EnAct Adivsory Committee

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The EnAct Creative Team acknowledges that examining the issue of energy poverty is complex on technical, political and social levels. To strengthen our expertise in visual story-telling and reportage, we have taken the initiative to establish an Advisory Committee of experts who can provide guidance and help us probe aspects that are not yet garnering media attention.

We feel it critical that the Committee reflect diverse energy stakeholders and geographic regions, and include individuals who have first-hand experience of living in a state of energy poverty or working closely with those who do. Additionally, we have engaged experts who have tried and tested technical and policy solutions, and who understand how energy influences individuals, cultures and societies.

To complement the individuals listed below, EnAct is also recruiting experts in the following areas: energy research, NGOs/development agencies and empowering women. We are actively seeking members representing China and Africa. To represent the journalistic approach of the Project in a non-partisan matter, the Team will also invite a media expert who is not directly involved in EnAct.

Dr. Sarah Strauss

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Dept. of Anthropology, University of Wyoming

Sarah Strauss is professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming. Her research focuses on environmental and health issues, values and practices. Prof. Strauss has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Rishikesh and Auroville, India, as well as Leukerbad, Switzerland, and her home state of Wyoming, USA. She has been a visiting scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado (2008-9); visiting professor at the Department of Geosciences of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland (2005-6); and most recently (2012-13), Fulbright-Nehru visiting professor in the Department of Anthropology at Pondicherry University, India. Her books include Positioning Yoga (2004), Weather, Climate, Culture (2003, edited with Ben Orlove), and Cultures of Energy (2013, edited with Stephanie Rupp and Thomas Love).

 Prof. Strauss has followed her interests in health and the experiences of the “good life” in the face of global environmental change in a variety of ways, including how we produce, manage and consume food, energy and water resources. Her current focus is on energy transitions and the ways forward for addressing energy poverty in a carbon-constrained world. She has served on the American Anthropological Association’s Task Force on Global Climate Change, and in that capacity was a contributing editor for a monthly column in Anthropology News entitled “Changing the Atmosphere.” Prof. Strauss’ latest projects explore the impacts and adaptation sides of climate and environmental change, considering how beetle-killed wood in the Rocky mountains might be used for the production of biofuels in a safe and effective way, and how transitions to other kinds of renewable energy sources in India and the United States are being perceived and developed.

Dr. Harish Hande

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Chairman, Selco-India

In 1995, Dr. Hande co-founded (with Neville Williams) SELCO-India, believing that a social entrepreneurship model could bring off-grid, sustainable energy solutions to poor and remote communities across India. With the aim of improving quality of life, SELCO sells, services and finances clean energy, building on an approach that questioned three assumptions, namely, that the poor cannot afford clean and sustainable energy; they cannot maintain such systems; and, an organization cannot operate a commercial venture while trying to meet social objectives. SELCO and Dr. Hande have received multiple awards for the success of their business model, including the Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy 2005 and Accenture Economic Development Award.

In 2008, India Today named Dr. Hande one of the 50 pioneers of change in India. Dr. Hande earned his Doctorate in energy engineering (solar specialty) at the University of Massachusetts (Lowell), and has an undergraduate degree in Energy Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. He serves on the boards of many organizations, both national and international.

Dr. Grayson Heffner

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Deloitte Consulting, LLP

Dr. Grayson Heffner is an authority on the design, management, and evaluation of clean energy policies and programs, including energy efficiency, demand-side management and renewable energy. He has 30 years of power sector consulting and project management experience, including long-term assignments with Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the Electric Power Research Institute, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the World Bank and the International Energy Agency. He is currently working for Deloitte Consulting, LLP as the Resident Advisor for the Jordan Energy Sector Capacity Building Project. Dr. Heffner has conducted studies and managed projects on power sector reform, electric power pricing and costing, energy efficiency, renewable energy, distribution loss reduction, and rural electrification around the world.

Dr. Grayson has written books and published papers on energy poverty, energy efficiency governance, smart grids, load research, demand response, electricity market reform, and tariff design. He received a Doctor of Public Administration degree from George Washington University, as well as Bachelors and Masters degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Past Chairman of the San Francisco Chapter of the IEEE PES.

Dr. Lawrence Jones

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Co-Founder, Centre for Sustainable Development in Africa

Dr. Lawrence Jones has 20+ years of experience in the energy industry. He joined Alstom Grid in 2000, and is currently North America Vice President for Utility Innovations and Infrastructure Resilience, and serves on the global Business Development team for Smart Grids and Smart Cities. He was previously Vice President for Regulatory Affairs, Policy and Industry Relations, and served as Director of Strategy and Special Projects, Worldwide, in the Network Management Systems business and led its global Renewable Energy Integration activities.
Dr. Jones advocates for the use of smart, clean, and renewable energy technologies around the world. In September 2010, he was appointed by the United States Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to a three-year term on the 15-member Federal Smart Grid Advisory Committee established to carry out duties authorized by section 1305 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. He was recently reappointed to serve until in 2016.

Dr. Jones also serves on the Advisory Boards of several industry conferences and smart grid research programs within the Americas, Europe and Africa. He is co-founder and President of the Board of Directors of the Center for Sustainable Development in Africa (CSDA), and a member of the Board of Chess Challenge in DC.

Dr. Jones was principal investigator of the 2010/11 Global Survey on Renewable Energy Integration in Power Grids funded by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) at the US Dept. of Energy. In 2000, he co-founded the International Workshop on Large-Scale Integration of Wind Power and Transmission Networks for Offshore Wind Farms, a prominent wind energy conference. He received the Renewable Energy World Network 2012 Excellence in Renewable Award for Leadership in Technology, and the Utility Variable-Generation Integration Group 2012 Achievement Award. He holds patents for technologies that enhance situational awareness in power system operations, and is Editor of Renewable Energy Integration: Practical Management of Variability, Uncertainty and Flexibility in Power Grids.

Jiwan Acharya

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Senior Climate Change Specialist, Clean Energy, Asian Development Bank

Jiwan Acharya is a key member of ADB’s Clean Energy and Climate Change Team, and is responsible for overseeing several ADB initiatives including Energy for All and Technical Support Facility under the Carbon Market Program. He is also spearheading ADB-led Energy for All Partnership, which aims to provide energy access to 100 million people in Asia and Pacific by 2015. He is now focusing on mainstreaming climate change in ADB’s operations through promotion of clean energy, low carbon technologies, CDM, and access to energy, among others.

Before joining ADB in 2006, Mr. Acharya was Senior Research Officer for Winrock International in Kathmandu, Nepal. He has an MA in economics, an MS in energy systems and management, and a BS in electrical engineering. Mr. Acharya’s personal story, from energy poverty to energy leader, is inspiring to all: http://adbmyview.blogspot.fr/2012/03/jiwan-acharya-nepalese-childhood.html