00:00:40.073 --> 00:00:43.276
I see agrivoltaics
as a very clear mechanism

00:00:43.476 --> 00:00:45.078
for how you can save the family
farm.

00:00:50.417 --> 00:00:51.584
My grandfather, Jack Stringerie,

00:00:51.584 --> 00:00:54.788
is the one that purchased
our family farm back in 1972.

00:00:55.321 --> 00:00:58.425
And so for the past 50 years,
it's mainly been hay production.

00:00:58.758 --> 00:01:01.061
He passed away
in 1980 here on the farm,

00:01:02.028 --> 00:01:03.763
and then
the land transitioned over

00:01:03.763 --> 00:01:06.633
to my mother, Eloise Kominek,
who currently owns the farm.

00:01:07.934 --> 00:01:10.303
I grew up coming out here
on the summers,

00:01:11.137 --> 00:01:14.374
but I never really did
much around the farm.

00:01:14.374 --> 00:01:16.176
So after a career overseas,

00:01:16.176 --> 00:01:18.945
I moved out to the family farm
to figure out

00:01:18.978 --> 00:01:21.247
more about what it was like
to be out here on this land.

00:01:21.948 --> 00:01:24.517
I found out that the haying
that we do on the land,

00:01:24.884 --> 00:01:27.954
it made almost enough money
to pay off our property taxes

00:01:27.954 --> 00:01:29.923
plus water rights,
plus utilities.

00:01:29.923 --> 00:01:32.225
So not even enough money
to go to the grocery store.

00:01:32.792 --> 00:01:35.028
That just didn't seem right
that 24 acres in Boulder

00:01:35.028 --> 00:01:37.564
County did that.
So we wanted to figure out

00:01:37.564 --> 00:01:39.365
what else
we could do with the land.

00:01:39.365 --> 00:01:41.968
And we came across the idea
of community solar.

00:01:42.469 --> 00:01:46.206
Community solar
basically means that a community

00:01:46.206 --> 00:01:49.776
can get together and own
infrastructure that produces

00:01:49.776 --> 00:01:52.912
solar power, sell
that into the local utility,

00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:56.116
and then they have to have
at least ten different people

00:01:56.116 --> 00:01:58.418
saying that they will purchase
that power

00:01:58.418 --> 00:02:00.553
from that community
solar garden.

00:02:00.553 --> 00:02:03.790
It's a community project because
members of the community,

00:02:04.424 --> 00:02:06.392
local businesses,
other folks that are

00:02:06.392 --> 00:02:08.528
that are interested,
are able to buy

00:02:08.628 --> 00:02:10.930
a share of the output
that comes out of this

00:02:11.164 --> 00:02:15.135
and that serves as their source
of solar energy generation.

00:02:15.435 --> 00:02:18.538
The first major roadblock
was that Boulder County

00:02:18.538 --> 00:02:21.441
land use code didn't allow for
solar over a certain size

00:02:21.841 --> 00:02:22.942
to be on farmland.

00:02:22.942 --> 00:02:24.844
So we spent over a year
working with the

00:02:24.844 --> 00:02:27.514
Land Use Department
to change the land use code

00:02:27.514 --> 00:02:30.049
so that we could actually build
a solar array on our farm

00:02:30.416 --> 00:02:33.520
and also at the same time
open it up for over 50 farms

00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:35.755
across the county that could do
the same thing as us.

00:02:36.189 --> 00:02:38.658
So we didn't actually change
the zoning of our land.

00:02:38.658 --> 00:02:39.859
We're still agriculture.

00:02:39.859 --> 00:02:43.196
We just changed the land
use code so that now

00:02:43.196 --> 00:02:45.732
we could incorporate solar in
with our agriculture.

00:02:46.466 --> 00:02:51.404
We have just over 1.2 megawatts
of DC plate solar panels.

00:02:51.871 --> 00:02:55.175
That covers just over four acres
of land with the solar panels.

00:02:55.175 --> 00:02:57.443
If you include the other solar
array infrastructure,

00:02:57.443 --> 00:03:00.046
that's about five acres
total of impacted land,

00:03:00.480 --> 00:03:03.550
and that sits on a field
that's eight acres in size.

00:03:03.816 --> 00:03:04.851
We produce enough power

00:03:04.851 --> 00:03:08.421
for about 300 homes in the area,
standard Colorado homes.

00:03:08.721 --> 00:03:11.724
The electricity from our solar
array goes into the Xcel Energy

00:03:11.724 --> 00:03:13.993
electricity grid,
like water into a lake.

00:03:14.294 --> 00:03:16.563
All the water droplets
would be dispersed

00:03:16.563 --> 00:03:18.865
throughout the lake,
just as all the electrons

00:03:18.865 --> 00:03:23.503
that we produce gets dispersed
throughout the electricity grid.

00:03:25.471 --> 00:03:26.272
I lead the

00:03:26.272 --> 00:03:29.042
National Renewable Energy Labs
Inspire Project.

00:03:30.310 --> 00:03:33.046
One of my key areas of research
is agrivoltaics.

00:03:33.046 --> 00:03:36.015
Agrivoltaics is the combination
of agriculture

00:03:36.115 --> 00:03:39.219
and photovoltaics
or PV, solar PV panels.

00:03:39.586 --> 00:03:42.188
The field of agrivoltaics
is really a brand new,

00:03:42.555 --> 00:03:46.159
really exciting emerging field
where we're better understanding

00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:48.228
how the partial shade
from solar panels

00:03:48.494 --> 00:03:51.798
creates a different microclimate
and allows crops to grow

00:03:51.798 --> 00:03:53.866
in a different way
than how they would

00:03:53.866 --> 00:03:55.301
if they were under the open air.

00:03:55.301 --> 00:03:58.371
We have over 25 different
field sites that are located

00:03:58.371 --> 00:03:59.639
across the country,

00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:00.707
so agrivoltaics

00:04:00.873 --> 00:04:03.810
could work theoretically
on any farm in any location.

00:04:03.977 --> 00:04:06.879
Jack's Solar Garden is unique
because it is the largest

00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:09.749
dedicated agrivoltaic
research site in the country.

00:04:09.949 --> 00:04:13.920
It allows us to look at crop
production, pollinator habitat,

00:04:13.920 --> 00:04:18.391
ecosystem services and pasture
grass all in the same location.

00:04:18.725 --> 00:04:20.927
On top of that,
we also have the ability

00:04:21.127 --> 00:04:23.229
to compare
how different panel heights,

00:04:23.263 --> 00:04:24.797
whether it's six foot
or eight foot,

00:04:24.797 --> 00:04:27.000
affect the performance
of the vegetation

00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:28.368
underneath the panels.

00:04:28.368 --> 00:04:29.269
We are just scratching

00:04:29.402 --> 00:04:31.604
the surface
in terms of characterizing

00:04:31.904 --> 00:04:33.339
all the different types
of benefits

00:04:33.339 --> 00:04:35.408
and all the different types
of configurations

00:04:35.408 --> 00:04:37.777
that could lead to greater food
resiliency

00:04:37.977 --> 00:04:40.213
and greater energy
security across the country.

00:04:40.446 --> 00:04:42.882
We need more agrivoltaic systems
built.

00:04:42.882 --> 00:04:44.984
We need more
agrivoltaic farmers.

00:04:44.984 --> 00:04:47.086
We need more agrivoltaic
researchers.

00:04:47.520 --> 00:04:49.689
There's
a lot more we need to learn.

00:04:51.958 --> 00:04:54.294
We have one pasture
that remains hay production

00:04:54.294 --> 00:04:56.429
and the other one now produces
electricity and food.

00:04:57.563 --> 00:05:00.300
I'm the farm manager for our
plot at Jack's Solar Garden.

00:05:01.134 --> 00:05:04.737
We have about 2.7 acres
that we're managing here.

00:05:05.171 --> 00:05:08.541
Sprout City Farms are growing
at least a couple dozen

00:05:08.541 --> 00:05:10.376
different types of vegetables
out there.

00:05:10.376 --> 00:05:13.880
We have tomatoes, we have summer
squash, we have kale.

00:05:13.880 --> 00:05:16.282
We have leafy
greens like lettuce and arugula.

00:05:17.016 --> 00:05:18.351
We have beets.

00:05:18.351 --> 00:05:21.821
And we're a nonprofit that
focuses on food access programs.

00:05:21.988 --> 00:05:24.624
We focus on pay
what you can farmstands

00:05:24.657 --> 00:05:26.826
and just like really integrating
into the community

00:05:27.060 --> 00:05:29.696
and making this fresh produce
accessible to all.

00:05:31.164 --> 00:05:33.499
I'm also getting my master's
in environmental policy

00:05:33.499 --> 00:05:34.367
and management.

00:05:34.867 --> 00:05:37.970
So this for me is just an
amazing combination of farming,

00:05:37.970 --> 00:05:39.005
which I'm passionate about.

00:05:39.205 --> 00:05:41.307
And then, I mean, we've
got climate change going on.

00:05:41.307 --> 00:05:43.309
So helping out
with renewable energy

00:05:43.309 --> 00:05:45.111
and not turning
all of our farmlands

00:05:45.111 --> 00:05:47.513
just into like barren
solar fields.

00:05:47.513 --> 00:05:48.748
When I first took this job on

00:05:48.748 --> 00:05:51.384
I was just looking for
a farming position

00:05:51.384 --> 00:05:53.319
that kind of
went with my ideals.

00:05:53.319 --> 00:05:54.987
I love that it was a nonprofit.

00:05:54.987 --> 00:05:57.357
I love that
they were doing no-till farming

00:05:57.390 --> 00:06:00.393
to help with the soil and
the earth and the ecosystems.

00:06:00.993 --> 00:06:03.429
But I had no idea how big
this project was going to be,

00:06:03.696 --> 00:06:05.832
how much public interest
it would have,

00:06:05.832 --> 00:06:07.967
how truly beneficial
this can be.

00:06:07.967 --> 00:06:11.104
If this works for renewable
energy, for farming.

00:06:11.270 --> 00:06:13.339
If we find that we can use less
water,

00:06:13.673 --> 00:06:17.176
that's a huge thing in Colorado
with such a limited resource

00:06:17.343 --> 00:06:19.679
and I'm excited to see
where it goes.

00:06:19.679 --> 00:06:21.981
We're using no-till
agricultural practices.

00:06:22.215 --> 00:06:24.250
We can help preserve
the nutrients

00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:27.019
and preserve the microbiomes
that are within the soil.

00:06:27.353 --> 00:06:30.923
So no-tilling, just in itself,
helps with carbon sequestration.

00:06:31.324 --> 00:06:33.926
The whole principle behind
regenerative land management

00:06:33.926 --> 00:06:34.694
is that we can

00:06:35.361 --> 00:06:38.431
put nutrients back into the soil
and use those to our advantage

00:06:38.431 --> 00:06:40.066
to lead
to higher agricultural yields.

00:06:41.667 --> 00:06:43.603
Another unique aspect of

00:06:43.603 --> 00:06:45.037
Jack’s Solar Garden is the fact

00:06:45.037 --> 00:06:47.840
that education
has been built in as a priority

00:06:48.040 --> 00:06:49.275
from the beginning as well.

00:06:49.375 --> 00:06:53.446
So not only are we doing
research on every single square

00:06:53.446 --> 00:06:54.680
inch of the property,

00:06:54.747 --> 00:06:58.351
but also the project was
designed to bring in students,

00:06:58.818 --> 00:07:02.088
farmers, legislators, folks
from the community

00:07:02.255 --> 00:07:05.158
to learn all about
what agrivoltaics is

00:07:05.158 --> 00:07:06.893
and for them to see what
their own eyes

00:07:06.893 --> 00:07:09.829
that you can successfully
grow crops in between

00:07:09.829 --> 00:07:11.297
and underneath solar panels.

00:07:11.297 --> 00:07:12.999
(Byron)
stressing that community side

00:07:12.999 --> 00:07:14.233
of the community solar garden

00:07:14.267 --> 00:07:15.902
(Jordan)
One of our Ph.D. students is

00:07:15.902 --> 00:07:19.772
examining how agrivoltaic setups
can provide greater

00:07:19.772 --> 00:07:23.743
ecosystem services, such as
improved soil quality,

00:07:23.743 --> 00:07:26.579
improved soil moisture,
better nutrient retention,

00:07:26.746 --> 00:07:28.614
and better habitat
for pollinator

00:07:28.614 --> 00:07:30.349
and other beneficial insects.

00:07:30.349 --> 00:07:33.453
(PhD. student)Today I am taking
gas flux measurements.

00:07:33.453 --> 00:07:36.722
I'm measuring
how much carbon is the soil

00:07:36.722 --> 00:07:39.792
gaining or losing over
the course of a given year.

00:07:40.126 --> 00:07:43.196
A little known fact is that
the soil is actually

00:07:43.196 --> 00:07:46.732
one of the biggest reservoirs
of carbon on earth,

00:07:47.066 --> 00:07:50.236
and that actually much
of the carbon dioxide

00:07:50.236 --> 00:07:52.338
that has been released into
the atmosphere

00:07:53.139 --> 00:07:55.007
was originally stored
in the soil.

00:07:55.007 --> 00:07:57.443
It's actually been
from agricultural practices,

00:07:57.443 --> 00:08:00.313
not necessarily burning fossil
fuels.

00:08:00.713 --> 00:08:03.382
It's directly
linked to soil health.

00:08:03.382 --> 00:08:07.520
So the carbon helps to regulate
things like water retention,

00:08:08.154 --> 00:08:10.356
nutrient supply,
all kinds of things

00:08:10.356 --> 00:08:14.093
that are really important
for life to happen in the soil.

00:08:14.093 --> 00:08:16.829
(Jordan)  So in addition to
producing clean electricity

00:08:16.829 --> 00:08:19.232
and clean electrons
that are going to the grid,

00:08:19.232 --> 00:08:21.767
we're also actively
pulling in carbon

00:08:21.767 --> 00:08:23.870
from the atmosphere
and sequestering it in the soil.

00:08:24.804 --> 00:08:26.506
So this is a really unique farm.

00:08:26.506 --> 00:08:27.740
I've never worked on a farm

00:08:27.740 --> 00:08:32.078
where it's a production,
educational, research farm.

00:08:32.078 --> 00:08:34.146
Been able to partner
with so many

00:08:34.146 --> 00:08:36.516
super intelligent people
who are studying this

00:08:36.516 --> 00:08:39.418
and have been studying
things like this for a decade.

00:08:39.952 --> 00:08:41.888
They're kind of the pioneers
of agrivoltaics.

00:08:41.888 --> 00:08:45.024
So being able to learn from them
and I am able

00:08:45.024 --> 00:08:46.893
to give that farmer perspective,

00:08:46.893 --> 00:08:48.961
it's just been really great
and it's something

00:08:48.961 --> 00:08:50.029
that I definitely
want to see out

00:08:50.162 --> 00:08:52.999
in the next five years
and see how it progresses.

00:08:53.866 --> 00:08:56.335
It's going to lead to
a much more impactful research

00:08:56.702 --> 00:08:59.005
that can have impacts
not only in Colorado,

00:08:59.205 --> 00:09:02.141
but for the rest of the country
and the rest of the world.

00:09:04.277 --> 00:09:06.412
The whole Jack's Solar Garden
operation

00:09:06.412 --> 00:09:09.682
has a food justice
and an energy justice

00:09:09.682 --> 00:09:12.051
and environmental
justice lens to it.

00:09:12.518 --> 00:09:14.387
One of the commitments
Jack's Solar Garden had up

00:09:14.387 --> 00:09:15.521
front was to donate

00:09:15.721 --> 00:09:18.824
2% of our power to low income
households in Boulder County.

00:09:19.358 --> 00:09:21.794
So we will generate some revenue
next year.

