Jamie C. Beard

Technologist, climate activist

Environmentalist Jamie C. Beard is founder and executive director of the Geothermal Entrepreneurship Organization (GEO) at the University of Texas at Austin.

Why you should listen

An energy and regulatory attorney, Jamie C. Beard left the white-shoe law firm scene to try her hand at bringing about fast, efficient climate change solutions. She founded the Geothermal Entrepreneurship Organization, a US Department of Energy-funded program aimed at recruiting oil and gas talent to launch geothermal startups.

A passionate advocate for geothermal energy as the natural and obvious future business model for the oil and gas industry and the missing link to meeting or exceeding 2050 climate goals, Beard is known by colleagues as a climate realist. She has been credited with catalyzing a wave of recent investment and engagement by oil and gas entities in the geothermal space and with recruiting and mentoring hundreds of new voices to the geothermal industry.

Jamie C. Beard’s TED talk

15:06

Jamie C. Beard

The untapped energy source that could power the planet

Posted Sep 2021

More news and ideas from Jamie C. Beard

Live from TEDMonterey

Climate hope: Notes from Session 4 of TEDMonterey

August 3, 2021

The scale of the climate crisis is so daunting that it can be easy to get dragged down into pessimism. But at Session 4, six speakers — call them unexpected heroes of the future — told a different story of how we might beat this thing. They speak on an exciting range of phenomena and […]