In the wake of high demand for alternative resources, energy companies are attempting to provide various options to the mass public. However supplying the needed resources is not a simple task, and thus requires the counsel from energy firms on sustainable energy.

Anthony Damiano does just that at Wood Mackenzie, a consulting firm for other companies interested in sustainable energy. Paying a visit to the engineering department, Damiano addressed the concerns of sustainable energy and its evolution in modern times, while also fostering an interest in the engineering field, particularly in industrial engineering.

With an affinity for math, science, and solving problems, Damiano said he has always wanted to be an engineer since high school. He attended Georgia Tech to learn industrial engineering.

“I chose Industrial Engineering because it is very diverse and looks at entire systems, not just specific parts,” he said. “It focuses on efficiency, economics, and money.”

At Georgia Tech, he interned in the generation planning department at a local power utility. There he focused on forecasting, planning, and analyzing. The experience gave him a chance to use linear program models and hone his own skills.

“By the time I graduated college, I had lots of experience in power and really liked it,” he continued. “That’s how I started. I have always been close to power markets, analysis, and research.”

Damiano no longer works in engineering but in management. In 2005, he had the chance to build the power practice at his new company. At Wood Mackenzie, he and his team work in tandem with the energy industry to research and provide commercial data and analysis. They also advise companies on the topic of renewable energy. Other companies ask them on the costs and profitability of renewable energy.

“By educating the industry, banks, and politicians that buy our research, they are empowered to build renewable energy, knowing the facts we provide,” he said.

Even with the promising outlook of reverting to an “all-renewable” power plan, he said that other sectors have to be economical, coupled with technological breakthroughs by the next generation of engineers.

At the lecture, he hoped to encourage students to be part of that next generation, expecting that through sustainable energy, there will be a drive for “the need for sharp engineers for decades.”

He warned that becoming an engineer will require hard work, but is rewarding at the end. His advice to have “intellectual curiosity” on why and how things work and to strive to improve complex systems. Even if he has not been an engineer in a “long time,” the skills he learned at Georgia Tech and during his career as an industrial engineer continue to serve him today.

“Once an engineer, it’s a badge that sticks with you forever,” Damiano said.