Healthy Spaces Podcast: Season 4, Episode 10 - Building Zero

[00:00:00] Dominique: If we really want to build a net zero future, we have to think differently about how we produce and use energy, and we can't do it alone. Building a sustainable future requires us all to work together in new ways.

[00:00:17] Valerie: The world is heading in a direction where we will need much more resilient decarbonized energy systems globally.

[00:00:27] Valerie: And as we move in that direction, companies need to be thinking. long term as Trane Technologies does. And one of the ways that academics work effectively with companies is helping to work on those longer term problems to see the potential that, uh, for many companies as a luxury, uh, they can't afford to take on.

[00:00:50] Dominique: You just heard from Valerie Karplus, Associate Director of the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon university. I'm Dominique Silva, and you're listening to healthy spaces. The podcast exploring how technology and innovation are transforming the spaces where we live, learn, work and play.

[00:01:10] Dominique: In today's episode, our VP of sustainability, Scott Tew sits down with Professor Karplus to discuss energy systems innovation and the value of collaboration between the private sector and the academic community for a greener future. We'll learn about the long-term solutions that are aiming to electrify our heating and cooling.

[00:01:31] Dominique: And we'll learn about initiatives like the Scott Institute's Grand Challenge, which is bringing multiple disciplines together to study resilient and innovative energy systems. 

[00:01:49] Dominique: To start us off, we find out about the work that Valerie is leading at the Scott Institute. 

[00:01:55] Valerie: My background is multi-disciplinary, and a lot of my research focuses on the processes of change in complex energy and industrial systems, any system where the technical details really matter. And so that's something that we do at Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University as sort of part of our DNA.

[00:02:16] Valerie: …and at the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation. And so my role is both as a professor, um, and also as a leader at the Scott Institute as associate director, a lot of my focus is really on how do we accelerate the transition to decarbonized and resilient energy and industrial systems using models, uh, partnering with visionary organizations and thinking very broadly about some of the ways that we can bring together the individual disciplines, as you say, across silos to try to think about what solutions could look like, uh, in the building sector, um, but also, uh, more broadly across, uh, the energy system and different industries that operate globally. 

[00:03:01] Scott: One of the things that you do work in that you have worked in is energy innovation. You know, the energy system has been in transition for quite some time now. What's next on the horizon? What excites you about energy innovation across the nation now? 

[00:03:15] Valerie: I think what we're seeing is kind of a really synergistic combination of policy drivers, as well as of innovation in companies, not just technological innovation, but also organizational innovation and cultural innovation.

[00:03:30] Valerie: And I think Trane Technologies, certainly in our partnership, we've seen the company really at the forefront of some of much of this. What we're really excited about is - actually, we see advances in a number of, of spaces. One is sort of on the technology side, and I'll just give one example from energy storage.

[00:03:48] Valerie: Ideas that you could use technologies such as bricks to store energy - seems like a very simple idea, but it's kind of it's really been developed and we're identifying new materials that can work together with old materials like bricks that can make a big difference potentially in the way that we store energy, which of course is a tremendously important problem.

[00:04:10] Valerie: I also think you know, just looking across globally, there are developments happening in different parts of the world that are more easily and fluidly moving across national borders. And, uh, this is both innovations in policy, but also innovations in technology, where I think we need to see and continue to reinforce the commitments that countries are making at every level to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

[00:04:39] Valerie: And I think that that's inducing new innovation in the corporate sector, also in domestic companies, not just those that operate internationally that are held to very high standards. And so that makes me very excited that as these practices and as these technologies diffuse, that we're going to get not just a handle on the climate problem, but we're also going to increase access to some of these very important innovations for populations around the world.

[00:05:07] Scott: I love how you're focusing on solutions, too. I mean, one of the things about train technologies is that we sort of flipped a switch years ago in moving away from “here are all the problems and barriers against doing something new and bringing solutions to the market” to “here are the opportunities. And here's how you do it.”

[00:05:25] Scott: And then what we learned, which I know that you know this, what we learned is you can't just do it in your the old way. You can't just go out and say, well, here's something new. It now requires you to maybe work with partners that you didn't work with in the past. Maybe collaborate in a way that you didn't collaborate in the past.

[00:05:43] Scott: That's why Trane Technologies was also very excited to be one of the early partners with the Grand Challenge. Can you talk about the Grand Challenge? 

[00:05:52] Valerie: Absolutely. So we think about Grand Challenges as really those, those tough questions that are holding us back from making all the progress that we need to make, and they need to be focused enough, but also broad enough to allow for the types of visionary innovations that may not come into sort of a company's day-to-day portfolio.

