Sustainability: Reducing risk is the reward

by Dan Chow, MEM/MBA ’15 This article was written in response to a seminar given by Terry Yosie, PhD, President & CEO of the World Environment Center, in an EDGE Seminar on Oct. 2, 2013 at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Many companies have reached the point where they need to switch from a […]

Purpose to profit: Considering next-generation retail platforms

by Tatyana Brown, MEM/MBA ’16 This article was written in response to a seminar given by Terry Yosie, PhD, President & CEO of the World Environment Center, in an EDGE Seminar on Oct. 2, 2013 at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. How can businesses leverage the nexus of evolving information technology, online retail, consumer […]

More questions than answers for the utility industry

by Jake Reeder, MBA/MPP ’15 This article was written in response to a seminar given by Rob Latoff, Director and Senior Partner with McKinsey & Company, in an EDGE Seminar on Sept. 25, 2013 at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Rob Latoff’s perspective on energy economics in the EDGE Seminar was refreshing in its […]

Energy independence: Four decades of rhetoric

by David Rokeach, MBA ’15 This article was written in response to a seminar given by John McNabb, Vice Chairman of Investment Banking with Duff & Phelps Corporation, in an EDGE Seminar on Sept. 18, 2013 at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. In 1973, President Richard Nixon announced “Project Independence,” an effort to make […]

New energy finance focus at Fuqua

Fuqua School of Business has already earned a reputation as one of the best places for MBAs to gain industry expertise in energy and environmental sectors.  In July, Fuqua extended its offerings with the approval of a new MBA Concentration in Energy Finance.  The new concentration, which is an addition to the school’s existing MBA […]

Duke student entrepreneurs solve energy challenges

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”

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 […]

Three stages in corporate sustainability strategy

by Daniel Chow, MEM/MBA ’14 At Duke, students are taught why companies across all industries are pursuing sustainability, what barriers exist for different businesses, and what tools are necessary for organizations to achieve their goals. Kristina Ronneberg (MEM ’14) explained a useful framework that she learned in Professor Dan Vermeer’s Sustainable Business Strategy class, which […]

Learning energy basics

by Josh Seidenfeld, MEM/MBA ’15 Last week, EDGE co-sponsored one of the year’s most popular Duke student-organized events: Energy Industry Fundamentals. This two-day seminar featured sessions by Duke faculty and alumni playing leading roles in the today’s energy transformation.  The audience included students from business, environment, engineering, and public policy all eager to learn more […]

Food vs. fuel: State of the debate

by Carol Healy, MEM/MBA Class of 2014 and Dan Vermeer, Executive Director of EDGE Food security is back in the news.  According to estimates, this summer’s drought is the second most costly natural disaster in US history, after Hurricane Katrina – including serious impacts on our country’s agricultural system.  Agriculture feeds us, but increasingly it […]