Last week, we had the chance to sit down with Shwan Lamei, Co-Founder and CEO of Emulate Energy, a company with a whole new twist to virtual energy storage. Learn more about how this European company is empowering individuals and utility companies with smarter energy consumption!
Tell us a little bit about you, your background, and your current role:
I am an engineer with experience in many verticals, both operationally and in management consulting. I moved to the US in 2017 and decided in 2020 to found a company with my childhood friend, based on his post doc at MIT.
I learned that launching a tech startup isn’t easy – the stars must align for a tech startup to take off. We were fortunate to get the chance to do a pilot with 5 utility companies and recently closed our first investment round! In the midst of developing our first commercial product, we have hired a CTO and added a pool of 4 FTEs in data science, control theory and software dev. It is an exciting time to be in the energy field…
What is a fun fact about you?
My best friend of 30 years is also my co-founder!
Why do you think climate change and sustainability is such an important topic today?
I am very optimistic about the future – we’ve reached a tipping point – the energy transition will happen and nothing can stop it. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s finally also the profitable thing to do – and we have devoted environmentalists to thank for that – people who put the ball in motion more than a decade ago when it was far from the commercially viable.
Today we have a critical mass of people who believe we need to address these issues head on, and we didn’t have that a decade back. Everyone in the world does not need to agree on its importance as long as a critical mass of people do – and we have reached that point.
What do you envision your industry looking like 10 years from now?
The energy space is conservative and risk averse. At the same time it will fundamentally change during the coming decades. No one knows exactly how it will look, but there will be a lot of winners who are willing to innovate and stay agile and a lot of losers who don’t move fast enough.
What can the average person do to make a difference?
I think for us to really complete the energy transition and get truly sustainable as a society, technology must evolve to the point of us not having to do too many sacrifices in our daily lives – the good news is that technology is evolving fast and we’ll get there. In the meantime, invest in the clean tech sector – ESG is paying off! Other than that, the most environmentally friendly thing to do is to minimize unnecessary consumption.
Also, don’t forget that as a consumer you have a strong voice – ask for and choose sustainable products and services!
Green Success Stories is a television show, podcast, social media, and news platform, hosted by Dylan Welch, that highlights climate change scientists, renewable energy experts, and clean tech entrepreneurs by giving them a voice in the mainstream media. The Green podcast highlights leading experts in cleantech, sustainability, media, finance, and real estate. Tune in and subscribe to the podcast on Apple or Spotify to listen to interviews with leading cleantech and sustainable experts. If you are interested in being featured on Green, click HERE.