"Action in the Heartland" Stories from Fresh Energy's 2025 Benefit Breakfast

Over 550 people from across Minnesota and the Midwest attended Fresh Energy’s 10th annual Benefit Breakfast on the morning of September 30, 2025, to celebrate the resilience and determination driving clean energy progress in Minnesota, share our vision for navigating uncertain times, and reflect on how local leadership is creating a new playbook for climate action. 

Breakfast speakers in this recording include:

• Dr. Margaret Cherne-Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer of Fresh Energy
• Karie Kirschbaum, community development director for the City of Crookston and co-founder of Empower Crookston
•  Bob Blake, founder and CEO of Solar Bear and Executive Director of Native Sun Community Power Development 
•  Alex Savelli, global executive director – electrolyzers at Accelera by Cummins 

 If you missed the event, want to share it with a friend, or experience it again, watch the full event here or by viewing the video below. Be sure to check out these great photos from the event. And finally: support Fresh Energy’s important work by making a donation today. 

Fresh Energy’s mission is to shape and drive bold policy solutions to achieve equitable carbon-neutral economies. Together we are working toward a vision of a just, prosperous, and resilient future powered by a shared commitment to a carbon-neutral economy. Learn about Fresh Energy's work and our bold "Vision 2030: Fresh Energy's Strategic Framework" at our website fresh-energy.org.


