Podcasts about Escos

 In this episode, Martin Schichtel, Founder and CEO of Kraftblock, shares his career journey and insights into the thermal energy storage sector.The conversation covers:The pivotal moment in 2008 that sparked the idea for Kraftblock, leading to the development of a superior thermal energy storage material.Discussing the waste heat recovery market and the importance of decarbonizing heat in various industries.Kraftblock's approach to targeting direct industrial customers and collaborating with EPCs and ESCOs for comprehensive solutions.Highlighting notable Kraftblock projects and the future vision for the company. Looking ahead, the podcast will release new episodes every other week. The hosts invite listeners to provide feedback and suggest future guests, reinforcing their commitment to staying connected with the clean energy community.Check out Kraftblock at https://www.kraftblock.com/. Tune in now for an inspiring conversation on the future of energy storage!Paces helps developers find and evaluate the sites most suitable for renewable development. Interested in a call with James, CEO @ Paces?Paces helps developers find and evaluate the sites most suitable for renewable development. Interested in a call with James, CEO @ Paces?

John comes onto GAGOL to explain how ESCO's are serving MUSH. Okay. You know what GAGOL is. You probably know what an ESCO is. You'll have to listen to this podcast to find out what MUSH stands for. John breaks down what it is to be an ESCO, who they serve, and how they make money. John Hamilton is an accomplished sales executive with over a decade of experience leading growth and driving profitability in the energy services and lighting industries. Currently serving as Vice President of ESCO Sales at SLG Lighting® (since April 2023), John is responsible for creating value within the ESCO market space by developing innovative products and solutions that address the unique needs of energy services companies. In this role, John is focused on expanding SLG's market share and ensuring the long-term success of the ESCO channel, providing strategic leadership in sales management, account development, and product delivery.Prior to SLG Lighting®, John served as National Sales Director at LEDVANCE, where he managed the growth and profitability of the Energy Services Company (ESCO) channel, establishing relationships with key accounts and aligning customer needs with cutting-edge lighting solutions. During his tenure at MaxLite as National Sales Director for ESCOs (2018–2021), John further honed his expertise in leading national sales initiatives, nurturing client relationships, and building impactful business strategies.Known for his ability to forge long-lasting client relationships and drive results in highly competitive markets, John brings a consultative approach to sales, delivering tailored solutions that create both short-term wins and sustainable growth. With expertise in sales management, account development, and strategic partnerships, John is a trusted leader in the lighting and energy services industries.

This Day in Legal History: Narcotic Control Act Becomes LawOn July 18, 1956, the Narcotic Control Act became law, significantly transforming the landscape of narcotics regulation in the United States. The Act was introduced to combat the growing concerns about drug abuse and trafficking. It imposed harsher penalties for violations of existing drug laws, including mandatory minimum sentences and the death penalty for certain repeat offenders. The Act expanded federal control over the use, possession, and sale of narcotic drugs and marijuana, aiming to curb the rising tide of addiction and illegal drug activities. This legislation marked a pivotal shift towards more stringent drug policies, reflecting the era's intensifying war on drugs. Enforcement was also bolstered, granting law enforcement agencies greater authority to tackle drug-related crimes. For better or worse, the Narcotic Control Act laid the groundwork for future drug legislation and enforcement strategies, significantly influencing the country's approach to drug control for decades to come.U.S. prosecutors have appealed a federal judge's decision to dismiss the criminal case against Donald Trump regarding the retention of classified documents post-presidency. Special Counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, was deemed unlawfully appointed by Judge Aileen Cannon. Cannon, a Trump appointee, ruled that Garland did not have Congressional authorization to appoint Smith with such extensive powers. This ruling has favored Trump, who is the Republican candidate for the upcoming presidential election. Trump's campaign called for the dismissal of all four criminal cases against him following this decision. Cannon's ruling dismissed charges against Trump and his co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who were accused of obstructing the investigation. Trump had been indicted in other cases, including a New York conviction related to hush money payments and charges in Georgia over election interference. The appeal is directed to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where many judges were appointed by Trump.Prosecutors appeal Trump classified documents case dismissal | ReutersThe espionage trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich resumed yesterday July 17, 2024, in Yekaterinburg, Russia, with witness testimonies heard behind closed doors. Gershkovich, accused of spying for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, faces up to 20 years in prison. Arrested in March 2023, he has been held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison since then. Both Gershkovich and his employer, as well as the U.S. government, deny the allegations, asserting that he was simply performing his duties as an accredited journalist. The Wall Street Journal has criticized the trial as a sham and continues to advocate for his release. Russian authorities claim to have irrefutable evidence of his espionage activities, though specifics have not been disclosed. The trial is closed to the press, a standard procedure in Russia for cases involving treason or espionage. U.S. officials view Gershkovich and another detained American, Paul Whelan, as bargaining chips for a potential prisoner exchange, with President Putin indicating openness to such negotiations. The trial will continue on Friday with arguments from the respective lawyers.Russian trial of detained US reporter Gershkovich hears witness testimony in secret | ReutersThe Biden administration announced the testing of 17 new climate technologies in federal buildings, part of a $9.6 million initiative aimed at advancing near-commercial climate tech. The General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees federal properties, will facilitate these real-world trials. The effort aligns with the administration's broader goal to reduce carbon emissions across federal facilities. The GSA will select testing sites by the end of the year, with evaluations concluding in 2026.Technologies include Armstrong World Industries' ceiling tiles that manage heat, Brightcore Energy's compact geothermal drilling rigs, and Gridscape's modular microgrid systems. Other innovations involve Nostromo Energy's ice storage cooling systems, SafeTraces' air quality mapping using DNA-tagged particles, Moxion Power's portable battery systems, and Lamarr.AI's drones for building audits.Successful technologies will be connected with energy service companies (ESCOs) through a unique matchmaking session to drive scalability. GSA administrator Robin Carnahan emphasized that the program supports market demand rather than picking winners, suggesting that the adoption of these technologies will persist regardless of potential administrative changes. The initiative aims to demonstrate the practical benefits and cost savings of these advanced climate technologies.US Taps Federal Buildings to Test Next-Generation Climate TechThe Biden administration's effort to strengthen protections for gay and transgender students under Title IX remains blocked in ten states following rulings from the Fifth and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeals. The rulings represent a significant setback for President Biden's transgender rights initiatives, as the appeals courts indicated the rule might be unconstitutional.In the Sixth Circuit, Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton upheld a district court's injunction against the rule in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, and West Virginia. The court argued that the rule's definition of sex discrimination likely exceeded the Education Department's authority. This decision prevents these states from implementing the rule, which includes provisions like using preferred pronouns and allowing students to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity.Meanwhile, the Fifth Circuit upheld a separate injunction for Louisiana, Mississippi, Idaho, and Montana. This ruling came after the Department of Education failed to convince the court that delaying the rule would cause irreparable harm. The court noted that enforcing the rule could impose significant administrative costs and legal uncertainties on these states.The rulings underscore the ongoing legal battles over expanding Title IX protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity, with conservative states challenging the federal government's authority in this domain. These setbacks come after a similar injunction was upheld by the Sixth Circuit in June, affecting federal guidance documents related to LGBTQ+ student rights.The Biden administration's rule, set to take effect on August 1, 2024, is now blocked in multiple states, with ongoing litigation likely to continue influencing the rule's future. The cases in question are Tennessee v. Cardona and Louisiana v. US Department of Education.Block on Biden Trans Rights Rule Upheld by 2 Appeals Courts (1) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Dr. Timothy Unruh, the Executive Eirector of the National Association of Energy Service Companies, discusses the challenges that school districts face in maintaining and upgrading their facilities. These challenges include aging infrastructure, insufficient funds, and the impact of climate change. He highlights the importance of innovative financial strategies and partnerships, such as energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) and collaborations with energy service companies (ESCOs), in revamping school infrastructure. Dr. Unruh also emphasizes the availability of tax credits and grants for funding these projects. He explains the process of procuring capital infrastructure and the benefits of design-build procurement. Additionally, he addresses concerns about the guarantee of energy savings in ESPCs and the impact of utility costs on these projects. In this conversation, Timothy Unruh discusses the involvement of the Department of Energy in performance contracts and the role of state energy offices. He explains how state and federal grants enhance the scope of projects and the importance of a strong partnership between school districts and ESCOs. Unruh also addresses the cost of working with an ESCO and the long-term relationship between the ESCO and the school district. He shares a success story of a project in the Little Rock School District and discusses the educational benefits of energy performance contracts. Unruh concludes by discussing emerging trends in the energy space and providing advice for school business officials interested in pursuing energy performance contracts.Contact School Business Insider: Check us out on social media: LinkedIn Twitter (X) Website: https://asbointl.org/SBI Email: podcast@asbointl.org Make sure to like, subscribe and share for more great insider episodes!Disclaimer:The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the Association of School Business Officials International. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. The "ASBO International" name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service. The presence of any advertising does not endorse, or imply endorsement of, any products or services by ASBO International.ASBO International is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization and does not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for elective public office. The sharing of news or information concerning public policy issues or political campaigns and candidates are not, and should not be construed as, endorsements by ASBO Internatio...

A key part to the modern utility landscape includes Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and their transformative impact on the power industry landscape. As a part of this evolving corner of utilities, the National Association of Energy Service Companies (NAESCO) is driving change within the industry, supporting ESCOs in optimizing energy efficiency, and shaping the future of sustainable practices. In this episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast, NAESCO Executive Director, Tim Unruh, joins the conversation to highlight the emerging trends that will shape the energy sector in the years to come. Listen in as Tim guides podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester on a deep dive into the world of ESCOs and their pivotal role in optimizing energy consumption and promoting sustainability. With a focus on the ESCO sector's impact on utilities and their customers, the conversation features Tim drawing on his extensive background in power and energy, providing valuable insights into the historical relationship between ESCOs and utilities, the role of NAESCO in supporting the U.S. ESCO industry, and the key opportunities and challenges in the ever-evolving energy landscape. Key Links: Energy Central Post with Full Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-153-evolving-utility-landscape-escos-catalysts-change-tim-unruh-executive Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/

En la reunión Rocio Gambra y Monica Gazmuri,  Gerente de la  Asociación de Empresas de Eficiencia Energética. Agrupa a toda la gama de soluciones en #EficienciaEnergética, desde la consultoría, ingeniería, implementación, tecnología, gestión de la energía, eficiencia en agua, ESCOS (financiamiento basado en los ahorros logrados) y ERNC y medición y verificación de proyectos.  Se discutió la importancia del sector energético y la necesidad de aumentar la participación femenina en él. Se mencionaron oportunidades laborales y de emprendimiento para mujeres en diferentes áreas del sector, así como la posibilidad de participar en cursos y talleres gratuitos. La feria se realizará de manera presencial y virtual, y se espera expandirla a otras regiones en el futuro.

