Deirdre Lord, Megawatt Hour CEO, spoke at a conference in May called 5KL: Energy Issues, Energy Entrepreneurship. The symposium was convened by The Architectural League and the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) under the joint banner of their respective initiatives — The Five Thousand Pound Life and The Energy Issue.

Urban Omnibus is the Architectural League’s online publication dedicated to defining and enriching the culture of citymaking. Urban Omnibus explores projects and perspectives in architecture, art, policy and activism – tried and tested in New York City – that offer new ways of understanding, representing and improving urban life and landscape worldwide.

Urban Omnibus published an overview of the May symposium and posted a video of Deirdre’s talk, as well as the panel discussion that followed.

The Energy Entrepreneurship panel focused on two start-ups and their innovation in the energy sector, pairing their founders with symposium participants Jeremy Leggett, Rosalie Genevro, Kate Gordon, and Mark Wigley. Deirdre Lord, co-founder of The Megawatt Hour, details how a subscription service brings transparency to utility bills for consumers of electricity and natural gas. The panel discusses how this makes deregulated markets accessible and actionable, helping to align business goals with energy decisions, and debates the potential merits of communicating a cultural or social impact when considering transparency in energy markets. Founder and CEO of Radiator Labs Marshall Cox details how his retrofit for an old energy system, the steam radiator, can increase operational efficiency and climate comfort. (Learn more about Radiator Labs in our interview with Cox from June.) The panel also responds to Cox with discussion on the importance of increased cultural pressure for energy consciousness and the regional differences in attitudes toward energy consumption in the United States.