Impact of the Iran War on Energy
Friday, March 20, 2026, 10:00 AM - 11:00 EST
This webinar provides a high-level strategic assessment of the ongoing conflict involving Iran (as of March 2026) and its cascading effects on global supply chains. We move beyond simple "oil price spikes" to examine the structural damage to regional infrastructure, the forced "shut-in" of production due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the severe impact on non-energy commodities like urea, ammonia, and sulfur. The session concludes with a recovery timeline and a comparison to historical energy shocks, offering participants a roadmap for navigating the "new normal" of 2026.
Part 1: The Logistics Lockdown - The Strait of Hormuz and the "Production Shock"
The Chokepoint Status: Analysis of the current effective closure of the Strait, which normally handles 21 million b/d of oil and 20% of global LNG.
From Transit to Production: How the shipping standstill has evolved into a production crisis. With regional storage (approx. 343 million barrels) hitting capacity, producers like Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia have been forced to "shut in" wells.
Alternative Routes: The limitations of the East-West Pipeline (Saudi Arabia) and Abu Dhabi’s Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, which can only offset a fraction (roughly 3.5–4M b/d) of the disrupted volume.
Part 2: Infrastructure & Damage Assessment - Assessing the Physical Toll on Energy Assets
Upstream vs. Downstream Damage: Differentiating between temporary stoppages and structural damage to refineries (e.g., Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia and Bapco in Bahrain) and export terminals like Iran’s Kharg Island.
The South Pars/North Field Factor: Impact of strikes on the world’s largest gas field; assessment of QatarEnergy’s force majeure and the fallout for global natural gas liquidity.
Recovery Timelines: * Short-term (Weeks): Clearing mines and restoring shipping lanes.
Mid-term (Months): Repairing specialized refinery units and desalting plants.
Long-term (Years): Re-pressurizing oil fields that were shut down abruptly, which can cause permanent reservoir damage.
Part 3: The "Silent" Commodity Crisis - Beyond Oil—The Fertilizer and Chemical Fallout
The Nitrogen Link: How the loss of Qatari and Iranian natural gas has paralyzed global Ammonia and Urea production, driving prices up by 35%+ in the first week.
Global Food Security: The timing of the conflict relative to the spring planting season in the Northern Hemisphere and the monsoon season in India.
The Sulfur Shortage: The Middle East provides nearly half of seaborne Sulfur. Analysis of the impact on African copper leaching and Chinese phosphate production.
Petrochemical Stoppages: Force majeure declarations in the Styrene, PVC, and Methanol markets across Asia.
Part 4: Historical Context & Market Outlook - How 2026 Compares to 1973, 1979, and 2022
Historical Echoes: Comparing the current price action ($100–$120+ Brent) to the 1970s oil shocks and the 2022 Russia-Ukraine disruption.
The "IEA Response": Analysis of the 400-million-barrel emergency stock release (the largest in history) and why strategic reserves alone cannot fix a closed Strait.
Shift in Global Alliances: The role of Russia as a primary beneficiary/substitute supplier and the vulnerability of Asian economies (China/India) that rely on the Gulf for 50%+ of their energy.
Closing Forecast: Summary of the "Best Case" (Hormuz opens in 4 weeks) vs. "Worst Case" (prolonged conflict and structural damage).
SPEAKERS
Brad Bradshaw
President, Velerity LLC
Brad leads Velerity, providing clients winning strategies associated with designing, engineering, investing in, and building and operating clean energy projects and solutions. Brad has twenty years of expertise in innovative energy, fuel and carbon projects covering renewable energy, synthetic fuel production and carbon reduction. Expertise in identifying worthwhile investments evaluating multiple technologies, configurations, economics and suppliers. Technical, economic and market analyses have covered hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, methane, renewable natural gas and Sustainable Aviation Fuel. Brad has MBA from Babson College, and an engineering degree from Dartmouth College.
Building the AI-Native Energy Enterprise:
A Framework for Artificial Intelligence Implementation and ROI in Energy
Held Friday, March 6, 2026, 10:00 AM - 11:00 EST
The potential and promise of Artificial Intelligence in the energy sector is transformative. Realizing that potential value, however, is not without significant challenges. This webinar moves beyond the hype to examine the "hard-scrabble" challenges of AI integration—from overcoming legacy data silos and talent gaps to managing the massive power demands of the models themselves. We will explore proven methodologies to help you build AI strategies and plans that conform to your specific needs and challenges to deliver results. Key elements of this webinar include:
Applications: Power Generation, Renewable Energy Optimization, Asset Maintenance and Management, Generative Design, Energy Trading, VPP Optimization, HR, Regulatory Reporting, Operating Procedures, and Safety Compliance.
How It Works: Next Word Probabilities, Large Language Models, Tokenization and Word Embeddings, Retrieval-Augmented Generation, Artificial Neural Networks, Transformers, Training Paradigms, Objective Functions and Graph Neural Networks.
Readiness Framework: Strategy, Team & People; Tooling & Technology; Culture, Training& Education; Data & Readiness; and Security & Governance.
