Business as Usual: PGH's Chief Resilience Officer

So good afternoon, everyone. I'm Brian Kennedy. I'm the Vice President for operations and government affairs at the Pittsburgh Technology Council. I'll say for 205 episodes, I've been behind the scenes. But today I'm going to go live, as I'm filling in today for Audrey Russo. But I am joined by longtime business as usual co host, Jonathan kersting. And I can tell you, we have a great session planned for you today. Thank you for bearing with us, as we did a slight time change, I promise, we'll be back to our normal time change on Monday at noon. And as always, I want to start the program by thanking our really great friends at Huntington bank, who helped us make the pivot to business as usual at the beginning of this pandemic, and have stayed with us all along and through the ways have helped a lot of our member companies to the PPP and the pandemic. And just can't say enough about that team, as well as our colleagues here at 40 by 80, which is our nonprofit partner at the Pittsburgh Technology Council. As always, you'll notice we've muted your microphones and we ask that just that you keep on mute so we can keep the background noise, and we can hear our guests. And as always, we ask you not to use this as an opportunity to promote your products in the chat session. But we would like you to feel free to ask questions in that session in that section. And Jonathan will moderate that as we go. So as I mentioned, our guest today is Grant Ervin, who has an interesting title. He's the chief resiliency officer for the city of Pittsburgh, and he leads a really exciting team. So grant, I want to say welcome to you, and thank you for joining the program this morning.

Great. Thanks, Brian. It's

great to be with everyone. Thanks. So we're gonna talk at you know, we invited you here to talk about the Marshall Plan for middle America. But before we do that, can we just take a few minutes and talk about grant urban and kind of what your background was before you joined the city of Pittsburgh? And then if you could take a few minutes, and maybe walk our members through what a chief resiliency officer does, and really what that means, here in Pittsburgh? Certainly, certainly.

Yeah. So Brian, it's great to be with everyone here in the tech Council and all friends kind of far and wide. So my name is Grant grant urban, as you said, and I serve as the chief resilience officer for the city of Pittsburgh. Prior to coming to the city, I worked in kind of the community development space with the Pittsburgh Community Investment Group, where I advanced energy and public policy initiatives at the community level. And then with an organization called 10,000 friends at Pennsylvania, which had a statewide sustainable development portfolio. My time at the city of Pittsburgh, has had me kind of working on a variety of different issues. But primary Lee, the issue of being the chief resilience officer, makes me an integrator. So I basically look at kind of issues that are facing the city from a risk perspective. So kind of what are the shocks or stressors that are facing the city shocks being immediate potential negative impacts, like a pandemic, or long term impending stresses, maybe also like a pandemic? But effectively, how do those kind of challenges impact the delivery of local government services, it also brings together kind of a lot of work that I've had the opportunity to play a role in, both in terms of technology and sustainability and the intersections of each of those aspects. So I've had the pleasure of developing both the city's Climate Action Plan, as well as our Smart City strategy, and also the one PGH resilience strategy. So those are kind of the three buckets that kind of guide my work together.

Right. So I, I've been reading some things about Mayor peduto. And he's been a little bit critical of the green New Deal, in particular, calling it a plan that's really great for coastal America that maybe not great for middle America. So I'm assuming that some of that thinking has played into this idea of creating the Marshall Plan for middle America. Can you talk about, you know, why that that that plan was formed? Who who was part of the team? Now? What are the goals? And what are some some concrete things that we can do as part of that?

