Building Efficiency Podcast · 2026-05-15
Five years after his pandemic-era first appearance, Charlie Zitnik returns to the show. Charlie and his partner Steve Goehl lead energy-and-renewables work inside D.A. Davidson's 150-person Public Finance group, financing energy-efficiency projects for ESCOs and prime contractors across the MUSH market. Jim and Charlie sit down to unpack the "four-legged round table" behind every successful public-finance deal - and why the ESCOs whose projects make it across the finish line are the ones that bring finance into the room on day one, not at the goal line. In This Episode (04:00) Why the renewables conversation shifted from efficiency to redundancy (05:30) What "MUSH market" means, and who D.A. Davidson serves (08:00) Dodd-Frank: Why ESCOs can no longer give financial advice (10:00) The Round Table: Issuer, lender, ESCO, and financier (11:00) Tax credits burning off and the long tail of geothermal (14:00) "Where projects go to die" - What happens when finance arrives late (18:00) The new ESCO account executive: A six-month runway (21:30) What sets D.A.
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