principle of thirds is the framework through which I experience climate opportunities. It is a derivative of the triple bottom line that values people, planet, and prosperity. Profit, traditionally included in the triple bottom line, is limited to finance while prosperity unlocks an additional human dimension to empower equitable and regenerative solutions.

I am Christopher Contos and I am deeply passionate about the intersection of engineering, economics, and policy to accelerate the commercialization, adoption, and deployment of climate solutions at scale.

I also love hiking, photography, weightlifting, reading philosophy, and writing.

Education

Georgia Institute of Technology

Master of Sustainable Energy & Environmental Management (MSEEM)

MSEEM Fellowship

Rowan University

Bachelor of Science, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Minor, Physics — Electromagnetism

C. Ernest O’Neal Award for Electrical & Computer Engineering

Professional Experience

Microsoft Energy

Associate Program Manager — Microsoft Energy Markets

Supporting the delivery of the world’s most sustainable cloud and AI infrastructure in alignment with Microsoft’s 100/100/0 vision (100% of electrons, 100% of the time, generated from carbon-free energy sources).

Ørsted Global Graduate Programme
Ørsted's global rotational programme explores energy career specialization, international project experience, and innovation.

Associate — Ventures & Open Innovation

Supporting Ørsted Ventures, research on grid flexibility, academic partnerships, and start up pilots.

Associate — Origination

Sourcing and structuring revenue to maximize value for utility-scale wind, solar, and battery storage projects and products in dynamic market conditions.

Analyst — Market Analytics

Financial modeling, policy, and electricity market analysis for onshore renewable energy, energy storage, and green hydrogen strategy and investment. Collaborating working with Growth & Strategy, Project Finance, Government Affairs, Battery Storage, and Power-to-X.

New Jersey Board of Public Utilities

Intern — State Energy Services

State energy profile analysis and agency advancement on energy and water benchmarking targets.

Southface Institute

Advocacy Researcher — Demand Side Management (DSM)

Led a team of five graduate students to identify and highlight domestic demand response program opportunities for the 2022 Georgia Power Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). Our research was leveraged in Dr. Marilyn Brown’s demand side management (DSM) expert testimony for the 2022 IRP influencing the adoption of least-competitive modeling of DSM against traditional supply-side resources.

Global Council for Science and the Environment (GCSE)

Drawdown USA Scholar — Education Program Development

Engaged with universities interested in integrating Project Drawdown into their Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) via resource development and and program assistance.

PSEG Nuclear

Intern — Systems Engineering

Critical components review and Metal Impact Monitoring System (MIMS) upgrade proposal for proactive maintenance monitoring using acoustic sensors and impact detection algorithms.

Rowan Innovation Venture Fund (RIVF)

Screening Committee Member

The Rowan Innovation Venture Fund is a University-based, $25 million private-equity fund. The Rowan University Foundation established the Fund in 2014 to provide early-stage funding primarily to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and South Jersey individuals and companies that have developed and tested projects and products that are ready to compete in the marketplace.

ChronoCare

Co-Founder — Design & GTM

Lead stakeholder relations and feedback integration to design a software platform that enables hospitals to improve their critical care treatment efficacy, efficiency, monitoring, and compliance.

Seneca Survey Company

Data Management Specialist

Civil engineering survey data organization and management.

Research Experience

Georgia Tech Clean Energy Policy Laboratory

Researcher — Climate Solution Co-Adoption

Analytics and bibliometrics to support the investigation of the co-adoption of climate solutions by producers, consumers, and prosumers.

Pennsylvania State University Project Drawdown REU

Researcher — Materials Science Research Institute

Life cycle assessment (LCA) modeling to quantify the impact and emissions of the commercialization and global adoption of novel, solid-state cooling technologies.

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering

Researcher — Microgrid Optimization & Communications Systems

Research and energy system modeling to quantify the optimization of emissions, economic, and energy savings from the implementation of a campus microgrid and proposed solar photovoltaic farm.

Talks

Drawdown: Research to Action International Conference

Innovation Speaker — Materials & Waste Panel on Electrocaloric Cooling

The next generation of cooling technologies that do not require refrigerants and are more energy efficient.

Rowan University Honors Public Speaking for Engineers

Guest Lecturer — “Sustainability as a Vehicle to Accelerate Energy Security?”

Exploring the nexus of climate policy, energy security, and opportunity.

Guest Lecturer — “Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for Sustainable Engineering”

Assessing lifecycle environmental impacts during engineering design processes.

Masters Research Projects & Consulting

Capacity as a Commodity Assessment

Masters Capstone Project

Authored “Electricity Grid Reliability & Resource Adequacy: Capacity as a Commodity” and led data analysis investigating the energy transition’s impact on electric grid reliability & reliability policy instruments focused on capacity market design.

Zero-Emissions Vehicle Standards Energy Security Analysis

Utility Regulation & Policy

Leveraged data output from the GT-NEMS (National Energy Modeling System) to investigate the impact of national zero emission vehicle standards on energy security and U.S. macroeconomic indicators.

Southeast Manufacturer Sustainability & Decarbonization Consulting

MSEEM External Client Consulting

Developed an internal resource for an industrial manufacturer to identify sustainability policy and incentive opportunities to advance progress towards strategic emissions targets.

Alta Wind Energy Center Financing and Offtake Case Study

Infrastructure Finance

Executed an infrastructure finance case study on the 1,550 MW Alta Wind Energy Center in Kern County, CA.

Energy Burden Analysis

Quantitative Models for Public Policy

Leveraged supervised and unsupervised quantitative methods—including multiple linear regression, clustering, cluster mapping, and classification with model optimization—to investigate energy burden as a response to household demographics and sustainability behavior metrics.

Georgia Natural Gas & Solar LCOE Analysis

Utility Regulation & Policy

Performed a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) analysis of utility-scale natural gas and solar power plants to identify competitive electricity generation opportunities in the state of Georgia.

Climate Policy and Energy Security Analysis

Energy & International Security

“Climate Policy & Energy Security: Constructive or Destructive Interference?” investigating both the synergies and juxtaposition of energy security and climate change policy.