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Transcript

Jo Olson: [00:00:11] Hello and welcome to Decarbonize the Clean Energy Podcast from Fresh Energy. Fresh Energy is a Minnesota nonprofit working to speed our state's transition to a clean energy economy. My name is Jo Olson, and I'm the chief communications officer here at Fresh Energy. And today I am in your podcast feed to share a recording of a few key segments from our Benefit Breakfast, which was held in person in Saint Paul and virtually on September 30th. The recording will start out with a message from Fresh Energy's CEO, Margaret Cherne-Hendrick, and then move into a panel discussion titled action in the heartland, highlighting stories from Bob Blake of Solar Bear, Kari Kirschbaum of Crookston and Alex Savelli of Accelerate by Cummins, the presenting sponsor of our Benefit Breakfast was Parable Wealth Partners, and if you want more than a few snippets of the conversation, you can check out the full recording on our website at fresh-energy.org/25.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:01:20] My name is Margaret Cherne-Hendrick and I am the CEO of Fresh Energy. I'm honored to be hosting you all this morning. You know, I have to say, every year when we're planning this event, we ask ourselves if people really want to trek out here this early in the morning for an event like this. And I say that as someone who has two small children and often a rather epic battle to get everyone out of the house in the morning. But clearly, the answer we keep getting is yes and we are so grateful for that. But in all seriousness, it's extraordinarily heartening to see so many folks who are so passionate about clean energy gathered here today. It's been a very challenging year in so many respects, and I know that I gain so much strength and solace from opportunities like these, when we can come together and take stock of our vibrant, talented and dedicated community. Now, a lot has changed for me since I've been on this podium. Last year, this time last year, I was expecting my second daughter and I had a different role with Fresh Energy. Flash forward to today. My youngest child is now nine months old and is the delight of our family, especially her four year old daughter. My wife and I joke that this is our busiest chapter of life yet. Um, and in April I was honored and humbled to take on the role of CEO with Fresh Energy.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:03:01] After spending seven years with the organization. Thank you. I am so grateful to our staff, board and donors for putting their faith in me, especially at such a pivotal time in the clean energy transition and in the midst of formidable headwinds. This time last year, Fresh Energy was also excited to announce the rollout of our new strategic plan, Vision 2030. As we wrestle with what it will take to advance the clean energy transition, let me assure you that Fresh Energy is leaning into this challenge. As Shuba mentioned, we are doubling down on our commitment to equity. We are gearing up to take on the hardest to decarbonize sectors of the economy, like heavy industry and agriculture. And we are continuing to lead on smart policy solutions for drawing down emissions and the power, buildings and transportation sectors. Now is the time to be bold and brave. In its nearly 35 years of operation, Fresh Energy knows well that we've made it through challenging times before and will certainly be navigating challenging times again. But what gives me hope is that in Minnesota, in the words of Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards, we know how to get shit done. But it's true that our communities work. The process of advancing equitable, durable change to establish and grow clean energy markets to combat the very worst impacts of climate change is hard. It's challenging even in the best of times. And in this moment we are faced with unprecedented challenges from every direction.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:05:05] The past nine months have been uniquely difficult for our community. Many of the clean energy incentives and programs that we have worked so hard to establish have been cut, and many more are on the chopping block. We have a federal government determined to give fossil fuels a second life and to erode our fundamental trust in science. And at the same time, vital social services and essential protections for our most vulnerable members of society are under threat. In the basic hierarchy of needs, it is a challenge to keep the fight against climate change at the top of the list. But while the world around us has changed, Fresh Energy has not. In these uncertain times. It is my commitment to you that you can trust that Fresh Energy will not falter in our work. We will not slow down. We will continue to fight to advance a clean energy economy that is good for all Minnesotans. The data driven and pragmatic approach to change making that has set us apart for more than three decades will remain our touchstone. Our passionate and dedicated staff of scientists, economists, policy analysts and educators know very well that every fraction of a degree of warming that we can avoid is absolutely critical. Fresh Energy is proud to work alongside our colleagues and our many partners here today to advance and protect climate progress. Grass when Washington won't. And while this work may be hard, it has never been more important.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:07:01] It will be our community of practitioners and supporters in this room today that will play a vital role in our story going forward. The clean energy issues that we must tackle next will only get thornier. Today, actions like replacing light bulbs and blowing in insulation, fortunately, are a given. And there's still a lot of this left to do. But what comes next for our clean energy community will be some of the hardest decarbonization challenges our community has faced thus far. Reaching net zero by 2050 will require unmatched investments in the grid, renewables and technologies for hard to decarbonize sectors of the economy. Along the way, we will have to grapple with complex technological, environmental, and societal challenges. And all at a time when so much remains uncertain in our society. But if history is our guide, we know we can take on these new challenges and win. Over the years, Fresh Energy has worn many hats, working both as an organizational thought leader and also in coalition with partners. The wins are too many to count, but don't forget that in just a few short years, we made Minnesota a clean car. State began a new regulatory process scrutinizing the natural gas system with the Natural Gas Innovation Act. We made critical updates for energy efficiency policy in the Eco act. We passed 100% and ensured residential and commercial energy codes are updated. And that's just to name a few.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:08:50] But we can't hesitate and we must keep being bold. As you will soon hear from our panel of Minnesota thought leaders and change makers. We need to keep pulling together to create a new playbook for making clean energy and climate progress. And oftentimes, the best avenues for that are at the local level. Now is the moment for us to take hold of our power and not let go. We must keep pushing harder to make outsized impact through our state based work, work that other states can look to as a model. Fresh Energy is known for our effective policy and regulatory strategies, proving that local, scalable, and durable advocacy can create measurable emissions reductions. And yes, we and the groups who also work in the energy and climate space at times have different theories of change. But that's what makes us strong. Strength together is something we need right now. And speaking to everyone here this morning, we need your strength to your strength. As someone who believes in science, believes in climate change, believes in the power of community, and believes we're all in this together. You helped build Fresh Energy into the organization we are today, and we promise you, we are unwavering in our dedication to take on climate change using every tool that we have. You can trust Fresh Energy to stay true to our mission, live our core values, and be a guiding light for climate progress in Minnesota. Thank you.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:10:45] Thank you.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:10:51] Now as we look to Fresh Energy's past, present and future, one thing is clear the work we do is only possible because of leaders across Minnesota and beyond who are pushing clean energy forward in their own communities and industries. This morning, we are extremely fortunate to hear from three of those leaders, each bringing a unique perspective on what change looks like on the ground. Please join me in giving a very warm, warm welcome to the stage, Bob Blake. Kari Kirschbaum and Alex Savelli. All right. Welcome, Bob, Karie and Alex, we are delighted to have you this morning. I know I have spoken to so many people already who are just extremely excited about hearing from you guys in particular this morning. So let's jump into the conversation. I wonder, Kari, if we could start with you, could you please introduce yourself and walk us through some of the groundbreaking clean energy projects unfolding in Crookston, Minnesota, like the geothermal feasibility study and the solar on schools and public buildings projects?

