james headshot

James Newcomb

Senior Expert
  • Strategy Team

James is a senior expert supporting RMI’s Strategy team. He focuses on developing and articulating RMI’s vision for transitioning to a net-zero economy while advancing justice, security, and well-being. He draws on his 40 years of experience in energy, scenario planning, and strategy.

As a managing director, he helped launch RMI’s work in India and coauthored “India Leaps Ahead: Transformative Mobility for All” and other reports and analysis on mobility and energy. He also led RMI’s Electricity Program, where he cofounded its Electricity Innovation Lab (eLab), a unique multiyear collaboration of leading decision makers in the power sector to create transformational solutions. He coauthored RMI’s 2011 book “Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for a New Energy Era,” a roadmap for an economic transition to a low-carbon system in the United States.

Background

Working with colleagues at the intersection of energy, economics, and living systems, he cofounded bio-era (Bio Economics Research Associates) in 2000 to provide independent research and advisory services to leading companies and governments on issues related to biology and the economy.

Previously, he was the founding president and CEO of E Source, an independently managed for-profit subsidiary of RMI that provided information on energy efficiency and energy services for energy companies, large energy buyers, regulators, and other clients.

Education

BA, Economics, Harvard University
MA, Energy and Resources Group, University of California Berkeley

Location

Boulder, CO