L. Hunter Lovins, a longtime environmental leader and sustainability adviser to corporations, governments and educational institutions is joining the board of directors of SimpliPhi Power, an energy storage company based in Oxnard, Calif. Her tenure is effective as of the company’s June board meeting. Lovins is President of Natural Capitalism Solutions. NCS helps companies, communities and countries implement more regenerative practices profitably.
“It truly is a thrill to join the company that is leading the battery storage revolution,” says Lovins. “We’re in a horse race with catastrophe,” she adds, “facing the climate crisis and the economically driven conversion to renewable energy, which, if not managed well will strand $25 trillion worth of fossil assets. With solar and wind now cheaper than coal and gas essentially everywhere, affordable storage is key to solving global warming at a profit. In my opinion, SimpliPhi makes the best, safest and most competitive option. I’m honored to do what I can to help this great company succeed. Our future depends on it.”
A professor of sustainable business management at Bard College, Lovins was named a Master at the De Tao Academy in Shanghai. She sits on the convening committee of WE-All, Capital Institute Advisory Board as well as on the board of Directors of Change Finance. A founding mentor of the Unreasonable Institute, she teaches entrepreneuring and coaches social enterprises around the world. She is the Chief Impact Officer of Change Finance, an impact investing firm.
A consultant to scores of industries and governments worldwide, including International Finance Corporation, Unilever, Walmart, the United Nations and Royal Dutch Shell, as well as sustainability champions Interface, Patagonia and Clif Bar, Lovins has briefed heads of state, leaders of numerous local governments, the Pentagon, and officials in about thirty countries, as well as the UN, and the US Congress.
Consultant to community groups, local economic development agencies and municipal governments from Maori villages in New Zealand to eco-tourist offerings in Jamaica, she also advised the Energy Minister in Afghanistan. She has worked with local business groups and small NGO’s from Serbia to Honduras. Lovins created the Economic Renewal Project and helped write many of its manuals on sustainable community economic development, including LASER: Local Action for Sustainable Economic Renewal.
“We welcome Hunter to the board at an auspicious time for our company,” says Catherine Von Burg, CEO of SimpliPhi Power. “Energy storage is playing a major role in the global economy, supporting the transition to greater renewable generation, creating access and opportunity for the 1.3 billion that live beyond the grid, and sustaining security and resilience across customer sited homes, businesses and large commercial enterprises. As such, the sustainable underpinnings of energy storage are paramount to this emerging renewable economy, from the raw materials and extraction practices to the total carbon footprint of our supply chain, to how we participate and ameliorate economic parity. Companies have an extraordinary opportunity and responsibility to make an impact toward positive change. Hunter refers to this multipronged approach to business as the ‘integrated bottom line’ in which all levels of a company’s operations are considered within the context of their impact on people, the planet and profit. Hunter will help guide SimpliPhi as it continues to expand globally and strives to achieve these principles across all its operations.”
Lovins has written sixteen books, including the recently released A Finer Future: Creating an Economy in Service to Life. She has won dozens of awards, including the European Sustainability Pioneer award, and the Right Livelihood Award. Time Magazine recognized her as a Millennium Hero for the Planet, and Newsweek called her the Green Business Icon.
— Solar Builder magazine
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