Karie Kirschbaum: [00:11:58] Yeah. Karie Kirschbaum I'm from the city of Crookston. I was gone for I was grew up in Minnesota, was gone for about 30 years, came back in 2010 and realized we had a lot of work to do up in rural Minnesota. And so I started working with City Crookston about three years ago, and I had already known John Vaughn, who is now working for Fresh Energy, and we'd been doing some work over on the White Earth Reservation trying to get some solar projects in. And he said, Karie, we got to do some stuff up in Crookston. So we went to work and we went to, right, a MPCa grant with Kate Knuth. And she was kind of our cohort. And during that time, we realized that we didn't have a geothermal study, and it was really hard for rural communities to afford that. So Fresh Energy went to work. They helped us to get a geothermal grant. So we're very excited for that. And we're also working for solar on schools. That's in progress, and we're working on solar on our public buildings to help offset some of our costs for that. So we're thankful to be here. And I want to say thank you to everybody for inviting us.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:13:04] Thank you, Karie. And I know I can speak with confidence when we say, it's just been enormously wonderful to partner with you and Crookston on the Crookston work, and also to see, you know, the geothermal planning grants that we work so hard to pass at the legislature unfold in such a wonderful way. So thanks for being here. Bob, I wonder if we could turn to you next. Could you please introduce yourself and share how Polar Bear and Native Sun are transforming clean energy in both urban and tribal communities across Minnesota?

Bob Blake: [00:13:36] Yeah. Thank you, Margaret. Thank you for having me. And thanks for being here this morning with you all. And it's been great. Um, yeah, I can't believe we're Solar Bear and Native Sun have have come since I started both of these organizations. Um, so, you know, Solar Bear doing the solar projects in tribal communities? Um, uh, it's always amazing when I hear the kids or I hear someone from the community say, um, would they want to meet Solar Bear? And, and, you know, and, uh, you know, and so I'm like, well, that's, you know, it's so I have to get a solar bear costume now, actually. Um, but yeah, the kids, the kids, just the excitement that they feel. And I've always felt like if we're taking this journey, um, it wouldn't be right if we took it and we didn't bring the kids along with us. So, um, so that's been really exciting. Um, and working on the Solar Cub project, um, which is K to 12 education curriculum. Um, with, with with with the kids um and then native son doing the charging station. The Electric Nation project connecting tribal nations in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan. And that whole idea came from. Well, we were, you know, protesting line three. We thought, well, if they're going to build oil pipelines, we're going to build an electric vehicle charging station pipeline, you know, and and, uh, yeah. And we thought to ourselves, this will just be another form of native resistance. And, um, but, you know, it's been all that work, workforce development, uh, demonstration projects and of course, education and policy. So it's been a really good ride.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:15:28] It's fantastic. And I should say, we are also so grateful to you, Bob, for your leadership on our board of directors at Fresh Energy as well. So thank you. Alex, I'm going to turn to you next. Could you please introduce yourself and give us a little bit of an overview at what Accelera by Cummins is doing in green hydrogen, particularly with the Electrolyzer department. And I know these are big words and maybe we can unpack them as well green hydrogen and electrolyzers.

Alex Savelli: [00:15:57] All right. I'll try my best. Good morning all. It's an honor and pleasure to be here. Thanks so much for the invite. My name is Alex Savelli and I lead the commercial team globally for for Cummins Electrolyzer team. And that's under the Accelera name. So I think most of you probably know Cummins, uh, from its core business. Uh, we do a lot of diesel natural gas engines and gensets and continue to work on reducing the impact that that has on the environment. But not a lot of people know about Accelera. And Accelera is basically the division of Cummins that focus 100% on zero emission solutions. So our main goal is to actually develop those solutions and actually fast track their adoption, right? That includes things like batteries, electrified powertrains, fuel cells and electrolyzers, which I'm I'm part of. Um, just if I could get a show of hands. How many? How many people know what an electrolyzer is? Where? If you. All right. But I'm actually speaking to the right crowd here. But if you don't, an Electrolyzer is a basically a machine that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. And if the electricity is renewable electricity, you can create green hydrogen. And with that green hydrogen you can actually decarbonize, um, quite a few of the hard to abate processes and industries that Margaret mentioned. Right. So we, uh, we have been focused on it. Uh, we have, uh, you know, over the last 2 to 3 years, booked quite a bit of firm orders and, uh, to the point that we made a decision to start manufacturing electrolyzers in Minnesota back in. Actually turned the first range in April 23rd. Uh, we were honored to actually receive President Biden, uh, at the factory here. And then since then, we have produced quite a bit of equipment and deployed almost 200MW of electrolyzer plants that today are producing 80 tons of green hydrogen, helping decarbonize those projects.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:18:06] Fantastic. So, Bob, back to you with federal policy shifting, what are you observing now in the solar sector? I know I have recently come to know the term solar coaster, and I wonder if that applies here. So how are you adapting strategies, especially for work in native and rural settings?

Bob Blake: [00:18:30] Yeah. Great question. I mean, I it's a race to the door right now, right? Everyone um, residential is this year, commercial is next year. Ev tax credits are today. Um, so, um, I think everybody's just trying to get in while they can. Um, you know, I firmly believe, you know, this is a blip on the radar, and this too shall pass. Um, and so, you know, in saying that, you know, I think that, you know, what we do now and what I'm seeing, especially in tribal and rural settings, is, you know, let's start planning. I think there was like $75 billion that went back, um, because, uh, the, um, the, uh, the loans weren't being made out to tribal country from the Department of Energy loan programs office. Um, and so you know, what that tells me is that tribal communities, um, you know, just, you know, this takes a lot of planning for you solar developers out here. You guys know that this takes a lot of planning. This takes a lot of upfront work. And so I think what's this is going to be able to do for us is that especially in tribal communities, is that we're going to be able to start planning, we're going to start developing, we're going to start putting together our workforce. I see more and more plans. When I first started creating the Tribal Utility Authority with Baker Tilly, there was six tribes. Last I heard from them was like 90. So I mean, that's really, you know, I mean, and, you know, so I mean, when you start thinking about all the opportunities that are coming along with this, but we got to be ready for them. And I think that that's where tribal communities, rural communities can start now getting their their plan together. And so that's what I see. And that's where I see the opportunity right now for both tribal and rural communities.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:20:21] That's great. That really resonates, I think, with some of Fresh Energy's approaches of late, and I know many partners in this room today. Let's get organized, build power, and make sure that we're ready for when the next opportunity presents itself. And why don't we create those opportunities while we're at it? So, Karie, I'm really interested to hear how some of the projects are improving life in Crookston that you mentioned, and why does this type of rural driven initiative matter so much in Clean Energy's landscape here in Minnesota?

Karie Kirschbaum: [00:20:47] I think before I really get into that, I want to just acknowledge what Bob just said about our tribal communities and the training that's happening there. I believe that's going to be a huge workforce that's going to be able to reach our different rural areas right now. So I really appreciate all the work that you're doing on that. Um, in Crookston, we had started we started in Crookston when we started to write this grant and we started going door to door and you'll see, that's my city you see up there. And there's Taylor and I, my in Crookston and Crookston isn't my department. It ended up to be a lot of the college people came together Fresh Energy, Otter Tail, everybody came together to work on. We were all looking at the Iija and the IRA, and we're all on board, and we're in all these seminars and webinars and trying to make sure that we are positioning and training our community properly. And then the shift happened. So now we've got we meet every morning at 10:00. We have a web hour Monday morning at ten and we have between 10 and 20 people depending on the project we're working on. We're all together, but we realize that our communities needed to be educated. So we started working, going door to door. You'll see our basketball team came out and John Vaughan took them out, and we started to go out and did tons of surveys out there, listening to the community and partnering with the community.

Karie Kirschbaum: [00:21:56] And I would say to anybody who's interested in this, you are your champion for your community. You are the champion for a town of 200. You are. Why was the mayor of a town of 200 for eight years? Not a big deal, but it is a big deal, right? Because those people matter and it's rural Minnesota. And we feed the world from our from our area. But we still need to be able to train our people and to prepare them for a future. So we were working on weatherizing our houses, and we did get some grants in that we just kept working forward. We got a small Cities Development grant. Everything that we started over the last couple of years, we just kept moving forward based on the relationships we'd established and everybody just talking together every week, say what is out there that we can help our community do so. We're working on getting the new roofs, the windows and that type of stuff, and we just kept moving forward. But it was based on the relationships. Your relationships will open up to projects. And so I think if you just stay strong, stay honest in your relationships, those projects are going to open up and we'll keep moving forward on this. It's a blip.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:22:54] That's great. Thank you. I appreciate your optimism, and it's wonderful to see this scale of investment in communities that are outside the metro area who often are overlooked. And so I think being able to demonstrate this progress there is instrumental to being able to bring the whole state along with us on this. So, Alex, back to you. Green hydrogen often feels abstract. So you've broken it down a little bit for us right now, but why does it matter and how does it contribute to the clean energy transition?

Alex Savelli: [00:23:24] And it's I mean, it's really interesting if you think about all that we need to do to, to help the world decarbonize. Um, electrification will help quite a bit, right? Probably with the bulk of it. But there is that final 1,520% stretch and mile, which is really these hard to, hard to abate industries, whether it's, uh, you know, steel production, cement, glass refining, oil producing fertilizers that we need for agriculture here in Minnesota, um, even like for semiconductors, they're so popular these days. You also need hydrogen, right? And, uh, um, and so and if you were to try to electrify those, you know, hard to beat processes, it would be like very costly, you know, it wouldn't be feasible. Right. So, uh, I think this is a good example of a plant in a project that we did in, uh, in Florida with Florida Power and Light, um, where we're actually producing green hydrogen, uh, with solar, um, at their plant there, and they're actually using that hydrogen to blend in the combined cycle turbines that they actually have on site to actually decarbonize. You know, basically power generation, right? It's just a pilot project for now. But their vision over time is that by 2045, 2050, they will run that on a close to 100% blend. Um, you know, so, uh, that's just one example, but there are many other, uh, you know, examples. And you probably saw in the first, uh, slide, as I was introducing myself, we landed many different projects, uh, in different industries, whether it's uh, with, uh, you know, on the chemical side of things, um, you know, to produce chemicals that we need for our daily livelihoods. Um, also, uh, to produce sustainable aviation fuel, um, is another one. Um, and then, uh, we, uh, we also, uh, just commissioned our largest plant with Lindy in Niagara. Um, that's basically providing support for both industry and mobility. So those are just some examples of why we need hydrogen as part of the solution. Green hydrogen.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:25:39] Yes. Thank you. And it's great to hear that accelerate is not slowing down despite the headwinds. And you're continuing to build and demonstrate these projects. And we really appreciate that work. So Karie, back to you. You've alluded to this a bit already, but your work in Crookston brings together city government, university partners, Fresh Energy, utilities and residents. How have you navigated those relationships? It's a lot of folks coming from a lot of different perspectives. And what can we learn from you in this regard?

Karie Kirschbaum: [00:26:09] I think that we we started out with just working when John said, hey, there's a grant out there, carbon reduction. And I said, okay, well, let's start looking at this. And as we started coming together, we started to realize how much people really care about their communities. And I think that that common denominator of caring about your community, caring about your generations, was the thing that got us all started. So as we were writing the grants, pretty soon we were working with Fresh Energy. We were working with certs, the clean energy research team from the college, the regional sustainable development team, and people just started lining up. Ottertail came in and we've now had different cities have joined us. We went door to door. This is the basketball team that was out there going door to door in Crookston. And they had such a great time and we were able to make a donation. Fresh Energy made a donation to the basketball team for their efforts to help us to do surveys. But bridging the generation gap of taking the young people who are energized, and they have a lot more education about what's happening and then trying to how do you help a farmer on the farm who has probably never even turned on? He's so busy working in the field that the TV doesn't get turned on to know what's going on. So we have really created a bridge and an energy that has been like open communication. A lot of dialogue, a lot of teaching. And then like even the geothermal thing is happening, we continue to work with the city of Mahnomen. We're working on tree inventories and making sure we have tree canopies and giving our trails in. So we're taking a holistic approach, working with everybody from MnDOT to, um, to the city council. And, you know, we have the naysayers. But if you keep your personality good and you just keep working on common sense solutions, pretty soon even a Norwegian can say, okay.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:27:49] Thanks, Karie. Um, so, Alex, back to you again. The hydrogen space is rapidly evolving, as you've already told us. But this progress will also be impacted by shifting federal policies. I'm thinking about the 45 EV tax production credit that is going away at this moment. What innovations are most promising on the horizon, and how is Accelera collaborating to scale those solutions in meaningful ways?