Yeah, definitely. It is. It has been a bit of a Genesis for us in terms of kind of understanding the challenges. And as I mentioned, the plans that we've developed over the past few years has really helped to shape our thinking in terms of the needs of not just Pittsburgh but also the larger region of the Ohio River Valley. So both in the development of our Climate Action Plan and resilience, strategy and smart city strategy. We were collaborating and working with cities like Columbus and Cincinnati and Louisville, and having an opportunity to both understand the work that they were facing as well as us when the green New Deal came out. You know, one of the things that obviously got a lot of attention in terms of, you know, media Attention. But one of the things that we saw was that there needed to be a more regional focus with regards to actually where the rubber hits the road. And from the work that we were doing with our other cities, also who were developing climate strategies and clean tech strategies, we were seeing this Confluence between the energy transition the clean energy transition to renewables to distributed energy resources, and tech, clean tech, etc, and the job creation opportunities that exist with the advancement of those new systems. And so what we started to do is piece those puzzle pieces together into a regional vision. So back in 2019, we started a partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Center for Sustainable Business, to start to matchmake between the technology needs and climate needs that we saw in terms of emissions reduction and the tools that are required to advance that. So think about electric vehicles, energy efficiency in buildings, renewable energy systems, like solar, wind, and hydro. And partnering with Siemens, first, we started to calculate those benefits in terms of job creation. So how much you know, technology or the types of technologies that are required to reduce emissions, right, and put a job finger to that. So what the Marshall Plan started to do is to match that job creation possibility, with the application of technology and the cultivation of capital.

So, as an example of that work, you introduced us, indirectly, I don't even know if you knew you introduced us indirectly, to Lyon electric, which some of our guests are with us yesterday, and they manufacture school buses and trucks, and buses for mass transit agencies. And through the tech councils, vehicle electrification taskforce, we sought to bring them in here so that we could showcase some of the suppliers to the Eevee space that we had in Pittsburgh. And if you were part of that session yesterday saw incredible engagement. And thanks to our friends from the Canadian consulate that helped make that happen. So this is an example though, right? So you have, you know, a new type of vehicle that needs manufacturer new supply chains, especially needing new materials, new components, and Pittsburgh's pretty well positioned for that kind of work?

Very much. So, you know, one of the things that we started to lay out is this, this process that we've been through in the Marshall Plan, and that is, you know, effectively starting with a target in our case, you know, within our climate action plan, we focus on the ability to achieve 100% renewable electricity or a fossil fuel free fleet. And it's those targets that now we're starting the process of implementation. So identifying what are those types of technologies that can help us achieve those objectives? Who makes those materials, products or services? And then ultimately, how do we procure them, right? line electric is a really great example of that. So when you look at our fossil fuel free fleet goal, which is basically trying to transition the city's vehicle fleet of, you know, 800 plus vehicles into non carbon based energy sources, like electricity, like hydrogen, like bio, diesel, bio gas, etc, we start to look at companies like like a lion, that we can start to buy their products and services from So actually, we were right before the pandemic, a team of ours from the city was up in Montreal, visiting the team from Lyon and doing some test drives with their equipment. So we're looking to bring one of their electric bucket trucks down that drive as soon as possible.

So, so gret, and beyond just the manufacturing piece, right. So thank you for that introduction. But so you're going to purchase vehicles, the Port Authority is purchasing vehicles. But beyond the manufacturing, this is a concept that's discussed in the plan for medical America, middle America, which is the circular economy. That's right. There's a fuel spent, right. So we're spending the city of Pittsburgh and the Port Authority, and in each of us, as consumers are spending amazing amounts of dollars on fuel, almost all of which is currently leaving the borders of Southwest PA. So how to how does this planet dress, you know how keeping some of that feels spent local as well.

