Session Moderator: Ethan Rogers, Purdue University Technical Assistance Programs


Overaching question asked in this session; Who do I ask for help around understanding and implementing clean energy, waste reduction, and other sustainability practices?


Speakers:

Craig Porter, Ivy Tech, Program Chair Sustainability:

* "Corporate College" offers trainings for companies, to given their employees specificalized skills and knowledge in a variety of areas, including LEED certification, solar businesses, energy efficiency, and green products, among others.


Kyle Cline, The Richard Lugar Center for Renewable Energy, IUPUI

* The Center offers a variety of programs to help Indiana businesses (especially in manufacturing) benefit from latest research and best practices coming out of the School of Engineering and Technology.

* Offers support in the areas of industrial energy efficiency, fuel cell technologies, distributed power generation and smart grids, and solar and wind power, mong others.

* The Center is also a Dept of Energy industrial assessment center that offers energy audits, provided by engineering students and faculty.


Carey Hamilton, Indiana Recycling Coalition

* Offers a variety of educational programs, recycling programs and policy/advocacy initiatives, primarilty focusing on the needs of Indiana's manufacturing sector.

* Tries to connect businesses to solutions, especially trying to increase recycling rates in Indiana. By turning around Indiana's low recycling rates, more recycled feedstock materials would be available for the growing number of Indiana's manufacturing businesses that are builidng businesses around recycled materials.

* Some current efforts include increasing food waste composting and promoting extended producer responsibility.


Discussion: What do businesses really need?

* Finding the people are trained in specialized skills (like in wind, solar, distributed generation). How can these programs help businesses connect with people who have the right skills?

* Help understanding utility bills (which tend to be highly complicated and few people within a company can actually interpret them and use the data properly).

* Need more specific training progams offered by people working in industry who have deep, highly specialized knowledge.

* An open mind! Entrepreneurs need a wide variety of resources to make their businesses thrive.

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