[00:06:11] Valerie: Our grand challenge partners are really visionary organizations that are working across their supply chains to contribute to decarbonization and resilience of our global energy system. And Trane Technologies is our first corporate grand challenge partner, which is a tremendous example of how business model innovation, systems innovation, technological innovation can come together to transform not just a company's internal operations and decarbonize them, but also think across the supply chain to enable decarbonization in the form of your Gigaton Challenge, which I think is sets a tremendous example for other companies going forward and also sets a very high bar for our next Grand Challenge partnership.

[00:07:02] Dominique: The challenge of decarbonizing residential and commercial buildings may seem daunting, yet it carries a significant impact on our sustainable future. And as we accelerate the transition from burning fossil fuels to electrification of heating in the commercial sector, it seems only logical to extend this approach to the industrial sector as well.

[00:07:25] Dominique: However, you might be asking, is the energy grid ready to handle such widespread electrification? Is this something the grand challenge is trying to solve?

[00:07:39] Valerie: Absolutely. So in the Grand Challenge partnership with Trane Technologies. Our focus is really on electrification of residential heating and cooling and how that is both a benefit to society as well as a strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions without disrupting service, quality of service and doing so in a way that doesn't overlook underserved populations.

[00:08:04] Valerie: So thinking broadly about the benefits and where the benefits are likely to be greatest, as you're very well aware, there are so many different climate zones that are covered by these technologies. I think one of the most important lessons that we're finding in and bringing together faculty from across Carnegie Mellon to think about the challenge of electrifying the home and some of the opportunities to do that with today's grid is that climate zones and load profiles are going to be paramount and thinking about sort of where are the earliest and most promising markets at the same time, what types of innovations can help to mitigate not just the impacts on the home, but also the low hanging fruit in terms of reinforcing feeder systems and local grids.

[00:08:51] Valerie: I think, you know, this is an opportunity for us. And I think the kind of theory of the case here is that our Grand Challenge partnership will help to understand the magnitude of that opportunity and where it can make the greatest difference in terms of impact. 

[00:09:09] Scott: What's the secret then to working together today that might be different than what you would have said years ago? Because the things that you just mentioned, sort of a mix of political will, of technologies and innovations. But also societal impacts and benefits. Is there a secret now to collaborating that you've found that really can be impactful? 

[00:09:35] Valerie: I think that the secret is in the connection between the team that comes together to collaborate and the way the world is changing. And if we look ahead, the world is heading in a direction where we will need much more resilient, decarbonized energy systems globally. And as we move in that direction, companies need to be thinking long term as Trane Technologies does. And one of the ways that academics work effectively with companies is helping to work on those longer-term problems, to see the potential that for many companies is a luxury they can't afford to take on in the sort of day-to-day business operations.

[00:10:18] Valerie: But as we look ahead and sort of think about at the Scott Institute, we want to partner with companies that are engaged in transformative change and working with academics who bring together a range of expertises that are relevant to that specific problem can help to avoid blind spots, can help to lay out the long term trajectory, or rather, I should say, different possibilities for the long-term trajectory.

[00:10:45] Valerie: And then, uh, that helps to broaden the view not just in across industry, but also in policy circles, it expands the solution space, if you will. And those types of partnerships require strongly aligned incentives as well as a commitment to, you know, a shared goal and innovation, not being wedded to your past practices and old ideas, but willing to sort of take on something new if in the long term, that's going to make the most transformative difference.

[00:11:18] Dominique: A big thank you to Valerie for joining us to discuss the importance of innovation and cooperation in our efforts towards a net zero future. At Trane Technologies, we believe that every job is a sustainability job. And every role provides an opportunity for impact. That's why each week on the podcast, we'll feature how someone is building healthy spaces in their organization or community. This week, we're sharing a submission from Sean Zhang, senior mechanical engineer at our engineering and technology center in Shanghai.

[00:11:54] Dominique: Sean is building healthy spaces in his organization by connecting team members through sports. These activities not only promote physical fitness, but also enhance teamwork and mental well-being by reducing stress and improving moods. Through his efforts, Sean and his team are creating a more vibrant and supportive workplace environment.

[00:12:18] Dominique: Sean, thank you for sharing your initiatives and thank you for all the hard work you and your team are putting in. Would you like to share how you're building healthy spaces too? Well, visit us at tranetechnologies.com/healthyspacespodcast. We'd love to hear your story. Thank you for listening in to the Healthy Spaces podcast, where we explore how climate technology and innovation are transforming the spaces where we live, work, learn and play. If you want to find out more about our conversation today, make sure you check out the show notes. And remember to rate and review us in your favorite podcast app. That's it for today's episode.

[00:13:00] Dominique: We'll see you next time.