Six to Watch: Inaugural C3E Awards Recognize Leaders in Clean Energy

The inaugural C3E Awards—each carrying a $10,000 prize—were announced at the U.S. C3E Awards & Symposium at MIT last Friday, and recognized six mid-career women for their leadership and accomplishments in cleantech.

The six areas are:
            Innovation and Technology Development
            Entrepreneurship and Innovative Business Models
            Corporate Implementation
            Policy and Advocacy
            Advancements for the Developing World
            Education and Mentorship

Innovation and Technology Development
Jing Li, Professor of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Rutgers University
Jing developed a family of nanostructured inorganic-organic hybrid semiconductors that have fundamental importance but also hold promise for use in clean energy applications, including in white LEDs. She has also developed a new type of high-performance and low-cost porous material that may become suitable for the capture of carbon dioxide from power plant flue gases. She gives a lot of time to programs to support better teaching of science on the K-12 level and girls in STEM. 

Entrepreneurship and Innovative Business Models
Judy Dorsey, President and Principal Engineer, Brendle Group
Judy was instrumental in the creation of the Colorado Clean Energy Cluster in 2006 and served as its executive director through last year. She was a key thought leader in creating the Fort Collins net-zero energy districts (“FortZED”), one of the world’s largest. Together with women from Denmark, France, and Italy, she was a co-creator of the International Cleantech Network, a global network of cleantech clusters.

Corporate Implementation
Liz Porter, Program Director, Information Systems and Global Solutions, Lockheed Martin
Liz served as Director of Energy Initiatives for Corporate Engineering and Technology at Lockheed Martin, overseeing the development of an Energy Solutions Center in Virginia, which opened in 2010, and has since hosted 10,000 visitors. She worked on the company’s “Go Green” efforts. Within the company she has advocated for the standard leadership rotations to include one in energy. She volunteers with STEM organizations, such as the Maryland Clean Energy Center and Spark 101.

Policy and Advocacy
Maggie Downey, Administrator, Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative
Maggie has been a longstanding administrator of the Cape Light Compact, an energy aggregator helping customers save $20 million annually on electric bills through efficiency gains, but saw a need to do more to stabilize energy costs while working toward CO2 reduction goals and developed the plan for a Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC), which now has 20 member towns and counties. Her skills as a thoughtful and clear communicator were cited.

Advancements for the Developing World
Laura Stachel, Co-Founder, Director, and Physician, We Care Solar
Laura is a public health physician who developed the “Solar Suitcase” to reduce maternal mortality by bringing clean light to clinics in developing countries where energy poverty left physicians to conduct C-sections by flashlight or kerosene lanterns. Pregnancy and childbirth complications claim the lives of 350,000 women a year. The easy-to-use portable systems have been introduced in health facilities in 19 countries.

Education and Mentorship
Tracey Holloway, Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Tracey has played an instrumental role in designing and leading two key programs – first, the Global Stewards Sustainability Prize, one of the largest U.S. student innovation competitions, and second, the Earth Science Women’s Network (ESWN). She co-founded ESWN in 2002 and it has since grown to over 1700 women in more than 20 countries.

Women: Clean Energy's "X" Factor

A few months ago I ran across a tweet quoting Ilene Lang, president & chief executive officer of Catalyst, as saying, “One of the key things for women advancing in business is to make sure that their achievements are visible.” Lang’s comment is particularly important for the traditionally male dominated clean energy industry, and underscores the importance of the U.S. Clean Energy Education & Empowerment Awards (C3E) and Symposium launched by the U.S. Department of Energy with the MIT Energy Initiative on September 28, 2012.

The C3E Awards—each carrying a $10,000 prize—recognize six women’s leadership and accomplishments in clean energy (see below) and are part of the U.S. Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) Program announced at the third Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) in London.

One of 13 technology and clean energy initiatives under the auspices of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), C3E was launched at the first CEM in 2010 on the underlying motivation that, “…to progress further and faster toward a cleaner energy future, societies must harness the talents of all its members.”

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that women make up substantially less than half the global clean energy workforce—from R&D to entrepreneurship and from policy to finance. The gap is further reflected in annual “Top 10” lists of people to watch in clean energy, as well as at conferences where I’ve often been asked, “Are there women in clean energy?” For those still wondering, take a look at the Symposium's agenda.

While there is a dearth of stories highlighting the pursuits and contributions of women in technology-related careers, including clean energy, the opposite is true for those outlining the barriers and challenges women confront in advancing their careers—from wage disparity and isolation to benevolent discrimination and open hostility. A quick Internet search on women in technology will reveal a number of such articles, blogs, and reports in just the last 24 months. Constantly pointing out the negative, however, might perpetuate the very negative we are trying to change.

Perhaps what we need to do is balance those negative articles and reports by increasing the number of positive stories highlighting the achievements, contributions and perspectives of women—of all ages, in all roles, at all stages in their careers, and in every country—in clean energy.

Women are clean energy’s X factor. And C3E just might be the global initiative that leverages the other half of the population, giving us the scale and effort needed to transition to a clean energy future faster.