Green.org sat down with Cris Obudo, to learn how he started working in film production and transitioned to Director of Strategy & Investments at Capstone.
Cris, thank you for being here! Tell us a little bit about you and your background:
I started my career in Film Production after working in the News & Publicity department at BBC London. I set up Thames Pictures which became a co-producer of the award winning documentary, “INVICIBLE PICTURES SHOW” My career took a turn following a short stint in West Africa, consulting for an off shore company that wanted to set up major palm oil and rice plantation in Liberia. I saw the dire energy insecurity plaguing the vast population and it is then that I decided to dedicate myself to solving problems within energy.
I came back to UK in 2014 and trained as both domestic gas and electrical engineer. I worked within the UK energy industry as both gas and electric engineer until 2019 when my focus zeroed on off grid energy system utilising Fuel cells and other renewables. Together with a team of leading scientists and engineers, we designed one of the first off grid EV charging point that utilises fuel cells and a Self Recharging Fuel Cell for Telecom towers powering.
Our current clients across SSA include Kenya Power & Lighting (Kenya’s main utility firm) and Pan African Broadband ( a leading telecom integrator) I am still a member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists and also act as Caretaker CEO of Identity Newsroom, a start up media outlet with a 135 country reach.
What would you do with $1 Billion dollars?
We will up skill UK’s (global too!)mechanics to be able to adapt to the EV roll out. There are over 42,000 garages in UK employing over 600,000 people. The advent of EV cars put many of these jobs at risk. Garages should be inducted on EV power trains, to enable them to be the point of contact for any EV diagnostic work. There is dire need to create off grid EV charging infrastructure that does not in any where utilise the grid. Unless properly managed, adverse effect of massive EV deployment include larger voltage drops and losses, grid overloads, and decrease in power quality.
Local mechanics should be trained on Both power train diagnosis and EV charge point deployments. This will essentially make the local garage an EV centre. This wil save jobs and create revenue for the local garages. Secondly, Internal Combustion Engines being off set by the EV euphoria could be converted to battery electric vehicles. This saves on both waste and you guessed it, job losses. In UK alone we have over 33 million ICE vehicles. It is commercially and environmentally unrealistic to imagine that the owners of these vehicles will automatically convert to EV.
At Capstone, we have thought through this, and are gearing up for ICE vehicle conversion into Battery Electric Vehicles. Lastly, we need second life strategy or end of life strategy for used EVs. Our approach at Capstone is to use the car battery to produce back up energy in homes across SSA and other emerging markets. This comprehensively deals with the forthcoming dilemma of what can be done to a used up EV. A $1B dollars will be adequate investment to achieve all the above within a decade.
Why do you think sustainability is such an important topic today?
Energy security has become a major talking point within the last few months. This started with the pandemic, followed by the Ukraine war. This two major global events exposed the soft underbelly of the entire world as far as sustainability is concerned. There is now more aggressive discussion centred on independence as far as energy is concerned, and this is no longer a purview of activists but policy makers, government and businesses. Without doubt sustainable energy is the biggest emerging threat of the century.
What do you envision your industry looking like 10 years from now?
More deployment of sustainable, cost effective energy systems across the emerging markets, better and resilient financing mechanism that will incorporate dynamic financial models like asset as a service (AAS) and OPEX. Complete delinking from fossil fuels into renewables.
What can the average person do to make a difference?
Take advantage of current incentives that exclude fossilisation, e.g use of air source heaters instead of gas, solar power and lease of an EV car to replace ICE vehicle.