China’s energy and climate policies: Pragmatic, productive, but ultimately ineffective?

Urosh Tomovich

by Urosh Tomovich, MEM/MBA ’15 On March 26, EDGE hosted a Forum on Cleantech in China at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business that featured insights from five panelists about starting, funding, and growing businesses in China. Panelist Tom Darden, CEO and Founder of Cherokee Investment Partners, has been engaged in the Chinese cleantech sector since […]

Exploring China’s cleantech opportunities

EDGE Forum 2014: Cleantech in China

On Mar. 26, more than 100 executives and students gathered at Fuqua School of Business to hear about energy and environmental business opportunities in China at the 2014 EDGE Forum on Cleantech in China. “China is a great place to scale up proven cleantech,” said Elle Carberry, managing director of The China Greentech Initiative, who […]

China’s smog cloud may have a silver lining

Air pollution in Hebei province

by Dan Vermeer, Executive Director, EDGE Environmental concerns are ubiquitous in China. Every day, the newspapers include stories about the converging crises related to air pollution, food contamination, water shortages, and solid waste. There is also a growing frustration that China’s “growth at all costs” development path has been very costly, sacrificing both the environment […]

Smart cities: Lessons from the internet

Jeff Fish

by Jeff Fish, MEM ’14 This article was written in response to a seminar given by Ken Geisler, Vice President, Strategy, Siemens Smart Grid, in an EDGE Seminar on Nov. 20, 2013 at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Ken Geisler of Siemens Corp. spoke recently in the EDGE Seminar about the opportunities of, and […]

Winning in cleantech VC

Richard Bethune

by Richard Bethune, MBA ’14 This article was written in response to a seminar given by Randall Ledford, PhD, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Emerson Electric Co. in an EDGE Seminar on Oct. 9, 2013 at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. After seeing the bodies pile up following the first big wave […]

Duke student entrepreneurs solve energy challenges

Dan Chow

by Dan Chow, MEM/MBA ’15 Dan Chow is a Duke graduate student pursuing dual Master’s degrees in Environmental Management and Business Administration. In this column, Dan shares his experiences pursuing environment-related entrepreneurial ventures at Duke. Ideation I first became interested in energy entrepreneurship while working on a geothermal-based start-up as an undergraduate at Middlebury College. […]

Assessing the microgrid market: Fuqua students get “out of the building”

Nancy Fechnay

by Nancy Fechnay, MEM/MBA ’14; Aaron Gress MBA ’14; Lisa Huber, MEM/MBA ’14, and Mark McDonald, MBA ’14 There is no substitute for the real world as a learning laboratory. For the second consecutive year, Duke’s Center for Energy, Development, and the Global Environment (EDGE) partnered with ’05 Fuqua alumnus Paul Straub of Claremont Creek […]

Clean energy in Colorado, sustainability in California: Student career trek reflections

Wyley Hodgson

by Wyley Hodgson, MEM/MBA ’11 In January, Wyley traveled to Colorado and California to do career research and participate in informational interviews with industry executives. Here are his reflections: My trip began in Denver. Colorado has helped lead the pack among clean tech industries with a very strong renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and state-level incentives […]