The E+E 100 are the VPs, directors, managers and engineers who are making significant strides in driving our industry. See the complete list here or download the report for more detailed information about these leaders. And stay tuned for the Call for Submissions coming in the fall, when you can nominate your favorite sustainability or energy management professional!
Now, meet David Grantham, executive director, National Research Consortium at Innovation Pointe Labs.
As executive director for the nonprofit National Research Consortium (NRC) at Innovation Pointe Labs, Grantham designs and directs technology-to-market research initiatives connecting universities and advanced resource recovery.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced in the last year or two?
There are two camps that don’t always work well together: oil and gas plus utilities.
There are two incumbents: utilities sector and oil and gas sector. They don’t know how to get to the middle ground right now. We try to supply policy support to both. But they have to go out into this new frontier to understand what renewables can do to supplement. It’s a little counterintuitive to them. They’re ready to improve their environmental stewardship — it’s just getting there. They’re all cost saving measures. Understanding it in sector specific ways has been important to us but them understanding it in each sector is difficult. We have a lot of factors that come into this as adversaries and we try to turn them into collaborators.
How have you addressed that challenge?
Relationship building. I establish trust with both oil and gas and power companies so that they realize that the goal is to follow the science and the markets toward these solutions. We have to look at it as a formula with electrons and molecules, and how can we use that most efficiently that works with the natural cycles of the planet rather than against it.
What advice would you give other professionals as they try to accomplish their sustainability or energy management goals?
Measure at least twice, probably three or four times. It’s a really complicated space so the difference is there’s a solution for complexity. Keep your eye on the solutions. Eliminate barriers to the solutions. What seems to be insurmountable could have a solution that’s emerged from dialogue and collaboration that involves detailed metrics and discussions.