00:09:21.794 --> 00:09:24.997
But yeah, this year
we're just donating the food,

00:09:25.398 --> 00:09:29.835
about 95% of it,
to a another nonprofit downtown,

00:09:30.436 --> 00:09:33.205
and they help distribute
the food to community members.

00:09:35.174 --> 00:09:36.676
You can't go a week
without hearing

00:09:36.676 --> 00:09:39.645
another story about the decline
of bee populations.

00:09:39.979 --> 00:09:43.416
Some of that is due
to the use of different types of

00:09:43.816 --> 00:09:44.984
herbicides that are

00:09:44.984 --> 00:09:47.687
having a devastating impact
on bee populations,

00:09:47.853 --> 00:09:49.889
which can have a big impact
on our food security

00:09:49.889 --> 00:09:53.626
and have a big impact on
all sorts of beneficial insects

00:09:53.626 --> 00:09:55.061
that are required

00:09:55.061 --> 00:09:58.030
for achieving high yields
in an agriculture context.

00:09:58.364 --> 00:10:01.434
So having pollinator habitat
underneath a solar array

00:10:01.767 --> 00:10:05.171
supports healthy bee populations
and other beneficial insects.

00:10:05.338 --> 00:10:06.706
It also facilitates

00:10:06.706 --> 00:10:10.209
having hives on site
where you can produce honey.

00:10:10.876 --> 00:10:14.213
We recently published a study
where we found that nearly

00:10:14.246 --> 00:10:15.414
a million acres

00:10:15.581 --> 00:10:18.217
of agricultural land in
the United States could benefit

00:10:18.417 --> 00:10:20.886
just from having solar projects
with pollinator habitat.

00:10:22.655 --> 00:10:24.890
The microclimates
created by the solar panels

00:10:24.890 --> 00:10:28.361
create a resiliency to the soil
by keeping more moisture

00:10:28.361 --> 00:10:31.564
in the soil, reducing the heat
stresses on crops

00:10:31.597 --> 00:10:34.100
that will enable us to continue
growing food,

00:10:34.233 --> 00:10:35.968
whereas other places

00:10:35.968 --> 00:10:38.304
in the future may not be able
to adapt as well.

00:10:38.938 --> 00:10:41.574
So having vegetation
underneath the solar panels

00:10:41.841 --> 00:10:43.876
actually creates a cooler
microclimate.

00:10:43.876 --> 00:10:46.512
And the way in which
the physics of solar panels work

00:10:46.746 --> 00:10:49.181
is that cooler microclimate,
and those cooler conditions

00:10:49.415 --> 00:10:53.052
actually lead to higher output,
higher generation of clean

00:10:53.052 --> 00:10:55.354
electricity
coming from the solar projects,

00:10:55.655 --> 00:10:58.457
while also the partial shade
from the solar projects

00:10:58.457 --> 00:11:01.360
is allowing us to save water
and also allowing us

00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:04.363
to see increased yields
from open air conditions

00:11:04.363 --> 00:11:05.431
than what we might see

00:11:05.631 --> 00:11:07.833
if there was no solar project
here in the first place.

00:11:08.501 --> 00:11:10.736
It is difficult to have a family
farm.

00:11:10.736 --> 00:11:12.938
Agrivoltaics
could be a means to help out.

00:11:13.906 --> 00:11:15.841
By putting
the panels up around there,

00:11:15.841 --> 00:11:18.377
they can have lease agreements
with solar developers

00:11:18.377 --> 00:11:20.446
that now
they have a steady income

00:11:20.446 --> 00:11:22.114
from those lease agreements

00:11:22.114 --> 00:11:24.417
while continuing
to do the agriculture they have.

00:11:24.917 --> 00:11:28.487
So many farming operations
are losing money every year.

00:11:28.754 --> 00:11:31.490
And so that's why we're seeing
a lot of solar projects

00:11:31.490 --> 00:11:34.860
being developed
on farms, agrivoltaics offers

00:11:34.860 --> 00:11:37.663
financial stability
and the financial backing

00:11:37.997 --> 00:11:40.966
to continue farming,
to continue producing food.

00:11:41.167 --> 00:11:43.836
Meanwhile, you're also producing
clean electricity

00:11:44.003 --> 00:11:47.073
and you're also maintaining
your financial viability

00:11:47.073 --> 00:11:48.107
of the farm.

00:11:48.641 --> 00:11:50.376
There's other communities
across the country

00:11:50.376 --> 00:11:53.713
that want to keep farmland,
farmland, or rural character

00:11:54.146 --> 00:11:55.815
the same.

00:11:55.815 --> 00:11:59.552
But what needs to be done is
education to see what it's like.

00:12:00.553 --> 00:12:03.456
Letting the farmers know
that this is real,

00:12:03.456 --> 00:12:06.125
that it works, that you can grow
crops successfully

00:12:06.358 --> 00:12:08.594
underneath and around
solar panels.

00:12:08.594 --> 00:12:12.531
This model of integrating
the two, I think, can help

00:12:12.998 --> 00:12:16.268
keep land
in agricultural production,

00:12:16.969 --> 00:12:20.573
maintain
the basis of the agricultural

00:12:20.573 --> 00:12:24.677
economy in rural areas,
and also help to preserve

00:12:24.977 --> 00:12:28.681
that agricultural identity
for rural people.

00:12:30.549 --> 00:12:32.251
The lessons that we've learned

00:12:32.251 --> 00:12:34.453
in Colorado
and from our other field sites

00:12:34.453 --> 00:12:36.822
across
the country can be adopted

00:12:36.822 --> 00:12:38.924
and can be utilized
across the globe.

00:12:39.091 --> 00:12:41.827
We could see agrivoltaics
as a unique solution

00:12:41.994 --> 00:12:44.163
that can provide
food security benefits

00:12:44.530 --> 00:12:47.099
not only to rural areas
in the United States,

00:12:47.266 --> 00:12:50.536
but also on tribal lands
in the United States or in areas

00:12:50.536 --> 00:12:52.037
in other parts of the world

00:12:52.037 --> 00:12:54.206
where they don't
have reliable access

00:12:54.206 --> 00:12:57.810
to electricity, clean water,
or a healthy food system.

00:12:58.778 --> 00:13:01.080
A lot of what I think about
with Jack's Solar Garden is

00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:03.315
how can we inspire
more people to do something

00:13:03.716 --> 00:13:05.351
beyond just the normal,

00:13:05.351 --> 00:13:05.851
to think

00:13:05.851 --> 00:13:08.654
how many other things can you
incorporate into one project?

00:13:09.121 --> 00:13:12.424
So the idea that we first
started with was

00:13:12.424 --> 00:13:15.194
how can we do more with our land
for the benefit of our family

00:13:15.194 --> 00:13:16.929
as well as our community?

00:13:16.929 --> 00:13:18.898
This is a small family
operation.

00:13:18.898 --> 00:13:21.433
We do not have tons of cash
to be able to do this, but

00:13:21.734 --> 00:13:24.470
we decided this was worthwhile
for us as a family

00:13:24.770 --> 00:13:26.639
and for our local community.

00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:27.940
And I hope that other folks

00:13:28.040 --> 00:13:30.910
that do have more means see
that they could do more as well.

00:13:32.311 --> 00:13:32.978
As more people

00:13:32.978 --> 00:13:33.979
became interested in this,

00:13:33.979 --> 00:13:35.314
and I've been contacted
by people

00:13:35.314 --> 00:13:37.550
from all over the world
about our project.

00:13:37.550 --> 00:13:38.784
I started understanding more

00:13:38.784 --> 00:13:39.785
that we were a model

00:13:39.785 --> 00:13:42.121
that people do
look up to this project,

00:13:42.121 --> 00:13:43.522
that they want to learn

00:13:43.522 --> 00:13:45.658
more about it,
they want to create their own

00:13:45.658 --> 00:13:48.327
in some form or fashion,
wherever they are in the world.

00:13:50.262 --> 00:13:51.964
My hope with what we can show

00:13:51.964 --> 00:13:56.168
is that as there is more solar
development across our country,

00:13:56.368 --> 00:13:57.770
let's keep that farmland,

00:13:57.770 --> 00:14:00.039
farming
and productive for our future

00:14:00.372 --> 00:14:02.575
and also incorporate
that solar above it.

00:14:02.708 --> 00:14:06.412
We could do both
if we just plan ahead.

00:15:04.631 --> 00:15:05.799
I like to tell people
the closest

00:15:05.799 --> 00:15:10.404
you've ever been to infinite
clean energy is 3 to 10 miles,

00:15:12.472 --> 00:15:13.407
It’s right below your feet.

00:15:13.407 --> 00:15:16.376
It's like a trip
to the grocery store.

00:15:16.977 --> 00:15:19.746
That distance is less than the commute

00:15:19.746 --> 00:15:22.315
that an average worker takes to go to work.

00:15:22.315 --> 00:15:25.085
We've gone to the moon and Mars,
but we haven't gone

00:15:25.085 --> 00:15:27.921
12 miles under Earth yet.

00:15:28.422 --> 00:15:31.458
Geothermal is right here
and we have it

00:15:31.458 --> 00:15:32.926
anywhere on the planet.

00:15:32.926 --> 00:15:35.429
There is enough heat
within the planet

00:15:35.962 --> 00:15:39.032
that we could power
all of our energy needs for

00:15:39.032 --> 00:15:40.367
the next 20 million years.

00:15:41.601 --> 00:15:42.669
There's an incredible amount

00:15:42.669 --> 00:15:45.138
of energy
that we're not tapping into.

00:15:45.138 --> 00:15:46.273
It's almost limitless,

00:15:46.273 --> 00:15:48.275
the amount of energy
that is in the Earth's core.

00:15:48.275 --> 00:15:51.378
It's a resource that would be
almost impossible to deplete.

00:15:51.378 --> 00:15:52.946
And we're developing
new technology

00:15:52.946 --> 00:15:56.850
to allow us to drill to extreme
depths, to tap into that heat

00:15:56.850 --> 00:15:58.985
and pump it back
up to the surface, to repower

00:15:58.985 --> 00:16:00.887
existing fossil
fuel infrastructure.

00:16:00.887 --> 00:16:04.724
By drilling a number of holes,
injecting cold water,

00:16:04.724 --> 00:16:07.194
allowing it to get heated
underground

00:16:07.194 --> 00:16:08.862
to superheated water,

00:16:08.862 --> 00:16:11.898
and then inject it
to a steam turbine and run

00:16:11.898 --> 00:16:15.035
a generator as efficiently
as if we were burning

00:16:15.602 --> 00:16:18.205
fossil fuel on the surface,

00:16:18.205 --> 00:16:20.407
but without the disadvantages

00:16:20.407 --> 00:16:22.109
of producing CO2.

00:16:24.144 --> 00:16:27.013
I've been working in fusion
technologies with MIT for

00:16:27.013 --> 00:16:28.815
46 years.

00:16:28.815 --> 00:16:31.885
Some of the technology
we developed, I realized,

00:16:31.885 --> 00:16:36.590
could be applied
to geothermal energy

00:16:36.590 --> 00:16:40.427
to make drilling easier
and less costly.

00:16:40.427 --> 00:16:43.163
Some of the technology
can be directed at the rock

00:16:43.430 --> 00:16:46.333
and raise it to a temperature
that could melt and vaporize it.

00:16:48.068 --> 00:16:50.036
When I graduated from M.I.T.

00:16:50.036 --> 00:16:51.671
I knew I wanted to do
engineering.

00:16:52.339 --> 00:16:56.309
I worked for the oil
and gas industry for 15 years,

00:16:56.309 --> 00:16:58.011
and I had developed
a very deep conviction

00:16:58.011 --> 00:17:00.247
that the energy transition
was imminent

00:17:00.780 --> 00:17:02.415
and that we need to do something
about it.

00:17:02.415 --> 00:17:04.985
I realized how much energy
it takes to run the world,

00:17:04.985 --> 00:17:09.623
terawatts, trillions of watts
to run civilization.

00:17:10.090 --> 00:17:13.160
And most of that energy
comes from fossil fuels.

00:17:13.693 --> 00:17:17.497
So how can we possibly
transition that much energy

00:17:18.064 --> 00:17:19.766
from fossil to clean?

00:17:19.766 --> 00:17:21.668
And then I met Paul Woskov

00:17:21.668 --> 00:17:23.470
by coincidence,
and I was in front of one

00:17:23.470 --> 00:17:26.907
of the most interesting ideas
I had heard in my entire career.

00:17:27.474 --> 00:17:30.977
I knew drilling for oil and gas,
but he was talking about

00:17:31.211 --> 00:17:34.114
a radically different way
to do it.

00:17:34.114 --> 00:17:36.416
And then by marrying that
with my operational experience

00:17:36.416 --> 00:17:38.552
in oil and gas, to say
this is the convergence

00:17:38.552 --> 00:17:42.589
of two very different worlds,
and it actually makes sense.

00:17:42.589 --> 00:17:45.091
It makes perfect sense.

00:17:45.091 --> 00:17:45.892
From a young age,

00:17:45.892 --> 00:17:47.794
I've been aware
that climate change is happening

00:17:47.794 --> 00:17:49.396
and I always want to do
something about it.

00:17:49.396 --> 00:17:50.263
But I've felt like

00:17:50.263 --> 00:17:51.932
there is nothing
that I could do about it

00:17:51.932 --> 00:17:53.700
and there was no role
for me to play.

00:17:53.700 --> 00:17:55.735
So finding a place for myself

00:17:55.735 --> 00:17:59.239
at this company
and in the energy transition

00:17:59.573 --> 00:18:01.975
has been
a very empowering experience.

00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:04.811
If we achieve our

00:18:04.811 --> 00:18:08.148
goals to mine
deep geothermal heat,

00:18:08.848 --> 00:18:11.751
we could potentially replace

00:18:11.751 --> 00:18:14.454
all fossil fuel plants
with geothermal heat

00:18:14.754 --> 00:18:17.757
and reduce our CO2 emissions
everywhere in the world.

00:18:18.291 --> 00:18:20.460
We can make it happen within
ten years,

00:18:20.460 --> 00:18:22.762
 so let's do it.
What are we waiting for?

00:18:24.297 --> 00:18:26.666
A gyrotron converts
an electron beam

00:18:27.067 --> 00:18:30.937
to an electromagnetic beam,
which then can be directed

00:18:30.937 --> 00:18:34.975
at a rock surface to heat it
and bore a hole into it.

00:18:35.609 --> 00:18:38.845
Millimeter wave drilling
is about drilling

00:18:38.845 --> 00:18:40.313
by vaporizing the rock.

00:18:40.313 --> 00:18:42.515
Like your microwave
in your kitchen,

00:18:42.515 --> 00:18:45.418
it is a machine that makes
microwaves to cook your food.

00:18:45.418 --> 00:18:47.454
The ability to heat
a cup of water

00:18:47.454 --> 00:18:48.989
to make your tea in one minute.

00:18:48.989 --> 00:18:50.290
It's unthinkable.

00:18:50.290 --> 00:18:52.359
It's called dielectric heating.

00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:55.328
It basically couples
the energy to the molecules

00:18:55.328 --> 00:18:57.931
and very,
very efficiently heats them up.

00:18:57.931 --> 00:18:59.966
Millimeter wave drilling
is very much about that.

00:18:59.966 --> 00:19:02.035
Instead of food, you have rock,

00:19:02.035 --> 00:19:04.037
and instead of microwaves,
you have millimeter waves.

00:19:04.371 --> 00:19:07.407
Otherwise,
the process is the same.

00:19:09.309 --> 00:19:10.777
Humans have drilled

00:19:10.777 --> 00:19:13.747
holes that are very, very deep,
like 13 kilometers deep

00:19:14.414 --> 00:19:15.715
in Russia, and another one,

00:19:15.715 --> 00:19:17.550
which is nine
kilometers deep in Germany.

