Going Green had the opportunity to sit down with Meet Mischa Steiner CEO at Awesense.
Tell us a little bit about you and your background:
I studied Mathematics (my first love) then went into engineering after leaving a PhD pursuit in Math. Started a .com with a group of friends when I was 18. My first engineering job was working at a startup to convert ICE fleet vehicles to alternative fuels like hydrogen.
What was your motivation to get into this industry?
It was clear to me that in order to have an impact on climate, I would need to focus on one of the major greenhouse gases. Since my background is not in agriculture/livestock, focusing on CO2 was an area where I knew I could make a difference.
Why do you think climate change/sustainability is such an important topic today?
Recent reports, like those from the IPCC report, clearly indicated that we only have about a decade to try and curtail some of the aggressive damage that will be caused by climate change. If we don’t act, and fast, we are clearly on an unrecoverable runaway path.
What do you envision your industry looking like 10 years from now?
Two important things will happen: 1. We will have the critical mass of distributed energy, energy storage, and industrial electrification that will allow us to move energy in a completely new way, amongst ourselves like data flows in the internet today. 2. While this occurs, and local energy sources flourish, we will also build a global super grid, that allows energy to move across continents. You will be able to understand exactly how and where energy you produced is consumed, and everyone will know exactly what the carbon usage or carbon offset their generation is producing.
What can the average person do to make a difference?
There’s a lot the average person can do. Simple things like choosing to recycle, turning the energy usage in your home, and walking / taking public transit to your next meeting. Small changes, applied at scale, have a massive impact.
What positive changes are you seeing?
I’m seeing the rise of renewables and (finally) an acceptance of this as a viable energy source by utilities. The emphasis on electrification and decarbonization is front and center in the conversations except for a handful of antiquated energy companies.
Mischa, you are an inspiration. Keep up the great work!
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