So so a couple ways to think about that, you know, one is the actual kind of product itself, and then the action. The other piece is the energy resource that's required for propulsion. So if you have a chance to you know, drive down three sides 376 I guess it would be eastbound or ride your bike along the Eliza furnish trail, you'll see a small example of how we've started to put this to work, where we have, they're resting or kind of like the deployment spot for about 40 of our permits, licenses and inspection vehicles. So these are building inspectors who kind of go around the city each each and every day. We've begun the transition to electric vehicles. For those that that type of equipment, so we have some Ford focuses and Chevy bolts right now, but we're also charging them with purely renewable electricity through a company called Evie arc. And so the technologies work relatively well for us. There's been some challenges with it. And we're looking to actually what we need to do is expand the canopy because we were putting more demand in terms of the consumption of ALEKS solar electricity that's being driven from it. But right there, we have zeros fuel spend and zero emissions. So when you start to think about how you can integrate these different assets together, that's an important way to do it. The second piece, we talked about the circular economy, this is where the Marshall Plan gets really exciting, right, is that when you think about the traditional linear economy, we're basically extracting resources, combusting them, manufacturing them, consuming them and disposing them, right. That's like the traditional kind of 19th 20th century model. But what we kind of see the possibility of is envisioning that supply chain to be integrated in a regional fashion. So another great example is that, as part of our Marshall Plan project, we've partnered with the city of Youngstown. And right south of Youngstown is the city of the town of Lordstown, where they're manufacturing the Lordstown motors truck. So this is like a really exciting opportunity, especially for us in like the municipal space because we have 100 150, Ford F 150. Right now, that are like the workhorses of the fleet. So the idea that we can buy a fully electric truck that's produced, you know, 45 minutes northwest of Pittsburgh, literally drive it down the turnpike and put it to use is a really exciting application, let alone the different components of local manufacturers from Pittsburgh, whether it's you know, the the Castro's or ppgs of the world, or US Steel, they're providing materials into that truck. So this is this is kind of the great vision that we're trying to piece together.

So yesterday, we read that the county has entered into a long term power purchase agreement on a micro hydro facility that's going to be built along I think, the Ohio River, your Emsworth. And I think if I read it correctly, it's a the construction is expected to start soon. And it's a $50 million project. How do we leverage buys like that, that the city and county and state governments and the Port Authority are making to encourage those companies to take a look at using some local manufacturing and suppliers? How do we leverage you to help our local economy?

Yeah, it's a great example. You know, one of the things that we do at the city is that we operate what's called the western Pennsylvania energy Consortium. And we're just kind of weeks weeks away from making in a similar type of announcement where we're going to be developing what's called a wholesale sub account, this effectively does two things that will allow our members to buy power on the wholesale market, which everybody likes to Buy Wholesale versus retail, right. But the second thing is it allows us to reduce risk in terms of the development of those power purchase agreements. But the third and the more important piece to your question is, it allows us to develop those power purchase agreements, leveraging local renewable assets. So just this past year, we've been able to procure renewable energy credits for 100% of our electricity spend, which is really great. It helped to create about $700,000 of savings for our members $100,000 of savings for the city of Pittsburgh specifically. But those renewable energy credits can come from anywhere. So kind of this next transition for us will allow us to accelerate the development of solar wind and hydro assets here in southwestern Pennsylvania and throughout the PGM marketplace.

As we look at talk about inclusion, we were often sometimes thinking that this is a binary issue, right? That it's either all renewable or you know, it's all gas, and people tend to go to their political sides to talk about these issues. But when you look at electric vehicles, in Pennsylvania, 42% of the electricity that's powering them is actually generated by natural gas, which we actually have too much of here in western Pennsylvania, right, which is causing the prices to drop. But even with 42% coming from natural gas, it's a 70% reduction in co2 emissions, which is huge considering how large you know, transportation represents our own co2. So is, you know, this natural gas, in your mind have a role to play in electrification of the fleet? And is that part of the the plan for middle Middle America?

I agree with you. It's not it shouldn't be a binary discussion, right. And so part of the things that we have to understand is that there's a balance between emissions and the longevity of like what you're mentioning the combined cycle natural gas plants have been developed. So they're going to be with us for the foreseeable future, the do two big things are actually three that I'd put out there. One is the leveraging the ability to new technology, like fuel cells, for example. So natural gas powered fuel cells are really great opportunity in terms of advancing a non combustion alternative for natural gas. The third piece is kind of leveraging the those existing assets that we have, you know, so the current system, but really finding ways in which to expand the penetration of renewable assets, as renewable assets come down in price, they're going to have a greater opportunity in terms of providing affordable power. The other piece that I've mentioned out there is that the natural gas network system that we have, provides a really great opportunity when we start to think about advancements in green hydrogen. So that distribution network is going to be really critical, I think, for heavy equipment, as well as how we can start to rethink the operating model of how we heat and cool our homes. So there's those are some good ways, I think, you know, leveraging fuel cells for vehicle technology, advancing green hydrogen, and then thinking about the distribution network, and how we operate that using cleaner resources. Jonathan, I