00:19:17.550 --> 00:19:19.986
So really in ten kilometers,
this is not impossible.

00:19:19.986 --> 00:19:21.488
It's just been done.

00:19:21.755 --> 00:19:25.058
We're just talking about doing
it more systematically, faster

00:19:25.058 --> 00:19:25.825
and cheaper.

00:19:25.825 --> 00:19:28.495
In the past,
the reason why this has failed

00:19:28.495 --> 00:19:32.032
is because you are using
traditional drilling techniques

00:19:32.032 --> 00:19:33.500
and it becomes very expensive

00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:35.869
to drill to this depth
and to these temperatures.

00:19:36.202 --> 00:19:38.438
The drilling mechanism breaks,
the drill bits fail.

00:19:38.638 --> 00:19:41.374
It becomes very expensive
to do casing.

00:19:41.374 --> 00:19:44.611
As we're drilling
with the directed energy beam.

00:19:44.611 --> 00:19:46.279
The energy is falling
off to the edges.

00:19:46.279 --> 00:19:50.183
So as we open up the hole,
the wall of the hole

00:19:50.183 --> 00:19:51.418
will be vitrified.

00:19:51.418 --> 00:19:53.253
It will be a glass walled pipe.

00:19:53.253 --> 00:19:54.854
And we're hoping that

00:19:54.854 --> 00:19:57.657
that wall will be thick
enough to be the final casing.

00:19:58.058 --> 00:20:01.528
The hypothesis is that we
should be able to case the hole

00:20:01.795 --> 00:20:03.463
at the same time
we open the hole.

00:20:03.463 --> 00:20:06.199
Current mechanical drilling
is limited

00:20:06.700 --> 00:20:10.737
by the mechanical, grinding
process that can’t be advanced

00:20:10.737 --> 00:20:13.473
more to work at higher
temperatures, higher pressures,

00:20:13.807 --> 00:20:15.275
or deeper depths

00:20:15.275 --> 00:20:17.544
because they're
at their mechanical limits now.

00:20:17.544 --> 00:20:20.113
And if you talk to the current
drilling

00:20:20.613 --> 00:20:23.817
technology people,
they'll say it's impossible.

00:20:23.817 --> 00:20:26.386
And that's
why geothermal is never listed

00:20:26.786 --> 00:20:29.089
as a potential energy source,

00:20:29.089 --> 00:20:30.190
because the veil

00:20:30.190 --> 00:20:33.426
of the technology has blocked
our consideration of it.

00:20:33.927 --> 00:20:38.565
But if we lift that veil
by taking a game changing leap,

00:20:38.565 --> 00:20:41.968
we will tremendously increase
the potential

00:20:41.968 --> 00:20:44.037
of sustainable energy
for this planet.

00:20:44.371 --> 00:20:48.775
No greenhouse gases would be
emitted from mining heat.

00:20:48.775 --> 00:20:52.746
We're just replacing the coal
burning furnace with the source

00:20:52.746 --> 00:20:55.382
of geothermal heat
from deep underground.

00:20:57.484 --> 00:21:00.387
With geothermal energy,
you pump the water down

00:21:00.387 --> 00:21:05.225
and at the bottom
you have a network of cracks

00:21:05.225 --> 00:21:08.161
or fractures underground.

00:21:08.161 --> 00:21:11.431
And that water can spread out
and touch the rock.

00:21:11.431 --> 00:21:13.500
And when it touches the rock,
it heats up.

00:21:13.500 --> 00:21:15.068
And then when it's pumped back
up, it

00:21:15.068 --> 00:21:17.604
brings the heat from the rock
back to the surface.

00:21:17.604 --> 00:21:20.006
There can be many wells. Okay?

00:21:20.006 --> 00:21:22.342
There could be many wells
to inject

00:21:22.342 --> 00:21:24.577
and a few wells to extract

00:21:25.311 --> 00:21:29.883
to make a large enough field
for a geothermal plant

00:21:29.883 --> 00:21:32.118
that could be 100 megawatts
or more.

00:21:32.118 --> 00:21:35.255
Or you could take the heat
directly and pipe it to nearby

00:21:35.255 --> 00:21:37.924
residential areas
to heat the homes directly

00:21:38.825 --> 00:21:41.594
or to green houses
or manufacturing systems

00:21:41.594 --> 00:21:42.762
that use heat directly.

00:21:42.762 --> 00:21:46.299
It's all about replacing
as much as we possibly can,

00:21:46.299 --> 00:21:50.637
substituting carbon
based with carbon free.

00:21:50.637 --> 00:21:53.840
So every solar panel, every wind
turbine, every hydroelectric

00:21:53.840 --> 00:21:55.308
dam makes a difference.

00:21:55.308 --> 00:21:56.376
We cannot hold back

00:21:56.376 --> 00:21:58.845
on those things
because it's urgent.

00:21:58.845 --> 00:22:00.480
The mistake we cannot afford to

00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:04.484
make is to think
that those will cover us.

00:22:04.484 --> 00:22:07.787
The problem with most renewables
is that they cannot replace

00:22:07.787 --> 00:22:09.189
what's
called the baseload power,

00:22:09.189 --> 00:22:11.925
which is the power
that stays on all day

00:22:11.925 --> 00:22:14.494
when the wind isn’t blowing
or the sun isn't shining.

00:22:14.494 --> 00:22:17.630
And without improvements
in battery technology,

00:22:17.630 --> 00:22:18.898
we won't be able to use

00:22:18.898 --> 00:22:22.735
wind and solar to replace
that baseload power requirement.

00:22:22.735 --> 00:22:24.637
We got to do other things
because otherwise

00:22:24.637 --> 00:22:26.573
we're not going to make it.

00:22:26.573 --> 00:22:28.107
Most of the electricity
in the world

00:22:28.107 --> 00:22:31.110
today comes from a fossil fired
power plant.

00:22:31.945 --> 00:22:34.948
There's more than 10,000 of them
operating.

00:22:35.715 --> 00:22:40.753
To me, it doesn't make sense to
say, shut them off.

00:22:40.753 --> 00:22:41.821
Let's just repower them.

00:22:41.821 --> 00:22:43.656
The only thing that's wrong
with them

00:22:43.656 --> 00:22:46.559
is that in order to get steam
to make electricity

00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:51.698
in a power plant,
we're having to burn coal, gas

00:22:51.698 --> 00:22:54.300
or oil, and instead
get your steam from the ground.

00:22:54.834 --> 00:22:55.635
And you're done.

00:22:56.336 --> 00:22:58.204
The power
plant continues to operate.

00:22:58.204 --> 00:22:59.639
It's already
connected to the grid.

00:22:59.639 --> 00:23:01.941
That's a much more elegant way
to do this.

00:23:01.941 --> 00:23:04.844
You start converting
tens of gigawatts

00:23:04.844 --> 00:23:09.649
terawatts per year from carbon
to carbonless.

00:23:09.649 --> 00:23:11.150
It's beautiful!

00:23:11.150 --> 00:23:14.921
It leans on centuries
of infrastructure and expertice.

00:23:14.921 --> 00:23:18.424
The might of the oil industry,
drilling rigs, personnel,

00:23:18.424 --> 00:23:21.027
people who know how to drill
and develop fields,

00:23:21.828 --> 00:23:23.863
come to bear on this.

00:23:23.863 --> 00:23:26.065
And they just actually scale,
world wide.

00:23:26.866 --> 00:23:29.002
It’s not starting from scratch.

00:23:29.002 --> 00:23:33.406
It's actually starting
with a huge, huge head start.

00:23:35.975 --> 00:23:39.646
Humanity has been a little bit late
to the game of decarbonization.

00:23:39.646 --> 00:23:41.147
There's a fire here.

00:23:41.147 --> 00:23:42.515
There's a hurricane there.

00:23:42.515 --> 00:23:44.183
There's a flood there.

00:23:44.183 --> 00:23:46.019
We are on fire!

00:23:46.019 --> 00:23:47.320
We are on fire.

00:23:47.320 --> 00:23:49.122
We need to solve this.

00:23:49.722 --> 00:23:50.957
There’s no quitting this.

00:23:50.957 --> 00:23:53.226
How do you quit this?
How do you quit this journey?

00:23:53.226 --> 00:23:53.960
You can't.

00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:57.463
It creates a lot of anxiety
because you sense the urgency

00:23:57.463 --> 00:24:00.333
and because you eat
and you breathe this every day.

00:24:00.333 --> 00:24:04.037
When you see projections
for energy transition pathways

00:24:04.037 --> 00:24:05.238
and you realize

00:24:06.339 --> 00:24:08.408
we're not
making progress quickly enough.

00:24:08.408 --> 00:24:11.611
People of my generation grow up
knowing that climate change

00:24:11.611 --> 00:24:15.548
is a reality
and its effects are unescapable.

00:24:15.548 --> 00:24:17.584
And doing this work
helps me fight

00:24:17.584 --> 00:24:21.154
the sort of fear and apathy
that comes from feeling

00:24:21.154 --> 00:24:23.923
like there's nothing you can do
about climate change.

00:24:24.457 --> 00:24:25.625
I have three kids.

00:24:25.625 --> 00:24:27.293
I realize that they're going

00:24:27.293 --> 00:24:29.462
to see
a big change in their lifetimes.

00:24:29.462 --> 00:24:34.334
So we have a huge responsibility
to do better than that.

00:24:34.334 --> 00:24:35.902
And we don't have a window.

00:24:35.902 --> 00:24:38.071
We are the human beings

00:24:38.071 --> 00:24:41.908
that happen to be adults
in this moment in time.

00:24:42.408 --> 00:24:45.411
It falls to us to do something
about it.

00:24:45.411 --> 00:24:46.813
The right time, the right place

00:24:46.813 --> 00:24:48.147
with people
doing the right things.

00:24:48.147 --> 00:24:51.551
That's all
it takes to change the world.

00:25:35.793 --> 00:25:37.261
My name is Alejandra Alvarez.

00:25:37.261 --> 00:25:38.863
I'm the Sonoma viticulturist

00:25:38.863 --> 00:25:39.897
for Beringer.

00:25:39.897 --> 00:25:42.766
I help steward
twelve different vineyards

00:25:42.766 --> 00:25:45.703
and they range in different soil
types, different

00:25:45.703 --> 00:25:48.272
climates, different quality
and different varietals.

00:25:48.873 --> 00:25:50.708
My name is Will Drayton

00:25:50.708 --> 00:25:51.775
and I'm the director of

00:25:51.775 --> 00:25:52.910
technical viticulture

00:25:52.910 --> 00:25:54.378
for Beringer Vineyards.

00:25:54.378 --> 00:25:58.082
Viticulture is everything
from soil health and fertility

00:25:58.082 --> 00:26:01.285
to sustainability
to how we irrigate.

00:26:01.852 --> 00:26:04.088
Behind me is my awesome office.

00:26:04.088 --> 00:26:05.222
I get to be outside

00:26:05.222 --> 00:26:07.525
most of the time,
frolicking in the vineyard.

00:26:07.691 --> 00:26:10.828
My office is my favorite
part of my job.

00:26:12.029 --> 00:26:14.732
The solar power installation
here at Beringer is unique

00:26:14.732 --> 00:26:15.199
because it's

00:26:15.199 --> 00:26:17.268
one of the largest
solar installations

00:26:17.268 --> 00:26:19.703
in any winery
in the United States.

00:26:19.703 --> 00:26:23.541
We have about 1800 megawatt
hours of electricity here

00:26:23.541 --> 00:26:25.442
so the way the frame
that we're offsetting

00:26:25.442 --> 00:26:27.811
the energy use about 250 homes
every year.

00:26:28.112 --> 00:26:30.848
It's a significant contribution
and we'll do it for decades to come.

00:26:32.349 --> 00:26:34.151
Our solar panels
are connected to the grid,

00:26:34.151 --> 00:26:35.853
and then the grid feeds to our pumps,

00:26:35.853 --> 00:26:37.655
which then
pumps water to our vineyards.

00:26:37.988 --> 00:26:41.825
We are trying to farm and be
healthy stewards of the land.

00:26:41.825 --> 00:26:43.160
It shows how much

00:26:43.160 --> 00:26:46.931
Beringer really cares about what
we're doing here at the winery

00:26:46.931 --> 00:26:50.434
and how it feeds our vineyards
and our soils, and the overall

00:26:50.434 --> 00:26:52.503
big picture
of being a green company.

00:26:53.304 --> 00:26:55.773
The sustainability is
a huge drive for us at Beringer.

00:26:56.173 --> 00:26:58.409
One of my key
responsibilities is making sure

00:26:58.409 --> 00:27:01.011
that all of our vineyards
stay certified sustainable.

00:27:01.278 --> 00:27:05.182
We're always looking for
new solutions to save energy,

00:27:05.182 --> 00:27:08.352
to save water, and to lighten
our footprint on the land.

00:27:08.953 --> 00:27:10.020
And as farmers,

00:27:10.020 --> 00:27:11.055
it's really important

00:27:11.055 --> 00:27:13.424
to preserve that land
for the next generation.

00:27:13.724 --> 00:27:15.859
It's not all about the dollars
and cents.

00:27:15.859 --> 00:27:16.360
It's important

00:27:16.360 --> 00:27:19.330
for us to be leaders in terms
of sustainable practices.

00:27:19.630 --> 00:27:20.864
It gives people confidence

00:27:20.864 --> 00:27:22.233
when they're buying the bottle
that they're buying

00:27:22.233 --> 00:27:24.301
someone who really cares
about the environment.

00:27:24.301 --> 00:27:26.804
Sustainability
is part of my day to day job

00:27:26.804 --> 00:27:31.375
and monitoring our water,
our plants, any pest or disease

00:27:31.375 --> 00:27:33.510
and just seeing how
our plants are growing healthy

00:27:33.510 --> 00:27:36.580
and how we can continue
to help our goals.

00:27:36.580 --> 00:27:39.683
A big part of our sustainability
is water efficiency

00:27:39.683 --> 00:27:43.754
and just making sure we are
using as little water as we can.

00:27:43.754 --> 00:27:46.557
We have one of the best water
use efficiency:

00:27:46.557 --> 00:27:48.859
liters of water
per liters of wine.

00:27:48.859 --> 00:27:51.595
There's lots of gatekeepers
who decide which wines they're

00:27:51.595 --> 00:27:53.063
going to have on the shelf,
and they want to see that

00:27:53.063 --> 00:27:56.600
wineries are being responsible
with how they produce

00:27:56.600 --> 00:27:58.669
and source their grapes
and how they make their wine.

00:27:59.837 --> 00:28:01.171
If we're not acting sustainably,

00:28:01.171 --> 00:28:02.806
if we're not looking
after our water footprint

00:28:02.806 --> 00:28:06.277
or our energy footprint, we're
not able to sell wine as well.

00:28:06.277 --> 00:28:06.810
And it helps

00:28:06.810 --> 00:28:09.380
that being water wise
and energy wise also improves

00:28:09.380 --> 00:28:11.282
the quality of our wines
at the same time.

00:28:11.282 --> 00:28:14.752
So it's a pretty lucky coming
together of the way that we farm

00:28:14.752 --> 00:28:17.187
and our sustainability
that makes better wine as well.

00:28:18.422 --> 00:28:19.690
People really want to come
and learn

00:28:19.690 --> 00:28:21.392
about the agriculture
because they want to come

00:28:21.392 --> 00:28:23.594
and taste our wines
and see how we make them.

00:28:23.594 --> 00:28:26.263
So we've got a responsibility
to get out there in front

00:28:26.263 --> 00:28:27.631
and tell people
what we're doing.

00:28:27.631 --> 00:28:30.167
We're in a unique position
to be able to

00:28:30.167 --> 00:28:32.603
educate the public
and show best practices.

