhy it’s important to consider floodplain maps when purchasing a property and how to distinguish between historical flood data and actual flood riskHow the government could play more of a role in conveying accurate flood risk to buyers

In episode 6 of Energy Renewed, host Katie Janik speaks with Chris Pollack, of the ICF technical advisory team; Sandy Calvert, from insurance advisor Moore McNeil; and Eric Daniels, founder and owner of Sun Cycle, to discuss how to get renewable energy projects back online after an unforeseen event.This episode is the second of three in our series that focuses on insurance and how trends and pricing are impacted by unforeseen events.

In episode 5 of the Energy Renewed podcast—hosted by Katie Janik, asset management advisor at ICF—we kick off a new Unforeseen Events miniseries.Unforeseen events require diligence and outside-of-the-box thinking to bring renewable energy projects back to a certain level of power production. In part 1, hear from Chris Pollack of the ICF technical advisory team, Sandy Calvert from insurance advisor Moore-McNeil, and Eric Daniels, founder and owner of Suncycle, as they discuss the commercial side of the process of getting a renewable energy project back online after an unforeseen event.Part 2 will focus on insurance pricing and trends and part 3 will focus on the technical aspects of rebuilding and repairing a project.

In episode 4 of our Energy Renewed podcast series — host Katie Janik, asset management advisor at ICF, speaks to Paul McGuire who was part of the team that created a short circuit program that eventually became Computer Aided Protection Engineering (CAPE) software. Katie is also joined by Baldwin Yeung, VP of CMY Solutions, who discusses the impact of CAPE software as a foundation for the power industry for grid protection and reliability. The conversation covers the background of this important software and what it contributes to the reliability of the grid.

In this episode, host Caitlin Howley, director of child welfare and education at ICF, examines the issue of racial equity in Appalachian education. The conversation with Director of the Regional Comprehensive Center, Kandace Jones, and First2 Network Program Coordinator, Jade Irving, covers such topics as:Why racial equity in education matters so much for the future of Appalachia.Current trends and shifting attitudes toward social justice in Appalachia.The importance of student exposure and staff training in reaching racial equity.The achievement and opportunity gaps in learning—and what to do about them.The systemic nature of racial inequality in education, and the systemic solutions required to combat the issue.NOTE: Jade Irving appears on this podcast in a personal capacity. She does not represent the views of her employer.

In this episode, hosts David Speiser, Ph.D., executive vice president at ICF, and Nicola Dawkins-Lyn, Ph.D., vice president of research science at ICF, explore how public health in the United States links up—and doesn’t—with the larger global health landscape.The conversation with Director of Emory University’s Global Health Institute Dr. Jeff Koplan covers topics such as:The relationship between U.S. healthcare and the nation’s larger patterns of government.The ways global health issues affect the United States and highlight the world’s interconnectivity.The skills the U.S. public health workforce needs to operate in a global environment.The increasingly apparent role of climate change as an influence on public health issues.The importance of creative public health messaging in motivating U.S. citizens to stay healthy over time.

In this episode of our podcast, host by Dr. Caitlin Howley , director of child welfare and education at ICF, is joined by Dr. John Ross, one of ICF’s experts on instructional design and blended learning, to discuss the challenges students, parents, and educators across Appalachia are facing as they deal with COVID-19. They cover topics such as:The effect limited resources have on every aspect of the educational experience.How different schools and school districts are addressing internet access and barriers to technology.What online learning reveals about student engagement prior to the pandemic.Positive changes in education that will likely remain long after COVID-19 is no longer a threat.

In this episode of our Climate Risk series, host Brad Hurley, senior communications consultant at ICF, is joined by Jesse Keenan, a social scientist at Tulane University and one of the editors of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Managing Climate Risk in the U.S. Financial System report, to discuss how the private sector is poised to do its part to manage climate risk. The conversation covers topics such as:Transitional risks as society shifts to a net zero carbon strategy.The wide-reaching impacts of a regional event (e.g. wildfires, drought) on multiple commodity markets.How changing consumer preferences amplify uncertainties—and opportunities. Steps regulators can take to prepare for risks related to climate change.Barriers to financial institutions’ ability to measure their climate risk.