Drake Hernandez (DH): Of course. Thank you for having me.
EF: What initially drew you to the energy industry?
DH: I grew up in a small town called Groves, Texas, which is really not far from Exxons Beaumont plant. I spent 18 years there amidst the
lights of refineries and chemical plants, but, ultimately, I ended up at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) dubbed the energy university. Energy was ubiquitous there, so I really fell into it.
I am a first-generation college student. I wanted to explore beyond my hometown after graduating high school. I was fortunate to receive a scholarship to UT,
so I found my way up to Austin. I guess I wasnt done running yet, because I then went up to Boston and worked there for a couple years as a consultant in the energy sector before moving even farther north, if you will, just across the river to
Cambridge.
At the end of the day, energy touches everything, and it was the area where I thought I could have the most impact. Going into school as a
mechanical engineer, I initially thought I wanted to design golf clubs for a living, but I quickly realized that I wanted to do something that had a bit more impact for human beings and society at large.
EF: The energy sector is in a period of transition right now. As a young engineer, do you see a way to deliver more energy with fewer emissions?
DH: Im a graduate student at MIT now with the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and what that means is I am inherently a techno-optimist.
Youre absolutely right, we are going to have to provide more energy while simultaneously curbing emissions.
Technological advances working alongside strategically-designed policy and regulatory measures are going to be critical to meeting this goal.
EF: Can you talk a bit about your work with the life cycle assessment tool? Why is it particularly important for decision makers today?
DH: Yeah. The tool youre referring to is the Sustainable Energy System Analysis Modeling Environment, or SESAME. This is a tool thats
been developed to analyze the life cycle emissions associated with any energy pathway and is currently being expanded to evaluate cost impacts associated with each of these pathways.
First, SESAME can model emissions reductions associated with deploying certain technologies. For example, if youre thinking, Alright, Im
making investments in new energy technologies. What does this actually mean from a carbon emissions perspective? Then, its likely that youll want to compare, for instance, the carbon intensity of producing one kilowatt-hour
of electricity from wind power, to the carbon intensity of producing one kilowatt-hour from natural gas. Its critical to have a tool like this, especially in the hands of policy makers or investors these days, as they seek a better
understanding of how to achieve their environmental or sustainability goals.
The next aspect of SESAME is the cost analysis portion. So now, not only do
you have the projected carbon emissions associated with a specific energy system, but also the economic implications. This is going to be critical. In concert with the actual carbon emissions data, the economic analyses of this tool will yield a
very powerful framework thats hopefully used around the world as people look to eliminate emissions from their energy systems.