00:28:32.603 --> 00:28:34.438
So they take a little bit
of that home with them,

00:28:34.438 --> 00:28:36.840
whether it's recycling
or whether it's water saving,

00:28:36.840 --> 00:28:39.109
turning off the tap, while
you're brushing your teeth,

00:28:39.109 --> 00:28:41.045
or even being careful
about how you irrigate

00:28:41.045 --> 00:28:42.713
with your sprinklers
in your garden.

00:28:42.713 --> 00:28:45.616
Being a millennial
really has helped me to be aware

00:28:45.616 --> 00:28:49.420
of how I'm being green, not
only at work, but at home, too.

00:28:49.420 --> 00:28:53.324
Making a conscious decision
to be green with my roommates.

00:28:54.058 --> 00:28:56.393
We make great tasting wines,
and it just so happens

00:28:56.393 --> 00:28:58.262
that we save the planet
at the same time.

00:28:58.262 --> 00:29:00.331
And that makes me very proud.

00:29:45.556 --> 00:29:48.559
Good afternoon
and welcome to our solar

00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:52.196
panel project
ribbon cutting ceremony.

00:29:52.196 --> 00:29:54.932
Yes, it's exciting, everyone!

00:29:54.932 --> 00:29:57.167
Super exciting!

00:29:57.167 --> 00:29:58.469
For those of you
that don't know me,

00:29:58.469 --> 00:29:59.870
my name is Hilda Maldonado .

00:29:59.870 --> 00:30:01.405
And I'm the proud Superintendent of

00:30:01.405 --> 00:30:03.040
Santa Barbara Unified School District.

00:30:03.707 --> 00:30:06.911
Today in Santa Barbara Unified,
we are flipping the switch

00:30:06.911 --> 00:30:10.247
and turning on our solar panel
at Adams Elementary.

00:30:10.648 --> 00:30:12.383
And we have six other schools

00:30:12.383 --> 00:30:14.618
that will have
the switch turned on.

00:30:14.618 --> 00:30:17.021
Santa Barbara
Unified is leading in terms

00:30:17.021 --> 00:30:19.857
of how a school district
can also take part

00:30:20.324 --> 00:30:24.895
in saving energy in a way
that supports the community

00:30:24.895 --> 00:30:26.163
and that becomes a resource.

00:30:27.264 --> 00:30:28.632
What’s significant is we're

00:30:28.632 --> 00:30:30.634
finally having a groundbreaking

00:30:30.634 --> 00:30:32.703
of the first solar panel

00:30:32.703 --> 00:30:34.505
that is actually being plugged

00:30:34.505 --> 00:30:36.240
in and operational.

00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:38.008
It's a big deal.

00:30:38.008 --> 00:30:41.045
I'm just deeply committed
to public education in general,

00:30:41.045 --> 00:30:44.415
but specifically Santa Barbara
public schools.

00:30:44.782 --> 00:30:46.617
I was born and raised here.

00:30:46.617 --> 00:30:48.719
This is my home.
This is where my family is.

00:30:48.719 --> 00:30:51.288
This is where I chose to raise
my own son.

00:30:52.122 --> 00:30:54.425
I had been working
in our school system

00:30:54.425 --> 00:30:56.994
to try to get more
sustainability measures.

00:30:57.561 --> 00:30:59.496
With mixed results,
it's not easy.

00:30:59.496 --> 00:31:01.765
There's a lot of challenges
facing our schools.

00:31:01.765 --> 00:31:04.501
Every single school board
meeting, I would bring it up.

00:31:04.501 --> 00:31:05.970
What of the sustainability
measures?

00:31:05.970 --> 00:31:08.205
How can we didn't do solar?
Could we have done solar?

00:31:08.205 --> 00:31:09.707
Because that's
really the role of

00:31:09.707 --> 00:31:10.374
the school board

00:31:10.374 --> 00:31:13.444
is to become a megaphone
for what community members

00:31:13.444 --> 00:31:15.746
had been asking me, like,
why can't our schools do better?

00:31:16.547 --> 00:31:19.817
What catapulted
this massive project

00:31:19.817 --> 00:31:23.087
was the fact that we had
a devastating tragedy.

00:31:23.988 --> 00:31:25.489
Late 2017,

00:31:25.489 --> 00:31:26.490
the Santa Barbara region

00:31:26.490 --> 00:31:30.294
was struck by a major fire
called the Thomas Fire,

00:31:30.294 --> 00:31:31.328
and at the time

00:31:31.328 --> 00:31:32.963
it was the largest fire

00:31:32.963 --> 00:31:34.632
in California's history.

00:31:34.632 --> 00:31:38.369
The fire took out the vegetation
that helps

00:31:38.369 --> 00:31:41.705
to keep the earth
in a steady state.

00:31:42.339 --> 00:31:44.842
And then we had a major rainfall

00:31:44.842 --> 00:31:47.511
that happened
in January of 2018.

00:31:48.012 --> 00:31:51.215
And all that earth just came
down from the mountains.

00:31:52.049 --> 00:31:53.083
A landslide.

00:31:54.718 --> 00:31:55.219
This was a

00:31:55.219 --> 00:31:58.656
huge, devastating impact
on the community.

00:31:59.056 --> 00:32:01.625
23 lives were lost

00:32:01.625 --> 00:32:06.130
across a spectrum of ages
from from babies to elderly.

00:32:06.130 --> 00:32:08.699
We lost 400 homes.

00:32:08.699 --> 00:32:10.534
You could not pass through
Santa Barbara

00:32:10.534 --> 00:32:11.702
on the 101 freeway,

00:32:11.702 --> 00:32:13.871
which is the only freeway
serving this area.

00:32:14.405 --> 00:32:18.175
That mudslide really woke up
some administrators

00:32:18.175 --> 00:32:19.443
to say, yeah,

00:32:19.443 --> 00:32:21.412
we got to do this
and we need our schools

00:32:21.412 --> 00:32:22.680
to be front and center

00:32:22.680 --> 00:32:25.716
in terms of safe havens
for people in time of need.

00:32:26.083 --> 00:32:31.789
That did make people understand
the value of resilience

00:32:31.789 --> 00:32:34.725
that comes from local
renewables,

00:32:35.325 --> 00:32:40.097
local energy storage,
and ultimately solar microgrids.

00:32:41.165 --> 00:32:44.668
A microgrid is a combination
of energy generation,

00:32:45.035 --> 00:32:48.005
potentially tied together
with energy storage

00:32:48.005 --> 00:32:51.308
to address
specific uses of electricity.

00:32:51.775 --> 00:32:53.544
It can serve a single facility.

00:32:53.544 --> 00:32:56.013
It can serve a community.

00:32:56.013 --> 00:32:58.716
It can be connected
to the broader grid.

00:32:58.716 --> 00:33:01.719
Or it can be operating
on its own 100% of the time.

00:33:02.252 --> 00:33:05.556
A microgrid has a tremendous
level of flexibility

00:33:05.556 --> 00:33:09.393
that other ways of delivering
energy do not.

00:33:09.893 --> 00:33:12.429
The intention of the Solar
microgrids

00:33:12.429 --> 00:33:15.899
is to provide resilience
to the schools themselves,

00:33:16.567 --> 00:33:18.936
but also to the broader
communities,

00:33:18.936 --> 00:33:22.339
so that when there are
grid outages,

00:33:22.339 --> 00:33:23.440
no matter how long

00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:26.910
those grid outages might last,
the most critical loads

00:33:26.910 --> 00:33:28.145
will never turn off.

00:33:28.145 --> 00:33:31.648
In the event of a disaster,
the school system can provide

00:33:31.648 --> 00:33:34.051
the basic needs for
the community.

00:33:34.051 --> 00:33:39.423
People can look to the schools
as a place to get refuge.

00:33:39.423 --> 00:33:42.126
Our gyms can be open
for shelter.

00:33:42.459 --> 00:33:46.263
We can roll out
tents on the playing fields.

00:33:46.263 --> 00:33:49.666
Meals can be served to families
that need that food.

00:33:49.666 --> 00:33:53.670
Emergency operators can use
the facilities to broadcast

00:33:53.670 --> 00:33:54.972
and tell people what to do.

00:33:54.972 --> 00:33:56.974
Schools will become even more of

00:33:56.974 --> 00:33:58.942
the safe
havens that we need them to be

00:33:58.942 --> 00:34:01.945
in this age
of massive climate disasters.

00:34:03.247 --> 00:34:05.549
The Clean Coalition
is a nonprofit with the mission

00:34:05.549 --> 00:34:07.017
to accelerate the transition

00:34:07.017 --> 00:34:09.620
to renewable energy
and a modern grid.

00:34:09.620 --> 00:34:12.322
Our main role is to facilitate
these projects from start

00:34:12.322 --> 00:34:13.824
to end, helping them execute

00:34:13.824 --> 00:34:15.459
each step along the way
to make sure

00:34:15.459 --> 00:34:17.494
that they're getting
the most benefit out of it.

00:34:17.494 --> 00:34:20.164
We don't build,
own or operate anything,

00:34:20.164 --> 00:34:22.199
but we accelerate to that point.

00:34:22.199 --> 00:34:25.569
The developer now comes
in, takes the work that we have

00:34:25.569 --> 00:34:28.672
done, builds on it, and develops
the actual project.

00:34:29.373 --> 00:34:31.775
The Santa Barbara Unified School
District has been wanting

00:34:31.775 --> 00:34:32.976
to do this type of project.

00:34:32.976 --> 00:34:36.847
And so the Clean Coalition
sought out to make sure that

00:34:36.847 --> 00:34:38.549
that that actually happened.

00:34:38.549 --> 00:34:41.585
The Clean Air Coalition
proactively did a solar

00:34:41.585 --> 00:34:43.220
siting survey

00:34:43.220 --> 00:34:45.122
for every campus
in the Santa Barbara

00:34:45.122 --> 00:34:48.759
Unified School District
and then approached the district

00:34:48.759 --> 00:34:52.963
and presented it to then
Superintendent Cary Matsuoka.

00:34:53.463 --> 00:34:57.668
The Clean Coalition
is really focused on a trifecta

00:34:57.668 --> 00:35:01.505
of economic, environmental
and resilience benefits.

00:35:01.505 --> 00:35:05.209
What I find
is that everybody cares about

00:35:05.209 --> 00:35:08.879
at least one of those
three pieces of the trifecta.

00:35:09.613 --> 00:35:13.016
We presented a pretty extensive
presentation that showed

00:35:13.016 --> 00:35:14.484
this is a great opportunity.

00:35:14.484 --> 00:35:16.320
You have X amount of megawatts

00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:18.088
to site across
your whole school district.

00:35:18.088 --> 00:35:18.789
What we found

00:35:18.789 --> 00:35:21.725
is that solar on parking
lots were the best choice.

00:35:22.359 --> 00:35:23.994
It's such a great example

00:35:23.994 --> 00:35:25.429
to set for students,

00:35:25.429 --> 00:35:27.564
showing them that our carbon footprint

00:35:27.564 --> 00:35:29.900
right now has a huge impact on

00:35:29.900 --> 00:35:31.001
their future.

00:35:31.001 --> 00:35:32.436
Now, throughout our district,

00:35:32.436 --> 00:35:33.670
we have these fantastic

00:35:33.670 --> 00:35:35.672
structures designed for one purpose,

00:35:35.672 --> 00:35:36.740
but with creativity,

00:35:36.740 --> 00:35:38.542
have transformed into an outdoor

00:35:38.542 --> 00:35:41.712
multipurpose
classroom, conversation pieces

00:35:41.712 --> 00:35:45.682
that embody science, technology,
engineering and mathematics.

00:35:45.949 --> 00:35:47.117
And, you know,
we have a hashtag.

00:35:47.117 --> 00:35:48.185
We are unified.

00:35:48.185 --> 00:35:50.554
And I want to
add, we are now “solarfied”.

00:35:52.456 --> 00:35:53.857
Just a few years ago,

00:35:53.857 --> 00:35:56.827
we were
0% reliant on renewables.

00:35:57.527 --> 00:36:00.664
And with this project,
we'll be 94 to

00:36:00.664 --> 00:36:04.101
98% reliant on renewables
finally.

00:36:04.101 --> 00:36:05.435
And that's a huge win.

00:36:05.435 --> 00:36:08.472
Many people don't realize
we also pay energy

00:36:08.472 --> 00:36:11.975
bills, water bills,
just like other businesses do.

00:36:11.975 --> 00:36:15.979
21 schools,
800 classrooms, 13,000 kids,

00:36:15.979 --> 00:36:18.248
one of the biggest property
owners in this whole area.

00:36:19.016 --> 00:36:20.684
It's important
that we save as much money

00:36:20.684 --> 00:36:23.053
as we can and do so
in such a sustainable way.

00:36:23.587 --> 00:36:28.025
This project will save
$8 million, which is money

00:36:28.025 --> 00:36:30.594
that can go directly back
into the classroom.

00:36:30.594 --> 00:36:32.663
It's an investment
that pays for itself, really.

00:36:33.931 --> 00:36:38.302
The Clean Coalition has a vision
for a community microgrid

00:36:38.302 --> 00:36:41.705
that will provide
100% solar driven resilience

00:36:41.705 --> 00:36:44.274
to the entire Santa
Barbara region.

00:36:44.274 --> 00:36:47.678
I founded
the Clean Coalition in 2009

00:36:47.678 --> 00:36:49.646
and there were
several reasons why.

00:36:49.646 --> 00:36:52.549
The first is that I'm
a lifelong environmentalist.

00:36:53.417 --> 00:36:55.585
Back in the early 2000s, it

00:36:55.585 --> 00:37:00.390
became increasingly clear to me
that we need to change the way

00:37:00.390 --> 00:37:03.527
that energy is generated
and more importantly,

00:37:03.527 --> 00:37:05.195
where it is generated.

00:37:05.195 --> 00:37:05.963
And we need to

00:37:05.963 --> 00:37:09.967
generate close to loads,
which is where people live

00:37:09.967 --> 00:37:11.101
and work.

00:37:11.101 --> 00:37:13.937
Rather than generating out
in the middle of nowhere,

00:37:13.937 --> 00:37:15.038
traveling over long

00:37:15.038 --> 00:37:18.241
transmission lines
which are inherently vulnerable.

00:37:18.241 --> 00:37:21.244
We have an especially vulnerable
transmission grid.

00:37:21.244 --> 00:37:24.915
Luckily, the solution is really
straightforward,

00:37:24.915 --> 00:37:26.249
is doing a lot more

00:37:26.249 --> 00:37:29.386
of these projects throughout
the Santa Barbara region.

00:37:30.020 --> 00:37:34.391
In order to make that possible
we need to have the ability

00:37:34.391 --> 00:37:39.396
for the grid to modernize
from one where you have

00:37:39.396 --> 00:37:43.133
large central generation
power plants, traveling over

00:37:43.133 --> 00:37:47.738
extremely long transmission
lines, which are as hazardous

00:37:47.738 --> 00:37:50.640
to pristine ecosystems
as building roads.

00:37:51.541 --> 00:37:54.044
Now that we're incorporating
these renewable

00:37:54.044 --> 00:37:55.612
generating assets

00:37:55.612 --> 00:37:57.647
that are variable
like solar and wind,

00:37:57.647 --> 00:38:00.584
we need other new technology
that will bring the grid

00:38:00.584 --> 00:38:01.618
into a modern era

00:38:01.618 --> 00:38:04.087
so that we can use them
not only during the day

00:38:04.087 --> 00:38:07.224
when the sun shining, for
example, but at night as well.

00:38:07.824 --> 00:38:09.693
That means that
there will be times

00:38:09.693 --> 00:38:10.293
where the energy

00:38:10.293 --> 00:38:12.929
is actually flowing back
to the grid from the customer,

00:38:13.430 --> 00:38:16.800
and then that's going to flow
over to the neighboring homes

00:38:16.800 --> 00:38:18.168
and businesses.

