Full Name
Lori Bird
Job Title
US Energy Director
Company
World Resources Institute
Speaker Bio
Lori Bird is Director of WRI’s U.S. Energy Program and the Polsky Chair for Renewable Energy. In this role, she leads a team of more than 20 specialists who work with utilities, cities and other large energy users to decarbonize the electric sector and accelerate transportation electrification. The team works to advance equitable access to clean energy, accelerate renewable energy and electric vehicle deployment, identify policy pathways to deep decarbonization, ensure wholesale power markets enable the transition to clean energy and facilitate innovative customer and utility clean energy solutions.
Prior to joining WRI, she served as a principal analyst in the Markets and Policy Group of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where she worked on clean energy policy, renewable energy grid integration, solar programs for low-income customers and green power markets. At NREL, she helped launch the Solar Energy Innovation Network, an $11 million, multi-year program designed to advance cutting-edge solutions to expand solar adoption. She led or co-authored studies on the benefits and costs of renewable electricity standards and approaches to addressing the variability of renewables. She has also provided testimony and technical assistance to state agencies and international clients on clean energy policy and deployment.
Over her career, she has co-authored nearly 150 publications on clean energy, including articles in academic and trade journals, such as Energy Policy, the Electricity Journal, Climate Policy, Energy & Environment and Public Utilities Fortnightly. She was also a contributing author to the IPCC Special Report on Renewables. She has been quoted or had her work cited in major media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, NPR, the New York Times, USA Today, and Business Week. In 2020, she was the recipient of the American Solar Energy Society’s award for Leadership in Solar Policy and Market Transformation and, earlier, received the NREL Chairman’s award and two President’s awards for her sustained contributions on clean energy markets.
Earlier in her career, she worked for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and for Hagler Bailly Consulting. She holds a master's degree in environmental studies from Yale University’s School of the Environment and a B.A. in economics and environmental studies from Indiana University. She lives in a home featuring solar panels and passive solar design with her husband and two children in Boulder, CO and has owned an electric vehicle since 2015.
Prior to joining WRI, she served as a principal analyst in the Markets and Policy Group of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where she worked on clean energy policy, renewable energy grid integration, solar programs for low-income customers and green power markets. At NREL, she helped launch the Solar Energy Innovation Network, an $11 million, multi-year program designed to advance cutting-edge solutions to expand solar adoption. She led or co-authored studies on the benefits and costs of renewable electricity standards and approaches to addressing the variability of renewables. She has also provided testimony and technical assistance to state agencies and international clients on clean energy policy and deployment.
Over her career, she has co-authored nearly 150 publications on clean energy, including articles in academic and trade journals, such as Energy Policy, the Electricity Journal, Climate Policy, Energy & Environment and Public Utilities Fortnightly. She was also a contributing author to the IPCC Special Report on Renewables. She has been quoted or had her work cited in major media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, NPR, the New York Times, USA Today, and Business Week. In 2020, she was the recipient of the American Solar Energy Society’s award for Leadership in Solar Policy and Market Transformation and, earlier, received the NREL Chairman’s award and two President’s awards for her sustained contributions on clean energy markets.
Earlier in her career, she worked for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and for Hagler Bailly Consulting. She holds a master's degree in environmental studies from Yale University’s School of the Environment and a B.A. in economics and environmental studies from Indiana University. She lives in a home featuring solar panels and passive solar design with her husband and two children in Boulder, CO and has owned an electric vehicle since 2015.