see, I think I see a great question from really,

absolutely, Grant. Thanks for joining us today. This is a really fantastic conversation, Sabrina manacle wants to know, basically says at CMU, they're working on a lot of relevant technologies for the Marshall Plan, new methods around manufacturing photovoltaic, new materials for power electronics, for TVs, and so forth. All these have great potential to create manufacturing jobs and supply the green economy. But we'll face big challenges of getting to bench skills, I can use Ben scout results to to pilot scale with the Marshall Plan include funding for early stage startup to demonstrate the technology at the pilot scale, which will be needed before customers and investors can be interested.

Yeah, and that's exactly like one of the things in fact, we just had a conversation we know with some congressional leaders over the past couple days, because they've obviously gravitated to the concepts that we're pursuing in the in the Marshall Plan. One of the things that's really unique about the network that we have cultivated, so the cities like Pittsburgh, Columbus, Louisville, Cincinnati, Morgantown, Dayton is that we all have, you know, first class research institutions, and one of the opportunities that we've discussed is the ability to leverage that network. So when we start to think about, like, what federal investment is, and what that looks like, so starting to put some more additional meat on the bones in terms of some of the concepts that we're putting forward, the idea of, of federal, you know, federally supported, and privately supported Proving Grounds, in in these communities where there's an alignment between the universities and the cities and those applications. You know, Reed talks about some of those technologies. And we actually have a really good model as he knows, and other folks maybe as well, where the city of Pittsburgh, for example, we have an MMU with the city, excuse me, CMU and the University of Pittsburgh through the the metro 21 initiative, which is scaled up to Metro labs. So now we have I think, 30 to 40, similar city and research university collaboratives, it's actually global now. And so that ability for us to kind of intersect with, you know, problems or challenges that we're facing on the local, local government level, and interfacing with research sciences, and the projects and products that the reed is talking about, so that we can put those to use, understand the pitfalls and the challenges with the product and ultimately improve the service delivery. That's a huge opportunity for us. And we've done a fair amount of that, in the city of Pittsburgh in terms of some of those technology applications that have helped improve service delivery have started to spawn the launch of companies that have come out of CMU and Pitt. And this would be an opportunity for us to scale that I think, rather than kind of tinkering around the edges.

I'm curious, are there other Marshall plans being deployed in other regions around the country, I just love the idea of being able to develop something that really works well, for a region, not some broad sweeping thing that may or may not work in certain areas, but being able to really tailor it to what the strengths and weaknesses are based on a region's locality and geology and so forth. Yeah,

yeah. So kind of a couple of things that point out to that, you know, one that the Marshall Plan, you know, you'll see people kind of call for Marshall plans. That's, that's not new that that happened since the first one, I think.

But the idea, somebody named Marshall that helped develop this plan, right.

Leslie Marshall, who's one of the lead authors on the report, I jokingly told her yesterday, you know, we're also looking at people that had last names of Jones and Smith and Cassie kovitch and You know, but we found her. So we've we've honed in on her. Um, so there's a couple reasons for the genesis of this one is that George Marshall is is a is a local hero, right, so he comes from union town. And so the idea that this is, you know, a locally based approach is kind of primary and the concept. The second piece is, is the actual history of the martial planet itself. And so you see that, you know, even in the coverage that we've received in the Marshall Plan is that the focus is on the money. Now, what's true around the original Marshall Plan, right, so it was the amount of investment that went into Western Europe. But the other piece that's not as well documented is the other component of that, which is the rebuilding of democracy and community development. And so, you know, obviously, there is the purposes of the economic development side. And that's we're also very attuned to that, that the idea that we can build these types of efforts from the community up, one of our key partnerships in the Marshall Plan development is an entity called reimagine Appalachia. And so the idea that we are hearing voices from the communities throughout the region, whether that's urban, suburban, rural, you know, that is absolutely critical, because the investment itself isn't just about building the next great company. It's about rebuilding our communities and the people with inside of it. And so that's that's kind of the the idea of bringing the whole picture together.