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This week, Randall connects with Anne-Marije Rook, North American Editor at Cycling Weekly with an exploration of how she got into cycling and from there into cycling journalism, with fun tangents into competitive cycling, exploding e-bikes, and a bit of gear nerdy. Episdoe Sponsor: Athletic Greens  Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the broadcast, I'm handing the microphone off over to my co-host Randall Jacobs. Who's got an Mariah Rook on the broadcast. She's the north American editor at cycling weekly randall will take us on an exploration on how she got into cycling. And from there into cycling journalism, with fun tangents, into competitive cycling. Exploring e-bikes and a bit of the gear nerdery that Randall is famous for. Before we jump in and hand that microphone off to Randall. I do need to thank this week. Sponsor athletic greens. Athletic greens and AIG. One is a comprehensive daily nutrition made from simple, powerful ingredients. It's made up of 75 high quality, whole food sourced ingredients. Carefully curated to nourish all the body's systems holistically. As many of you know, I've been an athletic greens user for many, many years, predating the podcast. So I've been super stoked that athletic greens has been a big partner for what I do The key to ag one is that it replaces key health products in one simple scoop. AIG one combines nine health products working together as one, replacing your multivitamin. Multimineral. Pre and probiotics. Immunity support and more, that means ag one does more for your body and saves you time, money and confusion compared to taking multiple unique products. And that is a hundred percent key for me. I do one scoop in the morning, mixed up with a little bit of ice, and I feel like I've got some of my nutritional basis started before I've even begun the day. If you're interested in learning more about athletic greens, go to www.athleticgreens.com/the gravel ride. For podcast listeners, our friends at athletic greens have given us a free year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs. If you ordered today. Simply visit athletic greens.com/the gravel ride to get your age. The one on the way today. With that said i'm going to hand over the microphone to my co-host randall jacobs [00:02:35] Randall R. Jacobs: Let's talk about how you got into this particular field. How did you end up as a cycling journalist? [00:02:42] Anne-Marije Rook: Sure. Yeah. So I was actually, uh, a real journalist before, um, not that second journalist aren't real journalists, but, uh, I did a lot heavier topics, um, you know, worked at newspapers, just straight up outta college, became a newspaper journalist, and then, , uh, at some point, I think I was 22, I started racing bikes myself, and when I did, I, I was looking for content and I realized there wasn't a lot of women's seconding content coming out of the us. So I started kind of dabbling with that on the side. And, uh, then started riding for some different publications and eventually seconding tips reached out and were like, Let's do something. So we founded Ella Cycling Tips, which was the, the women's side of Cycling Tips. And then, um, yeah, just stayed in the field. I quit my day job and started doing cycling journalism while still racing, and I've been doing it ever since, going on 10, 11 years now. [00:03:39] Randall R. Jacobs: and was your educational background in writing in journalism specifically? [00:03:44] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, I did, uh, journalism, German and French. So interestingly enough I get to use all of that nowadays [00:03:51] Randall R. Jacobs: Are you native in any of those other languages? [00:03:53] Anne-Marije Rook: In Dutch. So I was born and raised in the Nets, the, the biking country, and then, uh, lived in Germany for three years and then ended up in the US uh, when I was almost 16. [00:04:04] Randall R. Jacobs: That's quite a skill to have, and makes me think of a joke about Americans. What do you call someone who's speaks three languages trilingual, two languages bilingual and one language. We have US Americans. [00:04:13] Anne-Marije Rook: I think a lot of people actually do, you know, they dabble in Spanish and some other languages. I think, uh, you shouldn't sell yourself so short. [00:04:22] Randall R. Jacobs: True, maybe I'm projecting a little bit. In my personal case, I studied six years of Spanish in middle school and high school and was able to get by during a month stint in Peru. But, it didn't seem immediately relevant at the time. And so later on in life, I moved to China and learned Mandarin and actually being present and having to use it in day-to-day life just makes such a, a world of difference. And for I think a lot of people who are born in the us and who don't grow up in a household or another, the language is spoken, there's just not. That impetus versus in Europe you have surrounding countries where with different languages or maybe even within one's own country there are different dialects or different languages being spoken. [00:05:04] Anne-Marije Rook: That's really good though. So you're a trilingual. [00:05:06] Randall R. Jacobs: I wouldn't go as far as to say trilingual, other than in the sense of trying , a little bit of Spanish and enough, what I call cab driver Cantonese in order to be able to fool somebody that I speak some Cantonese before switching over to Mandarin. [00:05:21] Anne-Marije Rook: That's, I mean, that's pretty impressive. Those are really difficult languages. I never studied, uh, Cantonese from Mandarin. I, I studied Japanese and just having to learn a whole new way of, of writing, uh, is, is, yeah, it's difficult to do. [00:05:34] Randall R. Jacobs: that's probably the hardest part. I would say that , Mandarin the scripts for sure. It's a very abstracted pictographic script. To be able to read a newspaper, you need, two, 3000 different characters and to have a higher level of sophistication, you need 5,000, 10,000 characters. And, even a native speaker. , especially in this day and age, we'll have difficulty remembering how to write a character. Cuz everything is being tight. [00:06:00] Anne-Marije Rook: Hmm. [00:06:01] Randall R. Jacobs: But on the other hand the grammar is really simple. So in English we say, yesterday I went to the store and we have to go and we conjugate it as went, which actually comes from an entirely different language family than to go. and in Chinese you just say, ah, yesterday, go store. [00:06:20] Anne-Marije Rook: Ah, yeah. [00:06:21] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. English also has way more synonyms because it's such a hodgepodge amalgamation of other languages, whereas Chinese also has external influences, but it's arguably more insular versus English. You have Germanic, you have Latin, you have Greek, you have various forms of cockney and so on that are all in there and the occasional Chinese phrases, very little that comes over for Chinese. Uh, one example being longtime nok, which is a direct translation from the Chinese [00:06:50] Anne-Marije Rook: Really, that's fun. Here's the thing I I discover with my language skills or lack thereof, is that, um, learning all the bike parts, for example, I had, like, I never learned those in my native tongues. So like suddenly I had to learn like, oh shit, what's the railer or what's, what's the railer hanger in Dutch or in German or whatever. And it's been fun learning those terms for the first time, even though, yeah, I grew up with that. [00:07:19] Randall R. Jacobs: that's actually a common phenomenon and one that I definitely resonate in my own experience too. I have friends who were born in China, but largely grew up here or even who came over to go to college. And, they're native speakers. I'm not at that level but I will have terms that I know that they don't because I am in this highly technical context of the bike industry of manufacturing, materials and production processes and so on. Um, and so it's kind of the same, same sort of phenomenon. [00:07:50] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of a fun thing where I was like, wow, I never learned any of these terms in those languages. Yeah, [00:07:55] Randall R. Jacobs: So you've been doing cycling journalism for, you said about 10, 11 years now. [00:08:00] Anne-Marije Rook: yeah, yeah. It's been a minute. [00:08:02] Randall R. Jacobs: I'm curious to hear more about the project at Cycling tips. How'd you get brought into that and, and how did that come about? [00:08:09] Anne-Marije Rook: So they, uh, I think they found me on Twitter. Uh, Twitter was really where. , um, women's cycling was, was living for quite a while cuz there was very little streaming and you can watch any of these races live, so you followed them online and Twitter had a really wonderful community of, of women's cycling fans and it still does to a certain extent, but yeah, that's where it used to. Live and I did a lot of, you know, uh, I would watch races and Life tweet and, you know, uh, was pretty active on, on Twitter and um, was writing for Podium Cafe, which is a nation site at the time, and they were looking to start a women's cycling component. Uh, and so they like reached out to various people and, you know, did a job interview and, you know, got going that way. [00:08:54] Randall R. Jacobs: And this was when? Who was there at the time? Kaylee and James and, [00:08:59] Anne-Marije Rook: No, this was before Kaylee. Um, this was, it was just, uh, Matt dif and, and Wade. [00:09:05] Randall R. Jacobs: Oh, okay. [00:09:06] Anne-Marije Rook: Um, Andy was there already, and then it was Jesse Braverman and myself who came on to do the women's cycling. [00:09:12] Randall R. Jacobs: Let's talk about women's cycling for a little bit. what are the areas in women's cycling that you find most interesting, most compelling, and that also you think that are maybe, under discussed underreported. [00:09:23] Anne-Marije Rook: Oh yeah. The nice thing about women's cycling is that it's been growing so much in the last 10 years or so, so that it's uh, people get to see it a bit more and I think what. , uh, intrigue me about women's second from the get-go is just how aggressive the racing is and how, um, while there was a definite period of like modern force dominating, and then we had and then we have anique. The nice thing about women's acting, I think is because it has grown so much is that you never really know who's gonna win. and it makes a racing very exciting. Cause it, it, like I said, it is so aggressive cuz the races are shorter, so you have fewer opportunities to make, you know, a break stick. So there tends to be more attacking and, uh, you, you don't really experience that unless you're watching it. I think the nice thing about. Where we are now, we can actually watch in the Tour de France Femme showed this, like watching women's cycling is actually very entertaining. And you know, in France alone, like millions of people tuned in every single day. So it is, it's different and I think that's, uh, something we should celebrate. rather than point out like, you know, women's cycling is, is men's cycling, but in shorter distances, and that's not at all true. I think women's cycling is a bit of its own sport in, in terms of tactics and the way the races play out. And, uh, in psycho cross especially, that's been very apparent. You know, people have shorter attention spans. So if you can sit down for a, you know, a 45, 50 minute bike race, you'll see basically what women's cycling is like on. On a heightened level, and it's extremely entertaining. You don't know who's gonna win. There's a lot of good candidates and, uh, it's, yeah, it's aggressive from the gun. [00:11:03] Randall R. Jacobs: At least in the us it seems that women's cyclocross racing was most prominent, most early. Mary McConnellogue is one example I remember from my racing days, I don't remember hearing as much reporting about women's road racing at the time. Maybe that was just what I was tuning into, but cyclocross. I remember getting similar billing to men's cyclocross [00:11:24] Anne-Marije Rook: yeah, I think the, the heyday of women's cycling really was the 1980s, early nineties. You know, we had the course classic and we had some, some really great names. Um, and. That has dwindled down. There were a lot of lack of races. Uh, we've had some great road racers in the US you know, with, with uh, Christian Armstrong and, uh, e Evelyn Stevens, and we've had some really Mara Abod and the Jro, like some really great road racers. You just don't hear about 'em as much . I do remember a particular race where I like looked to my right and it was like Kristen Armstrong and I looked to my left and it was Evelyn Stevens and I was like, ah. This is gonna suck today, It's gonna be a fast one. [00:12:04] Randall R. Jacobs: Let's talk about that, let's talk about you're racing background. So you mentioned that you got into cycling in your early twenties. How did that come about and what was that like for you? [00:12:13] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, so I've, uh, coming from the Netherlands, I've been a bike commuter since I was, I don't know, six. Uh, and so I just like grew up on the bike. It's just how I got around. And in college I just rode everywhere. And there were a couple times where people were like, Hey, you should maybe consider. Racing or, or doing like, you know, grand Fonds or something. And I was like, ah, this is just my vehicle. And then, uh, I moved to Seattle and did the Seattle, the Portland, which is uh, like a 220 mile bike ride between the two cities. And there were some teams that were doing it. And, uh, you know, again, people were like, have you considered racing? You're pretty strong. And I'd be like, no. I mean, it's kind of like, Hey, do you like driving? You should do nascar. You know, like it's, it was just such a foreign concept to me. Um, which is funny cuz I grew up in the Netherlands, but like, uh, and my grandpa was super into bike racing, but it wasn't, uh, ever like, exposed to me or con like, wasn't just like, oh, you like riding bikes, you should become a bike race. It just wasn't a thing. It wasn't really a, a sport I was exposed to, uh, in the northern part of the. . And so I was kind of intrigued and, and I had enjoyed training for the 200 mile event, so I, I went to the, the tryout, so to speak, and start racing and. as a Cat four. And I remember my first race weekend was a double header, so Saturday and Sunday and Saturday I, I think I got eighth and I got, I was like, oh, okay, this is cool. Top 10. And I was like, I wonder if I can get better. And the next day I got fifth. And, you know, that's, that's all it took for me to get super into it and trying to see where, where I could take it. And, uh, I think I was racing UCI like the next season. [00:13:54] Randall R. Jacobs: Oh wow. [00:13:55] Anne-Marije Rook: mostly, uh, or at first in cross and then, uh, road and track as well. But um, yeah, it's, it's an interesting place to be in, in, in the US in that you can be racing as a pro. And I use pro here very loosely because it's called pro level, but no one's actually getting paid to race their bikes. Like I would never consider myself a pro. Uh, I just raced in the UCI one, two levels and it's kind of weird that we throw it all. Um, when really, yeah, very few people are actually getting paid to, to race their bikes. [00:14:29] Randall R. Jacobs: I definitely fall on that boat as well. I think my best season, I didn't quite break even as a, as a Pac fodder Cross Country Pro. Mid pack was pretty good at the national level. And then you have a good regional results here and there. [00:14:42] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, a good season for me, like, I loved crits, so that's where the money was at for me. You know, if I walked away with three grand at the end of the summer, I, I was pretty stoked. [00:14:51] Randall R. Jacobs: Oh, I never saw that. That sort of money and crits, crits always terrified me. There's a certain attitude that you have to have going into a crit, like a fearlessness that I, I dunno. Mountain biking always felt safer for me. [00:15:03] Anne-Marije Rook: It is, it is. And I, I quit racing after getting injured too many times. Like you can only hit your head so many times and, you know, if, if I list my, my laundry list of injuries, it's, it's definitely evident that, uh, yeah, quit racing is, is rather dangerous and asphalt is hard. And, you know, trees don't jump out on you. Where's Razor Smith? [00:15:23] Randall R. Jacobs: Yep. And pavement is like sandpaper when you're skidding across it in spandex. [00:15:27] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. There's not a lot of protection there. Um, but it was all, it was all good fun. And you know, I, I wish I'd gotten into it earlier in my life, but I had a, a lot of fun during my twenties and early thirties. [00:15:38] Randall R. Jacobs: what'd you love about it? [00:15:40] Anne-Marije Rook: Uh, I liked the, the challenge of like the, the personal level, like how fit can I be? How strong can I get? Um, and then there's the direct correlation between what you put in that, that you get out, um, and then. Especially with crit racing. I liked, uh, the team tactics. I liked the aggressiveness. Like I was definitely that area that went like super hard on the front, on the first lap, just trying to get as many people off the back and then like would go for pre after, pre, pre and then in the last two laps found that I had no legs left and someone else had to finish it up. But, um, Yeah, I, I like the aggressiveness. I liked, I, I'm really a team sports person, and I think road racing, uh, doesn't get enough credit for the team sport that it is. And I think, like, personally, not to get on like a, a whole nother side spiel, but in, in [00:16:27] Randall R. Jacobs: No, let's do it. Let's do it. Go there. [00:16:29] Anne-Marije Rook: In Olympic racing, like why does only one person get a gold medal? Like in soccer? The whole team gets a gold medal. And I think, uh, you know, road racing especially is such a steam sport that everyone should be getting a medal. It's only, you know, six or seven medals versus 11. So, [00:16:47] Randall R. Jacobs: I mean, that's one of the, that's one of the things that's nice about the grand tours. There's lots of ways to win. There's the points, there's the stages, there's the gc, there's the most aggressive rider, so something more subjective. there's all these different ways in which to be acknowledged, but I'm definitely with you. It would quite a feat to show up at an Olympic level road race. Solo and [00:17:09] Anne-Marije Rook: went away. Yeah. [00:17:11] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. Yeah. No one to defend you, no one to pull you up. You'd have to be very, very lucky. And also be doing a lot of riding on people's wheels the entire time [00:17:20] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. And I think as a racer I enjoyed that. You know, I enjoyed the team aspect. I enjoyed the, the collective effort it took to, to win the race. Sure, one person was the first across the line, but it took all of us to, to get that person there. And like, there's, to me as a, as a racer, there's a few things as as beautiful as, as a well executed, uh, lead out at the end of the race. You know, like where everyone has a role every. You know, executes it perfectly, like a little team train. Like the, those things don't happen very often on the, on the non, you know, world tour level. And it, it's really, it, it feels amazing as a, as a racer to be part of that. [00:17:56] Randall R. Jacobs: I've had limited crit racing experience and you note about the intensity of it. There are a few things more intense because not only do you have the, the digging really deep, not just at the end, but every single time a gap opens up or every ti single time there's a break and it's such a short, tight circuit, and a short duration of an event that you really can't let anything open up. And people can sustain a lot more over 30 minutes to an hour than they can over the course of a four hour road race or a long gravel race . And there are curbs and there are other people and there are bottles and there are people taking shady lines. And that person who just passed you is on a trajectory where there's no way they're gonna be able to come around the corner without hitting the outside curb on the other side. Especially at the early levels like cat four or cat three, where you have strong riders coming over from other disciplines. and just don't have the chops. [00:18:50] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, I did a, I did a, a number of, of races in, in the men's field just to get more, uh, racing my legs. And, you know, the, the groups tend to be bigger but also very varied. You know, I'd be running around the course with like 80 dudes and maybe two women in there and be like, terrified of, of the experience. And at the same time, like that, getting that chariot effect, like having that many people around you, you're kind of just like, Kind of going with the flow and, and being dragged around the course, which was kind of fun too. But I think it's a pure adrenaline rush and I feel like I'm too old for that now. trying to hold those kind of efforts. My heart rate doesn't go up that high anymore. I mean, it used to go up pretty easily over 200 and I think now I'd be on the sidelines vomiting if I had 200, [00:19:33] Randall R. Jacobs: that's almost hummingbird level [00:19:36] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, yeah. You know, young and fit. . Yeah, I miss that. I think I miss being that fit. I do not miss having to put in the kind of effort to be that fit. [00:19:45] Randall R. Jacobs: Well, and more recently you've been doing a lot with gravel. is most of your riding gravel at this point? [00:19:49] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. And I've always done gravel, like back when we just called it road bikes off road, you know, there wasn't any special gear just riding 20 threes over gravel and, uh, I've always liked gravel and adventuring. I've always liked being underbid. Um, so I've been doing gravel for a long time and I think, uh, I've definitely, since quitting, uh, racing, I've done mostly off-road. I think nowadays if I have like two hours to kill, I'll most definitely ride through the forest rather than go on a road ride. [00:20:19] Randall R. Jacobs: You're based currently in Portland [00:20:21] Anne-Marije Rook: portland, [00:20:22] Randall R. Jacobs: yeah. So you have fantastic outdoors right out your door in the Portland area and decent bike infrastructure as well, at least by, by our US standards. [00:20:31] Anne-Marije Rook: yeah. I mean, I chose, so I live in a, in a neighborhood called St. John's and I, I chose that specifically cause I go over across the bridge and I'm in the, in Forest Park, which is a, uh, a really big, and I think the long shill, there's 30 miles or so. So it's like, it's a, a really big forested area with gravel roads. Yeah, I'm, I'm there all the time. Uh, I also really got into mountain biking after I quit racing. So, you know, like all, all Mountain, uh, I used to do mostly XE and definitely been working on my skills and, uh, since quitting. Uh, just it's nice to be away from cars. I think the gist of that. [00:21:07] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah, I think that, in addition to the exploratory element of it, is one of the things that led me to transition to primarily gravel riding . And I do think it's a major reason why gravel cycling has taken off in general. Not only are the bikes really versatile, so if you're only gonna have one bike while you can do all these different things, but then also I remember reading a. Some years ago a university study that was looking at the reasons, that people cite for not riding more. And safety is always number one by. I think that study was maybe eight or nine years ago, so in a few places the infrastructure has gotten a little bit better, but still not enough. And the attitudes of drivers. Have gotten better, but , still you get out of a certain zone of safety and you still have people angry at you for being on the road. [00:21:58] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, I mean, like as a lifelong commuter, I, I've been hit quite a few times. I got hit twice during the pandemic alone, uh, while riding around town. And so, uh, It is the sa Yeah, I understand. The safety team. The thing a hundred percent, like you don't, uh, wanna take your life in your own hands when you're out riding. And, uh, it, it's, it's a big problem in the US that the infrastructure is still so lacking. And on one hand you're telling people to, you know, go get on your bike and be more sustainable and healthy. And at the same time, they're not offering a lot of, uh, insurances in terms of, you know, uh, infrastructure and whatnot to, to make that. [00:22:34] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. Now I'm, I'm curious as a journalist, what have been some of the areas that you've found most interesting to report on or that, you know, you've been able to dive into as a consequence of having that credential? [00:22:46] Anne-Marije Rook: Hmm. Uh, I'm, I always love people. I, I, I like to know what makes them tick. You know, especially those people on, on like the, the very top end of the sport. Like what makes 'em tick? How, how are they able to do this? And at the same time, uh, this year, one of the things I've been really interested in is, um, ebi. in terms of like the, the regulations around, um, lit I and, uh, batteries and, and the, the fact that there's so many fires and then the legislation around it and wish there is none yet, but that's coming. And so, uh, looking into a bit more of where these bags are coming from and, and what it takes. To control these, these devices a bit more has been very interesting. And it's not something that gets a lot of rates or gets clicks and whatnot, but it's something I find very interesting cuz it'll have a lot of, uh, repercussions I think in, in the next couple years as to which eBags are on the market, which products you can and cannot buy. And, uh, hopefully the safety of it all. [00:23:50] Randall R. Jacobs: What are some of the things that you've uncovered in that exploration? [00:23:54] Anne-Marije Rook: Well, the fact that there is absolutely, at the moment no legislation whatsoever, uh, for the consumer. So you can buy whatever you can find on the internet, and there's, there's no guarantee that it's not gonna set your house on fire. There's no safety around it, and that's, that's changing right now. New York City is currently, uh, considering banning the sale of secondhand or, uh, like. Uh, tested products, which would have massive repercussions cuz there's like 65,000 delivery workers in, uh, New York City alone. And these people are mostly relying on e-bikes to do their jobs, right? It's their livelihood. And so the moment you, you control these products, uh, it'll have a financial impact on these people as well. Well, third party testing and safety device. It costs more on the, on the manufacturers and therefore it'll have a higher price tag, price tag for the consumer as well. Um, but at the same time, you know, they ha are also dealing with 200 fires already this year. Um, specifically [00:24:56] Randall R. Jacobs: just the city of