REPP-CREST Staff

George Sterzinger, Executive Director

Mr. Sterzinger is responsible for REPP's day-to-day operations: fundraising, grant management and board relations. He oversees the launch of new programs, procedures, strategies and products to promote REPPâs mission.

History
George Sterzinger, REPP's executive director, has more than twenty years experience in energy policy and regulation. In the late 1980's, as Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service, he initiated state efforts to secure an advanced gasifier that could use waste wood to power an advanced turbine generator . As a direct result of these efforts, a commercial scale biomass gasifier is undergoing testing at the McNeil generating station in Burlington, Vermont and is expected to start commercial development in the near future.

Mr. Sterzinger also worked extensively with the Corporation for Solar Technologies and Renewable Resources to establish a solar development zone in Nevada. He conducted the feasibility study for that project and wrote the initial request for proposals (RFP) that secured an agreement with Enron to develop up to 100 MW of photovoltaic (PV) capacity and sell the output at 5.2 cents per kWh ($1995, adjusted for inflation), a price that would be competitive in todayâs power markets. At that time, an inability to look beyond short-term conditions precluded obtaining project financing.

This and other experiences with emerging technologies convinced Mr. Sterzinger that renewable energy development must rely upon more than strong research and technology development. To realize clean energyâs full potential, technology development must be closely linked to, and enabled by, education, outreach, policy analysis and hands-on project development advocacy.

Fredric Beck, Research Manager

Fred Beck is the Research Manager for the Renewable Energy Policy Project and the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (REPP-CREST). He is responsible for performing research on a wide variety of issues including renewable energy policies, utility deregulation, renewable energy technologies, trends in Europe and developing nations, environmental policy, and other subjects. He writes and edits papers on a variety of issues relevant to the advancement of renewable energy for technical audiences, policymakers, and the general public. Mr. Beck is also responsible for hiring and managing contractors, writing research proposals, and convening and facilitating meetings among groups with diverse interests.

Mr. Beck is currently responsible for project management of the Renewable Energy for California research and outreach project under a grant from NREL, and is a primary researcher on this project. He is a primary researcher on the Biopower for the South project under a grant from the TVA, and is helping to facilitate meetings among diverse stakeholders on this project. Mr. Beck is the Project Manager, Budget Manager, and primary researcher on a project to design more energy-efficient computer data centers under a grant from the U.S. EPA. He recently completed project management of an Internet residential energy-efficiency analysis tool comparison project for National Rural Electrical Cooperative Association (NRECA), and also completed research and technical writing on markets and barriers for commercial solar photovoltaics for the Green Power Market Development Group. Mr. Beck represents REPP-CREST on the Renewable Energy Subcommittee of the Sustainable Energy Coalition (SEC), and frequently represents REPP-CREST at U.S. Climate Action Network (USCAN) meetings. In addition to his contributions as a project manager and research manager, Mr. Beck is active in REPP-CREST's out reach activities, providing content for the CREST website and answering over 100 e-mailed questions from the general public on renewable energy and sustainable technologies each month.

History
Prior to joining REPP-CREST, Mr. Beck was a Senior Research Associate in the Energy and Environment Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley California from 1990 through 1995, and a consultant to LBNL through 1996. He developed and validated an energy efficiency rating and labeling program now in use by US window manufacturers, validated technical analysis and two-dimensional heat transfer simulations performed by independent contractors on window heat transfer ratings of US window products lines, taught the principles of heat transfer and two-dimensional finite element modeling to US window manufacturing industry researchers, and used infrared thermography and finite element modeling to develop and test novel highly energy efficient windows and frames. He published ten peer-reviewed research reports on building energy efficiency, and acted as a liaison for the community outreach program of the Center for Building Science at LBNL, hosting a number of visiting foreign scientists and U.S. teachers and explaining the core concepts of energy efficient technology to them. From 1997 through 2000 Mr. Beck was responsible for performing primary research and statistical analysis on U.S. elementary and secondary school desegregation programs for use in expert testimony on school desegregation court cases by a leading expert in the field, Professor Christine Rossell of Boston University.

Damian Dougherty Kostiuk, Research and Communications Specialist

Damian Kostiuk is responsible for online communications and media relations, including assistance with research and writing of REPP reports and special products.

Mr. Kostiuk joined REPP in November 2001 after years working for the Associated Press, NBC Dateline, and as a communications specialist and art director for a public school system. He was employed as an art director twice, and won several professional communications awards for his work. Currently, he is earning a Master’s in Journalism at American University while working full-time at REPP.