A software product manager commits to the renewable energy transition
This is the story of my path into the renewable energy space and how I am navigating my career for the next decade.
A post from my future
Looking back from the year 2040, I am reflecting on the role I played in making this world a better - and cleaner place. This is the story I want to tell of my (upcoming) career path and the series of decisions I made to be part of the broader climate solution.
My path widens - why I am excited about VPPs
After first writing about DERs a year ago, I am diving back in to better understand the part that software products & platforms will play in this space. I am convinced there will be an explosion of new, distributed, clean energy assets over the next 10-20 years. I want to help realize the massive potential of harnessing those resources to accelerate the clean energy transition.
Fleet electrification: falling in love with the problem
Fleet electrification is my entry point into the renewable energy space where I will dedicate the next decade of my career. But in order to help deliver world-class software solutions for electrification, I first need to understand the critical problems these transportation businesses face.
How my renewable path led me to Fleet Electrification
This is the abbreviated story about how I found a way I can address a planet-sized problem - one of many that need our help. I hope that by sharing my journey, it provides some inspiration for you on your own path.
Why I created my own Industry Brief for Fleet Electrification
I want to demonstrate that I am accurately thinking about this problem space and am able to spot good business opportunities. To do that, I am going to publish a brief.
My RE POV in July 2022: Fleet Electrification
I now feel much more confident in my path forward after aligning my strengths and my passion with a specific segment of the Clean Energy Transition where I feel I can have the greatest positive impact: Fleet Electrification.
Waypoint 6
I’ve been collecting online resources that attempt to capture, distill and present the full Energy and/or Climate landscape in a consumable model. These have helped me on my own path, and I hope you find some/all of them valuable too.
Updated Climate & Energy Podcast List
No two people ramp up on new topics in exactly the same way but for those that enjoy audio-based information gathering, I have been sharing this curated list of podcasts.
Addressing the inconvenient truth about intermittent renewable energy
Whether or not you have ever thought about where your electricity comes from, if you are on board with the clean energy transition, you will need to understand more about the inconvenient truth behind the intermittency of solar and wind power.
Getting to know greenhouse gases
Greenhouse gases are connected to nearly everything that we do on a daily basis as individuals but the emissions activity also highlights challenges that come from rapid growth around the globe.
Waypoint 5
Rethinking mobility decisions | My last gas-powered vehicle? | Energy Efficiency -> Emissions Efficiency | Negawatt?
Keeping up the Energy around the Energy Transition
The recent COP26 Climate Summit brought much-needed attention to the Energy Transition. Here's hoping we can keep up the collective energy around the crisis, keep our attention focused on solutions and keep our optimism strong for what will likely be a long path ahead.
Why you should read Bill Gates’ book about climate disaster
Either you don't know how scary climate change is and feel like it might be time to bone up a little OR you already understand that things are bad in the world and you want to feel more positive about what might be done or at least where you can start.
Climate Change is driving this Energy Transition
I’ve been researching a broad range of energy topics for many months now because I'm captivated by the urgency and scale of our global Energy Transition. I had originally planned to skim over the whole Climate Change area, but I now realize that there is not only a direct and critical connection between the two but that this Energy Transition is being spurred along by our current climate crisis.
Long-Duration Energy Storage
It has become much less expensive to build large solar and wind farms to feed significant power into nearby grids, even in remote areas of the planet. But these cleaner energy sources are intermittent so they must be paired with long term energy storage - at grid scale.
Waypoint 4
Erecting - then dismantling an entire city | Recommending a new podcast: The Big Switch | Hydrogen’s future will certainly come in many colors | That time I came across an Edison dynamo
My RE POV in June 2021
There is way too much information related to renewable energy for most people to understand, much less relate to. I’m reframing my own exploration around the burgeoning Energy Transition problem space and that has helped me narrow my scope and better identify opportunities for my professional career.
My growing interest in Distributed Energy Resources (DER)
I am drawn to DER for multiple reasons. Partly its because updating aging technology systems is what I’ve been doing my whole professional life and this is an opportunity to tackle familiar problems on a global scale - with no shortage of urgency. But part of my fascination is that microgrids and islanding just sound cool! I get interested because our global power story is changing - and change usually means new opportunities!
Will Vehicle-to-Grid help power our RE future?
Can a single car really help the Grid in a power emergency? Probably not. But people that are pushing V2G are not thinking about individual cars. They are imagining millions of EVs that can be dynamically pooled together on demand.
Ripples! How each of us can have a bigger RE impact
If our collective goal is to reduce carbon emissions, we can look for alternatives to the conventional choices we make in our own immediate proximity. But the sobering news is that we are not going to get to zero emissions with these kinds of individual heroics. We can, however have a significantly larger impact by deliberately making conspicuous choices that stimulate or even inspire conversations with others.