Andy Karsner | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alexander Karsner April 5, 1967 Victorville, California, U.S. |
| Education | Rice University (BA) University of Hong Kong (MA) |
Alexander Karsner (born April 5, 1967) is an American technology entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and energy and environmental policymaker.
Karsner was most recently Managing Partner at Emerson Collective, where he founded and led Elemental, its environmental practice. [1] He is a Senior Strategist and Space Cowboy at X and a Precourt Energy Scholar at Stanford University. [2] From 2006 to 2008, Karsner served in the United States Department of Energy as Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. [3]
In 2021 it made headlines when he was elected to the ExxonMobil Board of Directors [4] as one of the first environment-friendly board members of this Big Oil company. [5]
Karsner was born on George Air Force Base in Victorville, California – the youngest of four children – to David and Blanche Karsner. Each child was born on a separate Air Force base across three continents. The family ultimately settled in Fort Worth, Texas (Carswell Air Force Base, then southern wing of Strategic Air Command, 7th Bomb Wing) during the waning years of the Vietnam War and at the height of the Cold War.
Karsner's father was responsible for nuclear weaponry and played a key role in fulfilling the secret terms of the Kennedy-Khrushchev disarmament pact that resolved the 1963 “Missiles of October” Cuban Missile Crisis. Consequently, his father was deployed abroad, away from the family, for extended tours of duty. The family only learned the details of his assignments once they were declassified at the conclusion of the Cold War.
His mother, who was at the center the family and community life, was a well-regarded chef and caterer, and specialized in her native Moroccan cuisine. In addition to growing up during an era of mandatory bussing and desegregation, the Karsner home was multilingual and multicultural. As the child of a career military family, Karsner testified during his nomination to the Bush administration that he was imbued with an ethic that “our liberty comes with responsibilities and our opportunities imply an obligation” and “an appreciation of service above self.” [6]
Before entering college, Karsner was a student of only public schools. He worked at night to save for college and attain academic scholarships, enabling him to be the first member of his family to graduate from a four-year institutions. He attended Southwest High School and was known for his political activism, both in student politics and in community and national affairs. He focused on nuclear arms reduction and addressing Soviet human rights violations. In 1984, he was elected by his peers as Youth Governor of Texas and was invited to meet President Ronald Reagan and other national leaders as part of the YMCA Youth and Government program.
Karsner attended Rice University, where he majored in political science and religious studies and graduated with honors in 1989. He then went on to study international Finance at the University of Hong Kong, earning a master's degree in Comparative Asian Studies.
Karsner began his career in energy in 1988 as an energy analyst and project manager for international development at Tondu Energy in Houston, Texas, a pioneering independent power producer. In 1994, he was hired as Senior Development Manager for Wärtsilä Power Development, based in Hong Kong. In 1999, Karsner moved to London, where he became founder and CEO of Enercorp, a wind power development firm and international agent of Vestas. In this capacity, Karsner was involved in project development, management, and financing of energy infrastructure.
In 2002, Karsner led Enercorp to win a global competition to develop the world's largest private wind farm outside the United States. He has also worked with prominent multinational energy firms and developers including ABB of Sweden, RES of the UK, and Tacke of Germany (now known as GE Wind). [3]
Karsner was CEO of Manifest Energy, a firm committed to energy development, investment, and financing. Having experienced senior leadership roles in large corporations, entrepreneurial startups, government, finance, and diplomacy, he founded Manifest Energy Advisors to offer select clients in industry, utilities, manufacturing, and finance, timely strategic thought leadership in energy resources, technology, and policy.
