Stuart Jenkins is the founder and chief executive officer of Blumaka, a company that manufactures insoles and shoes for high performance athletes. As a marathon competitor, Stuart was frustrated not to be able to access high performance running shoes, so he designed and now manufacturers and sells his own line. Blumaka also sells its insole technology to Fleks shoes, one of Oprah's top product picks.

The podcast begins with Stuart's story. A farm boy from Nebraska, he won major marathons, finished in the Boston Marathon seven times, and was an Olympic trial runner. All told, he has run nearly 90,000 miles in his life so far, equivalent to circling the globe more than three times. He had first-hand experience with worn out insoles that lost their cushion. The insoles that come with top brand shoes, he states, fail in 30 miles or less. Blumaka guarantees its insoles for 1,000 miles.

Ted and Stuart discuss the benefits of running.. lots of time to think and reflect. Running competitively, Stuart reflects, is all about effort. If you work hard, you can be at the front of the pack. The old joke is that the hardest part of running is pulling on your shorts! Running stimulates creativity and thought; you can process information better when not distracted. Stuart stated that he can get more work done on a 30-minute run that being in the office for 4 - 5 hours.

As a young runner, he was given shoes by local race sponsors for winning his division. But they did not satisfy him so he took out his mom's butcher's knife and cut away at foam for more flex and better cushion. He punched holes in shoes if they were too hot. At age 17, and after modifying lots of shoes he thought, "I can make them better."

The conversation shifts to foam. Blumaka uses leftover foam from manufacturing—soles that would otherwise be buried or burned. Foam is plastic, Stuart explains, the worst kind of plastic. Imagine plastic blown with gas. Once the air is blown into the foam, like a scrambled egg, it cannot be separated and recycled. Stuart buys waste foam from shoe manufacturing and found a way to reconfigure it, granulating it to maintain its cushioning properties.

Blumaka's high performance products are popular. There are now 20 NFL teams buying from Blumaka, plus over 1,000 professional athletes. The non-slip insoles help runners run faster as their feet are not sliding inside shoes. They help golfers hit balls farther. Stuart is clear that his products are being bought not because they are sustainable... but for performance. His company's mantra is to sell a product that is sustainable, but it also has to look as good or better, last as long or longer, and cost the same or less.

Blumaka built, owns, and operates a factory in Southern China where it is manufacturing without the cocktail of chemicals used by the major brands and their suppliers... and using a fraction of the water. Now Blumaka produces a line of products, from insoles and running shoes to pickleball shoes, golf shoes, and through its sister brand -- Fleks-- Blumaka sells sandals, flip-flops, and slides. EcoMotion readers are welcome to use the code "ECOL20" at the Blumaka or Fleks website for a 20% discount to buy "the most sustainable souls on the planet."

Bryan Hannegan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Holy Cross Energy (HCE), an electric cooperative in the mountains of Colorado. He appeared on the podcast in 2021 talking about how to create the utility of the future. Now he reports on results and the remarkable accomplishment that HCE operated with 100% renewable power in the month of March 2026.

The conversation begins by digging into the 100% clean energy accomplishment, that Bryan describes as an intermediate step toward the goal for delivering clean energy every hour of every day by 2030. That's HCE's goal and it is an ambitious goal. What happened in March is that HCE was able to procure an equal amount of renewable energy to meet the amount demanded by HCE's 60,000 delivery points. The supply included projects under contracts as well as power from wholesale partners. Fully 60% of that power was time matched... generated in the hour that it was consumed.

Bryan described HCE's accomplishment in March like hiking a mountain and reaching a flat spot on the trail up to the summit... there's still a steep vertical face up to the summit. A number of factors made the March milestone possible: HCE is a winter-peaking utility, serving two of Colorado's premier ski resorts and their surrounding communities. Spring is a time of rest... when demand hits an ebb of about 100 MW versus HCE's 300 MW winter peak. March was very sunny and strong winds were constant. Fully 60% of the power delivered was from projects directly contracted by HCE... they serve HCE directly, the transmission in HCE's name. "Those are about as clean a shot as one can get," noted Bryan. The other 40% are bundled market purchases in which HCE buys energy and their renewable energy certificates.

The conversation shifts to utility resource planning and to the concept of stacking renewable resources, and the need to do so given the inherent variability of renewables like wind and solar. Diversity is key, noted Bryan. HCE is pleased to get power from different locations... in the mountains and in the eastern plains of Colorado. This resource diversity enables HCE to have something going at all times.

Bryan explains that HCE is "orchestrator of all these different supplies"... while orchestrating all 60,000 meters, influencing members on how and when they use power. And one of his key goals is encouraging customers to use more power when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. There are many hours when HCE has excess solar and wind. HCE's goals are to store excess renewable power and to sync consumer demand with renewable resources.

Ted brings up the notion that Bryan presented in 2021, that utilities such as HCE will coordinate networked microgrids. Bryan this time took it a step further, suggesting that every home and building will likely be a microgrid of its own some day due to risks of wildfire, cybersecurity, and aging infrastructure. Everyone will need a Plan B, to be intentional about resilience due to climate variability and risks to normal utility grid operations. Bryan and his team are working to create regional resources, so that if need be, HCE can operate in pieces rather than as a whole.

HCE now has 30 MW customer-owned solar the vast majority of which is residential, thanks in part to Colorado's full retail price net energy metering. To this favorable policy, HCE has added incentives for batteries, and now about half of all new solar is paired with batteries, storage devices that HCE can draw upon making capacity payments to member-owner instead of making capacity payments for resource adequacy in the power markets. HCE is currently paying about $10/kW month for consumers to be partners in this pursuit.

HCE offers a number of innovative programs: The PuRE program allows customers that want 100% clean power now. They pay a very small premium for that; their investments accelerate the the pace for all HCE customers. The Peak Time Payback.... for all customers... pay several multiples of what they pay HCE, to not use electricity. HCE just rolled out Time of Use rates for homeowners, sending a signal about the real system costs of using electricity in our homes and businesses all at once.

Creating the utility of the future... Ted asks what's next? Bryan and his team are focused on trimming power delivery costs, optimizing the power system, leaning in on operating a more flexible and resilient electricity grid. HCE needs to continue to get ready for the next challenges... dealing with cybersecurity, aging equipment. HCE needs to be nimble and flexible while staying true to its core mission of providing reliable and affordable power. Bryan envisions a world where every home, building, and vehicle is producing as well as consuming electricity. HCE will manage that every hour and every day.