New York. [00:24:58] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, just the city of New York relating to um, e mobility devices like E-Bikes, ESCOs, hoverboards, e Unicycles, that kind of stuff, which is a lot, you know, that's a lot for one city, specifically around these mobility devices. [00:25:12] Randall R. Jacobs: Sure, especially when you have such immense density. So a fire in New York City is not a standalone house that's oftentimes a building with dozens of families and a lot of people get displaced. [00:25:24] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Luckily they've, they've only, I should say that in, in quotation marks, they've had six fatalities and, and over 130, uh, injuries related to those fires. So, relatively speaking, that's not a high number, but it's, it's something that could be prevented with proper legislation. So I think for me, what's interesting is just like, The, the, the concept was that you can just import products that don't get tested and, you know, people will buy 'em because it's popular and it's, it's, uh, affordable and, and there's a reason, you know, items cost as much as, as they do and, you know, as, as someone who, uh, creates consumer goods. So, yeah. Anyway, that's, that's a long wind winded way of saying that's been a very interesting, uh, passion project of mine. [00:26:07] Randall R. Jacobs: well, on that particular topic, I know that there's, there's also kind of a cultural backlash against, say, in New York City, these e-bike, service providers out doing deliveries and if you look at who it is that is taking on those jobs, generally immigrant, , generally it's the first opportunity that they have in order to survive and make a living, getting a foundation here. So it's not as easy as simply, we're gonna band all these things , it's some, it's somebody's livelihood. [00:26:35] Anne-Marije Rook: And like as you said, it's a, it's a culture issue. It's a class issue. It's, it's not, not as simple as like, well, these items are unsafe, so we'll just ban them. [00:26:45] Randall R. Jacobs: And that, kind of speaks to, broader issues , that we could talk about in the bike space. Like we have this concept of a sidewalk bicycle, a more pejorative way of saying it would be a, bicycle shaped object. So these are, bikes that are generally built to a very low standard, generally sold through non, specialty retail , poorly assembled, and even if they were well assembled generally of parts that are of questionable quality. So poor breaking things like this, and they aren't required to. Hold up to the same standards as a bicycle that you buy at a bike shop that is designated for commuter use or other sorts of use. And, in the more premium end of the spectrum, which for a lot of people who aren't cyclists, would be any bike that's more than three, $400. There's detailed, is. International standards organization criteria for testing that. But that's another example of the same thing where, well, you could require that all bikes be built to a certain standard, but then new bikes would be inaccessible to lower income demographics. Though frankly, I think another outcome of that would probably be that you see more refurbishing of better quality. older used bikes and so that could be a net positive, especially given that they're likely to hold up a lot better. [00:28:01] Anne-Marije Rook: Mm-hmm. [00:28:01] Randall R. Jacobs: So, so that's another area [00:28:03] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, I mean to that, like, I could ask that a lot and, and we've, we're about to enter another recession. Um, it's, it's apparent in another country already and, and we're headed that way as well. And, and so a big topic becomes budget bikes, like how much do you spend on a bike and new bikes that are. of a certain budget , I always tell people, go, go shop for a, a used bike and, and refurbish it. You're, you're better off than a cheap brand new bike. And there, I think for a long time there was this, this rather like attitude towards buying secondhand. , uh, products, especially, you know, around carbon bikes, like people were worried that they were broken or cracked, and I think there's a huge misconception around carbon, specifically in, in terms of the strength and like a carbon bike, if it doesn't, if it's not cracked, will last you an entire lifetime. Like, they don't deteriorate. Like, you know, metals will cor. And the restin in carbon doesn't necessarily break apart. Like if maintained well, a carbon bike will last you a lifetime, the end, right? You sure it breaks and you have to maybe get it checked over by, uh, an expert. But I think, uh, now that we have been in this carbon age for a bit longer, there's, there's nothing wrong with a used carbon bike [00:29:23] Randall R. Jacobs: I think that that is often true. There's a couple of challenges there though, with a metal bike, if there's something wrong with it, you generally see it unless it's cracking. Uh, and, and even a crack, you'd be able to see, but you'd be able to see that with a carbon bike too. But what you wouldn't be able to see is an impact that causes delamination in a tube but doesn't result in visual cracking or damage. The construction has gotten much, much better, so they are vastly more reliable, but there's been this push for, as light as possible, which means there's not a lot of buffer and there's a lot of higher modus carbons that are not as impact resistant. So I agree with you that the concerns are overblown. but at the same time, actually this is something that, was talking to, Kaylee Fretz about when he was on not too long ago. The merits of metal bikes, and I think that. Especially on the more economical end of the spectrum, it would be great to see more, steel bikes. [00:30:19] Anne-Marije Rook: Oh, for sure. I love, I I myself, steel roadie. I, I think I would love to have a titanium bike for sure. Um, I just think that from a sustainability point of view, for the last, I don't know, 10, 15 years, we've been cranking out one carbon bike after another and they're not being recycled, uh, because. Well, you can, but it's very, very cost prohibit, pro prohibitive to, um, try to get around the re resin and recycle that carbon. And so I think I would rather see some of these older frames be picked up and, and reuse in one way or another. Um, you know, slap a new group set on and it's a good bike. I'm also. , um, privilege in that. In Portland, we have a great company called Ruckus Composites, and they for, for fee, but it's not a significant fee. They will scan your carbon frame to make sure there aren't any, uh, cracks or whatever that, that you can't see, um, simply with your eyeballs. [00:31:17] Randall R. Jacobs: That's a great service and one that if anyone has access to, especially if they're buying secondhand or if they've crashed, absolutely worth it., the cost of not doing it is, potentially nothing or potentially catastrophic [00:31:29] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Yeah. And I think I'm, I'm more worried about people buying these really cheaply made. Carbon bikes cuz they're like, it's carbon and it'll be good. And I'm like, there is such a thing as bad carbon and uh, budget bikes that just, um, yeah, they, they don't stand the test of time. Whereas good carbon bikes will, like I said, last your lifetime, uh, obviously. You know, metal is, is, this is the safer bet. But, um, yeah, we, we just have so many carbon frames out there right now, and I just don't, don't see them being used, uh, ending up in landfill. I don't know. I think that's one of the things that if I could ask the industry to do anything, it's to be a bit more, uh, sustainable in, in what they crank out and, and looking for the opportunities to recycle some of the products that they create. [00:32:14] Randall R. Jacobs: There is talk about this within the industry. Craig was at the people for Bike Summit and there was a lot of talk around sustainability. It may have been more around packaging and the like, being discussed there. some of this is, the facilities haven't existed. So carbon recycling, for example, you need specialized facilities. fortunately there's new, ways in which recycled carbon can be utilized cuz it is a degraded material, right? So you're not going to get the long pure fibers that you're getting purely homogenous, resin with and so on. So you need to be able to create forged carbon components and the like, and you're starting to see that, um, That whole recycling infrastructure, like all recycling infrastructure, for the most part in this country, is not keeping up with the sheer amount of stuff that we're creating and discarding. [00:33:04] Anne-Marije Rook: No, absolutely not. And uh, I think especially after. You know, uh, right before, um, gravel got real big, I think the industry was just sitting on, on thousands of, of car, like mid-level carbon bikes with, with 10 speed group sets. And luckily in some ways, luckily the, um, pandemic created, um, this, this delay in, in, in the. Um, in, in getting new components. And I think that that forced people to go back and be like, can we use this nine or 10 speed group set? And there's an interesting amount of, of nine and seven speed groups that's on the market right now that just like got picked up cuz they were laying around. And uh, you see those especially in, in, uh, super adventure bikes or e-bikes where they use older group sets. And I think it's great cuz we, we need to use the, the things that we've produced. [00:33:55] Randall R. Jacobs: you've been following some of the supply chain changes. [00:33:59] Anne-Marije Rook: of course. Yeah. I mean, that's been the story for the last few years for the industry and, uh, it, it is a struggle. I, I can't imagine being one of those businesses that, that relies on. Uh, you know, uh, pretty much anything at the moment. But, uh, seeing, see, I think it's, it's really fun to see some innovations happening around, um, using the stuff that we already have. And, uh, there's a lot of, you know, maybe I'm just a super bike nerd, but a lot of different ways you can get more gears out of a you a seven speed trailer or like, you know, using micro shift and, and using all the different. uh, like innovative, uh, little handy tools out there to, to make what's old, new. [00:34:44] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah, a hundred percent with you there. And some of the organizations that we've sought to support, as a company have been around taking old bikes and making them new again. [00:34:53] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. And down to sh shifters, I've been seeing a lot of those and, and just like old friction shifters being used again, which I thought was very fun because, uh, it's a cheap way to build an adventure bike. You know, you just go with, with, uh, , straight up brake levers, no shifting in the, in, in your handlebars, which leaves more room for bags and whatever else. And then, um, little bar end shifters or shifters, which never thought I'd see those come back again. [00:35:18] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah, also provides a lot more options in terms of what you can spec, because there's really only three major players in that space currently. STR and Shao being the dominant two. [00:35:28] Anne-Marije Rook: What, uh, what's the coolest thing you've seen done with a, with a thesis? [00:35:32] Randall R. Jacobs: We did have a rider do this really stunning, metallic flake paint job With a painter out of the Boulder, Denver area. So those sorts of customizations have been neat otherwise. we have a lot of people who've done extended bike packing trips. We have a channel in an online community that we help to set up which is dedicated to bike packing. So there've been whole reports on people's setups, and that's been really cool to see. One. Has become normal at this point. But I think that we were relatively early with was dropper posts. So had a dropper post in second wheel sets. So had a hypothesis early on, that people would have a single bike for a lot of things and about 50% of people got two wheel sets and pushing 90% of our riders have gotten dropper posts. [00:36:22] Anne-Marije Rook: Really? That's, that's a, surprises me. That's a, a large percentage of people. Um, do they actually use 'em? Like, do they get shredding enough to where you need a, a drop or post? [00:36:33] Randall R. Jacobs: I've seen several examples of folks that have either discarded the dropper or who were really concerned about weight, and so you're trying to figure out how to swap it easily. But in general, like the typical response was, yeah, game changer. And, from, me personally, especially living in the Bay Area where there's so much fast and steep road descending, I'd used it all the time. The argument that I make is it adds say three quarters of a. [00:37:00] Anne-Marije Rook: Mm-hmm. [00:37:02] Randall R. Jacobs: one, you're, you're faster and more confident, less likely to crash in all of those technical or high speed sorts of situations. But then also, to be able to scoot your butt off the back of the saddle, you need to often compromise your satellite a little bit. . And so that means that you're no longer setting up your bike for pure comfort, pure efficiency, pure performance. And so that three quarters of a pound, I'm 165, so I'm probably pushing, let's say, round up to 200 pounds with gear and so on. Three quarters of a pound is as a percentage, less than half a percent. So am I getting half a percent more efficient, on a climb because I'm in the right position? I think that that's pretty plausible. Never. The rest of the time. So that, that's my pitch for droppers. I know that not everyone is sold on them, but I, I think that it's, uh, it is the thing that makes a bike that is otherwise really good on flat and smooth train, something that you can get really rowdy with. [00:38:00] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, I mean, I like to get rowdy on, on gravel bikes very much. It's, it's kind of like my, my favorite thing to do is see how far I can take it, uh, to the end I will say, uh, you know, I've, I've come around, I mentioned this to you in email, but I've come around on six 50 bees finally. That took me a long time, uh, to get, but having that actual rubber does, does allow me to get, uh, a little bit more rowdy than, than on 700. [00:38:27] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. And I, I had shared some thinking about why that might have been, but I'm curious, what did you find different and hard to adjust to switching from 700 to six 50? [00:38:36] Anne-Marije Rook: Uh, I think initially it was like, oh, this feels slow, and, um, You know, given my background, I, I, I liked really quick and, and fast responses and lively rides, and it felt like it did the opposite. Like it became a bit more, more twitchy, which makes for a bit more engaging. Right? But it just felt a little slower. Um, and it just, the handling was different than what I was used to on 700 seats, which also had to do with the, the tire width that was running, you know, going from, uh, 700 by. F maybe 40 to, you know, six 50 to 47. That's a huge difference in terms of like your, your rolling surface that you have and, and how that feels around the corners. Um, but then it got real rainy and muddy and I was riding the, this, this rather, uh, you know, Rudy Mound, bikey terrain. And that's when I noticed the difference of like, oh yeah, this really allows me to stay planted a bit better and, and, uh, maneuver these roots. . Um, I also like it, it started off like, oh, I understand this form, like a technical point of view. And then for comfort, it is really darn comfortable to just like crank out the miles on on more rubber. And it just, yeah, it's cushy and uh, I can see now why, you know, randomers and such opt for that, that tire size. But it took me a while. I, I will say maybe I'm just old school, but um, I finally got around to it. [00:40:01] Randall R. Jacobs: I can definitely relate to , at least the sensation of it, potentially feeling a little bit slower rolling. And there's definitely circumstances and this is, , Casing dependent as well, where, you know it very well may be, but at the same time, remember the first time you gave up 20 threes and put on 20 fives or 20 eights or thirties and how different that felt. And it's like, I'm not getting all of that, that road. It just feels slow all of a sudden. But, , data said otherwise, but I mean, six 50 s have their place. There's a reason why a lot of racers in certain types of events run 700 by, I mean, in the case of Belgian waffle Ride in San Diego, I think people are running like 32 slicks, [00:40:44] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that makes sense, right? Like it's if when you have that much, uh, ground to cover and, uh, a fair bit of road in that as well, I believe, um, you would opt for that. But yeah, I've, I've come around. I'm a hundred percent a six 50 B believer. Now I do think you need two wheel sets. Um, for different, different occasions. But yeah, it was, it was a fun experiment for me. This, uh, this fall. [00:41:10] Randall R. Jacobs: When you say two wheel sets, you mean 2 6 50 wheel sets or, or one seven hundred and one six fifty. [00:41:15] Anne-Marije Rook: The latter. Yeah. 1 700, 1 6 50. Yeah. There's definitely days that, you know, if I know I'm gonna go long, I, I just feel like I'm. covering more ground then, then I'll do that on a, a 700. But yeah, for my, my most, like my lunch rides, that's up in, in, in the trails, that's definitely six 50 now. [00:41:34] Randall R. Jacobs: So what else have you found surprising or delightful in terms of products or insight into the sport or, experiences you've had of late. [00:41:43] Anne-Marije Rook: Uh, well, sticking with gravel, I think we're starting to see a, a really broad spectrum. of bikes that are either super capable, have suspension, you know, there's an increasing amount of bikes and suspension. And then on the other side, the ones that are, are really going for speed. , um, where you basically have a road bike, um, that's, that's slightly more capable, you know, so like if you wanna go with specialized, you've got the, the new s C r with the sus, the rear end suspension and front end suspension versus the crux, which is, uh, you know, a very capable cyros bike basically, and feathery light. And I think we're seeing more of that divide happening, which is pretty quick given that gravel as a category hasn't been around for all that long. Um, and it's, it. I think it's a very interesting development just to see what people are gonna go for and how much we're we're differentiating between gravel racing and gravel adventuring and bike packing. And like the difference now, like you can't just say gravel anymore. You have to specify whether you're talking about gravel racing or, or adventuring. Cuz those are two very different. Sides of the industry now, which is, it's interesting and it's really fun to watch. Um, and I, I think personally, I like the adventure side from a tech nerdiness a bit more because we know what a fast road bike look like and what it can do, but like, how capable can you make, um, a drop bar bike and how, like watching people bring back rigid mountain bikes and, and just like drawing on, on, uh, old technology and, and, and seeing things. Redshift and connect with their suspension posts that, you know, remind me of Soft Ride and like it is just from a tech point of view, it's, it's, it's an interesting development and really fun to watch. [00:43:27] Randall R. Jacobs: It's kind of like, um fashion in, in a way, like what's old is new. I mean, it's definitely radically better with, composites and wide and tubeless and disc brakes, in particular. But in a lot of ways we're riding the original mountain bikes again. [00:43:42] Anne-Marije Rook: We totally are, we're just writing, you know, those, those spring loaded , what were they? Canadas the ones with the, the head tube springs. [00:43:51] Randall R. Jacobs: Oh, the head shock. [00:43:52] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Yeah. , which I mean future shock is that, you know, connect and Redshift is basically a soft ride. It's just everything is, is new again. And it's really fun to watch. And I think what I geek out a lot more is just seeing what people are coming up with in their own shops and how people perhaps are learning for the first time to be a bit more hands-on and, and, uh, mechanical and. Exploring with their own setups. I mean, how many people don't know how to fix their own tire? Uh, and I think nowadays watching them experiment and building super machines, it's, it's just really fun. [00:44:27] Randall R. Jacobs: So given that we're kind of coming to the end of the., favorite products of 2022 and then in a general sense, products, racing. Otherwise. What are you most excited about in the new year? [00:44:39] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, so my favorite products, uh, some of 'em are things that I bought myself or own, like, uh, my Brompton was one I found on Craigslist, which is super random, but I. I wanted something to travel with, um, that's compact and wouldn't require me having an extra bag or anything like that. And, uh, my Bronson and I have been to the Tour de France fem together. We've been to the Netherlands, to London, to the Sac Cross World Championships. So that bike goes with me everywhere, which was a really fun, uh, crux purchase that I didn't need, but has given me a lot of joy. [00:45:13] Randall R. Jacobs: Are you doing a lot of long rides on that, or is it more getting around and being able to get that 20 miler in? [00:45:18] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Yeah. Getting around the, it's not , it's not very comfortable. Talk about like slow rolling, tiny. Like try, try 16 inch wheels, like no. Uh, but [00:45:28] Randall R. Jacobs: seen dispatches from people doing extended tours on a Bronson, which I've always found super impressive. [00:45:34] Anne-Marije Rook: I mean, good on them. I like, I, I, I applaud them. I, I don't, I don't enjoy that very much. Um, but it's been a great bike to travel with and, and it's just a really silly, really fun purchase. Um, I also got a ultra cleaner for the first. Which is great for, uh, you know, the position northwest is really wet, really muddy. Um, our, our gear gets just absolutely destroyed and so keeping it clean, uh, extends the, the lifetime of, of your components. And uh, that's really been a fun way to, um, get like that super shiny clean drive train. [00:46:14] Randall R. Jacobs: mm-hmm. [00:46:15] Anne-Marije Rook: Uh, and that was just a birthday present, so it's not something that was sent to me to review. Um, and then the best shoes I had were to live, uh, much shoes. Um, they are bright purple. Uh, they look great. Everyone is always asking me about 'em, and I keep asking them to make 'em into a gravel shoe because I don't spend enough time on my road back anymore to wear them. Um, go ahead. [00:46:42] Randall R. Jacobs: Do you love them for their styling or some other [00:46:44] Anne-Marije Rook: No, they're, they're, they're a pure race shoe, like you're locked in. They're some of the stiffest shoes I've ever worn, but they also are an absolute head turner. [00:46:52] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. [00:46:53] Anne-Marije Rook: so it's a two for one package. Um, and, and the gravel side of things, uh, the SW RS tires were super impressive. Um, they're so fast and, uh, I've yet to flat them, which is pretty incredible given a, my, my history and B uh, just how much I've written. [00:47:11] Randall R. Jacobs: What size are you running them in? [00:47:13] Anne-Marije Rook: I have, uh, 40 twos, I think is when I was running last, and I, I mean, I took 'em with me traveling. Like I, I did the, uh, Finland gravel and I did not know what I was getting myself into. And, and so getting a file, like bringing a file thread, Racy Tire is a bit of a risk. Um, but they did really well and, uh, they're probably the best tires I've had in no while. And I'd say in general, the market, it has gotten so much better. Like the, it's so easy to set up two plus tires now, whereas like even two years ago I, it was quite struggle sometimes getting those seated in your, in your garage. Yeah. [00:47:52] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah, absolutely. Though I, I will say, um, and this is a hobby horse I often jump on, um, you know, road, road, tubeless hook, less road tubeless scares me, [00:48:04] Anne-Marije Rook: I tried to, I, I got a few to review this year and I, I tried to see if I could make them explode, but I think I reached my, like, comfort level far before, or the end of my comfort level far before the tires did. So there's that. [00:48:18] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and then going into 2023 and this doesn't have to be gear, it can be events, it can be, personal adventures. What are you excited about coming into the new year? [00:48:29] Anne-Marije Rook: Uh, yeah, I'm gonna go even more into gravel and attending some more gravel events. So I'm very excited to return to Unbound and to do s p d Gravel. There's talk about, uh, me and a colleague of mine setting an F K T. So there's some really fun challenges and, um, since stepping away from racing and, uh, you know, getting married, buying a house, I've definitely spent less time on. On the bike as I would like. So getting something to train for, for me personally, is, is uh, it's kind of exciting to get back to it. [00:49:01] Randall R. Jacobs: By the way, congratulations on those milestones. [00:49:04] Anne-Marije Rook: thanks. It was an exciting two years of the pandemic. Yeah. [00:49:07] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. Um, well, alright, um, so where can people find you on Twitter? Uh, you're at cycling weekly. How do, how do people get ahold of you or see what you're, what you're writing about? [00:49:18] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, definitely on second weekly.com and then on social media Am Rook is my handle across every platform, including the ones that are popping up now that Twitter is taking a t. [00:49:29] Randall R. Jacobs: All right. Well, Anne-Marie, it's a pleasure to finally sit down and properly chat and very much looking forward to seeing you at Sea Otter and other industry events now that that's a thing again, and we can be out in the wild seeing each other. [00:49:41] Anne-Marije Rook: That's right. [00:49:42] Randall R. Jacobs: All right. [00:49:43] Anne-Marije Rook: for having me. [00:49:44] Craig Dalton: That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Big, thanks to Anne Mariah. For having that conversation with Randall, I hope you guys learned a lot and I hope you do follow her on Twitter and follow her work as north American editor at cycling weekly. Huge. Thanks to our friends at athletic greens. Remember head on over to athletic greens.com/the gravel ride to check out ag one. One today. If you're interested in connecting with me or Randall, I encourage you to join the ridership. That's www.theridership.com. If you're able to support the podcast, you can visit buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. Or ratings and reviews are hugely important. In us connecting with other gravel athletes from around the world. Until next time. I hope you're well. And here's to finding some dirt under your wheels.    

