My career in renewable energy started when I was a PhD physicist at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), a non-profit based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. There I wrote Cool Energy (MIT Press, 1992), an in-depth review of the status and potential of renewable technologies from solar and wind to biomass and geothermal. This led to Powering the Midwest (UCS, 1992), an integrated research-advocacy project, which helped launch large-scale wind development across the US Upper Midwest.

After leaving UCS, as an independent consultant, I co-wrote The Consumers Guide to Effective Environmental Choices (with Warren Leon; Harmony Books, 1999). This ground-breaking book (which sold over 100,000 copies) used an input-output economic model of the US economy, coupled with data on environmental impacts (carbon, pollution, land and water use), to answer the still-pressing question: What consumer behaviors harm the environment the most? What changes can have the biggest benefit?

Never having left my physics roots fully behind, in the late 1990s I developed a new concept for wind site prospecting based on mesoscale atmospheric models. I joined forces with John Zack (MESO, Inc.) and Bruce Bailey (AWS Scientific) to bring this solution to market. Our joint venture, Truewind Solutions, became a roaring success, and led to the creation of AWS Truepower, LLC, in the early 2000’s.

Within a decade, AWS Truepower grew to become one of the world’s leading independent global consulting firms in renewable energy, with some 200 professional staff on five continents. As partner, I developed and led the company’s highly respected energy and resource assessment practice, which supported the financing of many hundreds of utility-scale projects around the world. I also edited and co-authored Wind Resource Assessment: A Practical Guide to Developing a Wind Project (Wiley 2012), a standard reference in the wind industry.

In 2012 I became President of AWS Truepower and helped lead the company to its acquisition, in 2016, by UL, LLC, a leading US testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) firm. I became Vice President of Renewable Energy at UL, where I led a unified advisory, software, and TIC practice with 500 professional staff globally.

Having retired from UL in August 2021, I’m now returning to my “sustaining song” (cantus firmus in Latin) of helping to make renewable energy a reality – this time around as an independent advisor with over 25 years of experience in all aspects of the development process.

My particular passion is helping underserved communities realize their renewable energy dreams. Renewable energy today is big business, the largest source of new generating capacity globally, with billions being invested by large, highly experienced and well-financed firms.

Amidst the rush to build such mega-projects, efforts to develop community-centered renewables by smaller developers, non-profits, indigenous communities, and others can be left behind for lack of experience, financing, or institutional support. And yet, such projects can be empowering and beneficial for the people they serve – they create jobs, reduce environmental impacts, and foster energy independence and resilience.

Where I can help move deserving projects forward, that’s where I want to focus my efforts.