insight
The United States’ Role in Limiting Warming to 1.5°C
RMI examines decarbonization paths that limit cumulative emissions, which set the extent of climate change.
Lena Hansen is a Managing Director with Rocky Mountain Institute’s Strategic Analysis & Engagement Group. Previously she was the Managing Director of our China Program, based in Beijing, where she led a team of 20 to advise and support China’s energy transition in the areas of power market reform, city carbon peaking, near-zero carbon development, and freight electrification. She has 15 years of experience developing, testing, and implementing innovative efficiency and clean energy solutions.
Background
Lena has also led RMI’s US electricity program, where she focused on electric utility business models and the integration of renewable and distributed energy resources into the grid. She co-founded RMI’s Electricity Innovation Lab (e–Lab), a unique multi-year collaboration of leading power sector decision-makers to create transformational solutions, and led RMI’s collaboration with the New York Public Service Commission on its industry-leading reform initiative “Reforming the Energy Vision.” Lena co-authored 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 US.
Education
Donella Meadows Leadership Fellows Program
Master of Environmental Management in Economics & Policy, Duke University
Certificate in Energy & Environment, Duke University
BA, Physics, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Location
Boulder, CO
Authored Works
Blog
9 Hot Topics in Carbon Reduction and the Energy Industry in China in 2017, Part 2
The year 2017 was an impressive one for China in its effort to achieve economic growth while reducing carbon emissions. Based on scenario analysis in the Reinventing Fire: China report launched by Rocky Mountain Institute in 2016, China can do this by decreasing primary energy demand and increasing the…
Blog
9 Hot Topics in Carbon Reduction and the Energy Industry in China in 2017, Part 1
The year 2017 was an impressive one for China in its effort to achieve economic growth while reducing carbon emissions. Based on scenario analysis in the Reinventing Fire: China report launched by Rocky Mountain Institute in 2016, China can do this by decreasing primary energy demand and increasing the…
Blog
New York’s Next Steps in the REV-olution
It has been more than three years since Superstorm Sandy came ashore, creating massive storm flooding, gasoline shortages, and more than a week of power outages. Sandy’s devastation revealed critical gaps in New York’s utility infrastructure that inspired Governor Cuomo’s administration to launch New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV)…
insight
New Business Models for the Distribution Edge
The electricity industry is evolving from a traditional value chain to a highly participatory constellation of interconnected business models at the distribution edge, where retail customers interface with the distribution grid.
Blog
Introducing the Electricity Innovation Lab
In RMI’s recent book, Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for a New Energy Era, we suggest it’s possible to transform the U.S. electricity system over the next 40 years to one that is clean, secure, and customer-centric, all while not sacrificing affordability or reliability.
Blog
How Your Company Can Benefit From the Evolution of Energy
This was originally published at GreenBiz.com on March 5 as the final installment in a five-part series by RMI professionals on how to put into practice the ideas of Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for a New Energy Era.
insight
Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Environmentally Beneficial Load Building: Implications on California’s Revenue Adjustment Mechanism
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are poised to allow, for the first time, large-scale interaction between the transportation and electric utility sectors. Electricity is a more efficient vehicle fuel than are liquid fossil fuels, and it can reduce system-wide greenhouse-gas emissions by transferring energy demand and emissions from the transportation to…
insight
Spatial and Temporal Interactions of Solar and Wind Resources in the Next Generation Utility
The “next generation” electric utility must incorporate variable renewable resources, including wind and solar, in much larger quantities than conventionally thought possible. While resource variability presents a challenge, it should be possible to reduce and manage that variability by geographically distributing renewables, combining them with different renewables, and having more…
insight
Spatial and Temporal Interactions of Wind and Solar in the Next Generation Utility: Expanded Analysis
The “next generation” electric utility must incorporate variable renewable resources, including wind and solar, in much larger quantities than conventionally thought possible. While resource variability presents a challenge, it should be possible to reduce and manage that variability by geographically distributing renewables, combining them with different renewables, and having more…