Very cool. We've got a great question from Dan Griffin here wants to know, I mean, we collect about 60 cents per gallon and taxes on gasoline, do you think we would be able to recoup that as it becomes more ubiquitous?

In terms of reformulation of the gas

to get ourselves off the gas?

Maybe he's asking how do we how do we pay for our roads? Yeah, long term when we're not taxing gasoline anymore?

Exactly.

So this, this goes down a whole nother rabbit hole. And it's a whole different show. But what I used to work in this space, and so what I would quickly say is, is that we need to reformulate how we finance transportation at the state and federal level. So looking at kind of an isolated charge, and the gas tax hasn't been increased, since I think the early 1990s. So let's just keep that in mind. But even that is, so I think the advancements in technology are requiring us to rethink the funding and investment paradigm for our transportation infrastructure. And so we're going to have to think about kind of a new cocktail of funding and funding with regards to transportation resources to be ahead of the curve and not behind it.

So grab a couple minutes left, but if our companies have some, some pretty amazing ideas that they'd like to bring to you, to help the city achieve some of its goals, what's the best entry point at the city? And then maybe as you wrap up, can you tell us some things that you're particularly proud of that you've implemented at the city level? And maybe we all can learn from?

Yeah, certainly, um, you know, so on the technology engagement side, you know, there, I mentioned, kind of the the metro lab, Metro 21 kind of program, which is kind of a university based kind of project concept that we've we've worked on really well, I think, another kind of example is that we have a program called PGH, labs, which gives an opportunity for for really small and nascent technology and concepts to introduce into the city's procurement platform. So it's very kind of nascent stage types of activities. And that's it, but it's been a really kind of fun initiative, in terms of working with entrepreneurs and their technologies, and either learning, you know, creating a two way street learning from them, as well as I think as providing a lot of insights into the product that they're trying to develop. On. A third piece that I would offer up is our procurement platform, which is beacon. So always kind of keep keep kind of abreast of that opportunity, in terms of different kind of procurement, you know, procurement plans that the city is developing. And so that's another kind of good entry point. And then I think, you know, the maybe to pitch an idea, like a reverse pitch here. But I think the idea of kind of these intersections between the Technology Council and you know, members, and, and we've done some stuff in the past, and oh, and you know, in terms of just engaging on different technology developments. So having that interface is a really great opportunity for us to learn what's going on out there, but vice versa, creating technologies that make an impact and a difference. I think that's one of the things that the pandemic and even before the pandemic, but, you know, we're facing this challenge, twin challenges of climate and injustice, and how we can leverage technology to help address those fundamental human challenges. Jews are going to be something that we all have to attend to.

That's actually a great way for us to wrap up. So grant, I want to thank you for your time today. But I also want to give everyone a little commercial tonight, six o'clock starting right, Jonathan, we're kicking off our second civic hackathon, which is an opportunity for people with great ideas, to come together and work to find solutions to big problems facing our region, particularly those that are that are facing us now, as a result of the pandemic. We I think we have over 160 people registered. I think I heard we have 11 teams already, that are pitching, great opportunity. If you've never been part of a hackathon, I would encourage you to tune in tonight at six o'clock. And I can see that Alexis has placed a link to that session, here in the chat section. And just encourage you it's a great treat. These teams are going to be working all weekend. And they're going to be pitching ideas for new Civic businesses on Sunday evening. So we we intend to be back here live on Monday with business as usual at our normal time. And I think we'll be showing you a couple of new businesses formed through that civic hackathon. So Conrad, if you want to join us tonight. love to have you. It's six o'clock. Otherwise, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thanks, Brian. Thanks, everyone. I

appreciate it.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai