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Crosspost from Avionics International Nick Schmidt, Chief Technology Officer at Blueprint Power, recently offered some perspectives on their services and technology platform as well as the topic of decarbonization in the aviation industry. Check out our question-and-answer session with Nick Schmidt below. Avionics: How does the Blueprint Power platform work? Nick Schmidt: We think of airports as “mini cities,” given the number and variety of buildings and transportation operating at airports. Blueprint Power combines its “in-building data analytics” platform with energy advisory expertise to help airport and building operators harness the surplus energy in their buildings to generate new cash flows and help fund carbon reduction and energy resilience goals. We work with customers to identify existing flexible energy capacity, add new capacity, optimize its use, and connect it to energy markets that pay for flexible capacity. Many operators don’t realize that they have options to generate economic, decarbonization, and resiliency benefits at the same time. We can help them implement an approach that aligns with the airport’s preferred combination of goals and adapt it as business needs, energy and regulatory markets change. ...

You can’t grow up in tech and not feel obliged to share an end-of-year wrap-up. So without further ado - here is mine for 2022. Media Best Album - Pacifica’s 2022 Less album, and just more every track they have put out this year has been gold. GOLD JERRY! Best Song - Rick Astley - abcdefu (GAYLE Cover) I don’t know if you know, but Rick Astley is more than Rick Rolling. He has an active youtube channel where he covers music he enjoys. His taste knows no bounds, and it has introduced me to songs I wouldn’t have otherwise listened to. ...

When you learn new languages, you can often find connections in words and ideas. Sometimes it’s wholesale incorporation of a word into the zeitgeist. Dunkelflaute is one I see more and more used in the energy world. “A Dark Lull” is the exact translation, but it intends to describe what happens when the sun isn’t shining, or the wind is blowing. The German language is beautiful; I don’t care what others say, but it is also incredibly literal. It is less flowery in its descriptors and often combines disparate words to create anew. ...

Intro If you closed your eyes tight enough and opened them without hesitation, it felt like pre-COVID a little this year. If you acclimated you’d realise it was not yet. I did over 100k miles/160k km this year (or nearly 300/482+ by Delta’s qualifying) and over 130 nights in a hotel. I am lucky enough that my family, more often than not, travels with me, but that is still a gruelling schedule. Who knows what next year brings, but it will likely be a lot of the same. ...

TL;DR Great test run with the Airstream cut short by a sick kiddo. Stats and thoughts are below! Solid headwinds and gradual climb = 1mi/kWh on the way there Downhill with light winds and modified driving habits = 1.4mi/kWh Charging networks were more than sufficient to get us there and back. The chargers were positioned so that the truck and trailer could fit. The winds were so destructive in Cadillac that a buggy took off in the Meijers parking lot and rammed the back of the Airstream…grumble grumble Ford PR reached out to try and repair our failed navigation system, but alas, nothing. We had to rely solely on Google Maps through Android Auto. The Pro Trailer system randomly forgot the Airstream after calibrating a few weeks ago and then randomly remembered it when we got home. Fun. BlueCruise worked with the trailer connected, which seems odd. It was helpful but made me nervous, given the ping-pong between lanes that BlueCruise does. I found myself turning off cruise control to avoid it engaging.                 ...