By Bob Meeder, President and CEO, Energy Innovation Center

As I look through the “lens” of the business activities and plans of the dozens of corporations that participate in or with the Energy Innovation Center (EIC), I predict that the following seven changes will evolve in the region’s energy industry over the next decade:

1. There will be significant increases in the use of natural gas as a power source to many systems and in many applications that heretofore were supplied by electricity.

2. Property owners, developers, engineers and architects will, finally, give more than “lip service” to the process of integrated collaborative design as a significant pathway to major energy savings for new construction and renovations…achieving savings that account for more than one-third of the facility’s energy costs.

3. Energy corporations’ talent recruitment managers will discover new, highly productive “veins” of employee prospects by deploying valid assessment tools and effective, quick-training processes to convert the skills/experiences gained by athletes and military veterans to corporate roles and the ability to “win again” in private industry.

4. The evolution of e-sports to STEM training will change the paradigm of energy corporate workforce training.

5. There will be a significant increase in the receptivity of change in the very mature, risk-adverse construction industry and building trades to adopt innovative changes in new, decentralized HVAC and electrical distribution systems as new technologies are infused into the walls, ceilings and surface coatings of residential and commercial structures.

5. The movement of air within commercial facilities will dramatically reduce the transfer of viruses and disease in the workplace.

6. The emergence of “ghost kitchens” will become a resource for immediate delivery of fully prepared fresh, nutritious food.

7. There will be a greater appreciation of historic preservation as a major energy savings strategy.

As CEO and President of the Energy Innovation Center, LP, I am excited for Pittsburgh’s role in the “big leagues” of global innovation over the next decade.

This piece is an excerpt from a longer article in teQ magazine. That article can be found by clicking here.