Imagine if you were a dominant recruiter in your industry with a portfolio of clients who come to you for all their hiring needs.  That doesn't happen overnight and requires persistence. As you'll hear in my interview with Brooke Ziolo, it's certainly achievable with the right mindset and methodology. Brooke is the President of Egret Consulting, and has been an Executive Recruiter for 14 years. She and her team have become the Go-To recruiters for the lighting industry covering positions in sales, marketing, engineering, and operations from mid-level to C-Suite.   In this episode, she shares how they became the market leading recruiters within the lighting industry.  She describes in detail how they reach out to clients and candidates with a blend of manual and automated processes plus an attitude of polite and professional persistence.  Brooke's history of how and when she started her recruiting career is a resounding story of resilience, leading to her becoming a Partner of Egret in 2013, the Managing Director in 2016, and purchasing the firm in 2019. She was inducted into the Pinnacle Society, the premier consortium of industry-leading recruiters in North America, in 2016. Episode Outline and Highlights [01:56] Brooke's challenging first year in recruiting. [06:05] Brooke's mindset and method for building her desk during a recession.  [11:11] What has changed in Egret's approach to marketing over the past 14 years?  [20:20] Would you consider reaching out via cold text? Discussion on combining videos and text when reaching out. [25:04] Brooke's recipe for success - from being a recruiter, a partner, and the decision of becoming a recruitment firm owner.  [39:38] Brooke's vision on taking the Egret company forward. [41:42] Retaining employee engagement while shifting to a fully remote setup. Starting Her Recruitment Career During the 2008 Recession Brooke started her recruitment career in 2008, during the Great Recession. As you can imagine, it was extremely challenging. She only made 2 placements that whole year! But Brooke's mindset and strategy during that turbulent time lead to her being successful when people started hiring again.  Reminiscing her early days, Brook explained, “The only thing I control is how many calls I make. So if I keep making more calls than everybody in the office… that is all I can do right now. I kept just pounding the phones until somebody told me no or I am sick of you.” For Brooke, it is all about her polite persistence. She understood the balance of not harassing anyone but staying within professional boundaries to put her name out there even if she was not making many placements. The result? People remembered her! Making all those phone calls enabled her to build her network of industry connections so people thought of her when they started hiring again. Blended Approach to Marketing and Business Development Cold calling and polite persistence laid the foundation for Brooke to become a top-producing recruiter and billing manager. But how has her approach to business development and marketing evolved over the last 14 years? Here are some of the strategies she shared in this episode: MPC Marketing Monthly Newsletter LinkedIn outreach Advertising in the trade publication for her industry Text messaging We also shared tips and ways on cold text messaging. Many recruiters are afraid of sending unsolicited text messages and are concerned about receiving a negative reaction from the recipient. On the other hand, texting is a very effective way to communicate and typically gets a much faster response compared to other platforms such as email. Brooke shared how she does it and how much response she gets in doing so. Brooke's Success Mindset In 2019, Brooke purchased the firm from her father who was the founder of Egrit Consulting. Acquiring the business wasn't something she had initially set out to accomplish. But after falling in love with recruitment and becoming a top recruiter in the firm, she started being able to imagine the possibility of taking over the business.   I asked Brooke's recipe for success. In addition to her persistence and also being niche-focused, she shared three keys: : Positive self-talk and affirmation Taking her time and putting one foot in front of the other Learning from past experience I have always aimed to understand recruitment owners' formulas for success. And Brooke certainly delivered in this episode. Our Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur. i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you'll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained   Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world's leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you've dreamed of starting, scaling and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including: funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, backoffice support, marketing and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc Brooke Ziolo Bio and Contact Info  Brooke Ziolo has been an Executive Recruiter with Egret Consulting for 14 years. Brooke works exclusively in the lighting industry with manufacturers, rep agencies, ESCOs, and design firms. She works in positions in sales, marketing, engineering, and operations from mid-level to C-Suite. She was inducted into the Pinnacle Society, the premier consortium of industry-leading recruiters in North America, in 2016. Brooke became a Partner of Egret in 2013, the Managing Director in 2016, and purchased the firm in 2019. Brooke on LinkedIn Egret Consulting website link  Pinnacle Society website link People and Resources Mentioned Rob Bowerman on Linkedin Michael Pietrack on LinkedIn Ring Central Refract Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Related Podcast You Might Enjoy TRR#32 How to Build a 7-Figure Search Firm with a Small Virtual Team, with Rob Bowerman TRR#106 How to Bill £12,800,000 in 14 Years, with Michael Pietrack   Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter  