Alex Savelli: [00:28:14] Yeah, and I would say, I mean, for the industry in general to get established in green hydrogen, take hold. I mean, you do need, um, you know, the right policies in place and with the right continuity. Right? A lot of these plants are big investment and you need certainty around that. So, um, I think the way we think about, you know, as was mentioned here, it's probably a blip we're going through. We'd like to think about this. It's a marathon. You know, we're not sprinting. And we're really dedicated and focused on this over the long term. Right. So we're really focused on the things we can control. And the part that we can control is to help create, you know, equipment that is more modular, that's more standardized, um, that we can actually both produce in larger quantities, as we're doing here in Fridley, creating jobs here in Minnesota. Um, and then can also service well in the field and really trying to bring costs down and scale up the business. I think the plant, you see, there is a good example of a 100 megawatt plant that we're in the process of working with BP to actually build in Germany, where you do have the right, you know, both the carrot and stick incentives. Uh, but that's a good example of a plant in itself would generate 40 tons of, uh, of green hydrogen a day and would be basically used to desulfurize fuel. So you can actually use that with clean, modern engines, right? Uh, so I think just staying focus on, on the things that we control and especially these earlier projects, it's really important that we we prove them out and, uh, so that people can get more experience and we can get learnings so that as we go step by step, we'll be able to build larger plants and produce even more, more green hydrogen to help decarbonize. Um, you know what the world needs.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:30:03] Great. Thank you. And, Bob, your model is also community powered, uh, spanning solar electric school buses, charging infrastructure and more. As you mentioned, how are you building trust and ensuring these projects serve community needs equitably?

Bob Blake: [00:30:19] Yeah. Good question. I mean, I think a lot of it is just like, uh, reaching out to the community early and getting them involved. Um, I was, um, I was like to, uh, this is going to sound a little funny, but I always like to pay some aunties to cook fry bread. And, uh, I was very serious about this, everyone. But hold on. Listen, um, but, you know, paying these aunties to make fry bread. Indian tacos. Now, okay, here's the thing. Now, what natives like to do is we like to get together, and we like to, like, socialize around food and, like, just like a lot of us do, right? Like, we're doing year to date, but, like, we love our Indian tacos and fry bread. And so, um, I always like to pay the aunties to cook some, cook some fry bread and, and then, you know, you get up there and then Bob does the spiel. Right. Then I kind of, you know, move around and start talking to everybody and, you know, kind of getting them involved and start answering their questions. And so, you know, that's really how like I start to like doing it. And then it's more like, okay, how do we focus in on the different areas of the community that's going to whether it be the Red Lake Agriculture Department, whether it be the college out in Sitting Bull and Standing Rock? Um, you know, whether it be, uh, you know, um, the Migizi, uh, right here that was featured on the Democratic National Convention, that project right there. So it's just really just working with the community early, getting everybody involved, getting the stakeholders at the, at the table. Um, and then just really, uh, you know, trying to just break bread really honestly with them and just let them know that, you know, you come with a good heart. Um, that's what we like to say in the native community. I come with a good heart. Um, and that's really what I try and do with the when I'm implementing, um, like you said, um, Margaret, all these different types of projects that I'm involved in.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:32:16] I appreciate that. And I think sometimes that gets lost. And we talk about the technical aspects of the clean energy transition. We talk about the scientific pieces around drawing carbon emissions down. But really this is about people. This is about bringing people together, realizing we have more in common than not, and building power through community, and whether it's breaking bread or growing markets so that your job is tied to the clean energy transition, that depoliticizes something that unfortunately has become very political. So just really appreciate the work that you guys are all doing to socialize these concepts and bring folks together. So before we conclude, I would like to hear one last final thought from each of you. Let's start with Alex. So if you had a crystal ball, what role will green hydrogen play over the next decade? And what gives you hope about our ability to meet clean energy goals, especially in these hard to tackle sectors that you've been talking about like heavy industry?