00:38:18.402 --> 00:38:22.439
One of the statistics
that is surprising to most

00:38:22.439 --> 00:38:26.109
people and was really surprising
to me, the transmission

00:38:26.109 --> 00:38:29.079
grid is going to cost ratepayers

00:38:29.513 --> 00:38:32.282
ten times more for maintenance

00:38:32.616 --> 00:38:36.186
than it is for the initial cost
of that transmission line.

00:38:36.586 --> 00:38:39.656
And the fact
that the transmission grid is

00:38:39.656 --> 00:38:42.826
so exorbitantly expensive is

00:38:42.826 --> 00:38:46.463
one of the key reasons that
the Clean Coalition is focused

00:38:46.463 --> 00:38:51.134
on getting our energy resources
from local renewables.

00:38:51.435 --> 00:38:54.304
We can get to 100%
renewable energy.

00:38:54.604 --> 00:38:57.574
There are people
who do not believe that, but

00:38:57.574 --> 00:39:01.378
we already have communities
that are 100% renewable energy.

00:39:01.745 --> 00:39:04.948
The Clean Coalition does studies
all the time in terms of

00:39:04.948 --> 00:39:08.351
how to create a facility and

00:39:08.351 --> 00:39:11.088
or a community that is off grid.

00:39:11.421 --> 00:39:13.824
We will get to 100% renewable
energy.

00:39:14.157 --> 00:39:15.292
It's just a matter

00:39:15.292 --> 00:39:18.962
of whether that's going to
happen in ten years or 30 years.

00:39:19.229 --> 00:39:20.997
We fight every day

00:39:20.997 --> 00:39:22.432
to make sure
that that transition

00:39:22.432 --> 00:39:25.602
is going to happen
closer to the ten year time

00:39:25.602 --> 00:39:28.071
frame than the 30 year
time frame.

00:39:28.071 --> 00:39:30.740
I absolutely feel the urgency.

00:39:31.041 --> 00:39:32.609
And because I'm
somebody that invests

00:39:32.609 --> 00:39:35.212
in the future of kids
as part of my career,

00:39:35.612 --> 00:39:37.314
I think we should always
be thinking about

00:39:37.314 --> 00:39:39.382
what are we leaving behind for
our students?

00:39:39.382 --> 00:39:41.284
Fundamentally, students are

00:39:41.284 --> 00:39:44.554
light years ahead of us
when it comes to climate change.

00:39:44.554 --> 00:39:45.722
Top of their list.

00:39:45.722 --> 00:39:47.724
If you look at any polling
of young people,

00:39:47.724 --> 00:39:50.026
it's climate change, it's
the environment. They get it.

00:39:50.026 --> 00:39:51.695
This is really a win
for our kids,

00:39:51.695 --> 00:39:54.064
and that's what tugs
at my heartstrings the most

00:39:54.064 --> 00:39:57.767
because us grownups kind of
messed this stuff up for them.

00:39:57.767 --> 00:39:59.302
And as a mom and as somebody

00:39:59.302 --> 00:40:02.139
who was really motivated
to run for the school board

00:40:02.405 --> 00:40:05.709
because of sustainability,
the fact that these structures

00:40:06.009 --> 00:40:09.746
are up and running and going
is just a tremendous source

00:40:09.746 --> 00:40:10.413
of pride for me.

00:40:10.413 --> 00:40:11.414
And I'm grateful

00:40:11.414 --> 00:40:13.617
to so many people
that were advocating for this

00:40:13.617 --> 00:40:15.218
for a very long time.

00:40:15.218 --> 00:40:17.254
I just had the privilege
of coming in

00:40:17.254 --> 00:40:19.055
and building
upon the work that they did.

00:40:20.257 --> 00:40:20.857
Santa Barbara

00:40:20.857 --> 00:40:24.194
Unified School
District is a true leader,

00:40:24.194 --> 00:40:27.197
by rolling out these solar
microgrid projects.

00:40:27.197 --> 00:40:31.535
The hardest projects ever
to get done are the first ones.

00:40:32.002 --> 00:40:37.107
And all of that learning is now
available to everyone else

00:40:37.107 --> 00:40:40.443
that can follow
and should follow.

00:40:41.311 --> 00:40:44.047
Everything we do is available

00:40:44.514 --> 00:40:47.184
from the Clean
Coalition website, which

00:40:47.184 --> 00:40:51.054
has an immense treasure
trove of case studies

00:40:51.054 --> 00:40:54.824
and other information that is
really intended to allow people

00:40:54.824 --> 00:40:57.661
to do the same type of work
that the Clean Coalition does.

00:40:58.562 --> 00:41:01.031
So much of the way I view
our community is through

00:41:01.031 --> 00:41:02.566
the lens of environmentalism,

00:41:02.566 --> 00:41:06.069
because I was born shortly
after the oil spill of 1969.

00:41:06.536 --> 00:41:09.472
It was the biggest oil spill
ever at that time.

00:41:09.472 --> 00:41:10.340
It was devastating

00:41:10.340 --> 00:41:12.976
and it captured the sympathy
of the world.

00:41:13.610 --> 00:41:17.480
Pictures of birds soaked in oil,
massive destruction.

00:41:17.981 --> 00:41:20.584
That really spawned
a whole movement.

00:41:21.351 --> 00:41:23.286
A group of people came together.

00:41:23.286 --> 00:41:24.588
They called themselves
the Community

00:41:24.588 --> 00:41:26.957
Environmental Council,
and they planned an event.

00:41:27.591 --> 00:41:28.858
And Earth Day was here.

00:41:28.858 --> 00:41:30.694
It was born here.

00:41:30.694 --> 00:41:33.964
Environmentalism is in our DNA
in Santa Barbara.

00:41:33.964 --> 00:41:35.765
It's who we are as people.

00:41:35.765 --> 00:41:39.703
This is a community
of caretakers, and environmental

00:41:39.703 --> 00:41:41.771
sustainability
is at the top of the list.

00:41:41.771 --> 00:41:45.742
Almost every day there's news
about the latest policies

00:41:45.742 --> 00:41:47.344
being rolled out
from Sacramento.

00:41:47.344 --> 00:41:48.645
The word is that California is

00:41:48.645 --> 00:41:51.381
sort of the pace car for the
nation, and I'm proud of that.

00:41:51.381 --> 00:41:55.985
I want Santa Barbara to be
the pace car for even California.

00:41:55.986 --> 00:41:59.823
1, 2, 3,  Solar Power!

00:42:57.994 --> 00:43:00.430
Recognizing that if we could

00:43:00.430 --> 00:43:04.201
do for water
what solar did for electricity

00:43:05.102 --> 00:43:07.738
and enable everybody
on the planet to own the water

00:43:07.738 --> 00:43:11.908
that they drink, making potable
water a distributed resource

00:43:11.908 --> 00:43:16.713
that's infrastructure free and
is entirely driven by sunlight.

00:43:16.713 --> 00:43:20.016
If you could do that for water,
that would be a huge

00:43:20.016 --> 00:43:23.320
game changer for the planet
and for humanity.

00:43:29.926 --> 00:43:33.797
2.4 billion people lack access
to safe water at their home.

00:43:33.797 --> 00:43:36.066
It's quite a shocking number.

00:43:36.066 --> 00:43:38.435
That's effectively
a third of all humanity.

00:43:40.003 --> 00:43:42.405
So we have to solve
this problem.

00:43:42.405 --> 00:43:45.609
And we have to solve it soon.

00:43:49.212 --> 00:43:52.582
By 2030, 40% of the world

00:43:52.582 --> 00:43:54.417
will not have simple, clean

00:43:54.417 --> 00:43:56.219
pure access to drinking water.

00:43:56.219 --> 00:43:57.788
That number could continue to grow

00:43:57.788 --> 00:44:00.056
as our world's population grows

00:44:00.056 --> 00:44:01.758
and available drinking water

00:44:01.758 --> 00:44:05.495
in aquifers and groundwater
continues to diminish.

00:44:06.062 --> 00:44:07.731
Aquifers are drying up around
the world.

00:44:07.731 --> 00:44:09.332
We're seeing cities and towns

00:44:09.332 --> 00:44:11.968
in California and Texas
actually run out of water.

00:44:12.402 --> 00:44:16.173
You think that you have about
3 minutes of life without air

00:44:16.740 --> 00:44:18.809
and about three days of life
without water.

00:44:19.543 --> 00:44:22.078
When it comes to air, you just
take a breath and you own it.

00:44:23.046 --> 00:44:24.848
Water is
such a fundamental human right.

00:44:24.848 --> 00:44:28.685
It is maybe THE most fundamental
human right alongside air.

00:44:28.685 --> 00:44:32.422
Both air and water are intrinsic
to whether or not

00:44:32.422 --> 00:44:33.690
you are alive.

00:44:33.690 --> 00:44:35.992
And yet with water,
there's variability

00:44:36.560 --> 00:44:39.563
by geography, by ethnicity,

00:44:39.563 --> 00:44:42.098
by gender, by wealth

00:44:42.933 --> 00:44:45.468
and in some places,
there isn't an option

00:44:45.468 --> 00:44:47.404
for potable water today.
And other places

00:44:47.404 --> 00:44:49.439
there is an option,
but it's very expensive.

00:44:49.439 --> 00:44:51.308
The reality of it
is that drinking

00:44:51.308 --> 00:44:53.977
water issues are facing people
in our own backyard.

00:44:53.977 --> 00:44:55.846
Here in Arizona,

00:44:55.846 --> 00:44:57.814
ah, people don't have access
to drinking water

00:44:57.814 --> 00:44:58.715
in their own house.

00:44:58.715 --> 00:45:01.818
In that thought process,
that drove the specifications

00:45:01.818 --> 00:45:04.354
of what Source
hydro panels had to be,

00:45:04.354 --> 00:45:08.558
which is to say
could not require electricity,

00:45:08.558 --> 00:45:12.128
could not require high
humidity, could not be something

00:45:12.128 --> 00:45:15.899
that had to be modified
per place,

00:45:16.600 --> 00:45:19.736
but rather a single technology
that could take in sunlight

00:45:19.736 --> 00:45:21.438
and air, essentially anywhere

00:45:21.438 --> 00:45:23.406
on the planet,
and produce perfect water.

00:45:24.474 --> 00:45:27.110
And so that started to set

00:45:27.110 --> 00:45:30.247
the bar that we had to clear
from a technical perspective.

00:45:30.847 --> 00:45:34.351
And so holding that bar
really high really meant that

00:45:34.351 --> 00:45:38.288
when we cleared that bar,
we ended up with a solution

00:45:38.288 --> 00:45:41.925
that is truly a technology
for lifting humanity up.

00:45:48.031 --> 00:45:50.367
So think about when you go
to your favorite greasy

00:45:50.367 --> 00:45:52.936
spoon restaurant
and in the salt shaker,

00:45:52.936 --> 00:45:54.471
there are some rice
kernels inside.

00:45:54.471 --> 00:45:56.039
Those rice kernels are in there

00:45:56.039 --> 00:45:59.976
because the rice is more
hydroscopic, science word here.

00:46:00.577 --> 00:46:04.247
That rice is likes water vapor
more than the salt does.

00:46:04.247 --> 00:46:08.618
And so it steals the water vapor
before the salt can pick it up

00:46:08.618 --> 00:46:09.853
and clump,

00:46:09.853 --> 00:46:12.489
so that the salt still comes out
of the top of the salt shaker,

00:46:12.489 --> 00:46:15.592
taking up that water vapor
and making it 10,000 times

00:46:15.592 --> 00:46:18.361
more dense is what source
hydro panels does.

00:46:18.895 --> 00:46:21.231
And we can take those materials
and show them to sunlight

00:46:21.665 --> 00:46:22.799
and cause that water vapor

00:46:22.799 --> 00:46:24.968
to respire back out
and create conditions

00:46:24.968 --> 00:46:25.769
inside the panels

00:46:25.769 --> 00:46:28.238
that are very similar
to those in the salt shaker,

00:46:28.605 --> 00:46:31.041
except we can do that
at high noon in the desert.

00:46:32.409 --> 00:46:33.410
And so it's like

00:46:33.410 --> 00:46:35.512
distilling the air.

00:46:37.747 --> 00:46:41.117
There's water in the
troposphere all around us.

00:46:41.117 --> 00:46:43.753
The amount of water vapor
in that layer

00:46:43.753 --> 00:46:46.556
is more than six times
all the Earth's rivers combined.

00:46:47.090 --> 00:46:48.525
It's a huge amount of water,

00:46:48.525 --> 00:46:51.361
and it's replaced every week
by the hydrologic cycle.

00:46:51.728 --> 00:46:54.130
And it's just floating around
in the air around us.

00:46:54.130 --> 00:46:56.766
And all we've done
is find a way to harness

00:46:56.766 --> 00:46:58.768
and capture
that moisture, control

00:46:58.768 --> 00:47:01.671
and affect that condensation
in a way that's very efficient

00:47:02.005 --> 00:47:04.407
and can be harnessed
for human use.

00:47:04.407 --> 00:47:06.343
So it's the ultimate renewable
resource.

00:47:06.343 --> 00:47:09.479
We're taking moisture
or water vapor out of the air

00:47:09.779 --> 00:47:12.282
and allowing it to condense
and become liquid water.

00:47:12.282 --> 00:47:14.384
In the center, there's
a traditional solar panel

00:47:14.384 --> 00:47:16.453
that's powering
the entire system.

00:47:16.453 --> 00:47:19.723
Flanking that on either
side are two black squares

00:47:19.723 --> 00:47:22.525
that are solar thermal absorbers
that are absorbing

00:47:22.525 --> 00:47:24.427
as much thermal energy
as possible.

00:47:24.427 --> 00:47:26.363
Now on the side of the union

00:47:26.363 --> 00:47:28.465
are fans
that are drawing in ambient air.

00:47:28.465 --> 00:47:29.566
And anywhere in the world

00:47:29.566 --> 00:47:32.702
there is water vapor in the air,
that air is drawn in by

00:47:32.702 --> 00:47:34.270
those fans
at the base of the unit.

00:47:34.270 --> 00:47:37.941
No matter how hot it is outside
the panel, when that cooler air

00:47:37.941 --> 00:47:41.144
containing water vapor hits
that hotter environment,

00:47:41.144 --> 00:47:42.746
it allows for condensation.

00:47:42.746 --> 00:47:44.347
All the water is condensed

00:47:44.347 --> 00:47:46.149
it trickles
down to the base of the panel

00:47:46.149 --> 00:47:47.884
where it is
stored in a reservoir.

00:47:47.884 --> 00:47:50.954
While it's in that reservoir,
it gets mineralized with calcium

00:47:50.954 --> 00:47:54.024
and magnesium, bringing it up
to a pH of about 8,

00:47:54.424 --> 00:47:56.826
at which point it tastes good
and is better for you.

00:47:56.826 --> 00:47:59.529
Additionally, the water is
circulated throughout the day

00:48:00.130 --> 00:48:02.365
in its reservoir
and there's also an ozonation

00:48:02.365 --> 00:48:03.767
process inside the machine

00:48:03.767 --> 00:48:05.668
that prohibits
any sort of bacteria

00:48:05.668 --> 00:48:07.570
or anything like that
from growing inside.

00:48:07.570 --> 00:48:10.040
As long as we have sunlight,
we can make water

00:48:10.040 --> 00:48:12.409
and we can do that
in a really low cost way

00:48:12.409 --> 00:48:15.311
that doesn't involve electricity
or other resources

00:48:15.311 --> 00:48:16.546
that have to come in.

00:48:22.052 --> 00:48:23.453
Each one of the panels maintains

00:48:23.453 --> 00:48:26.289
a cellular connection
with our network operations

00:48:26.289 --> 00:48:30.193
center and monitoring over 250
different variables

00:48:30.193 --> 00:48:31.127
within the panel.

