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Physicist Amory Lovins (1947), FRSA, is cofounder and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org); energy advisor to major firms and governments in 65+ countries for 40+ years; author of 31 books and more than 600 papers; and an integrative designer of superefficient buildings, factories, and vehicles.
He has received the Blue Planet, Volvo, Zayed, Onassis, Nissan, Shingo, and Mitchell Prizes, the MacArthur and Ashoka Fellowships, the Happold, Benjamin Franklin, and Spencer Hutchens Medals, 12 honorary doctorates, and the Heinz, Lindbergh, Right Livelihood (“alternative Nobel”), National Design, and World Technology Awards. In 2016, the President of Germany awarded him the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse).
A Harvard and Oxford dropout, former Oxford don, honorary US architect, and Swedish engineering academician, he has taught at ten universities, most recently Stanford’s Engineering School and the Naval Postgraduate School (but only on topics he’s never studied, so as to retain beginner’s mind). He served in 2011–18 on the National Petroleum Council. Time has named him one of the world’s 100 most influential people, and Foreign Policy, one of the 100 top global thinkers. His latest books include Natural Capitalism (1999, www.natcap.org), Small Is Profitable (2002, www.smallisprofitable.org), Winning the Oil Endgame (2004, www.oilendgame.com), The Essential Amory Lovins (2011), and Reinventing Fire (2011, www.reinventingfire.com).
His main recent efforts include supporting RMI’s collaborative synthesis, for China’s National Development and Reform Commission, of an ambitious efficiency-and-renewables trajectory that informed the 13th Five Year Plan; helping the Government of India design transformational mobility; and exploring how to make integrative design the new normal, so investments to energy efficiency can yield expanding rather than diminishing returns.
LOCATION
Basalt, CO
TWITTER HANDLE
@AmoryLovins
DOWNLOADABLE BIOS
General Audience
Energy/Security Audience
Automotive/Transportation Audience
Architecture Audience
Chinese Language
Authored Works
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Reply to “The Efficiency Dilemma”
In this letter published in The New Yorker, Amory Lovins responds to David Owen’s article about energy efficiency and Jevons Paradox. This letter was published in the January 17, 2010 issue of The New Yorker and is reprinted with kind permission of the magazine. The original article, “The Efficiency Dilemma,”…
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Learning From Japan’s Nuclear Disaster
In this article written in response to the Japanese nuclear crisis in 2011, Amory Lovins explains why nuclear energy is costly and dangerous and a poor alternative to renewable energy sources. Lovins argues that American nuclear plants are as risky as the Japanese plants and that there are lessons to…
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Would the World be Better off Without Nuclear Power?
In April, 2011, Amory Lovins participated in an online debate for The Economist on whether the world would be better off without nuclear power. In Lovins’ debate piece, he presents evidence to show that new nuclear build is uneconomic and unnecessary.
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Applied Hope: Commencement Remarks to the Natural Science School University of California at Berkeley
Amory Lovins interwove themes about Applied Hope and Imagine a World in this commencement address to the University of California at Berkeley’s Natural Sciences graduates on 15 May 2011. An amateur video of the speech is available on the RMI Outlet.
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Reinventing Fire Industry Sector Methodology
This document provides RMI’s methodology for the analysis of the industry sector in Reinventing Fire.
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Soft Energy Paths for the 21st Century
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked Amory Lovins to outline his reaction to the Fukushima disaster and his suggestions for Japanese and U.S. energy policy for its house magazine Gaiko (Diplomacy). An abridged version was published 30 July 2011 in Japanese and is cited in this unabridged English version. It’s…
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Renewable Energy’s Footprint” Myth”
Many nuclear advocates argue that renewable electricity has far too big a land ‘footprint’ to be environmentally acceptable, while nuclear power is preferable because it uses orders of magnitude less land. If we assume that land-use is an important metric, a closer look reveals the opposite is true.
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Response to RADM Robert G. James (USNR Ret.)’s 2 August 2011 Wall Street Journal op-ed Of Mustard Fuel and Marines
Former Naval and CIA officer and oil-industry executive Robert James claimed that military interest in advanced biofuels is a green fad and compromises combat effectiveness. Amory Lovins, who’s helped to lead military energy reform for three decades, corrects Dr. James’s misconceptions and misrepresentations in this comment posted on 3 August…
Outlet Blog Post
Nuclear: A “Grossly Uncompetitive” Energy Option
As the “grave and unpredictable” nuclear crisis in Japan continues, energy experts both internationally and domestically are questioning the viability of nuclear to deliver safe and reliable energy.