What drives you? I want to leave the world a better place than I found it.
What projects do you work on that you love or are most passionate about and why? I love challenging projects, where I get to work with a client to push boundaries, engage with new technology or new applications and find creative solutions to complex climate change problems. These types of projects which dance on the cutting edge of sustainable engineering offer the opportunity to make a real contribution in the transition to a sustainable society, not only through emissions reduction but also by sharing ideas and getting other people thinking.
Career highlight/game changing project/something that made a big impact: A project that made a big impact on me was delivering over 30 energy assessments to farms of all types throughout Victoria, as part of a state Victorian government program to drive decarbonisation of the agricultural industry. In practice, this involved weeks of driving around rural Victoria to have real conversations with farmers and see the equipment, processes, and property they work with. Small family farms in the harsh Australian environment are extremely vulnerable to climate change and are already seeing the impacts on land and livelihood. While this project wasn’t particularly challenging in a technical sense, it gave me the opportunity to engage with businesses who are fighting on the ground against climate change, not as large corporations but as regular people doing their best with what they have. Being able to help in a small way by sharing my skills and knowledge was humbling and motivating, and really reminded me of why I do this work.