00:48:31.127 --> 00:48:32.762
There's a lot of sensors
inside the unit.

00:48:32.762 --> 00:48:34.230
Each one of these components

00:48:34.230 --> 00:48:37.300
is being constantly monitored
by our team and all that data

00:48:37.300 --> 00:48:38.868
is being sent back
to our headquarters.

00:48:38.868 --> 00:48:42.472
By getting all this data
and understanding the experience

00:48:42.472 --> 00:48:44.874
every single one of our units
has, that has allowed us

00:48:44.874 --> 00:48:46.709
to continue
to improve this machine

00:48:46.709 --> 00:48:48.711
dramatically,
and in a very short timeframe.

00:48:49.712 --> 00:48:51.648
So I grew up in the Sonoran
Desert.

00:48:51.648 --> 00:48:55.418
Being in that environment,
I was always very into science,

00:48:55.418 --> 00:48:57.153
into inventing things,
thinking about

00:48:57.153 --> 00:49:00.223
how we could do something
a little different.

00:49:00.990 --> 00:49:04.761
And so as I grew up
and I became a scientist,

00:49:04.761 --> 00:49:06.930
I got my PhD
at MIT in material science

00:49:06.930 --> 00:49:09.732
and came back to Arizona
as a professor at ASU.

00:49:10.266 --> 00:49:12.702
That came full circle over time.

00:49:12.702 --> 00:49:16.272
This idea of inventing,
this idea of innovating

00:49:17.140 --> 00:49:20.143
to solve big problems,
and then applying what I learned

00:49:20.143 --> 00:49:21.144
in the renewable energy space

00:49:21.144 --> 00:49:22.846
to do that in a way that didn't

00:49:22.846 --> 00:49:25.048
just solve the problem,
but truly democratizes

00:49:25.048 --> 00:49:26.516
the resource that we're after.

00:49:26.516 --> 00:49:28.084
The average
cost of a liter of bottled

00:49:28.084 --> 00:49:29.619
water is 50 cents per liter.

00:49:29.619 --> 00:49:33.356
With source panels,
it actually is 15 cents.

00:49:33.356 --> 00:49:36.426
The best applications
for this technology

00:49:36.426 --> 00:49:38.328
are whether the water is scarce

00:49:38.328 --> 00:49:40.163
or whether the water
is contaminated.

00:49:40.163 --> 00:49:41.598
One of my favorite examples

00:49:41.598 --> 00:49:43.933
of a project that we've done
is the Samburu Girls

00:49:43.933 --> 00:49:44.968
School in Kenya.

00:49:44.968 --> 00:49:47.103
We installed 50 panels
at the school there

00:49:47.103 --> 00:49:49.372
and it has provided
immediate impact to

00:49:49.372 --> 00:49:51.007
these young women's lives.

00:49:51.007 --> 00:49:51.674
Every day

00:49:51.674 --> 00:49:54.644
200,000,000 hours are spent
by women, hauling water

00:49:54.644 --> 00:49:55.445
around the world.

00:49:55.445 --> 00:49:57.480
And our goal
is to try to eliminate that

00:49:57.480 --> 00:49:58.915
and give those people,

00:49:58.915 --> 00:50:00.817
those women in particular,
their lives back.

00:50:00.817 --> 00:50:02.318
So instead of spending time

00:50:02.318 --> 00:50:03.319
hauling water

00:50:03.319 --> 00:50:06.489
spend time on education, spend
time on their own development,

00:50:06.489 --> 00:50:07.957
spend
time with their own families.

00:50:09.459 --> 00:50:10.393
A Source field

00:50:10.393 --> 00:50:14.430
is a field of Source panels
and we call it a water farm.

00:50:14.430 --> 00:50:16.766
We're harvesting
moisture from the air

00:50:16.766 --> 00:50:18.334
and then providing it
to a community.

00:50:18.334 --> 00:50:21.271
It's quite literally farming
this moisture out of the air

00:50:21.271 --> 00:50:23.206
and creating potable drinking
water.

00:50:23.206 --> 00:50:25.708
Currently, the largest one
that we're going to have

00:50:25.708 --> 00:50:29.045
available is a 1000
panel field in Australia.

00:50:29.045 --> 00:50:30.680
And there's no limit to the size

00:50:30.680 --> 00:50:34.184
of any one of these water farms
or Source fields can be.

00:50:34.717 --> 00:50:36.986
The only limitation is space.

00:50:40.857 --> 00:50:43.326
Source is installed
now in 52 countries

00:50:43.326 --> 00:50:46.029
around the world
in a huge range of applications.

00:50:46.362 --> 00:50:48.198
But ultimately
when we are installed

00:50:48.198 --> 00:50:50.767
at people's homes
that need water,

00:50:51.267 --> 00:50:54.070
that's where you can see
the impact so directly.

00:50:56.606 --> 00:50:59.275
Right here in Arizona
we have the San Carlos Nation,

00:50:59.609 --> 00:51:01.711
which is about 9000
San Carlos Apache

00:51:02.078 --> 00:51:04.547
and there's massive water stress
on that reservation.

00:51:04.747 --> 00:51:06.849
The primary issue is scarcity.

00:51:07.383 --> 00:51:09.519
It's an issue of do
they have water

00:51:09.519 --> 00:51:10.587
where they need it,

00:51:10.587 --> 00:51:12.822
when they need it at the quality
they need it.

00:51:12.822 --> 00:51:15.158
But I've been using water
from outside.

00:51:15.158 --> 00:51:16.693
I would bring it in

00:51:17.360 --> 00:51:19.596
and keep it in a bottle

00:51:19.596 --> 00:51:21.998
and leave it in my kitchen area.

00:51:21.998 --> 00:51:25.735
I felt like since the water
was kind of like

00:51:26.236 --> 00:51:29.339
whitish looking when it came
out of the fountain,

00:51:29.939 --> 00:51:31.941
I didn't trust myself
in drinking it.

00:51:31.941 --> 00:51:34.210
And then I thought

00:51:34.210 --> 00:51:35.979
maybe I better not drink it.

00:51:35.979 --> 00:51:38.047
I started buying bottle waters.

00:51:38.514 --> 00:51:41.117
But now, ever since

00:51:41.117 --> 00:51:43.953
this is put up, the
the Source here

00:51:43.953 --> 00:51:47.690
I started using it
and I use it for coffee,

00:51:47.690 --> 00:51:48.825
for my drinking water.

00:51:48.825 --> 00:51:51.594
I fill up my bottles
and that's what I use to drink.

00:51:51.594 --> 00:51:53.630
So I like it.

00:51:53.630 --> 00:51:54.998
Water is precious.

00:51:54.998 --> 00:51:56.899
This is a precious thing.

00:51:56.899 --> 00:51:59.802
We have to take care
of the water

00:51:59.802 --> 00:52:02.972
and it'll take care of us.

00:52:02.972 --> 00:52:06.542
The San Carlos Apache will drive
30 to 45 minutes one way

00:52:06.542 --> 00:52:09.646
to go get water every week
or maybe more than once a week.

00:52:09.646 --> 00:52:10.980
And when you think
about the cost

00:52:10.980 --> 00:52:14.951
and time to go make that drive
and spending money on water

00:52:14.951 --> 00:52:18.988
and then also having all that
plastic waste, which frankly

00:52:18.988 --> 00:52:21.324
they don't have a good way
of getting rid of.

00:52:21.324 --> 00:52:24.994
So instead of having to go
haul water and bring back water

00:52:24.994 --> 00:52:26.496
in plastic bottles,

00:52:26.496 --> 00:52:29.332
they now no longer
have to create all that waste.

00:52:29.732 --> 00:52:31.234
For your average liter of water.

00:52:31.234 --> 00:52:32.735
There's
probably three liters of water

00:52:32.735 --> 00:52:34.370
that have been used
to produce it.

00:52:34.370 --> 00:52:36.272
So not only are you impacting

00:52:36.272 --> 00:52:37.240
water resources

00:52:37.307 --> 00:52:39.575
in the whole world
by allowing people to create

00:52:39.575 --> 00:52:41.244
and have it right there
at their home,

00:52:41.244 --> 00:52:42.812
there's not
the environmental impact

00:52:42.812 --> 00:52:44.414
of all the plastic that gets used

00:52:44.414 --> 00:52:46.316
in the production
of that bottled water.

00:52:51.621 --> 00:52:53.156
There are over a trillion

00:52:53.156 --> 00:52:56.225
plastic bottles of water
sold every year globally.

00:52:56.225 --> 00:52:58.428
95% of
that is in the emerging markets

00:52:59.462 --> 00:53:03.166
and is growing at a 9% compound
annual growth rate.

00:53:03.166 --> 00:53:06.269
And so how do we use technology
to move away

00:53:06.269 --> 00:53:09.072
from an unsustainable practice
to one that is sustainable?

00:53:09.872 --> 00:53:13.076
So if you can eliminate
all the transportation aspects

00:53:13.076 --> 00:53:14.610
of moving water from one place

00:53:14.610 --> 00:53:18.681
to another and eliminate
all the aspects of production

00:53:18.681 --> 00:53:21.217
with making
and then removing plastic,

00:53:21.818 --> 00:53:24.754
that's a tremendous impact
that can be made by simply

00:53:24.754 --> 00:53:27.357
having hydro panels,
providing water to a community

00:53:27.724 --> 00:53:29.125
right where they live.

00:53:29.125 --> 00:53:30.993
I myself
am extraordinarily passionate

00:53:30.993 --> 00:53:33.329
about solving drinking
water around the planet.

00:53:33.696 --> 00:53:36.499
And now we've arrived
at a solution to do that.

00:53:37.166 --> 00:53:38.301
So I'm super hopeful!

00:53:38.301 --> 00:53:40.436
It gets me out of bed
in the morning. It's awesome!

00:53:40.436 --> 00:53:41.270
It's pretty mind blowing.

00:53:41.270 --> 00:53:42.438
I mean, this is
unlike anything else

00:53:42.438 --> 00:53:45.842
that exists on the earth
and having people understand

00:53:45.842 --> 00:53:46.509
that this

00:53:46.509 --> 00:53:48.978
concept of water farming that
maybe they're only familiar

00:53:48.978 --> 00:53:51.314
with Dune or Star Wars
is something

00:53:51.314 --> 00:53:53.783
that we can actually do
right here, right now.

00:53:53.783 --> 00:53:56.319
The beautiful thing is
when people first hear

00:53:56.319 --> 00:53:59.122
about Source hydro panels,
it starts with skepticism

00:53:59.122 --> 00:54:02.058
and then it goes to, well,
if that's true, it's like magic.

00:54:02.058 --> 00:54:02.792
And then they

00:54:02.792 --> 00:54:04.861
get their first sip of water
and they realize

00:54:04.861 --> 00:54:06.929
they're holding something heavy

00:54:06.929 --> 00:54:09.532
that was just sunlight
yesterday.

00:54:09.532 --> 00:54:13.002
And the magic becomes something
that is sort of all sudden

00:54:13.002 --> 00:54:15.371
the recognition
of this can change the world.

00:55:23.503 --> 00:55:25.505
The Skagit project generates

00:55:25.505 --> 00:55:28.342
a little over 700 megawatts.

00:55:28.342 --> 00:55:32.179
20 to 40% of the city
of Seattle's power needs.

00:55:32.179 --> 00:55:36.383
That translates
into approximately

00:55:36.383 --> 00:55:40.654
180,000 - 185,000 business
and residential customers.

00:55:40.654 --> 00:55:43.423
That's a very,
very significant portion of a

00:55:43.423 --> 00:55:45.058
large metropolitan area.

00:55:49.229 --> 00:55:51.932
The simplicity
of hydro is exciting.

00:55:51.965 --> 00:55:55.001
We are harnessing what's

00:55:55.001 --> 00:55:58.238
naturally in a river or lake.

00:55:58.238 --> 00:56:00.273
It's the power of falling water.

00:56:00.273 --> 00:56:04.244
You're just moving water
through a turbine based on

00:56:04.244 --> 00:56:06.646
the difference in height
between the top of the lake

00:56:06.646 --> 00:56:10.350
and where the turbine is
and voila, you have electricity.

00:56:12.419 --> 00:56:15.856
It's just basic gravity
powering 20 to 40%

00:56:15.856 --> 00:56:20.727
of the city of Seattle with zero
loss of any water resources.

00:56:20.727 --> 00:56:24.030
Gravity
does all the work for us.

00:56:26.800 --> 00:56:29.302
It's also really cool
that we can use that same water

00:56:29.302 --> 00:56:30.470
three times

00:56:30.470 --> 00:56:33.673
to generate electricity,
and then it continues on down

00:56:33.673 --> 00:56:38.044
the river to provide flows
for fish and ecosystems

00:56:38.044 --> 00:56:40.147
and then make it all the way
to Puget Sound.

00:56:46.553 --> 00:56:47.621
What I love about this

00:56:47.621 --> 00:56:50.624
hydroelectric industry
is that it's 100% renewable.

00:56:50.624 --> 00:56:53.927
It's recharged every year
with rain and snow,

00:56:53.927 --> 00:56:57.831
and we're able to use that water
over and over again.

00:56:58.198 --> 00:57:01.635
One of the things that makes
wind and solar successful is

00:57:01.635 --> 00:57:05.472
because you've got large
hydro systems to back them up,

00:57:05.472 --> 00:57:06.440
because when the wind doesn't

00:57:06.440 --> 00:57:07.908
blow and the sun doesn't shine,

00:57:07.908 --> 00:57:10.043
people
still want to have electricity.

00:57:10.343 --> 00:57:11.845
And so it becomes

00:57:11.845 --> 00:57:14.915
this great synergy
between hydro, wind and solar.

00:57:14.915 --> 00:57:18.018
And that's a great asset
that the city of Seattle

00:57:18.018 --> 00:57:20.454
can provide to our customers,
but also to the region,

00:57:20.754 --> 00:57:21.288
because when

00:57:21.288 --> 00:57:24.057
we have excess power,
we are able to provide that to

00:57:24.624 --> 00:57:26.226
other areas who may need more.

00:57:26.226 --> 00:57:28.228
So they are getting more
power from us.

00:57:29.129 --> 00:57:32.833
Hydro is very on demand
and in fact, more

00:57:32.833 --> 00:57:35.469
so than some of these peaker
plants.

00:57:35.469 --> 00:57:39.639
Hydro can very efficiently
replace peaker plants and other

00:57:39.639 --> 00:57:40.807
fossil fuel

00:57:40.807 --> 00:57:43.977
generation facilities,
which take quite a while

00:57:43.977 --> 00:57:47.781
to ramp up and heat up.  Hydro
frequently a lot quicker

00:57:47.781 --> 00:57:50.283
than those plants
to fill in those gaps

00:57:50.283 --> 00:57:51.718
and some of those peaker plants,
you know,

00:57:51.718 --> 00:57:55.021
they just have to leave hot,
which is wasteful.

00:57:55.021 --> 00:57:57.624
So hydro is really,
really important

00:57:57.624 --> 00:58:00.760
in starting to transition
away from fossil fuels.

00:58:04.998 --> 00:58:06.266
Weather has

00:58:06.266 --> 00:58:10.437
quite a bit to do with
how we operate the hydro dams.

00:58:10.437 --> 00:58:12.572
And my job as a dam safety
engineers

00:58:12.572 --> 00:58:16.510
to make sure that that those
operations are safe and maintain

00:58:16.510 --> 00:58:17.844
the health of the dam.

00:58:17.844 --> 00:58:20.981
The Skagit project was built
almost a hundred years ago

00:58:20.981 --> 00:58:24.150
and designed with
specific conditions in mind.

00:58:24.150 --> 00:58:27.754
Very, very different average
weather patterns.

