As vehicles rapidly electrify to meet decarbonization goals, there's an opportunity for increased building resilience within our communities. Electric vehicles (EVs) are essentially “batteries on wheels”. By using emerging EV charger technologies, the power stored within vehicle batteries can provide backup energy to buildings during significant grid, weather, fire, or seismic events. Join us as we look at the exciting potential for vehicles to power buildings in an emergency.
This webinar will look at early demonstration projects that are pairing transit and school buses with solar energy and battery storage to form functioning microgrids that can provide emergency services to communities when needed. We’ll hear from panelists leading the way to create these microgrids and understand the challenges and lessons learned from some of the first pilot projects in the country.
Panelists include:
Joe Wachunas, Senior Project Manager, New Buildings Institute
Joe manages a project based in Hood River, Oregon that seeks to incorporate electric vehicles into a microgrid. In addition to providing technical and project management for the Advanced Water Heating Initiative and other building electrification and decarbonization projects in the Building Innovation area. He is also a frequent contributor to CleanTechnica writing articles about topics relating to electrification and clean energy.
Karina Hershberg, Senior Associate, PAE
Karina has 15 years of experience with systems modeling, data analysis and electrical engineering for high performance buildings and renewable energy systems. She brings a unique perspective to her dual roles in analysis and engineering at PAE. Through data-driven analytics and innovative design, Karina helps projects implement regenerative and resilient solutions. She leads the development of microgrid design, emissions analysis, and campus-scale solutions for the firm and is a regional leader for PAE’s Regenerative Design Group.
Greggory Kresge, Senior Manager, Utility Engagement and Transportation Electrification at the World Resources Institute (WRI)
WRI is a global non-profit focusing on school bus electrification, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) integration. Prior to joining WRI, Gregg worked for Hawaiian Electric and the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation servicing the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, Moloka`i, Oahu, Saipan, Tinian and Rota. In various capacities over a span of 16 years, he managed electric and municipal utilities in environmental compliance, power generation, renewable energy resources and electric vehicle charger deployments.
Robert Stafford, Research Associate, WRI
Robert is focusing on Transportation Electrification and Grid Resiliency, and a part of the Electric School Bus Initiative. He comes to WRI from San Diego Gas & Electric, where he was the lead designer for their Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program. Robert holds a M.A. in Sustainable Energy from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.
This webinar is developed in partnership with San Diego LEARN.
LEARN is a San Diego based workforce education and training program that has partnered with Electrify Now to offer free energy efficiency and electrification webinars. Please visit the LEARN website for more information: www.sandiegolearn.com.