OUR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: SHELTER

Sustainability Spotlight: Alumni

WORKING TOWARD A CARBON-FREE ENERGY SYSTEM

Brenda Chew 12C, Senior Manager of Research, Smart Electric Power Alliance

Brenda Chew works as the senior manager of research for the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) — a nonprofit organization that envisions a carbon-free US energy system by 2050. Chew supervises a team of five researchers working on a number of projects, as well as a new effort striving to benchmark utilities’ transition to a clean energy future. 

Chew and her peers are positioned to educate the industry and facilitate collaboration between utilities, regulators, and third parties — with the directive of keeping communication flowing. 

“We are politically agnostic and do not do any advocacy work,” Chew says. “We are able to get parties from different perspectives to come together and have productive conversations on how we can transition to a carbon-free future. We can’t make these changes without collaboration and education.”

An emerging business model Chew routinely discusses with utilities is the use of customer-distributed energy resouces — including batteries, home devices, and solar panels — to benefit the electric grid. She also addresses the utilities’ role in planning to cater to evolving customer preferences in adopting new energy technologies. 

“It’s a lot more complicated than many would think,” she says.

Her work with SEPA also addresses how consumers and their technologies — such as Wi-Fi enabled thermostats, electric vehicles, and smart home devices — can work with utilities to reduce energy usage at optimal times and ultimately lead to a cleaner and more efficient energy grid.

Chew developed a deeper appreciation and passion for renewable energy abroad during her time spent in both Iceland and the United Kingdom. “The Bobby Jones Scholarship I got at Emory enabled me to study and focus on the clean energy and sustainability space in the UK,” Chew says. “I gained an international perspective and more exposure to the space I’m working in now.”

—Brian Hudgins