An Evening of Lightning Talks about Clean Energy

As part of our ongoing talks about climate change and actions we can take, LEAP hosted a special event on October 5th (Energy Efficiency Day) at CitySpace. Our event was called “Reduce & Produce: Pairing Energy Efficiency and Solar.”

We are grateful to Feast! for the wonderful bread and cheese platter and Champion Brewing Company for their locally crafted beer.

Lesley Fore, LEAP’s Executive Director, introduced our speakers and explained the concept of the 5-minute “lightning talks.” These speed talks were fun, fast-paced talks given by our guest speakers on topics of their expertise. The audience was split into 5 groups at 5 different tables.

At Table 1, Wilson Ratliff, LEAP’s Technical Director, talked about how to improve your home’s energy efficiency before going solar. Guests received our list of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Tips.

At Table 2, Dr. Megan McGroddy, a visiting scientist at the Department of Environmental Sciences at UVA, spoke about the environmental impacts that fossil fuels have on Virginia.

At Table 3, Tony Smith, President and CEO, and Andrew Yoder, Technical Manager of Secure Futures, spoke about the financing and return on investment of solar.

At Table 4, Will Gathright, Founder and CEO of Tumalow Energy Ingenuity, spoke about solar battery backup and storage systems technology.

At Table 5, Tray Biasiolli, Building Science Consultant at Think Little, spoke about alternatives to solar and how to support clean energy without going solar.

Afterwards, our guest speakers answered questions from our audience members.

NBC29 was there to report on the event. Their news segment can be seen HERE.

Thanks to everyone who attended the lightning talks. We hope that you had a wonderful evening. Be on the lookout for future events in our continuing efforts to talk about clean energy solutions to combat climate change.