Green.org sat down with Steve Shallenberger, the Chief Executive Officer at Rivotto, to learn about his passion and history of commercializing the future of sustainable technology.
Let’s get to know Steve a little bit better.
Steve Shallenberger is Chief Executive Officer at Rivotto. Driven by a love for the natural world and humanity, Steve and the Rivotto team have devoted themselves to uncovering and commercializing promising technologies that create an environmentally clean and economically prosperous future. As CEO, Steve’s goals include delivering the promise of clean, low-carbon hydrocarbon fuels to the world, ensuring energy security for all, and promoting a responsible transition to renewable sources of energy. Steve graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School with an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management. He earned a B.S. in Engineering Mechanics from the US Air Force Academy. Steve flew fighter jets for the US Air Force for ten years. He is a life-long learner, loves solving problems, and is passionate about his family, friends, and the natural world.
Steve, thank you for being here. Tell us about Rivotto.
Rivotto is an early-stage, deep technology company pioneering a breakthrough scientific discovery that transforms fossil fuel systems into clean, low-carbon sources of energy, compatible with global sustainability initiatives. Rivotto’s Nx25 may fundamentally alter the energy transition and make a clean, secure energy future possible for more people, and faster.
What would you do with $1 billion dollars?
Accelerate the deployment of our technology, which is capable of blessing the entire human race.
Why do you think sustainability is such an important topic today?
Mankind has progressed more in the last 150 years than during the previous 5,000 years. This incredible explosion of progress has impacted almost everyone on earth! While most of that progress has been good, the general ease and availability of resources has created a dismissive attitude of consumption. Along with 5-7x growth in global population, this consumption mentality results in refuse and pollution that hurt people and our planet. Sustainability is about building on the progress from the last 150 years, to bequeath a better world to all the precious children who will someday take over the stewardship of our planet. Sustainability is about handing posterity a strong, prosperous, clean, and bright future.
What do you envision your industry looking like in ten years?
Solar, wind, and batteries rely on fully utilized supply chains and long, years-long lead times. Complicating the situation, these sources of energy aren’t reliable and are very expensive, still relying on subsidies to work. As much as we want to immediately jump to these promising sources, recent precedent already demonstrates that necessity is going to force most nations to strengthen their reliance on fossil fuels. The energy mix may shift 1-2% in favor of renewables, given the very heavy investment in that area, but don’t be surprised if fossil fuels surge again out of desperation for energy security. What does this mean? If we want to create a sustainable future for our posterities, we must learn to make clean our use of fossil fuels.
Steve, thank you for sitting down with Green.org and sharing with us your passion for the future of sustainable technology.
If you are passionate about sustainability, join us at the 2023 San Diego Green Summit.