Bret Kugelmass
| Bret Kugelmass | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| 🏫 Education | M.S. in mechanical engineering |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Stanford University |
| 💼 Occupation |
|
| 📆 Years active | 2009–present |
| Known for |
|
| Notable work | Titans of Nuclear (Creator/host) |
Bret Kugelmass is an American technology entrepreneur in the areas of robotics and energy systems. He is the founder and current managing director of the Energy Impact Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization and research institute that advocates for the promotion of nuclear power to curb and reverse the effects of climate change. He is also the founder of Last Energy, a startup aimed at building new nuclear power plants, and the creator and host of the Titans of Nuclear and Energy Impact podcasts. Prior to these ventures, Kugelmass was the founder of the internet-connected aerial drone company, Airphrame.
Early life and education[edit]
Bret Kugelmass is a native of Nassau County, New York on Long Island. He graduated from Baldwin High School. After high school, he attended Stony Brook University,[1] earning a B.S. in mathematics.[2] He would go on to study robotics at Stanford University,[3] finishing with a Master's degree in mechanical engineering.[4]
Career[edit]
Early in his career, Kugelmass worked for NASA where he helped design lunar rover control systems.[5] In 2009, he took a job as a mechanical engineer for Nanosolar, a manufacturer of solar power technology. Later, during his graduate studies at Stanford, he worked as the head of an electric car research and development lab for Panasonic. He founded the aerial drone startup, Airphrame, in June 2012. That company produced a fleet of autonomous, internet-connected aerial drones designed to collect and produce a range of data, including images, orthographic maps, and 3D models.[6][7] The firm was originally headquartered in Davis, California, but Kugelmass relocated it to the Silicon Valley in 2014.[8] In July of that year, he secured $4.2 million in startup funding for Airphrame[6] from August Capital and the Floodgate Fund.[9] In 2017, Kugelmass sold Airphrame to an unnamed Fortune 500 company for an undisclosed amount.[7]
After the sale of Airphrame, Kugelmass moved to Washington, D.C. where he shifted his focus toward energy and climate policy.[10] In 2017, he founded and became the managing director of the Energy Impact Center, a nonprofit organization and research institute with the stated goal of decarbonizing the economy by 2040 using zero-carbon nuclear power.[11][12] The organization's goals are based on Kugelmass' belief that carbon dioxide must be actively removed from the atmosphere in order to reverse the effects of climate change and that nuclear power is the most efficient method of achieving that objective.[7][13] He came to these conclusions after conducting over 1,500 interviews[3] over the course of four years with energy experts for his podcasts, Titans of Nuclear[10][7] and Energy Impact.[14]
In February 2020, Kugelmass announced a for-profit offshoot of the Energy Impact Center called Last Energy. That entity raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by First Round Capital.[3] The company's goal is to provide investors with opportunities to fund the construction of new nuclear power plants,[15] primarily in countries that are transitioning from coal to cleaner energy sources.[16] Kugelmass also developed the Energy Impact Center's OPEN100 plan, which calls for a 100-fold increase in nuclear power by 2040. Coinciding with the announcement of Last Energy, Open100 released an open-source blueprint for nuclear power plant construction. According to the plans, construction would take around two years at a cost of $300 million,[17] although regulatory hurdles would exist in practice.[11]
References[edit]
- ↑ Fischler, Marcelle S. (May 29, 2005). "Inventing New Cures for 'Senioritis'". The New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ "Annual Report 2009" (PDF). Stony Brook University. 2009. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Takahashi, Dean (February 25, 2020). "Last Energy raises $3 million to fight climate change with nuclear energy". VentureBeat. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ "PNNL Staff Are Among the 'Titans of Nuclear'". Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. June 29, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ "有人在网上开源了核电站设计图：投资3亿美元，18个月能建一座小核电站". Sina (in Chinese). March 7, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2021.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Barron, Brenda (July 16, 2014). "Aerial drone maker Airphrame secures $4.2M in startup funding". VentureBeat. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Scoles, Sarah (February 20, 2020). "The Tech Entrepreneur Who Thinks He Can Reverse Climate Change With Nuclear Power". OneZero. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ Roush, Wade (May 15, 2014). "The Davis Dilemma: New Energy for Innovation, But Where to Grow?". Xconomy. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ Schubarth, Cromwell (August 27, 2015). "Here are some drone makers to watch as Intel invests $60M in one from China". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Menser, Paul (February 7, 2018). "Silicon Valley Startup Pro Shifts Focus To Nuclear Energy". Idaho National Laboratory. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Delbert, Caroline (March 3, 2020). "Coming Soon: Open-Source Blueprints for a Tiny Nuclear Reactor". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ Dormehl, Luke (March 5, 2020). "Someone just uploaded open-source nuclear power plant blueprints to the web". Digital Trends. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ Siegel, Josh; Siciliano, John (April 16, 2019). "Daily on Energy: Former drone CEO wants a crack at curbing climate change with nuclear". Washington Examiner. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ "Michelle Brechtelsbauer". Titans of Nuclear. April 12, 2021. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ Gent, Edd (March 2, 2020). "The World's First Open-Source Nuclear Reactor Blueprint Is Coming Online". Singularity Hub. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ Siegel, Josh; Smith, Abby (February 25, 2020). "Daily on Energy: One man's case for boosting nuclear 100 times over". Washington Examiner. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ↑ Proctor, Darrell (February 25, 2020). "Tech Guru's Plan—Fight Climate Change with Nuclear Power". Power Magazine. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
External links[edit]
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