insight
Thomas is an engineer by education, trained in operations and drilled in business acumen at McKinsey & Company. He built the very first ‘McKinsey Marginal Abatement Cost Curve’ in 2005 and spent following 8 years building what would become a full scale Practice (business area) around Sustainability and Resource Productivity. Thomas brings broad cross-sector insight in Energy and Climate related opportunities and extensive experience from on-site work with industrial facilities to improve productivity of energy, carbon and other resources, through 100+ site visits globally.
BACKGROUND
Prior to joining RMI, I have spent the majority of professional career at McKinsey & Company, where I have launched and built up the Sustainability Practice together with a small core leadership team, through entrepreneurial leadership and by spearheading new methodologies and developing expertise. My expertise has been built together with clients, applied to specific industrial facilities. The primary focus of my work has been on energy intensive industry, metal processing and mining in particular.
Examples of relevant projects:
- Metal processing clean sheet redesign – Europe
- Integrated Energy Strategy program (sourcing, operations, system design) – Europe
- Yield optimization of chemical plant – Middle East
- Big Data-based optimization of mineral processing plant – Central Africa
- Establishment of annual sustainability conference for 10 top global mining companies
- Numerous on-site energy efficiency diagnostics of industrial manufacturing sites (e.g., steel, cement, chemicals and pharma, dairy)
- Selected roles as senior advisor to large sustainability strategies:
- Sustainability Strategy for Kazakhstan
- Energy Strategy for Singapore
EDUCATION & AWARDS
MSc in Engineering Physics, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (2003)
Russian Language and Culture, State University of St Petersburg (2001)
L3 qualifications in Resource Productive Operations at McKinsey & Company
TWITTER HANDLE
@KochBlank
LOCATION
Boulder, CO
Authored Works
Outlet Blog Post
When Cheap Doesn’t Cut It: Why Energy Buyers Should Look at Value, not Just Cost
“New Record Set for World’s Cheapest Solar.” A headline like this makes for great social media fodder. The downward trend in renewables prices is fantastic—it’s the most important driver for the growth of solar and wind energy. However, when your business or utility is comparing different energy projects, looking…
insight
Progress and Potential for Community-Scale Solar
A growing number of electric cooperatives and municipal utilities are capturing the economic, grid, and environmental benefits from community-scale solar (CSS) installations as institutional barriers to development are addressed for this emerging technology solution, according to a new report by Rocky Mountain Institute.
Outlet Blog Post
A Bull Is Loose in the Energy Shop, and Tariffs Are a Weak Lasso
Yesterday, the U.S. government presented a new challenge for the clean energy industry. The confused logic of the solar PV import tariff challenges all reason: intended to boost the domestic manufacturing of cells and modules—which currently employs less than 38,000 people—and add some jobs while reducing imports, the tariff also…
Outlet Blog Post
Community-Scale Solar Is on the Fast Track to Grid Parity
Will 2018 be the year when solar power reaches so-called grid parity, providing a cost of energy over its operating life that is equal to or less than the cost of energy from existing conventional energy sources? This levelized cost of energy (LCOE) comparison informs new grid investments and, as…
Outlet Blog Post
Solar Embrace
More than a year ago, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) announced its Shine Program would focus on community-scale solar. We claimed that community-scale solar could be procured at costs close to utility-scale solar, unlocking a 5–30 GW market by 2020. However, we could not have predicted the success of our initial…
Outlet Blog Post
The World Needs a Radical Change in Both Supply and Demand to Reach Paris Agreement
The climate agreement reached in Paris was an unprecedented global achievement. Unfortunately, the climate action plans submitted by the signatory countries fall far short of the energy shift the world needs. Recently released reports by the Energy Transitions Commission highlight what needs to be done to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees C and elaborate on pathways for how to go about doing it.
Outlet Blog Post
Rural Electric Cooperatives: 3 Different Approaches to Reducing the Cost of Community-Scale Solar
In order for the co-op solar market to achieve its potential, co-ops need to better understand the value of community-scale solar and need to access compelling community-scale offerings. Here we describe three rural electric cooperatives that are doing just that.