Implementation: Data Discovery & Unification; Infrastructure Audit; Governance Council; Opportunity Mapping & ROI; Implementation Steps (Select Baseline. Protype with RAG, Reinforce with Domain Knowledge, Integrate, Normalize, Track & Scale); Scale to AI-Native
Business Cases: Asset Performance Optimization, Predictive Maintenance, Solar & Wind Forecasting, Pipeline Integrity & Leak Detections, Enhanced Demand Response, Load Forecasting, Digital Twins, System Design & Configuration, Carbon Reduction Pathways, and Operational Decision Support.
SPEAKERS
Shane Chalupa, PE
Co-Founder & COO, Obnovit
Shane Chalupa, PE, is the founder of Obnovit and a Licensed Professional Engineer with 15+ years of experience across manufacturing, energy, oil and gas, and chemicals. After using AI to complete expert-level engineering calculations in 4 hours instead of waiting 3 weeks for a specialist, he built Obnovit to help engineering-powered businesses integrate AI with the same rigor they apply to their engineering. His team has empowered hundreds of individuals and teams with practical AI skills, delivering 30-40% productivity gains through a methodology field-tested in his own active engineering practice.
Brad Bradshaw
President, Velerity LLC
Brad leads Velerity, providing clients winning strategies associated with designing, engineering, investing in, and building and operating clean energy projects and solutions. Brad has twenty years of expertise in innovative energy, fuel and carbon projects covering renewable energy, synthetic fuel production and carbon reduction. Expertise in identifying worthwhile investments evaluating multiple technologies, configurations, economics and suppliers. Technical, economic and market analyses have covered hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, methane, renewable natural gas and Sustainable Aviation Fuel. Brad has MBA from Babson College, and an engineering degree from Dartmouth College.
Bradshaw Presentation available here
Chalupa Presentation available here
Webinar Video Recording available here
Preparing Road Maps and Implementation Plans
Held Friday, February 20, 2026, 10:00 AM - 11:00 EST
Presentation
Converting strategy to implementation is not easily accomplished. There are many potential barriers to successful implementation that occur between the wonderous plan and the hard scrabble reality of making it happen on the ground. This webinar looks at key challenges associated with implementing complex energy initiatives, and identifies concrete approaches that can be integrated into the process to overcome challenges on the path to successful implementation.
Bridging the Gap: From Strategy to Action
We’ve all seen it happen: a visionary strategy is developed with high hopes, only to stall when it meets the "hard-scrabble" reality of daily operations. The leap from a wondrous plan to concrete, on-the-ground implementation is rarely a straight line, and the roadblocks—whether systemic, cultural, or logistical—can feel insurmountable. This webinar dives deep into the heart of this impasse. We will explore the key challenges that cause even the best strategies to falter and introduce proven methodologies designed to help you build implementation plans that are not only practical but also just and resilient. Join us to learn how to turn your high-level vision into a sustainable reality.
SPEAKERS
David Hart
Principal, H-ETA
Global Hydrogen Lead, ERM
David provides expert advisory support on the energy transition, with a specialisation in hydrogen energy, through his advisory firm H-ETA. David is also the Global Hydrogen Lead at ERM and a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London. Based in Switzerland, his thirty years in hydrogen energy cover everything from research through technology due diligence, industry, market and supply chain analysis, to business strategy and policy. He has led projects and advised leaders in governments, corporations and investors worldwide on different industry sectors and how they interact. David has sat on venture capital investment committees and clean energy company boards and is a Director of the International Association of Hydrogen Energy.
Brad Bradshaw
President, Velerity LLC
Brad leads Velerity, providing clients winning strategies associated with designing, engineering, investing in, and building and operating clean energy projects and solutions. Brad has twenty years of expertise in innovative energy, fuel and carbon projects covering renewable energy, synthetic fuel production and carbon reduction. Expertise in identifying worthwhile investments evaluating multiple technologies, configurations, economics and suppliers. Technical, economic and market analyses have covered hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, methane, renewable natural gas and Sustainable Aviation Fuel. Brad has MBA from Babson College, and an engineering degree from Dartmouth College.
The 2019 New Energy Solutions Conference
The Institute for Innovation and Sustainability is pleased to host the 2019 New Energy Solutions Conference, taking place at the Boston Newton Marriott on June 27, 2019. The Conference is a full day conference with multiple tracks, focusing on Energy Storage, Microgrids, Hydrogen/Fuel Cells and Transportation Infrastructure. For more information about the Conference, please access the Conference website here.
The 2018 Global Forum on Sustainability
The Institute for Innovation and Sustainability is pleased to host the 2018 Global Forum on Sustainability, taking place at the Wylie Inn and Conference Center in Beverly, Massachusetts on June 20, 2018.
This unique conference is bringing together sustainability leaders from governments, non-profits and businesses to focus on driving results and improving outcomes encompassing policies, practices, tools and solutions. For information about the Global Forum on Sustainability, please go to the website here.
2017 Energy Storage and Microgrid Conference
On September 11, 2017, the Institute, in partnership with the Northeast Electrochemical Energy Storage Cluster and ACTION, the Association of Cleantech Incubators of New England, held a very successful full day conference on Energy Storage and Microgrids. With 200 attendees, and 25 speakers along with sponsors and exhibitors, the conference was extremely well received. The Institute would like to thanks all of the organizers and participants for making the conference such a success and we look forward to an expanded conference in 2018.