Josh Brooks

Josh is a former senior associate for RMI’s Carbon-Free Electricity Practice. His work focused on utility business model innovation and energy regulatory reform. Pulling from an extensive background in power development and supply contracting for municipal, co-operative and large industrial customers, Josh has facilitated some of the country’s most recent energy market reform processes as both a content expert and process designer.

Josh joined RMI in 2019 as aide to Amory Lovins. This collaboration offered deep analysis into the benefits of demand side, systems interventions in industries ranging from aircraft energy optimization to net-positive building design, or as broad as national energy strategies. Each of these efforts reinforced that innovations in system efficiencies generate capital cost reductions, increased electrification, and a shift from energy sales to energy services business models.

Background

Prior to RMI, Josh served as Project Developer for NTE Energy where he spearheaded the company’s renewable project development and related wholesale customer programs. During graduate school at Appalachian State University, Josh worked with the energy solutions team at Blue Ridge Energy where they developed the first community solar program for the North Carolina high country.

Josh’s interests range broadly from power and electric transmission to the humanities. He has experience in solar PV design and development from residential to utility scale, wind and hydro builds, and an extensive background in residential building design and construction. Prior to his efforts in the energy sector, Josh was a history educator. He spends much of his time growing the Josh Brooks Presidential Library, reading about energy, politics, and history generally, with far too frequent diversions into the last comic book lore. Josh remains active in the southeast power sector working to drive the energy transition back home.

Josh Brooks was a contributing author of the Seven Challenges for Energy Transformation, a report that examines meeting the urgency of the climate challenge in the next 10 years.

Education

Josh has a degree in history from Appalachian State University.

Location

Denver, CO