Upcoming: Energy Webinars for California’s Indoor Growers

Gretchen Schimelpfenig By Gretchen Schimelpfenig|May 23, 2025
Leafy greens growing in an indoor farm. | Photo: Resource Innovation Institute

Greens growing in an indoor farm. | Photo courtesy of Unsplash

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) added two new energy webinars to its Workforce Education & Training program that address resiliency and renewables for indoor agriculture. These classes, provided by Energy Resources Integration (ERI) and taught by Senior Energy Engineer Gretchen Schimelpfenig, provide guidance for growers and design professionals to incorporate efficiency, electrification, and on-site energy generation strategies into their operations to build resilience plans. Here is a brief description of each class:

Indoor Agriculture Resiliency

Taking place on Thursday, June 12, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. PDT, this intermediate class will examine resiliency for indoor agricultural facilities. The course will cover efficiency, electrification, and on-site energy generation strategies, and how growers can combine them to build resilience plans for the short- and long-term.

For more information and to enroll, go here: https://pge.docebosaas.com/learn/courses/3431/indoor-agriculture-resiliency. 

Renewables for Indoor Growers and Greenhouses

This introductory class, taking place on Tuesday, June 17, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. PDT, will cover how to integrate renewable energy sources such as solar, combined heat and power (CHP) with CO2 recapture, and geothermal into indoor farming systems. Key topics include the fundamentals of renewable energy technologies, common system integrations, and selecting the appropriate renewable energy systems.

For more information and to enroll, go here: https://pge.docebosaas.com/learn/courses/3432/renewables-for-indoor-agriculture-growers-and-greenhouses. 

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Gretchen Schimelpfenig is a Senior Energy Engineer at Energy Resources Integration (ERI), a clean energy consulting firm developing a sustainable future for our planet through cost-effective energy management. Gretchen is also the Executive Director of the Cornell University's Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE), an academic consortium pioneering climate-smart agricultural technology demonstrations and workforce development. She has worked with more than 250 growers and researchers to optimize greenhouses and indoor farms through her emerging technology research, efficiency program implementation, and consultation with growers across North America. Gretchen is the former Technical Director of Resource Innovation Institute (RII). She is a licensed Civil Professional Engineer in California and Vermont. See all author stories here.