Veregy is a newish energy services company (ESCO) with a much longer history. The company started in 2019 after six regional ESCOs merged to offer energy optimization and performance contracting to commercial clients nationwide. One of those companies was a commercial solar installer out of Arizona, and the new Veregy now focuses on a holistic energy package for customers — with energy efficiency, solar, smart building integration, maintenance services and more. In this episode of the Contractor's Corner podcast, John Mitman, VP of distributed energy resources for Veregy, describes the joining of knowledge and expertise as a way to better execute on customer goals. Now when K-12 school districts and healthcare institutions want to save money on their utility bills, the Veregy team can create a long-term strategy with multiple phases of energy conservation measures that may include solar arrays. Read the story: https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2021/06/contractors-corner-veregy/

Today we hear from Alexander Ablaza, the man behind many energy efficiency initiatives across Asia, for more than two decades in development agencies and the private sector. His new passion how to scale up markets through ESCOs and help countries meet their Paris Commitment In this episode, Alex shared his journey on the energy efficiency sector and building non-profit organizations like the Asia Pacific ESCO Industry Alliance- with 10 countries as its member including China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Moreover, he explained what ESCO is and how they are helping the energy sector. We also talked about the energy efficiency law in the Philippines, how it may finally jump-start an entirely new revolution. Connect with Sohail Hasnie: Facebook @sohailhasnie Twitter @shasnie LinkedIn @shasnie ADB Blog Sohail Hasnie