On December 21, 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Karsner to the position of Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. [7] [8] Karsner was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 16, 2006. [9]
On March 23, 2006, Karsner was sworn in as the ninth Assistant Secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. In that role, Karsner managed the approximately $2 billion annual federal applied science, research and development portfolio for clean energy technologies. He also helped assemble significant bipartisan coalitions to implement or enact the Energy Policy Act, the Energy Independence and Security Act and the America COMPETES Act, all of which remain the foundation of comprehensive energy policy today. [10]
Late in 2007, Karsner was approached by Maurice Kaya and William Parks, Jr., officers of the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism in Hawaii, about increasing the DOE's support role in Hawaii. Karsner was sympathetic to the request, and in January 2008, signed a comprehensive memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Governor Linda Lingle. This MOU established the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) as a partnership between the state and the DOE. The HCEI's objective was to reduce Hawaii's oil dependence by 70% through substitution of renewable energy and energy-efficiency measures. [11]
Karsner directed the U.S. Department of Energy and the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries toward an agreement calling for the two federal agencies to find ways to promote energy efficiency within their respective offices and facilities. Daniel J. Basta, director of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, and Karsner signed the agreement in Honolulu, expanding cooperative efforts to promote and increase energy efficiency at the country's national marine sanctuaries. [12]
In diplomacy, Karsner was a principal contributor to the U.N.-sponsored climate change negotiations, the major economies meetings, and the Asia-Pacific Partnership on behalf of the U.S. He helped establish the "Bali Road Map" toward achieving a post-2012 global framework accord on energy security and emissions reduction. Karsner was also an original architect of the Major Economies Process. [13] [14]
Karsner visited Antarctica from January 7–14, 2008, through the National Science Foundation's U.S. Antarctic Program, to promote wind and solar power. He dedicated a new scientific station at the geographic South Pole – the third since 1957 – officially ushering in a new support system for sophisticated large-scale experiments in disciplines ranging from astrophysics to environmental chemistry and seismology. This marked his second trip to South Pole station, as he also honeymooned there with his wife. [15]
In 2009, Karsner received the official insignia and designation of Royal Commander of the Polar Star - First Class from King Carl Gustav of Sweden, which is highest honor that the Kingdom of Sweden can bestow upon foreign nationals. The recognition was for "outstanding and unprecedented expansion of the historic ties" between the United States and Sweden in the fields of energy R&D, technology collaboration and commercialization, environment conservation and addressing climate change for Karsner's work at the DOE. [16]
In 2012, Karsner attended the Bilderberg Meeting. [17] This annual forum for informal discussions is designed to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. Karsner also chairs Aspen Energy Week – an annual convening of thought leaders across the energy industry – with Ernest Moniz, former United States Secretary of Energy. [18] These two forums follow Chatham House Rules, in which participants agree not to reveal exactly what was said or who said it.
Karsner sits on several boards including Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT), [19] Conservation International, [20] Nia Tero, [21] the advisory council of the Natural Capital Project, [22] the advisory board of the Energy Futures Initiative, [23] the advisory board of MIT Media Lab., [24] and the Board of Directors of ExxonMobil. [25]
Karsner's 2021 election to the ExxonMobil Board of Directors made headlines because he was one of four candidates put forward by a coalition of activist investors led by Engine No. 1 with the aim of redirecting ExxonMobil's focus away from fossil fuels more toward less pollutive sources of energy. [4] [26]
Royal Commander of the Order of the Polar Star – First Class, Sweden (2009)
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US specializes in the research and development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems integration, and sustainable transportation. NREL is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Department of Energy and operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, a joint venture between MRIGlobal and Battelle. Located in Golden, Colorado, NREL is home to the National Center for Photovoltaics, the National Bioenergy Center, and the National Wind Technology Center.
Business action on climate change includes a range of activities relating to climate change, and to influencing political decisions on climate change-related regulation, such as the Kyoto Protocol. Major multinationals have played and to some extent continue to play a significant role in the politics of climate change, especially in the United States, through lobbying of government and funding of climate change deniers. Business also plays a key role in the mitigation of climate change, through decisions to invest in researching and implementing new energy technologies and energy efficiency measures.
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to design, fund and implement solar energy solutions to benefit those in poor rural communities without access to an electrical grid. This allows students to study at night and brings computers and Internet into schools. It makes it possible to bring in water for irrigation without having to hand-carry it long distances, allowing women to spend their time on money-earning enterprises. Access to electricity and water improves health care. SELF has completed several projects in more than 20 countries including a solar powered drip irrigation in Benin, a health care centre in Haiti, telemedicine in the Amazon rainforest, online learning platform in South Africa, and a microenterprise development in Nigeria.
The Kearl Oil Sands Project is an oil sands mine in the Athabasca Oil Sands region at the Kearl Lake area, about 70 kilometres (43 mi) north of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada that is operated by the 143-year old Calgary, Alberta-headquartered Imperial Oil Limited—one of the largest integrated oil companies in Canada. Kearl is owned by Imperial Oil and is controlled by Imperial's parent company, ExxonMobil—an American multinational that is one of the largest in the world.
Myles W. Scoggins was the 16th president of the Colorado School of Mines. He was appointed to the position in June 2006.
Founded in 2001, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) is a member-based, 501(c)(3) national non-profit organization that unites finance, policy and technology to accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy.
According to data from the US Energy Information Administration, renewable energy accounted for 8.4% of total primary energy production and 21% of total utility-scale electricity generation in the United States in 2022.
