Dr. Kevin O'Brien
Director Energy Practice
Global Innovation Solutions
Email: kevin.obrien@gis-innovation.com
Dr. O'Brien is Director of Global Innovation Solutions' Energy practice and brings a wealth of experience to this important industry. Dr. O'Brien is a technology expert and project manager with over 20 years of experience in the management of multi-million-dollar programs related to the development and deployment of renewable and sustainable technologies and practices. One of the keys to the success of these projects is the ability to systematically resolve conflicting needs and provide an acceptable solution for a variety of stakeholders. This encompasses resolving regulatory and environmental issues, while still maintaining attractive return on investments for projects. The multi-organisation teams he has led combine OEMs, EDC firms, technology developers, regulators, regional, and federal stakeholders. His international project experience includes Europe, Middle East, and Asia. He is a recipient of R&D 100 awards as well as awards for technology transfer.
Dr. O'Brien's efforts in carbon management have spanned the supply and demand side as well as transmission and distribution. Recently, he served as senior management in a joint venture to supply site support to the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). In this $297 Million program he managed teams that assessed new renewable technologies and novel carbon capture technologies, developed and reviewed waste to fuels and waste to electricity projects, delivered services to balance project portfolios in order to maximise risk / reward tradeoff for Smart Grid projects, and developed monitoring plans for stimulus (ARRA) funded energy projects.
Dr. O'Brien's research and development efforts at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, SRI International, and Parsons Corporation have focused on the scale-up of new technologies for energy and water treatment. His expertise has been relating customer requirements to technology specifications. He has led multi-disciplinary teams to scale-up technologies for energy efficient water purification; capture of carbon from industrial and power plant emissions; containerised wetlands for sustainable water purification; removal of nuclear, biological, and chemical agents from surface waters; combustion technologies to reduce vehicular emissions; conversion of biomass to energy; and the conversion of waste to fuel. These technology efforts were aimed at resolving critical environmental and public health issues such as the contamination of ground water, reduction in green house gas emissions, sustainable development of transportation systems, cost effective water purification for low economic underdeveloped regions, and the removal of endocrine disruptors from water sources.
He has been an invited speaker for the Science Foundation Ireland (equivalent of National Science Foundation) and Innovation Denmark Cleantech Conference; Co-Chaired Air Quality VI meetings; and presented at International Greenhouse Gas Technologies (GHGT) Conferences. Dr. O'Brien also served on the interagency working group for sustainable development for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Kevin has his own consulting company dedicated to alternate and renewable energy consulting - Energy Commercialization.
Dr. O'Brien holds a BS, MS, and Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and held a post doctorate research position in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin. One of his passions is developing programs that couple engineering schools with business schools in order to encourage entrepreneurial activity in a university setting.