Amid a changing energy landscape full of opportunities to grow and adapt, Smart Energy Decisions (SED) once again brought together its community of energy buyers, suppliers, and industry experts at the SED Forum Spring 2025. The overwhelming message was that the momentum built over the past several years to develop and implement clean energy strategies and solutions will continue. 

SED’s first event of the year was held April 21-23 at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa near Austin, Texas. The forum included more than 225 one-to-one business planning meetings between energy buyers and suppliers. Additionally, separate Peer-to-Peer Conversations for these groups provided an intimate atmosphere in which to explore industry challenges and share best practices. 

Spotlight sessions featured James Stanway, Head of Energy Procurement, Samsung Austin Semiconductor, on “Isolation, Ice and Innovation: What Everyone Can Learn from the Texas Electricity Market,” and Sandy Eapen, Sustainability Advisor & Fractional Leader, Eapen Impact, on “Beyond Strategy: Operationalizing Net Zero Across Your Business.” 

A series of four concurrent Roundtables featured subject matter experts from supplier organizations leading in-depth discussions, including: 

• “Evolution of Corporate Sustainability: How Are Your Sustainability Goals Adjusting?” from Constellation 
• “The Buzz About Electrification: From Sticker Shock to Sparking Success” from Trane Technologies 
• “The Tipping Point for Microgrids: A Path to Power Independence and Energy Optimization” from BioStar Renewables 
• “Utilizing Energy Data Management to Improve Building Performance and Achieve Energy Reduction Goals” from Atrius 

Here are highlights from SED Forum Spring 2025’s keynote presentations: 

“Navigating Load Growth and Emissions Goals“

“When we think about how we’re managing our energy footprint of AI at Google, we’re thinking about three main strategies,” said Hallie Carrio, Technical Program Manager, Energy, Google (pictured center). “The first is model optimization, thinking about software efficiencies and how to drive efficiency to reduce energy needed per unit. The second is hardware efficiencies, thinking about our chips, hardware, and our data center design to drive efficiencies in the materials and energy needed to run some of the same processes. The third is emissions reductions through clean energy procurement. These three strategies together are how we drive and support electricity growth in a way that is responsible, so we can meet this challenge and meet this opportunity.” 

Noting the goals that so many organizations have for clean and reliable power, Luke Penne, Sr. BDM, Hourly Carbon-Free Energy Matching, Constellation (pictured left), said, “Constellation approaches this in two ways. We’ve owned and operated nuclear reactors for decades. They are very reliable and they are also clean. We have also helped deploy nearly 400 megawatts of new wind and solar in the past five years through our customer aggregation core product. Now what we’re trying to do is blend those and say each independently may not be the end-all-be-all solution, but together, they’re powerful, and they help us achieve both goals.” 


“Stop Saying You Can’t Find Money for Energy & Sustainability Projects” 

Employing an audience poll during his presentation, Trevor Joelson, Enterprise Energy Services Account Executive, Trane Technologies, reported, “Competing capital priorities is far and away the biggest headwind that you have for getting projects done in your organization.” He noted that an organization is likely looking for two things before making a capital investment. “Understanding what your organization’s weighted average cost of capital is one of the foundational elements to be able to have the conversations you need to have about making energy and sustainability investments. The second part of the equation is the internal rate of return, where the expectation is that they’ll get a rate of return that is greater than the cost of capital.” 

“Sustainability in Sports and Entertainment Venues”  

“What I love about the sports field and working for an NBA team is we have a really big microphone to use, and we can share messages,” said Danielle Doza , Vice President, Sustainability and Environmental Services, Cleveland Cavaliers and Rock Entertainment Group (pictured left). “We can help people understand what energy is and why we should care about it. Aside from saving money, why should we think about efficiency or investment in renewables? Our fans follow us on social media – manufacturing companies probably don’t have as many followers.  – so we can reach a wider audience about sports and sustainability.” 

Referring to the Green Sports Alliance series of playbooks on sustainability in sports and entertainment, Bill Squires, Board Member of the Green Sports Alliance and Chief Venues and Operations Officer for FIFA Men’s World Cup/New York & New Jersey Host Committee (pictured right), offered examples of five venues “who are doing it right. Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena used to be Key Arena. They had to lift the roof and redo the entire building. Golden 1 Center, where the Sacramento Kings play, are a great case study. The Intuit Dome in Los Angeles is the first one to add batteries in their building along with a lot of solar. The Mercedes-Benz stadium in Atlanta was the first stadium to be platinum-certified LEED. Then there’s a new stadium being built in New York City, Etihad Park. What’s unique about that building? It’s all electric. If you want to see what we’re doing in the world of sports, these are five good examples.”  