00:58:27.754 --> 00:58:30.390
Some of our equipment
can't handle extreme heat

00:58:30.390 --> 00:58:31.658
or extreme cold.

00:58:31.658 --> 00:58:34.160
You know, we have extremes
in both directions.

00:58:35.061 --> 00:58:39.499
Climate change has a significant
impact on dam safety

00:58:39.833 --> 00:58:41.701
and just our operations
in general.

00:58:41.701 --> 00:58:45.405
As we get more severe weather
events than we're used to.

00:58:45.405 --> 00:58:48.108
We're starting to see
a lot more of that.

00:58:48.108 --> 00:58:51.845
And Seattle City
Light has to be more vigilant

00:58:51.845 --> 00:58:55.682
on our predictions and the way
that we're forecasting

00:58:55.682 --> 00:58:59.719
and climate change
really affecting our ability to

00:58:59.719 --> 00:59:00.820
model that.

00:59:00.820 --> 00:59:04.324
We're having to adjust
and reducing the climate change

00:59:04.324 --> 00:59:07.193
impact on our dams
and our infrastructure.

00:59:07.193 --> 00:59:09.529
So that we can continue
to create clean energy.

00:59:15.835 --> 00:59:17.137
I think my passion

00:59:17.137 --> 00:59:21.274
for water resources
started with my love

00:59:21.274 --> 00:59:24.210
of gardening and horticulture,
which started as a young child.

00:59:24.511 --> 00:59:26.880
My mom is very into gardening.

00:59:26.880 --> 00:59:30.483
I grew up on about three acres
and we have a large vegetable

00:59:30.483 --> 00:59:32.519
garden and beautiful flower
beds.

00:59:32.852 --> 00:59:34.354
Water is a very important part

00:59:34.354 --> 00:59:37.524
of growing our food
and sustaining life.

00:59:38.224 --> 00:59:39.726
And as I got older,

00:59:39.726 --> 00:59:43.263
I started to learn about some of
the global issues with water.

00:59:43.263 --> 00:59:46.733
I do feel like clean drinking
water is a basic human right.

00:59:47.400 --> 00:59:50.470
And so that's
what really sparked my passion.

00:59:50.470 --> 00:59:52.105
Was once
I had learned that clean

00:59:52.105 --> 00:59:55.775
drinking water and other water
resources were not

00:59:56.309 --> 00:59:58.411
a guarantee
in many parts of the world.

00:59:58.411 --> 01:00:00.680
So I went the environmental

01:00:00.680 --> 01:00:01.481
engineering route

01:00:01.481 --> 01:00:03.683
and just wanted to learn
all things water,

01:00:03.683 --> 01:00:05.919
how water interacts
with our environment,

01:00:05.919 --> 01:00:07.354
how we affect the way

01:00:07.354 --> 01:00:09.756
water interacts
with our environment, and how

01:00:09.756 --> 01:00:13.393
we can harness this energy
for our benefit with minimal

01:00:13.393 --> 01:00:15.028
impact on the environment.

01:00:22.836 --> 01:00:26.272
We are a public utility, and
that means the people that own

01:00:26.272 --> 01:00:29.542
the project are the same people
that pay for all the bills.

01:00:29.542 --> 01:00:31.711
By the virtue of our customers
having ownership,

01:00:31.711 --> 01:00:35.248
there's an immediate connection
between the work the utility

01:00:35.248 --> 01:00:38.818
does and the customers
of the city of Seattle.

01:00:39.085 --> 01:00:41.354
We're not a bottom line
oriented company.

01:00:41.354 --> 01:00:43.423
We have to pay for our costs.

01:00:43.423 --> 01:00:45.392
We have to cover our expenses,

01:00:45.392 --> 01:00:46.960
but we don't have
to make a profit.

01:00:46.960 --> 01:00:52.365
And our responsibility is
to deliver electrical services

01:00:52.365 --> 01:00:55.602
in an environmentally
responsible way.

01:00:55.602 --> 01:00:57.103
Pay very close attention

01:00:57.103 --> 01:00:58.805
to our stewardship
of the resource,

01:00:58.805 --> 01:01:02.108
like the Skagit River Project,
incredibly important

01:01:02.108 --> 01:01:04.778
to us as a utility and more
so to our customers.

01:01:05.445 --> 01:01:09.616
The Skagit River Hydroelectric
Project is the largest

01:01:09.616 --> 01:01:13.453
low impact certified hydro
in the United States.

01:01:13.453 --> 01:01:16.656
We feel like we are setting
a good example for the industry

01:01:17.123 --> 01:01:20.927
and enforces our commitment
to the environmental attributes

01:01:20.927 --> 01:01:22.195
of this project

01:01:22.195 --> 01:01:25.131
and enforces our commitment
to environmental stewardship.

01:01:25.131 --> 01:01:28.101
That is incredibly important
for our customers.

01:01:28.101 --> 01:01:29.669
City Light's greenhouse
gas neutral.

01:01:29.669 --> 01:01:31.204
We intend to stay that way.

01:01:31.204 --> 01:01:33.873
Our customer owners
take that very seriously,

01:01:33.873 --> 01:01:35.709
and I think they're very proud
of that fact.

01:01:35.709 --> 01:01:37.644
The city of Seattle is moving
in that direction

01:01:37.644 --> 01:01:39.412
with a huge focus on
what can they do

01:01:39.412 --> 01:01:41.548
to green up
the transportation sector,

01:01:41.548 --> 01:01:44.417
reduce our carbon footprint
of not only our city fleet,

01:01:44.417 --> 01:01:47.821
but also the fleet of cars
that our customers

01:01:47.821 --> 01:01:50.123
and our residents
operate every day.

01:01:50.123 --> 01:01:52.192
And that's where
electric vehicle comes in,

01:01:52.192 --> 01:01:53.393
that's where charging stations

01:01:53.393 --> 01:01:56.096
come in, access
to those charging stations.

01:01:56.096 --> 01:01:58.231
Electric buses
is a big thing too.

01:01:58.231 --> 01:02:01.701
We're seeing that more and more
come in the commercial sector.

01:02:01.701 --> 01:02:04.304
That could be Amazon,
Microsoft and Facebook.

01:02:04.304 --> 01:02:08.575
And they have a keen interest
in creating an opportunity

01:02:08.575 --> 01:02:11.611
so that they can show that
this facility that they operate

01:02:11.611 --> 01:02:15.081
in the city of Seattle is 100%
green.

01:02:15.081 --> 01:02:16.282
24 seven.

01:02:16.282 --> 01:02:20.153
So all that is pointing towards
incrementally reducing that

01:02:20.153 --> 01:02:23.890
carbon footprint over the course
of the next 10 to 20 years.

01:02:25.291 --> 01:02:26.359
The potential

01:02:26.359 --> 01:02:30.096
for additional low impact
hydro is huge.

01:02:30.096 --> 01:02:33.266
A lot of federal dams
across the country are there for

01:02:33.833 --> 01:02:36.302
irrigation
or flood control or recreation,

01:02:36.302 --> 01:02:39.239
but they've never had
a power component to those dams.

01:02:39.239 --> 01:02:43.109
They are already doing all of
the environmental mitigation

01:02:43.109 --> 01:02:45.979
that would be required
because they have a dam.

01:02:45.979 --> 01:02:48.381
Adding generation
to that existing

01:02:48.381 --> 01:02:51.417
dam is a huge opportunity
and do that

01:02:51.417 --> 01:02:54.154
in an environmentally
sensitive way.

01:02:55.622 --> 01:02:56.723
One thing that

01:02:56.723 --> 01:02:59.826
I find very exciting
about my job specifically is

01:02:59.826 --> 01:03:02.929
I get to go a lot of places
that no one else gets to go.

01:03:04.130 --> 01:03:07.500
It's just our group that gets to
take a little powerboat

01:03:07.500 --> 01:03:10.737
to the very base of Diablo Dam
to go read these two

01:03:10.737 --> 01:03:13.039
little piezometers
that are just in this little

01:03:13.039 --> 01:03:14.774
tunnel that are in the dam.

01:03:14.774 --> 01:03:16.876
It's a gorgeous, gorgeous canyon

01:03:16.876 --> 01:03:18.244
that we get to navigate through.

01:03:18.244 --> 01:03:21.481
It's really fun to get to go
to these special spots.

01:03:21.514 --> 01:03:23.416
There aren't very many
people that get to do that.

01:03:25.118 --> 01:03:26.019
I also

01:03:26.019 --> 01:03:30.123
got the very cool experience
of getting to repel

01:03:30.123 --> 01:03:33.560
down Ross Dam,
which is 540 feet tall.

01:03:33.560 --> 01:03:36.396
We were doing spillway
specific inspections

01:03:36.396 --> 01:03:39.265
and we had a whole rope team
and some consultants out

01:03:39.265 --> 01:03:40.033
that were doing

01:03:40.033 --> 01:03:41.467
the thorough grid inspection,

01:03:41.467 --> 01:03:43.870
and then they had me repel down
to show me

01:03:43.870 --> 01:03:46.206
some of the specific things
that they had seen.

01:03:46.206 --> 01:03:47.307
Just so that City Light

01:03:47.307 --> 01:03:49.409
had some eyes on it
besides just their pictures.

01:03:49.409 --> 01:03:51.344
And that was so exciting.

01:03:51.344 --> 01:03:53.746
It was such a cool thing
to get to do.

01:03:56.015 --> 01:03:58.318
To see people
come to these projects

01:03:58.318 --> 01:04:00.220
to appreciate
the magnitude of them,

01:04:00.220 --> 01:04:00.753
but also

01:04:00.753 --> 01:04:03.189
appreciate the simplicity
of them and the benefit

01:04:03.189 --> 01:04:05.225
that they provide
to the environment.

01:04:05.225 --> 01:04:08.595
The access that they have
to recreation opportunities.

01:04:08.595 --> 01:04:10.430
Might be fishing or hunting.

01:04:10.430 --> 01:04:12.599
It goes way beyond
generating power.

01:04:12.599 --> 01:04:15.969
We talk about the Skagit project
as operating on a fish

01:04:15.969 --> 01:04:17.470
first basis,

01:04:17.470 --> 01:04:20.373
so everything we do is
based on making this reacher

01:04:20.373 --> 01:04:21.507
river out here

01:04:21.507 --> 01:04:25.078
the best it can be for salmon
and for migrating fish

01:04:25.078 --> 01:04:27.146
and then anything we get in
addition to

01:04:27.146 --> 01:04:27.847
that is

01:04:27.847 --> 01:04:31.584
is great for our customers,
great for the traveling public,

01:04:31.584 --> 01:04:35.421
and great for all of the people
that enjoy this resource

01:04:35.421 --> 01:04:36.589
that hydro creates.

01:04:38.424 --> 01:04:39.292
As I've

01:04:39.292 --> 01:04:41.761
gone through the job,
I've learned how important it is

01:04:41.761 --> 01:04:45.765
and how special of a job
it is to get to spend

01:04:45.765 --> 01:04:49.669
half of my time out
hiking around the dams and doing

01:04:49.669 --> 01:04:53.973
something that I feel
is really important for society.

01:04:53.973 --> 01:04:55.875
Providing clean energy

01:04:55.875 --> 01:04:58.177
we're
maintaining these facilities

01:04:58.177 --> 01:05:02.348
that are old technology
but will continue to be

01:05:02.348 --> 01:05:05.551
huge benefits to society
as long as they're

01:05:05.551 --> 01:05:08.988
well maintained, and to help
combat climate change

01:05:08.988 --> 01:05:12.091
and to transition
away from fossil fuels.

01:05:12.091 --> 01:05:15.461
I absolutely think that working
for an electric utility

01:05:15.461 --> 01:05:18.231
has a huge impact
on climate change.

01:05:18.231 --> 01:05:21.234
It's important to me
and we are a public utility,

01:05:21.234 --> 01:05:23.937
so I also really value
being a public servant.

01:05:23.937 --> 01:05:28.641
That adds to the general idea
of being an engineer.

01:05:28.641 --> 01:05:32.512
And one of the codes
of us environmental engineers

01:05:32.512 --> 01:05:35.682
is to always benefit society.

01:05:35.682 --> 01:05:39.652
And I think hydro
and the electric utility world

01:05:39.652 --> 01:05:41.287
is a huge benefit.

01:06:32.422 --> 01:06:34.457
I was approached in 2007

01:06:35.058 --> 01:06:36.893
about the Adair wind park
and that's that's

01:06:36.893 --> 01:06:40.096
when it started
and they started construction

01:06:40.096 --> 01:06:43.499
in the next year in 2008.

01:06:44.367 --> 01:06:45.969
I'm Dan Dreyer.

01:06:45.969 --> 01:06:47.370
I'm Ron Dreher.

01:06:47.370 --> 01:06:50.473
We farm southeast of Adair,
Iowa, with the two of us,

01:06:50.473 --> 01:06:53.243
as well as my mother
and my wife and my children.

01:06:55.211 --> 01:06:58.314
We have probably 1300 or
1400 acres of crop and then

01:06:58.314 --> 01:07:00.883
400 or 500 acres of hay and
pasture

01:07:00.883 --> 01:07:02.952
for the stock cows that we run.

01:07:03.419 --> 01:07:05.488
We have seasonal help
for spring and fall

01:07:05.488 --> 01:07:07.023
and during busy times.

01:07:07.023 --> 01:07:09.759
But day to day operations
are mostly just the two of us.

01:07:12.195 --> 01:07:14.831
Corn and soybeans and alfalfa
are what we grow as far

01:07:14.831 --> 01:07:15.632
as crops.

01:07:15.632 --> 01:07:18.468
The corn and soybeans
are typically a 50/50 rotation

01:07:18.968 --> 01:07:20.603
on that 13 - 1400 acres.

01:07:20.603 --> 01:07:23.239
And then alfalfa
is to feed to the cows.

01:07:24.140 --> 01:07:26.776
Somebody come out from
MidAmerica and approached us

01:07:26.776 --> 01:07:30.580
about a possible wind park in
our area south of town.

01:07:31.247 --> 01:07:32.949
We do have a lot of cropland

01:07:32.949 --> 01:07:35.985
and wind is a great complement to that

01:07:35.985 --> 01:07:37.920
because we can go
ahead and add turbines

01:07:38.221 --> 01:07:40.857
and they can still farm
around the turbines.

01:07:41.691 --> 01:07:42.558
In Iowa,

01:07:42.558 --> 01:07:44.427
the wind resource is just great.

01:07:44.427 --> 01:07:48.431
So our investments
have primarily been in wind energies

01:07:48.431 --> 01:07:50.400
Back in 2004,

01:07:50.400 --> 01:07:53.536
we built and placed in service
our first wind project.

01:07:53.536 --> 01:07:55.772
Ever since we've invested
approximately

01:07:55.772 --> 01:07:59.609
$13 billion to date
in renewable energy projects.

01:07:59.609 --> 01:08:00.877
This year is the first year

01:08:00.877 --> 01:08:04.113
we'll start to make significant
investments in solar energy,

01:08:04.113 --> 01:08:07.784
installing just over 140
megawatts of solar capacity

01:08:07.784 --> 01:08:09.052
over the next two years.

01:08:09.052 --> 01:08:10.987
When you're considering
all the generation

01:08:10.987 --> 01:08:14.857
coming out of Iowa from fossil
generation, solar, wind,

01:08:14.857 --> 01:08:17.060
Iowa's number one
as a percentage

01:08:17.060 --> 01:08:18.061
of renewable energy

01:08:18.061 --> 01:08:20.363
from that total mix
coming out of the state.

01:08:20.697 --> 01:08:23.299
Customers
get more renewable energy

01:08:23.299 --> 01:08:26.636
than any other customers
in any other state in the U.S..