Alex Savelli: [00:33:13] Yeah. So I think the first realization is probably it's not only a decade. It will take decades, Um, right. And I think the way we need to think about it, it's, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50, even into the 60s. Um, I am very confident hydrogen will play a very significant role. It probably will take a little bit of time to take hold, especially less carbon intensive, uh, types of hydrogen. But I know that we definitely have the right technology, and we're developing the right technology to make this a reality. And we're going to continue to improve on that to drive costs down. Um, but we will need continued support and the right policies in place to make sure that we go from strength to strength. Right. But again, I we probably need to calibrate. The mindset is this is a marathon and we need to start the work today and just be relentless at it. Right.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:34:12] We appreciate your endurance. And we share the optimism around finding low and zero carbon fuels to decarbonize areas of the economy that won't be decarbonized through electrification. So thank you, Karie. What sustains you in this work day to day? And what keeps you hopeful about the future of clean energy in Minnesota?

Karie Kirschbaum: [00:34:30] The next energy, the next generation keeps me really hopeful. I think about like, I hired Taylor Williams. She's my project coordinator, and and she has got a fireball of energy around this whole subject content. And I maybe would have as much energy, but I actually brought a hybrid car because of her. You know, she is just being encouraged by her, but honoring the experience and honoring your older generation, but then marrying that to the next generation and just keeping that energy going. To me is so important. And I think that at the end of the day, when we look at all of our different communities and we're in a more impoverished area right now, and knowing that you're helping people get their bills down, clean their homes up, have healthy lives, healthy homes, it's exciting. And that just makes it all work for me. And then seeing that extra basketball team out there and those guys having such a good time, that was that was like the kiss on the whole year for me, that particular project.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:35:21] That's fantastic. Thank you. And, Bob, let's end on a hopeful note here. So what possibilities in clean energy are you most excited about for the future?

Bob Blake: [00:35:37] Oh boy. Obviously the technological advances that is happening. You know, it's Moore's law. Every two years it gets better, cheaper, faster. Um, I think that that's what's happening with our renewable energy. Um, and, you know, uh, boy, I tell you what, like, you know, the youth, I mean, Guy Gaskill, white Earth nation. Um, the, um, uh, the young kids that are finding inspiration in Solar Bear, you know, um, the Ezra Wells, Prairie Island Indian community, um, you know, uh, in Sarah LaValley Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. Um, these three young people have been able to, I guess, act as a mentor to because I've had mentors, you know, help me. And so passing that knowledge on to them. But seeing their seeing their excitement, seeing their enthusiasm around this work just makes me happy to know in.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:36:33] Thank you.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:36:40] Thank you. Three for a very inspiring conversation and for your dedication and work in our community. It's your work that remind us, us that progress isn't just possible, it is happening right now. Please join me in giving a very warm thank you to our big panel here. Let's end with a round of applause.

Margaret Cherne-Hendrick: [00:37:00] Thank you. Thank you so much.

Jo Olson: [00:37:06] Thank you for subscribing to our podcast and tuning in to these audio clips from our 2025 Benefit breakfast. You can stay up to date on Fresh Energy's work at fresh or follow us on social media. And remember, it's nearly give to the max day. Give to the Max Day is Minnesota's big day of giving, and it's back on November 20th, 2025. You can make a difference in Fresh Energy's work by scheduling your donation to Fresh Energy at givemesport today and new for this year, we have a $20,000 match, so the impact of your gift will be doubled. Schedule that donation at givemn.org. And thank you to the band Palm Psalms for providing our theme song. It's called TGIF of their album Otuhaka. Get the latest from the band at Palm Psalms.