WISE Panel 

Commenting on what attracts women to the clean energy field, President of Texas PACE Authority Charlene Heydinger said, “It’s a relatively new concept. There are openings for people who are creative, who are willing to jump in and who don’t quit. And I think the openings in an industry that is in itself evolving to become bigger and more important and more mainstream create tremendous opportunity for people. I had no idea when I started lobbying for the Texas PACE Act that it would become a career.” 

During a discussion on the importance of mentorship, Alison Ward, Sustainability Supervisor, Boise School District, shared, “Part of it is asking, ‘Where are your gaps? Where are the things that you’re not able to get done on your team,’ and then ask, ‘Who has the skills to bring those up, and how can you create a leadership or mentorship opportunity within that group.’ I think it is important that we’re working to our strengths in this space. And helping others find their strengths and learning to leverage them is part of the role. Creating mentorship opportunities that allow students to see themselves in those roles is [also] important.” 

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be surrounded by successful and strong women,” said Jasmine Jain, Environmental Services Specialist, City of San Jose. “My bosses have all been women so far. But even outside of work, my mom has been my earliest role model — super strong-minded, super straight to the point, and also super successful in a very male-dominated field.” She continued, “I think representation is so important, and having those mentors has created a system of support and a space where I feel comfortable. They have normalized speaking up and taking initiative and creating space where women sometimes may not feel the same.” 

Discussing the importance of collaboration and messaging, Allison Porter, Director of Sustainable Real Estate, HP Inc., shared, “I’ve noticed that a lot of sustainability messaging has an ‘eat your vegetables’ vibe,  like you’re not going to like it, but it’s good for you. But that’s not my experience of working in this industry at all. It feels to me fresh and innovative and inspiring.” 


“Leading the Charge: Creating a Sustainable Future for Data Centers” 

Asked about how to balance short-term solutions with long-term sustainability goals at data centers, Alise Porto, SVP of Energy and Sustainability, Switch, Ltd. (pictured center), and two-time WISE Award winner, explained that collaboration is key. “We are looking to partner with already existing resources where we operate our data centers,” she said. “We are looking at geothermal or hydro or solar and battery wind, wherever the resource. We’ve exited utility systems and become our own retail electric providers. We still work with utilities, but we’ll take on some of the obligation ourselves. From a sustainable and reliability viewpoint, we have signed PPAs for short-term or long-term to be able to do that. We’re also working with the utilities, making sure that we pay our fair share of costs that are required. You have to make sure that you provide the right information so everybody can plan properly. So it’s a constant partnership with our clients as well as the utility.”  

Miranda Gardiner, Executive Director, iMasons Climate Accord (pictured right), explained, “The regulatory picture that we’ve seen over the past couple years, not just the past couple months, has actually been very ambitious, and yet there’s no real strategy for how that reporting works, how that rollout is really going to work.” Citing the combination of load growth and sustainability targets, she said, “We’ve seen a bit of a shift in federal policy or implications with our new administration. We’ve also seen a shift in the EU with the Green Claims Directive and Omnibus proposal. But we can feel hopeful as companies lean into how we find a sustainable future, no matter what the politics are on the table.” 

While the federal regulatory picture on reporting is unclear, “there is still momentum outside of the United States and even in certain states, too,” said Christina Sivulka, Global Sustainability Senior Manager, EnerSys (pictured left), and 2025 WISE Award winner. “There are many proposed new climate legislations in California. So California, Europe, Australia, even China, there are new sustainability reporting regulations and requirements that I think will keep us moving in the right direction. From the customer side, they’re still going to be interested in sustainability and the efficiencies that your products give them. They are curious about your own emissions, and they want to make sure that their supply chains are clean, as well. So despite what’s happening at the federal level, there’s still a business case for sustainability, and then regulations are also pushing us in the right direction.” 

Our next event is the SED Forum Summer 2025, set for June 16-18 at The Diplomat Beach Resort, Hollywood, Florida. Buyers, the deadline for registration is approaching quickly, so click here for more information. Suppliers can click here for details on sponsorship opportunities.