Charlie Zitnik with D.A. Davidson & Co. – a known firm and a known face in ESCO circles for many years.  Charlie sits on the Board of NAESCO as well as the Board of the Energy Savings Coalition.  Charlie and his team work with most of the national and regional ESCOs to provide cutting edge financial solutions for their project financing. ABOUT ME AND D.A. DAVIDSON & CO.I focus on energy performance contract financing and essential purpose infrastructure financing on a national basis. I have been licensed in the securities industry since 1982.I am focused on energy savings performance contract financing and essential purpose infrastructure financing on a national basis. I have extensive experience structuring financing with revenue streams including property tax, sales tax, development fees, property/sales tax increment, public improvement fees, energy consumption savings, and various combinations of these revenue streams.  My expertise is often called upon early in the life cycle of projects to assist clients in long-range public finance planning.The Fixed Income Capital Markets Group of D.A. Davidson is a national leader in raising capital through fixed income banking and distribution. We specialize in a number of practices in which we have significant expertise. D.A. Davidson has long embraced the transformative power of working to build a more just and sustainable world. At D.A. Davidson, our associates’ ideas form the foundation of a corporate giving and gifting strategy that touches communities across the United States.Our services for both our clients and candidates can be found below     ✔️For Employers: https://www.nenniandassoc.com/for-employers/ ✔️For Candidates: https://www.nenniandassoc.com/career-opportunities/ ✔️Consulting: https://www.nenniandassoc.com/consulting-services/ ✔️Executive Search: https://www.nenniandassoc.com/executive-search/ Nenni and Associates on Social Media: ► Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nenni-and-associates/ ► Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nenniandassoc/ ► Email Listing: https://www.nenniandassoc.com/join-email-list/ ► Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nenniandassoc ► Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/NenniAssociates  

Sure, there are solar farms but have you encountered a solar city? That's just what you will find in Phoenix. They are building parking lot carports that not only provide coveted shade for citizens but lay a foundation for a sort of inner-city solar farm. Additionally, they are utilizing many city-owned properties to harness clean energy to light up Sun Valley. It's a great pleasure to have guest Nick Brown, energy manager for the City of Phoenix, on Smart Energy Voices. In this episode, you'll gain insights on the great strides made in buying clean energy and the strategies behind those purchases. Nick sat down with Smart Energy Decisions director of education programs Peter Kelly-Detweiler at the most recent Renewable Energy Sourcing Forum. You'll appreciate and relate to Nick's perspective on why his work in the energy sector is so important and meaningful.  You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... Why Nick finds this to be one of the most fulfilling roles of his career [2:24] Why the carbon budget is imperative [5:11] Performance contracting using a qualified vendors list [7:59] Values beyond energy conservation [10:04] How big are the projects and how many are installed [12:43] Bigger utility-scale approaches when offsetting large amounts of energy [14:57] Advice for cities looking at decarbonization efforts like solar projects [17:14]   The dire circumstance we find ourselves in  The carbon budget is a much more dramatic issue than most people recognize, especially the general public. Whether you look at earth system models or integrated assessment models, the picture shows we only have 5 to 10 years of carbon budget remaining to stay within 1½° centigrade of global warming over preindustrial times. That's dramatic. We've already burned half of what we might have because we didn't have a cost on carbon 10 years back.  Over the last few months, we have reduced carbon emissions globally by about 6-8%. That sounds good, but we should recognize that we have not learned to be successful economically with that kind of reduction. Putting that in perspective, we will have to achieve that kind of reduction every year for the next decade to meet the target of 1½° or less of global warming. The reason for that target is that all of the natural catastrophes that have occurred over the past decade from 2010 to 2020 have cost three times more globally than the same kinds of catastrophes from 2000 to 2010. This is what's already happened just with the carbon that's in the air. It's a fairly dire circumstance we find ourselves in. Street solar and more efficient operations The City of Phoenix owns many properties across the Valley of the Sun such as water services, public works, parks, housing, neighborhood services, meeting facilities, the convention center, and, of course, the city's airport, Sky Harbor. All of those facilities stand to benefit from reduced energy consumption. The city council has approved a $30 million investment in energy efficiency, which needs to precede renewable energy so the city can reduce its load first before moving to solar. That $30 million investment goes into performance contracting, which is moving aggressively with about $10 million currently under contract with ESCOs (energy services companies) as a precursor to the renewable energy program.  They also created a qualified vendors list (QVL) in 2018, which allows the city to potentially work with five approved companies during 2018- 2022. This eliminates requests for proposals each time a new project is developed. That's been a real benefit to streamline the work and it keeps a lot of admin processes out of the way. Contract development is always extremely lengthy and complex so it's a good thing to have contractors that are pre-qualified. It puts them on a fast track to accomplish projects faster and more efficiently.  Key points from a unique vantage point Being on the board of the Salt River Project offers a unique vantage point in terms of understanding the logic of how things get done. Cities looking at decarbonization efforts such as solar projects— that don't have the advantage of being on a board— should consider a couple of key points. One is understanding, participating, and being conversant with integrated resource planning (IRP). IRP processes are common to almost every utility to decide what a likely mix of different power supplies will be for the next 5-10 years. It determines which power stations are likely to carry the baseload and the peak load.  After an IRP process, it's determined how each utility moves forward to provide power in their service area over the next few years. For those that want more renewable energy development for corporations or municipalities, there must be an understanding of how to integrate to have mutual success between developers and buyers. So it's not something that can be figured out with a few meetings. Boards, executives, managers, and technologists will have to develop a keen capacity for integrating a resource planning process into their plans in ways that 10 or 15 years ago seemed not to be necessary at all. Resources & People Mentioned City of Phoenix's Sustainability Goals Connect with Nick Brown On Linkedin Nick Brown, City Energy Manager, City of Phoenix Nick Brown installed his first solar PV systems in 1980 and has worked on renewable energy, biodiversity conservation, climate action plans, and GHG inventories, as a field ecologist, university instructor, program manager, and lobbyist. He is dedicated to developing solutions to the climate crisis, to maintain the quality of life for our kids and theirs. His work at the City of Phoenix focuses on project development for utility-scale solar, EV charging, microgrids, energy efficiency, and urban community resilience. Nick sits on governance, facilities, community services, and power committees. He also works to expand the adoption of rooftop solar, reduce the company's GHG emissions, and improve its transparency and public reporting. Connect With Smart Energy Decisions https://smartenergydecisions.com Follow them on Facebook Follow them on Twitter Follow them on LinkedIn Subscribe to Smart Energy Voices If you're interested in participating in the next edition of the SED Renewable Energy Sourcing Forum taking place on December 7-11, visit smartenergydecisions.com or email our Event Operations Director, Lisa Carroll at lisa@smartenergydecisions.com" Audio Production and Show notes by PODCAST FAST TRACK https://www.podcastfasttrack.com

Innovations in nephrology are taking place as the importance of kidney health is emphasized globally. Listen to this podcast, to hear how kidney care is transforming around the world, with insights from clinicians who share a passion for innovation: Jeffrey Giullian, MD, chief medical officer for DaVita Kidney Care; Janet Cowperthwaite, director of clinical operations for DaVita International; Sam Kant, MD, nephrology fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital; Szymon Brzosko, MD, chief medical officer for DaVita Poland; Mandy Hale, vice president of nursing for DaVita; Francesca Tentori, MD, vice president of outcomes research and patient empowerment for DaVita, Wisam Al Badr, MD, chief medical officer for DaVita Saudi Arabia; and David Roer, MD, vice president of medical affairs for DaVita Integrated Kidney Care. Listen and read more DaVita Medical Insights here. Podcast Transcript: Ryan Weir: 00:32 Hello, everyone. This is Ryan Weir with the DaVita Medical Insights Podcast. The importance of kidney health is emphasized globally. I've recently caught up both in person and over the phone with nephrology clinicians from around the world to gather an international perspective on kidney care transformation, innovations they're looking forward to seeing within the next decade and more. Ryan Weir: 00:52 In this podcast, we'll hear from clinicians in Poland, Saudi Arabia, England and the United States. We asked Dr. Jeff Giullian, chief medical officer for DaVita Kidney Care; Janet Cowperthwaite, director of clinical operations for DaVita International; and Dr. Sam Kant, nephrology fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital, what they believe is the next big thing that will improve kidney care in their country. Let's hear what they had to say. Dr. Jeff Giullian: 01:23 We are living through a time of great innovation expansion within kidney care today. I see really a few key innovations coming down the pike that will, I believe, likely change the way that we deliver care in the U.S. and really perhaps across the entire globe. So the first is, within chronic kidney disease, we are seeing innovation in artificial intelligence and predictive analytics, which will help caregivers segment patients based on their risk for renal progression. Dr. Jeff Giullian: 01:52 Second big area is, for patients with end-stage kidney disease, we're seeing innovation that enhances their ability to choose a dialysis modality that best meets their personal needs. This includes items such as home-remote monitoring to all the way to new devices for home dialysis. Then the third thing is that there are mechanisms now to increase the number of kidney transplants. This category really includes everything from paired and chain donations, but also new types of organs and implantable devices that are really a little bit more distant into the future, but they are exciting nonetheless. Ryan Weir: 02:28 Janet Cowperthwaite Janet Cowperthwaite: 02:30 From my perspective, I think it's about patients' engagements and activation. Engagements in their treatment and choices, but also how we run and provide the services, and in other aspects involving them in things like in safety and quality forums within the clinic. Ryan Weir: 02:49 Dr. Kant Dr. Sam Kant: 02:51 I think one of the biggest things is that we so far only relied on one or two blood tests when it comes to diagnosing kidney disease and managing things. I think the emergence of biomarkers, especially, whether they're serum or a urine, any biomarkers, it will probably help us elucidate what kind of acute kidney injury someone has or what kind of disease you know is afflicting the kidneys. I think that would be something that you would see increasing utilization all throughout. Definitely I think has a lot of scope going forward. Ryan Weir: 03:26 Dr. Szymon Brzosko, chief medical officer for DaVita Poland and Mandy Hale, vice president of nursing for DaVita based in the U.S., told us about the one thing that could help improve health care in their respective countries and worldwide. Dr. Szymon Brzosko: 03:41 In Poland, I really would like to see more home renal replacement therapy options being available for patients. Especially I'm thinking about more peritoneal dialysis, it is a valuable one. We have many kinds of treatment options available in my country, but in parallel existing regulations and organizational issues with qualifying patients for being active on the waiting list a problem for potential donor or even social acceptance of these methods is still too low and this is the area where I would like to see you know, improvements and by that probably allowing patients to live better with the disease. Ryan Weir: 04:38 Mandy Hale Mandy Hale: 04:40 I'm going to answer the question as one thing that can improve health care in my community, my country, my world with two answers and that is awareness and preventative care. I think it is so important that, we, as nephrology clinicians, continue to put emphasis on the importance of creating awareness for individuals when it comes to chronic kidney disease, which is so many times and referred to as a silent disease. We must help people understand the risk factors and what type of tests and intervention can help when we refer to CKD and we must provide access to that type of care. I see a whole lot of focus on thinking creatively through helping patients access care or helping individuals understand the risk factor. For me that is just the largest hope I have that we can help read through the presence of chronic kidney disease. Ryan Weir: 05:41 We wanted to hear about the one innovation in kidney care these clinicians believe would create a better future for people with kidney disease. So we asked Dr. Francesca Tentori, vice president of outcomes research and patient empowerment for DaVita, Dr. Wisam Al Badr, chief medical officer for DaVita Saudi Arabia, Dr. Giullian and Dr. Kant for their perspectives. Dr. Francesca Tentori: 06:03 I'll be honest that this is the first time in my life as a nephrologist that I have seen something I'm super excited about. At the last ASN, for example, there were several new dialysis machines and just in general, technology platforms that I thought were really “cool and exciting” and I really envision them to come to fruition sometime in the near future and I think those are good to make a huge difference for our patients. Ryan Weir: 06:39 Dr. Al Badr Dr. Wisam Al Badr: 06:41 One of the most important innovations that we are looking at in the nephrology community today that would bring in the best results for our kidney population is a better screening measure for early detection of kidney failure. Currently, we rely on a blood test including the creatinine and the estimated GFR, but it presents the disease quite late. Finding this measure that presents an early detection of kidney disease would be the best innovation available. Ryan Weir: 07:25 Dr. Giullian Dr. Jeff Giullian: 07:27 I don't believe that there's one single innovation that's the silver bullet at least until we have the ability to provide true regenerative medicine. Rather, I think it's a combination of innovations that will help us slow the progression of kidney disease and then provide many more options for replacing renal function in the event that we can't halt progression of CKD. Ryan Weir: 07:48 Dr. Kant Dr. Sam Kant: 07:50 That's a very interesting question. I think one of the biggest things as a doctor looking after patients who have already undergone transplants, I always feel immunosuppression is necessary, but there's also associated with a lot of side effects and is expensive. There's a big push from centers all over the world to come up with ways by which we can avoid immune suppression all together. They're talking about various STEM cell infusions or modified immune cells infusions, to be more exact. That might help and look very promising in evading immunosuppression all together once patients are transplanted. I think that's of the things I'm really looking forward to. I really hope it works out and it’s certainly I've been going on and on about it, I think it would be a complete game changer. Ryan Weir: 08:42 Dr. David Roer, vice president of medical affairs for DaVita Integrated Kidney Care, Dr. Giullian and Dr. Brzosko provided their thoughts on what the kidney care community is doing well and could impact the rest of health care. Dr. David Roer: 08:55 I think the one thing that the renal care community can do and help as an example for the broader health care community is using robust analytics to organize and develop highly effective and efficient care delivery systems through integrated kidney care team. The kidney care community has been at the forefront of collecting important clinical demographic and financial metrics. Using this information to efficiently and effectively care for patients with chronic kidney disease will be essential in driving towards the goal of reducing chronic kidney disease and slowing the progression of chronic kidney disease. Ryan Weir: 09:43 Dr. Giullian Dr. Jeff Giullian: 09:45 The kidney community in the United States is working to break down silos and reduce fragmentation and care. Now, we're still very far away from achieving that goal. However, as we do improve care coordination and data sharing, I believe this will have a major positive impact on the care that we provide to our patients and will serve as a model for the rest of health care. Really, along these same lines, nephrologists and kidney care providers like DaVita are leading the country in integrative care and value based reimbursement from the ESCOs which were the ESRD or ESKD seamless care organizations to CSNPs, chronic special needs plans to other integrated care arrangements. Kidney care is ahead of the rest of health care in the movement away from volume-based payments and towards value-based payments and I'm very proud of the role that DaVita and our nephrology colleagues have played in this arena. Ryan Weir: 10:37 Dr. Brzosko Dr. Szymon Brzosko: 10:39 First of all, I'm really impressed how the nephrology community was able to take it on and successfully took advantage of the power of social media and other internet platforms for education and nephrology education, sharing knowledge and connecting the kidney community across the world. And by saying this, I mean including students, doctors, medics, scientists and organizing many activities to join like journal clubs, like NephJC to mention, which I really enjoy very much, Neph Madness by American Journal of Kidney Disease, a nephrologist podcast where our community's very active, e-learning activities like NTDS by ASN and smart use of social media like Twitter. It allows people to create a personal and professional social media network. When you start, you actually choose who you follow, it can be really enriching your expert knowledge and experience whatever professional career step you are in and actually many smart people are actually there. Dr. Szymon Brzosko: 11:54 Having my Twitter as an example, these people are willing to discuss, share and talk. Including DaVita teammates, like probably well known for all of us, Dr. Provenzano, Dr. Mahesh Krishnan or CMO for DaVita International, Dr. Partha Das. They are all present there. Oh yes, and to mention our current CMO for DaVita Kidney Care, Dr. Jeff Giullian, is also there. So indeed sometimes it is the field where you can interact with people you tried to contact during, for example, a conference but fail as they are busy or you are too, too far in the line. That's an approach that for sure, I would say, makes nephrology great again. Dr. Szymon Brzosko: 12:39 But probably even more impactful to patients, I would like to mention how the kidney community is supporting educating patients and the patient empowerment idea, and nice examples of that is taking into consideration patient oriented outcomes as an endpoint in nephrology to try it out. This is so much an essential part of the change I see and feel is getting real value in the care we deliver to patients. It’s called patient-centered care, where after explaining the problems, current options, order for treatment, then patient goals, values and patterns to the very center stage. Ryan Weir: 13:30 How do we see the nephrology community changing in the next year? What about within the next decade? Mandy Hale, Dr. Tentori, Dr. Roer and Dr. Kant provided their thoughts. Mandy Hale: 13:41 I'm really excited about the transformation of nephrology care that I think we can expect over the next year and of course well into the next decade. There's so much focus and energy right now around, I would say, three things that I think are going to look a lot different. The first one is preventative care and the focus on really preventing and delaying chronic kidney disease, so I'm so excited for individuals who may have access to care who didn't before or access to different types of care to really look at preventing the need for further intervention as kidney failure progresses. That's one exciting thing. Mandy Hale: 14:27 Secondly, I'm very excited about the focus, the intentional focus, around increasing the presence of home dialysis, home therapies, both peritoneal dialysis and home hemodialysis can be life changing for patients, both through improving their outcomes and their quality of life and the way they feel, but also will really dramatically change the way that nephrology care is delivered. Mandy Hale: 14:56 Then thirdly, I'm also excited about the focus on transplants. I really look forward to further changes, particularly here in the United States that will help make transplant easier; easier for patients to obtain, easier for donors to donate and the increased coordination that will resolve with dialysis and kidney care providers and transplant facilities. Ryan Weir: 15:22 Dr. Tentori Dr. Francesca Tentori: 15:24 I didn't know that it's necessarily changing, but I think there's going to be more and more emphasis of the need to integrate a kidney care across the continuum of the kidney disease spectrum. So, from CKD into dialysis to transplantation towards end of life, integrating all of the stats. That means better communication across clinicians and providers. That's something that is really gaining traction and people are interested in. Ryan Weir: 15:58 Dr. Roer Dr. David Roer: 16:00 Let me start with the second question. I believe, as a nephrologist and part of the renal care community, we would all agree that improving the care of patients with chronic kidney disease to reduce the number of individuals suffering from chronic kidney disease and focusing on a cure rather than on renal replacement therapy is the ultimate goal. This is an exciting time in nephrology that this goal may be achieved within the next decade. The prevalence of chronic kidney disease in the United States is approximately 15% and two thirds of those suffering from chronic kidney disease and end stage kidney disease has concurrent comorbidities of diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. There are accelerating advances in innovation in the treatment of patients with chronic kidney disease. Recent research has shown evidence that new pharmacologic treatments for diabetes can slow or stop the progression of chronic kidney disease and reduce the cardiovascular risk, mortality and need for dialysis. Dr. David Roer: 17:10 The advancing understanding of the pathophysiology of chronic kidney disease and precision personalized medicine will hopefully change the natural history of chronic kidney disease. The first part of your question, “how do I see nephrology care community changing in the next year?” With the end in mind to reduce or eliminate chronic kidney disease we are organizing the renal care community to achieve this goal. To begin, a focus on new efforts for early detection and treatment of patients with chronic kidney disease through patient education, clinician and caregiver education through building an integrated care delivery infrastructure. Dr. David Roer: 17:58 Furthermore, treating the most common causes of chronic kidney disease including new proven diabetic therapy. Improving education for the broader medical community and patients is an important part of the strategy for early detection and intervention to prevent end stage kidney disease. This strategy will be facilitated by moving from a fee-for-service payment model, to a population value-based payment model. At DaVita, we have been providing integrated kidney care for patients with end stage kidney disease for approximately 20 years and for patients with chronic kidney disease for about 10 years. Through integrated kidney care, it's significant reduction in total cost of care while improving quality of care. Ryan Weir: 18:54 Dr. Kant Dr. Sam Kant: 18:56 In the last year there's been a lot of research that's been happening, especially in nephrology. If you name it, pretty much the SGLT2 inhibitors, the mentor trial, or back to that, you can see that the demand in a research and in nephrology is actually picked up quite a bit. I think that will really spur more studies and of course looking for further answers. I think just the application of what we found with the trials in the last year will really help patients and above all the community. I think that would be something that I would say at least over the next year for sure. I think, more importantly, with more changes that are being implemented in the U.S. for the next decade, I think long term, some good steps have been taken. The encouragement of home therapies is something which is a great step and above all to improve access to transplantation. That will be a game changer. With the way things are going in the communities embracing these changes, the next decade it's going to be extremely exciting. Ryan Weir: 19:59 Our final question for clinicians went to Dr. Roer, Dr. Al Badr, Janet Cowperthwaite and Mandy Hale. We asked each of them to share general tips for their fellow nephrology clinicians. Dr. David Roer: 20:10 I think what's important is to develop partnerships that will enable your practices to expand capabilities to impact the care of patients with chronic kidney disease such as the use of predictive analytics, robust chronic kidney disease, patient education and collaboration with the broader local care community for early detection and intervention with patients with chronic kidney disease. Ryan Weir: 20:39 Dr. Al Badr Dr. Wisam Al Badr: 20:41 The best tips that I would recommend for nephrologists within the Saudi community and the GCC countries would be to develop screening programs for the high risk population. Number two, initiate early vascular access planning for patients who reach a level four and five very close to dialysis to prevent the crashing patients to come into the ER. The third tip that I would really highly recommend is to create an integrated health care system where the patient is involved and is part of the planning and the management of his own personal care. That would bring in that level of buy in that we all recommend for the patient, his family and the treating team. Ryan Weir: 21:48 Janet Cowperthwaite Janet Cowperthwaite: 21:50 So I was lucky last week to have a chance to meet with a small group of patients in the non-clinical care setting and it really opened my eyes to some things. How thoughtful are we? How can we improve how our care team interacts with our patients? After listening to these patients, I've made efforts to better understand and then improve the patients’ journey. Ryan Weir: 22:22 Mandy Hale Mandy Hale: 22:24 I'm going to provide two general tips that I have for other nephrology clinicians. These are very consistent with what I share to nurses that I interact with every day. The first is I can't encourage enough for clinicians in nephrology to be well-rounded in nephrology. I always encourage nurses and other caregivers to really expand beyond the four walls and what's the work in. Don't only know in-center hemodialysis or don't only know the provision of peritoneal dialysis. Challenge yourself to understand in a more global fashion, what all aspects of nephrology care look like, including to take the different dialysis therapies, transplants, the whole general care that can exist for patients. Mandy Hale: 23:20 The second tip that I would offer, is continue your education. I can't encourage clinicians enough to advance their professional practice. This could be of course, obtaining additional clinical education units that are required for licensure or certification, but also stretch yourself further. Obtain a certification in nephrology nursing, for instance which suggests that you are a subject matter expert. It's third party validation that you're an expert for in the field. Obtain additional certifications beyond that or take other classes, attend a conference, whatever that looks like. Advancing professional practice is so important, particularly as nephrology care continues to change. Ryan Weir: 24:05 We want to thank all of the nephrology clinicians who provided their perspectives on kidney care transformation in this DaVita medical insights podcast episode. We hope this gave a closer look at the innovations taking place worldwide. Listeners, thank you so much for tuning in and be sure to check out other DaVita medical insights episodes for more kidney care educational podcasts. You can also find additional kidney care, thought leadership and industry news by following @DaVitaDoc on Twitter. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time on the DaVita Medical Insights podcast.

Your energy bill is made up of several charges, including the cost of transmission and distribution of the energy. But only the energy portion of the bill is competitively priced. The wires and pipes that bring electricity and natural gas to your home, business or factory are still owned by the traditional utility company, and the transmission and distribution charges are still set by regulators. But the energy is competitively priced and provided by suppliers, called ESCOs, competing for the customer’s business, which helps lower electricity rates. The utility will provide one consolidated bill, which helps keep shopping for energy uncomplicated. The bottom line is in certain states, a part of your utility bill is competitively priced, if you opt-in. This market, called the retail energy market, is the subject of today's episode of Raising Your Antenna. Joining us to demystify the retail energy markets and address the challenges and opportunities in today’s retail energy market are Jack Doueck and Larry Leiken, co-founders of the Energy Marketing Conferences. EMC is the largest gathering of retail energy executives in North America and it takes place twice a year: Houston, Texas in the Spring and New York City in the Fall. This year's conference in NYC will be September 12 at the Midtown Hilton Hotel.

Join Brad and Tom as they discuss leg hair, why you should (probably) avoid ESCOs, how many of us are regretting our life choices, the asteroid that recently passed alarmingly close to earth, cosmic crisp apples and, most importantly, if they're any closer to being friends. Relevant links below. Email: bradandtomarefriends@gmail.com Twitter: @bradandtompod   Phish - Anatomy of a Jam - 11.22.1997 - Halley's Comet - Hampton Coliseum Williamsburg bakery famed for rainbow bagels seized by state over nearly $900k in unpaid taxes It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia | Season 13 Ep. 10: Mac’s Dance Scene Why Is Albany Letting These Energy Companies Scam Thousands of New Yorkers? Scientists almost didn't detect approach of 'city-killer asteroid'

SparkFund powers organizations by providing access to the latest energy technology in a new and better way - through a simple monthly subscription model backed by a no-risk guarantee. The company partners with contractors, ESCOs, manufacturers, utilities, and energy retailers to deliver the Sparkfund technology subscription transforming how businesses implement energy technology. SparkFund also seeks to create positive change for the world by deploying solutions that make good business sense and are good for the planet. An energy technology subscription company focused on procuring, managing and optimizing energy technology for commercial spaces sounds incredibly intriguing, doesn’t it? It was fascinating to hear how SparkFund believes upgrades shouldn’t be complicated or require spending lots of money upfront. And that is why their goal is to change the way energy technology is accessed. After hearing how they were helping organizations by providing access to the latest energy technology in a new and better way—through a simple monthly subscription model, I felt compelled to learn more. On today' daily tech podcast, I speak with Pier LaFarge Co-Founder and CEO of SparkFund. Pier is an experienced entrepreneur and changemaker. At ICF International, he co-founded a new ICF service offering focused on energy efficiency finance strategy. Pier also has experience in financial analysis, working on a major evaluation of loan financing modalities employed by the World Bank under its Climate Investment Fund program.  

En este episodio les contamos que son las ESCOs y como están liderando los procesos de eficiencia energética en Colombia, innovando en modelos de negocios. Como invitado Camilo Montoya de la empresa Azimut que nos habla de las oportunidades de ahorro energético y cómo los empresarios pueden impulsar la eficiencia energética en sus negocios sin hacer grandes inversiones iniciales.

En este episodio hablamos de la relación entre la energía que usamos y la que podríamos generar. Te contamos cómo ENEL, una de las mayores ESCOs del mundo, podría cambiar el negocio de las empresas de servicios. Invitado, Jaime Arenas, Director del Clúster de Energía Sostenible de Medellín, quien nos habla de la apuesta de ciudad por temas de energía.

No one denies the immense potential of geothermal. Despite that potential, the industry has grown incrementally over the years and failed to attract strong investment flow, particularly in the U.S. So what's keeping growth so low? In this week's podcast, the Energy Gang will look at the industry's two main problems: drilling risk and messaging. Both are holding back growth. We'll also look at the challenges for another "forgotten renewable" -- solar thermal. And finally, we'll ask how ESCOs can continue expanding energy performance contracts for efficiency. The Energy Gang is produced by Greentechmedia.com. The show features weekly discussion between energy futurist Jigar Shah, energy policy expert Katherine Hamilton and Greentech Editor Stephen Lacey.

Lisa Cohn of Energy Efficiency Markets interviews Jack Parchesky, application specialist for Onset Computer. He talks about the growth in the EE market, what’s driving it, and how the growth affects the need to accurately measure energy savings.

Comme promis, voici le JT sur Auterrive. Nous avions rendez-vous avec nos correspondants d’Escos. Ensemble, nous avons participé à un rallye photo. Nous cherchions les maisons landaises du village.

We speak with Richard Harrison, CEO of Smart Power Myanmar, a non-profit organization working to accelerate the adoption of decentralised renewables in Myanmar by providing data and evidence, convening key stakeholders, and offering financing solutions. We discuss the current energy landscape in Myanmar, the need for an integrated approach to electrification, the importance of offering financing solutions alongside electrification efforts, and the benefits of productive energy use.Recorded in May 2020Visit us at www.distributingsolar.com/podcast/smart-power-myanmarContact us at podcast@distributingsolar.comShow notes: (0:55) Richard's background and prior work in Myanmar(2:30) Introduction to Myanmar, its geographical, economic, and political background(8:05) Myanmar's electricity sector, progress in recent years, and electrification targets(11:40) Smart Power Myanmar's approach to accelerating electrification in Myanmar(13:55) Smart Power Myanmar's strategic focus and identified barriers to electrification (18:12) Approaches to providing commercial and consumer financing adopted by Smart Power Myanmar - equipment financing facility and the Energy Impact Fund(21:35) The origins of Smart Power Myanmar, and how the organisation came about(26:30) Overview of the Decentralised Energy Report for Myanmar(32:10) Minigrid operators, ESCOs, funding and subsidies for minigrids in Myanmar, and progress to date(35:45) Hydro minigrids in Myanmar (37:45) The integration potential between private minigrids and the public national grid(40:30) Productive Energy Use in minigrids, and the need for consumer financing solutions to support Productive Energy Use(44:50) Examples of productive energy users who have benefited from Energy Impact Funds(48:05) The impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar and for the energy sector(49:20) Recommended books: Hariri's Homo Deus, Richard Rhodes' Energy: A Human History, Gretchen Bakke's The Grid(51:00) Goals and hopes for electrification the next 5 years