ExxonMobil Corporation is an American multinational oil and gas corporation and the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil. The company, which took its present name in 1999 per the merger of Exxon and Mobil, is vertically integrated across the entire oil and gas industry, and within it is also a chemicals division which produces plastic, synthetic rubber, and other chemical products. ExxonMobil is headquartered near the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas, though officially incorporated in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
REMP, or Renewable Energy Mitigation Program, is a model of promoting renewable energy through local government building codes that was launched in Colorado in 2000.
Dan William Reicher is an American lawyer who was U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in the Clinton Administration. Reicher is currently executive director of the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University, a joint center of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Law School, where he also holds faculty positions. Reicher joined Stanford in 2011 from Google, where he served since 2007 as Director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives for the company's venture Google.org.
Walter R. Arnheim is an American oil company executive and former director of the Washington National Opera. He is currently a renewable energy specialist, private equity manager, and an adviser to companies and non-profit organizations.
The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), established in 1982, is a non-profit organization working with clean energy. It is based in Latham, New York.
In 2019, the total energy production in Indonesia is 450.79 Mtoe, with a total primary energy supply is 231.14 Mtoe and electricity final consumption is 263.32 TWh. Energy use in Indonesia has been long dominated by fossil resources. Once a major oil exporter in the world and joined OPEC in 1962, the country has since become a net oil importer despite still joined OPEC until 2016, making it the only net oil importer member in the organization. Indonesia is also the fourth-largest biggest coal producer and one of the biggest coal exporter in the world, with 24,910 million tons of proven coal reserves as of 2016, making it the 11th country with the most coal reserves in the world. In addition, Indonesia has abundant renewable energy potential, reaching almost 417,8 gigawatt (GW) which consisted of solar, wind, hydro, geothermal energy, ocean current, and bioenergy, although only 2,5% have been utilized. Furthermore, Indonesia along with Malaysia, have two-thirds of ASEAN's gas reserves with total annual gas production of more than 200 billion cubic meters in 2016.
James Eugene Rogers Jr. was an American businessman and author. He was president and CEO of Duke Energy, the largest electrical utility in the U.S., from April, 2006 until July 1, 2013. He stayed on as Chairman of the Board until retiring the following December. His book, Lighting the World, which explores the issues involved in bringing electricity to over 1.2 billion people on earth who lack it, was published August 25, 2015, by St. Martin's Press. The book asserts that access to electricity should be recognized as a basic human right.
EurObserv'ER is a consortium dedicated to the monitoring of the development of the various sectors of renewable energies in the European Union.
Thomas H. Stoner Jr. is lead director and a co-founder, along with Nobel laureate David Schimel of the Jet Propulsion Lab (NASA) and other leading climate experts, of Entelligent, a global provider of Smart Climate indexes, predictive equity portfolio analytics and advanced data on climate risk and climate transition. He served as CEO of Entelligent from 2017 to October 2023. Prior to Entelligent, Stoner founded Project Butterfly, a research organization that advocates primarily for the global capital markets as a solution to climate change. The research produced by Project Butterfly led to the creation of Entelligent and ultimately yielded two climate risk patents issued by the USPTO. Stoner is also the author of the 2013 book, "Small Change, Big Gains: Reflections of an Energy Entrepreneur," which includes research about transforming the global energy supply to be more reliant on sustainable fuel sources by the end of the century. Stoner has been a promoter of sustainable development for over 30 years, having built, financed and owned and operated renewable energy projects throughout the Americas. He has led three companies in the clean technology space, including one of the original cleantech venture funds backed by international development banks, including the Multilateral Investment Fund, a division of the Inter-American Development Bank.
FuelCell Energy, Inc. is a publicly traded fuel cell company, headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut. It designs, manufactures, operates and services Direct Fuel Cell power plants.
Richard L. Kauffman is the first New York State "energy czar," officially referred to as the Chairman of Energy and Finance for New York in the administration of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. In this role, Kauffman is New York State's most senior energy official, responsible for all aspects of energy policy and agency operation, and leads the state's "Reforming the Energy Vision" initiative.
Bernd Westphal is a German trade unionist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Lower Saxony since 2013.
The National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI), is a broad U.S. national consortium established to design and carry out the research and development program needed to secure an affordable, energy-efficient, and resilient water supply for the US economy through decentralized, fit-for-purpose desalination. NAWI was founded in 2019 as one of five (DOE) Energy Innovation Hubs, and its principal support of $100M over five years has been provided by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.