Urban Future Forum: Building Blueprints for Advanced Energy Implementation

​In late June 2024, the Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering hosted the first-ever Urban Future Forum, with the help of a grant from the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (an initiative co-founded and co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory). The event brought together stakeholders from across the climatetech ecosystem and featured multiple panels, whose topics ranged from the importance of community involvement and targeted policy interventions to building a green workforce, among others.

​💪 Informed by the learnings from its first iteration, this year’s Urban Future Forum: Building Blueprints for Advanced Energy Implementation will feature interactive workshops focused on closing key development gaps. Through hands-on sessions, innovators will gain the tools to develop and implement energy projects and a blueprint for working with communities, workforce organizations and other nonprofits. Community stakeholder groups, workforce organizations and nonprofits will learn from others' pre-development activities and project evaluation criteria, in addition to having the opportunity to refine their own.

​🎟️ Who should attend? Innovators, workforce development organizations, non-profit organizations, policymakers, investors, customers, utilities, and anyone working on advancing energy solutions.

​💚 Agenda

• ​9:00 AM: Doors Open & Registration

• ​9:30 AM: Networking Breakfast

• ​10 AM: Opening Remarks | UFL, NYU, Wells Fargo  

• ​10:30 AM:

  • ​Lightning Case Study with Su Sanni (Founder and CEO at Dollaride)

  • ​Fireside Chat: Navigating the New Reality of Advanced Energy Finance and Community Partnership with Jack Fritzinger (Founding Partner at Node) and La-Toya Niles (Senior Grants and Partnerships Manager at Sustainable Cities Fund)

• ​11 AM - 12:30 PM: Morning Workshops

  • ​Partnering with Communities | Rhea Quiñones (Community Engagement Strategist)

  • ​Project Finance and Community Partnership | La-Toya Niles (Senior Grants and Partnerships Manager at Sustainable Cities Fund)

  • ​Project Development Tools | Mark Reuss, P.E., AC (Principal of Portfolio Operations at Spring Lane Capital)

  • ​Partnering with Workforce | Neil Padukone (Director of Green Economic Transformation at New York Climate Exchange)

• ​12:30 PM: Networking Lunch

• ​1:45 PM: Lightning Case Study + Fireside Chat | Climate is The New Economy | Thermal Networks: From Pilots to a Citywide Movement

  • ​Jeanne Bergman (Director of Thermal Energy Projects at SANE Energy Project)

  • ​Thomas Guest (Founder at Brym)

  • ​Greg Koumoullos (Department Manager, Thermal Energy Networks at Con Edison)

• ​2:30 - 4PM: Afternoon Workshops

  • ​Partnering with Communities | Rhea Quiñones (Community Engagement Strategist)

  • ​Countering Misinformation  | Holly Buck (Associate Professor of Environment and Sustainability at University of Buffalo)

  • ​Peer-to-Peer Project Development | Brian Asparro (COO at CarbonQuest)

  • ​Creating Criteria to Assess Projects | Hannah Corn (Climate Investor and Growth Strategist)

• ​4PM: Closing and Networking