Automated Emissions Reduction with Gavin McCormick from WattTime

Creating a lasting impact on a large scale requires collaboration, and globally reducing emissions is one of the most impactful, large-scale goals one could have at this point in time.

My guest on today’s show is Gavin McCormick, an economist by training who has immersed himself in the world of machine learning through the founding of WattTime, a company fighting climate change by automating devices to optimize energy in real-time in order to lower their carbon footprints. Currently, there are one billion devices making use of WattTime's technology, and in the next few years, Gavin hopes to increase that number to 30 billion!

Tune in today to hear about the uncommon way that Gavin and his team approach their goals, the Climate TRACE project that has come about as a result of WattTime’s success, and why they don’t have any competitors! 

Key Points:

• Gavin’s educational background.
• The discovery that led Gavin to found WattTime.
• An explanation of what WattTime does.
• The motivation behind the founding of Climate TRACE.
• The role that machine learning plays at WattTime. 
• The single objective function of WattTime.
• Methods that Gavin and his team use to ensure their actions are having the greatest impact.
• How the WattTime approach differs from the approach utilized by many other machine learning organizations.
• The importance of interdisciplinary collaboration.
• How WattTime measures their impact.
• One of WattTime’s major weaknesses.
• Advice for leaders of AI-powered organizations.
• What Gavin hopes WattTime will achieve in the next three to five years.  

Quotes:

“Renewable energy could have more impact if it could be cited in just the right locations and run at just the right times.” — Gavin McCormick

“You can really substantially reduce the carbon footprint of a power grid by shifting all of the load to moments when there's surplus clean energy instead of just random times.” — Gavin McCormick

“In any case where another organization, be they non-profit, university, for-profit, whatever, is rowing in a direction that is consistent with our mission and frankly doing it well, we would rather not spend the time and resources trying to recreate them or beat them. We would rather help them out.” — Gavin McCormick

“If you're really serious about impact, then someone else's success is not a threat to you. It's a benefit.” — Gavin McCormick

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Gavin McCormick on LinkedIn

WattTime

Climate TRACE

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