01:08:33.476 --> 01:08:35.311
They had a meeting uptown

01:08:35.311 --> 01:08:36.546
at the community center

01:08:36.546 --> 01:08:39.082
and showed us the maps
where they wanted

01:08:39.082 --> 01:08:43.052
to put the wind park and
explained the whole thing to us.

01:08:43.052 --> 01:08:46.389
And then we had a time schedule
where we could sign up

01:08:46.389 --> 01:08:50.059
or say no or whatever
whatever we wanted to do.

01:08:50.059 --> 01:08:53.296
So that's that's
how it got started.

01:08:56.165 --> 01:08:58.701
As a project developer,
I am out in the field

01:08:58.701 --> 01:08:59.802
working with landowners,

01:08:59.802 --> 01:09:02.572
see if they're interested
in hosting a turbine,

01:09:02.572 --> 01:09:04.707
and then ultimately sign
an easement with them.

01:09:06.175 --> 01:09:09.112
They offered a certain dollar
amount per easement

01:09:09.112 --> 01:09:10.747
and per wind turbine,

01:09:10.747 --> 01:09:14.984
which really helps us kind
of level our yearly income out.

01:09:14.984 --> 01:09:17.487
Currently, grain price,
commodity prices

01:09:17.487 --> 01:09:20.256
are as good as they've been
in the past six or seven years.

01:09:21.190 --> 01:09:24.660
But in the previous six
or seven, they weren't as good.

01:09:24.660 --> 01:09:26.028
And to the point where sometimes

01:09:26.028 --> 01:09:29.098
we were at cost of production
or below cost of production.

01:09:29.098 --> 01:09:32.001
And this would just give us
a little boost, a yearly boost.

01:09:32.001 --> 01:09:33.236
And we understand,

01:09:33.236 --> 01:09:34.971
the cyclical
nature of what we do.

01:09:34.971 --> 01:09:35.972
But this is just helpful

01:09:35.972 --> 01:09:38.307
in general
to to kind of smooth that out.

01:09:39.876 --> 01:09:42.845
It was almost a year
getting this all organized

01:09:42.845 --> 01:09:45.882
before they finally got enough
people to sign up for the park.

01:09:46.582 --> 01:09:49.252
We have partnered
with over 3000 landowners

01:09:49.252 --> 01:09:52.555
in Iowa for our wind projects
alone.

01:09:52.855 --> 01:09:56.125
Two thirds of the people
thought it was a real good deal.

01:09:56.125 --> 01:09:59.162
The other third,
they had some questions,

01:09:59.162 --> 01:10:03.132
but they did get enough acres
leased and agreements

01:10:03.132 --> 01:10:06.169
made that they had enough
to put the 75 turbines,

01:10:06.169 --> 01:10:07.537
I think it was.

01:10:10.840 --> 01:10:12.475
We are usually signing up

01:10:12.475 --> 01:10:16.045
to be on their property
for 30, 35, 40 years

01:10:16.045 --> 01:10:18.181
and want to build that trust

01:10:18.181 --> 01:10:20.183
and that partnership
into the future.

01:10:21.551 --> 01:10:23.019
I think the turbines are great.

01:10:23.019 --> 01:10:24.954
They're not noisy
like a lot of people say.

01:10:24.954 --> 01:10:27.290
I mean, I don't even know
they're there anymore.

01:10:27.290 --> 01:10:29.225
I mean, it's just they're there
and they turn

01:10:29.225 --> 01:10:31.260
and they make,
make clean energy.

01:10:31.260 --> 01:10:32.695
That's,
that's what it's all about.

01:10:36.766 --> 01:10:38.601
They take very little land up.

01:10:38.601 --> 01:10:41.404
I mean, it's, it's about maybe

01:10:41.404 --> 01:10:45.107
a third of an acre per turbine
and they keep the roads up.

01:10:45.107 --> 01:10:47.910
They take care around the
turbines, the weeds around them.

01:10:47.910 --> 01:10:49.445
I don't have to
take care of that.

01:10:49.445 --> 01:10:52.315
So as far as losing much land,
there's very little land

01:10:52.315 --> 01:10:54.550
gets taken out of production.

01:10:59.222 --> 01:11:00.623
It's very important

01:11:00.623 --> 01:11:03.559
for landowners to understand
the financial stability

01:11:03.559 --> 01:11:04.594
that they'll receive

01:11:04.594 --> 01:11:07.063
through the wind farms
or having a wind turbine.

01:11:08.631 --> 01:11:10.600
We've had some landowners
kind of refer

01:11:10.600 --> 01:11:13.836
to the wind turbines
as a "drought resistant crop,"

01:11:13.836 --> 01:11:17.974
because regardless of the year
and the weather conditions,

01:11:17.974 --> 01:11:21.711
they're going to receive the
same payment every year from us.

01:11:21.711 --> 01:11:22.512
And it's long

01:11:22.512 --> 01:11:26.849
term, again this is 30, 35,
40 years into the future.

01:11:26.849 --> 01:11:30.920
Income that they can rely upon
and use that for either

01:11:30.920 --> 01:11:35.224
retirement purposes or family
farm planning purposes.

01:11:35.224 --> 01:11:38.394
It provides stability to farmers

01:11:38.394 --> 01:11:40.963
and their families
long into the future.

01:11:40.963 --> 01:11:43.566
As far as the financial side
is great.

01:11:43.566 --> 01:11:45.101
Yeah, we understand that.

01:11:45.101 --> 01:11:46.936
It's a consistent
source of income.

01:11:46.936 --> 01:11:49.839
But also you look at what's
happening in the world today.

01:11:49.839 --> 01:11:51.274
You look at renewable energy.

01:11:51.274 --> 01:11:52.875
You look at trying to get away

01:11:52.875 --> 01:11:54.977
from fossil fuels and coal
and things like that.

01:11:55.912 --> 01:11:57.213
With two kids
and one on the way,

01:11:57.213 --> 01:11:59.815
we look down the road 50 years
to what's going to happen and

01:11:59.815 --> 01:12:01.250
and how that's
going to affect our children,

01:12:01.250 --> 01:12:02.885
and that's something
that makes me sleep at night

01:12:02.885 --> 01:12:05.221
and gives me peace of mind more
than the financial side of it.

01:12:06.722 --> 01:12:08.057
Is the financial part nice?

01:12:08.057 --> 01:12:09.058
Absolutely.

01:12:09.058 --> 01:12:11.561
But so is knowing that hopefully
we're trying to do our part

01:12:11.561 --> 01:12:14.297
in generating energy
and helping the next generation.

01:12:14.864 --> 01:12:16.132
But it's also bringing in

01:12:16.132 --> 01:12:18.401
an immense amount of tax dollars
into our county,

01:12:18.901 --> 01:12:22.138
helping roads, bridges, schools,
infrastructure, all those

01:12:22.138 --> 01:12:25.274
things that are important
in in rural communities.

01:12:26.075 --> 01:12:30.680
In 2020 alone, we paid
$31 million to the counties

01:12:30.680 --> 01:12:33.282
where we have facilities
located.

01:12:33.282 --> 01:12:34.850
If we don't have
that infrastructure

01:12:34.850 --> 01:12:39.121
and that extra income coming
in, retaining population

01:12:39.121 --> 01:12:40.957
here is really hard
and hopefully that's going to be

01:12:40.957 --> 01:12:43.292
something that helps
sustain our communities too.

01:12:47.063 --> 01:12:49.532
Bringing renewables in
does also create jobs.

01:12:49.532 --> 01:12:53.569
You know, there's about 5000
jobs created across Iowa

01:12:53.569 --> 01:12:56.372
in the service, in manufacturing
when it comes to renewable

01:12:56.372 --> 01:12:57.406
energy projects.

01:12:57.406 --> 01:12:58.140
There are actually

01:12:58.140 --> 01:13:00.042
five community colleges in Iowa

01:13:00.042 --> 01:13:02.445
who have wind
technician programs.

01:13:02.445 --> 01:13:04.280
So it's an opportunity
for our kids

01:13:04.280 --> 01:13:07.750
to go to a local community
college, get that education

01:13:07.750 --> 01:13:09.251
as a as a wind technician

01:13:09.251 --> 01:13:12.021
and be able to pretty easily
get a job close to home.

01:13:12.021 --> 01:13:14.657
The demand is really high
in Iowa.

01:13:14.657 --> 01:13:16.158
And across the US

01:13:16.158 --> 01:13:19.829
and it was a second fastest
growing job in in 2020.

01:13:20.329 --> 01:13:23.666
Iowa has a handful
of manufacturing facilities

01:13:23.666 --> 01:13:27.236
that support renewable energy
generation and there's tower

01:13:27.236 --> 01:13:30.306
manufacturers
and blade manufacturers in Iowa,

01:13:30.306 --> 01:13:33.442
are big job creators to support
Iowa and the industry.

01:15:33.696 --> 01:15:35.598
I know
sometimes the wind don't blow

01:15:35.598 --> 01:15:38.100
and they have to put more power
out from these power plants,

01:15:38.434 --> 01:15:40.870
but burning
coal is not a good thing.

01:15:40.870 --> 01:15:43.639
Most of the time these turbines
put out enough

01:15:43.639 --> 01:15:46.308
power that they don't have
to run those coal burners much.

01:15:46.709 --> 01:15:49.512
Because of our significant
investments in renewable energy.

01:15:49.512 --> 01:15:52.948
We have been able to back off
some of the generation

01:15:52.948 --> 01:15:54.817
from our fossil facilities.

01:15:54.817 --> 01:15:57.820
We still rely upon our fossil
resources to fill in those gaps.

01:15:58.087 --> 01:15:59.688
But our investments have

01:15:59.688 --> 01:16:00.656
significantly reduced

01:16:00.656 --> 01:16:02.792
the output of our fossil
generation plants.

01:16:02.792 --> 01:16:06.996
We have a 100% renewable energy
vision, so that is our goal.

01:16:06.996 --> 01:16:10.432
We continue to evaluate
battery energy storage projects

01:16:10.432 --> 01:16:14.303
and other storage projects
like pumped hydro storage

01:16:14.303 --> 01:16:17.406
and other carbon friendly
resources such as nuclear.

01:16:17.907 --> 01:16:21.110
Berkshire Hathaway Energy
is MidAmerican's parent company,

01:16:21.477 --> 01:16:22.978
and all Berkshire
Hathaway Energy

01:16:22.978 --> 01:16:27.349
companies share similar visions
and goals for investing

01:16:27.349 --> 01:16:30.419
in renewable resources
and carbon friendly resources.

01:16:31.754 --> 01:16:34.523
We have
seen EVs really take off.

01:16:34.523 --> 01:16:38.194
A lot of the big motor companies
have very aggressive EV goals.

01:16:38.194 --> 01:16:39.195
We want to make sure

01:16:39.195 --> 01:16:41.730
we're keeping up with that
for our customers.

01:16:41.730 --> 01:16:44.600
We've even seen registrations
in Iowa increase

01:16:44.600 --> 01:16:47.837
600% over the last
five or six years.

01:16:47.837 --> 01:16:50.239
So we know the demand
is increasing for for EVs.

01:16:50.739 --> 01:16:54.443
We have partnered
with our customers across Iowa,

01:16:54.443 --> 01:16:59.281
gas stations, grocery
stores, marketplaces.

01:16:59.815 --> 01:17:01.584
That's where we think
people will charge

01:17:01.584 --> 01:17:02.585
and they are charging,

01:17:02.585 --> 01:17:04.420
and we've partnered with them
to install that

01:17:04.420 --> 01:17:06.488
charging structure
in partnership with them.

01:17:06.488 --> 01:17:10.159
And that should really be enough
to calm everybody's nerves

01:17:10.159 --> 01:17:11.660
when it comes to range anxiety

01:17:11.660 --> 01:17:13.696
and give them some comfort
so they can get a charge

01:17:13.696 --> 01:17:15.631
from MidAmerican
and keep on traveling.

01:17:15.631 --> 01:17:17.733
Another advantage
that MidAmerican has is

01:17:17.733 --> 01:17:21.203
we are able to attract customers
who have sustainability

01:17:21.203 --> 01:17:24.139
goals to the state,
which leads to job creation.

01:17:24.406 --> 01:17:29.211
Google, Microsoft and Facebook
have high sustainability goals,

01:17:29.211 --> 01:17:30.512
and they have been attracted

01:17:30.512 --> 01:17:32.181
in part to the state
because of that.

01:17:32.181 --> 01:17:33.649
And MidAmerican's low rates.

01:17:35.017 --> 01:17:36.619
We're moving more toward a

01:17:36.619 --> 01:17:39.922
conservation friendly atmosphere
just in the practices

01:17:39.922 --> 01:17:41.991
that we use daily
and yearly on our farm.

01:17:41.991 --> 01:17:44.126
And I think that
this is in that same realm.

01:17:44.126 --> 01:17:45.494
When I started farming,

01:17:45.494 --> 01:17:47.263
we moldboard plowed
everything, turned

01:17:47.263 --> 01:17:49.131
everything under,
the ground was bare,

01:17:49.131 --> 01:17:51.100
and we get a heavy rain
and it'd wash away.

01:17:51.100 --> 01:17:53.569
Then they started pushing the
no till, which was good.

01:17:54.036 --> 01:17:55.037
They changed the equipment

01:17:55.037 --> 01:17:57.206
so we didn't have to
till the ground.

01:17:57.206 --> 01:17:59.708
And now they're going more
to the cover crop

01:17:59.708 --> 01:18:02.244
to even help
more during the year.

01:18:02.578 --> 01:18:04.680
A lot of people
are putting cover crops down

01:18:04.680 --> 01:18:07.216
to keep the soil in place
when there's not a crop

01:18:07.216 --> 01:18:09.451
growing on it,
which helps environment.

01:18:09.451 --> 01:18:11.420
That's the bottom
line is to keep the water

01:18:11.420 --> 01:18:15.324
quality good
is to keep the air quality good.

01:18:15.324 --> 01:18:16.926
And there's little or
no erosion.

01:18:16.926 --> 01:18:19.528
With an exceptional rain
you might have a problem,

01:18:19.528 --> 01:18:21.864
but usually there's
not much runoff at all.

01:18:21.864 --> 01:18:23.599
That's that's
what I've seen the last,

01:18:23.599 --> 01:18:25.701
especially the last four
or five years.

01:18:25.701 --> 01:18:27.336
We got to look
for the next generation

01:18:27.336 --> 01:18:29.638
there that's going to be farming
that, like my

01:18:29.638 --> 01:18:31.874
my son's going to keep farming
after I quit.

01:18:31.874 --> 01:18:34.610
And so we want to protect
the soil as long as we can

01:18:34.610 --> 01:18:35.577
and the air quality

01:18:35.577 --> 01:18:37.112
and the water quality
in this country,

01:18:37.112 --> 01:18:39.348
because if we don't,
we're we're in big trouble.

01:18:39.581 --> 01:18:40.382
It feels great.

01:18:40.382 --> 01:18:42.051
You know, at the end
of every day coming home

01:18:42.051 --> 01:18:43.953
knowing
that you made a difference,

01:18:43.953 --> 01:18:46.722
knowing that a project
that you're working on today

01:18:46.722 --> 01:18:50.225
will be putting 100 more
turbines online and offering

01:18:50.225 --> 01:18:52.795
a renewable source of energy
to Iowa customers.

01:18:53.662 --> 01:18:56.565
I don't see any downside
to the turbines whatsoever.

01:18:56.966 --> 01:19:00.502
I mean, financially, yes, it's
helped us out over the years

01:19:01.437 --> 01:19:03.539
when the crop prices
aren't good.

01:19:03.539 --> 01:19:06.008
I mean, we got clean air.

01:19:06.008 --> 01:19:06.942
That's the name of the game.

01:19:06.942 --> 01:19:09.901
And like looking down the road
for future generations

01:19:09.902 --> 01:19:11.280
we've got to keep doing this.