Holmes Hummel

Holmes Hummel is the founder of Clean Energy Works, which connects champions of energy efficiency and renewable energy with resources that accelerate investment in the deployment of clean energy solutions. In addition, Dr. Hummel is on the Global Advisory Committee of Cornerstone Capital Group, which is among the world’s leading voices in the field of sustainable investment and finance. Dr. Hummel also serves on the board of Cleantech Open, the world’s largest accelerator built to find, fund, and foster the most promising cleantech startups. In 2009, Dr. Hummel was appointed as the Senior Policy Advisor in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Policy & International Affairs, serving through 2013. In that capacity, Dr. Hummel engaged a wide range of industry and public interest stakeholders to inform energy policy deliberations on such topics as energy efficiency finance, electric vehicle deployment, natural gas resource development, trade policy, environmental regulation and grid reliability. In addition to stewarding agency work on energy and climate policy development, Dr. Hummel founded the Water-Energy Technology Team within DOE and also led the DOE Energy Finance Working Group. Dr. Hummel was also instrumental in the development of the first Quadrennial Technology Review for DOE as well as the landmark Energy Efficiency & Conservation Loan Program launched by the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service. In earlier public service, Dr. Hummel served as a Congressional Science Fellow focused on energy and climate policy. Experience on Capitol Hill informed Dr. Hummel’s Climate Policy Design Pro-Series, a program to help make policy debates more accessible to both business professionals and public interest organizers. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., Dr. Hummel designed corporate energy strategies for clients of Silicon Energy, an energy software firm acquired by Itron, and later consulted briefly with the Google Energy & Climate team. As one of the first to earn a doctorate degree from the Interdisciplinary Program on Environment and Resources at Stanford University, Dr. Hummel researched ways to interpret energy scenarios for climate stabilization. 
 Dr. Hummel was first hooked on energy technology innovation 20 years ago as a co-leader of the Clarkson University Solar Car Team, which designed and raced a highly efficient experimental electric vehicle across the country using only the power of the sun. In addition to receiving a Switzer Environmental Fellowship in the ensuing years, the Environmental Leadership Program has recognized Dr. Hummel as a “visionary, action-oriented leader.”