Publications

March 2019
Article

Economics of Converting Renewable Power to Hydrogen

By: Gunther Glenk and Stefan Reichelstein

The recent sharp decline in the cost of renewable energy suggests that the production of hydrogen from renewable power through a power-to-gas process might become more economical. Here we examine this alternative from the perspective of an investor who considers a... View Details

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August 2012 (Revised September 2013)
Case

EnerNOC: DemandSMART

By: Michael W. Toffel, Kira Fabrizio and Stephanie van Sice

EnerNOC is an energy company with an innovative business model: it serves as an intermediary between electric utilities and electricity users. It contracts with electricity users willing to reduce demand during periods of peak energy demand, and sells this as excess... View Details

Keywords: Production Planning; Productivity; Environmental Protection; Energy; Environment; Business Government Relations; Laws And Regulation; Business Model; Environmental Sustainability; Innovation and Invention; Opportunities; Risk and Uncertainty; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Supply Chain Management; Production; Energy Conservation; Energy Industry

March 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Poweo: David and Goliath in the French Electricity Market

By: Noel Maurer and Elisa Farri

Charles Beigbeder, the president and founder of Poweo, an alternative electricity and gas operator in France, needs to decide on the company's strategy in light of electricity deregulation and the dominant position of Électricité de France (EDF) in the French market.... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Competitive Strategy; Competition; Privatization; Monopoly; Market Entry and Exit; Energy Industry; France

23 Jun 2020
News

Bridging Nigeria's Infrastructure Gap

Keywords: finance; energy; Nigeria; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance

January 2023 (Revised December 2023)
Case

OhmConnect: Energizing the Future

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Jennifer Fonstad and Nicole Tempest Keller

Founded in 2013, OhmConnect was a free consumer web app that alerted customers about peak hours of electricity demand, and paid them to lower their energy use at home during these periods. The company sold the aggregated reductions generated by thousands of households... View Details

Keywords: App Development; Renewable Energy; Electricity Usage; Regulations; VC; Technology; Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC); Scalability; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business Model; Venture Capital; Energy Industry; United States; California; Texas; Europe

March 2011 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Cree, Inc.: Which Bright Future?

By: David J. Collis, Mary Furey and Matthew Shaffer

After its founding in the late 1980s, Cree Inc. quickly grew into a major player in the emerging LED market. By 2007, technological improvements in LEDs had made them suitable for TV, computer, and mobile "backlighting"; and concerns over global warning led to calls to... View Details

September 2016 (Revised September 2016)
Case

Spectio: A Digital Lighting Company

By: Rajiv Lal and Sarah McAra

Spectio Tech, founded in 2005, developed and implemented intelligent LED lighting solutions for the industrial market. Sensors and wireless connectivity embedded in its LED fixtures not only significantly reduced lighting-related energy use—by up to 90% in some... View Details

Keywords: Internet Of Things; IoT; LED Lighting; Start-up; Energy Efficiency; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Internet and the Web

21 Dec 2022
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #12: Vehicle to Everything - Claire Broido Johnson (MBA 2002), Chief Operating Officer of Fermata Energy

near the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory outside of Chicago, she dreamed of being a physicist. Instead, she has focused her career on executing “pro climate business solutions.” As the COO of Fermata Energy since March 2022, Claire... View Details

January 2012
Background Note

The Market for Energy: Scale, Cost, Security and the Environment (A)

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Norris

Keywords: Energy; Markets; Energy Industry

November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Technical Note

Rechargeable Batteries, 2017: Gigafactory Wars in the Offing?

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In 2017, the global market for rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries was 126 gigawatt-hours (GWh) valued at $37 billion, growing by $10 billion in two years. Once confined largely to consumer electronics and appliances, the rapid increase in demand was spurred by... View Details

February 2012
Supplement

The Market for Energy: Scale, Cost, Security, and the Environment (B)

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Norris

Keywords: Energy; Markets

September 2014 (Revised April 2016)
Case

Cree Inc.: Introducing the LED Light Bulb

By: John Gourville and Michael Norris

Cree, a North Carolina-based maker of light emitting diodes (LEDs), has just introduced its first consumer product—an LED light bulb. It is designed as an energy efficient replacement for the ubiquitous incandescent light bulb. But given that it is an unfamiliar... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Innovation; Product Adoption; Technological Innovation; Technology Adoption; Energy Conservation; Product Launch; Consumer Products Industry; North Carolina

17 Nov 2022
Blog Post

Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series - The Future of Green Building

Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series – The Future of Green Building Cover image features Christoph Schiess (left) and Jim Damalas (right). Over the course of the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) held in Sharm... View Details

January 2025
Technical Note

Get Cool: Air Conditioning Industry Background

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

The “air conditioning paradox” is tied to climate change: the more the planet warms, the greater the need for cooling (due to the dangers of extreme heat as well as comfort within buildings), but the use of electricity-powered AC contributes to further warming. There... View Details

Keywords: Appliances; Global Warming; Climate Change; Energy Efficiency; United States

October, 2022
Article

The Economic Dynamics of Competing Power Generation Sources

By: Gunther Glenk and Stefan Reichelstein

Competing power generation sources have experienced considerable shifts in both their revenue potential and their costs in recent years. Here we introduce the concept of Levelized Profit Margins (LPM) to capture the changing unit economics of both intermittent and... View Details