The Construction Record Podcast – Episode 302: NREL's Jill Engel-Cox and Shanti Pless

On this episode of The Construction Record Podcast, digital media editor Warren Frey speaks with National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) research advisor Jill Engel-Cox and senior building energy research engineer Shanti Pless about the lab's work at helping the world get to net-zero through both new technologies and increased collaboration. Engel-Cox explained how the NREL works and gave a brief history as well as going into detail on how the lab travels the world and collaborates with other nations to accomplish sustainability goals, and Pless spoke to some of the technologies on the horizon for net-zero including increasingly efficient solar arrays and "virtual power plants" where utility users store and contribute energy into the system. We also have a roundup of the latest headlines including a story about a dog named Demon who patrols the Gordie Howe International bridge work site making sure birds and other animals are safe, and a story from Daily Commercial News staff writer Don Wall about the heavy civil sector grappling with diverse procurement visions. From the west, we have a story about how Simon Fraser University's new museum in Burnaby, B.C. is a mass timber tribute to its surroundings, as well as a story about the City of Edmonton telling residents of a northwest Edmonton condominium building they must evacuate after the city deemed it unsafe. You can listen to The Construction Record on the Daily Commercial News and Journal of Commerce websites as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music's podcast section. Our previous interview with LiUNA Local 1611 training plan administrator Tom Miller and B&B Contracting Group operations manager Peter Mihalech about an initiative to train Surrey School District students as construction craft workers is here. Thanks for listening. DCN-JOC News Services 'Demon' the dog helps keep Gordie Howe Bridge site safe Heavy civil sector grapples with diverse procurement visions Calandra: Lands could be added or removed from the Greenbelt following review New SFU museum a mass timber tribute to its wooded surroundings City orders residents to evacuate northwest Edmonton condo With Construction Not Immune, Retail Sales Speak of Slowdown Except for Construction, Deceleration in U.S. Jobs Growth in August