Founders & Board
Founders
Lane Sharman and Bill Powers co-founded the San Diego Energy District in October 2011. SDED’s mission is to offer community-based energy choice that is fair, equitable, transparent and safe for the future.
LANE SHARMAN
Lane is a senior executive with experience in solar development, regulatory affairs, and government relations. He is a business model innovator, and strategic management and financial advisor. See full bio below.
BILL POWERS
Bill Powers, P.E., is a registered professional engineer with extensive knowledge and experience in the fields of energy and environmental engineering, air emissions control, and regional energy planning. As the owner and principal of Powers Engineering, Mr. Powers provides expert testimony and analysis, strategic planning, and equipment testing for public sector and private industry clients in the US and Latin America.
Read Bill’s May 28, 2020 post on the Voice of San Diego: San Diego Community Power Must Defend Its Right to Focus on Local Solar.
Board
LANE SHARMAN — Executive Director, Co-Founder, Chair
Lane’s experience includes software engineering and data analytics; the legal development of California’s first independent water credit exchange; the formation of Spanish subsidiary Solarpack in California that developed 130 MW of utility solar projects; project finance and planning of residential and commercial water and power systems; and engagement with the City of Solana Beach as a Clean and Green Committee leader creating the first Community Choice Aggregation in San Diego, the Solana Energy Alliance.
In his spare time he surfs, celebrating sixty years in the waves. LinkedIn Profile
DAVID DUFEK — Vice Chair
David Sean Dufek, Esq., is a San Diego attorney with nearly two decades of practice in civil litigation. As a parent and grandparent, his interests in environmental preservation spurred him to purchase a rooftop photovoltaic (PV, or solar electricity) system five years ago. Since then, he has investigated further the system of utility interconnection and management of which he is now — as a solar generator — a part, leading him to offer his support to SDED. LinkedIn Profile
JAY KLOPFENSTEIN — Director
An educator by background, profession and passion, Jay is retired from the Carlsbad School System as a “Teacher of the Year” in sciences. He currently teaches computer science and environmental studies at the college level, concurrent with consulting and advising in financial planning, especially for retired teachers, and a long list of environmentally-focused public service work in Carlsbad. His passion for education has also led to multiple innovative grants in the sciences and considerable experience developing foundation- and grant-funded demonstrations (see for example “Clean Energy for Carlsbad”). LinkedIn Profile.
AVERY KINTNER — Director
Avery brings over thirty years of financial, building and development expertise to the board, along with a passion for community service. After earning a Business degree with an Accounting Emphasis from Southern Methodist University, he became a Certified Public Accountant. Avery’s special certifications include Green Building Professional and Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) FSA-Level 2. He has served on several executive board positions for USGBC-San Diego and The William J. Worthen Foundation, and numerous advisory/working groups related to building energy performance/ decarbonization, and water reuse. He appreciates staying active by swimming, practicing yoga and art. Avery’s ability to think strategically and sustainably, and his willingness to collaborate make him a valuable addition to the board, while his experience in risk management keeps us prepared for the future. LinkedIn Profile.
JOSE TORRE-BUENO — Director
Dr. Torre-Bueno is a prolific inventor with over 40 issued and pending patents. One of these is Energy Optima©, a pending patent on using advanced mathematics from the biomedical field to optimize the energy improvements to a building, which is the core of proprietary technology. With over 30 years of experience, he has been a driver in groundbreaking product development for the emerging technology, Green Technology, and biotech industries. In biomedicine, he developed an algorithm that diagnoses a subtype of breast cancer, and invented a color image analyzer that allows the analysis of multiple colors in slide stains. For the packaging industry, he innovated the efficiency of a pill packaging system that eliminated any future medication recall due to incorrect packaging. He is also a disciplined and successful business strategist with expertise in fundraising for startups, road mapping, milestone setting, due diligence of potential mergers and acquisitions, and management over intellectual property. LinkedIn Profile
Dr. Torre-Bueno is the Executive Director of the Center for Community Energy.
EVE SIMMONS — Director
Eve Simmons is a decades-long environmental activist, keynote speaker, green blogger, and tireless optimist. She has lectured throughout Southern California and serves as a Congressional and Senate liaison, lobbying for action both locally and on Capitol Hill. Eve speaks on environmental topics ranging from loss of biodiversity and habitat, deforestation, our oceans, forests, air, water and soil, the Greenhouse Effect, extreme weather, pricing carbon, plastic pollution, divestment and other global warming solutions, to the social injustice and politics of climate change. Eve serves on San Diego County’s Fish and Wildlife Advisory Commission, was a delegate to California’s State Assembly and a member of CA’s Environmental Caucus. She’s a Climate Reality Project Leader, a former photojournalist, and wildlife guide. She served on the board of Encinitas EcoFest. Eve imparts knowledge from the world’s top scientists and institutions, bringing humor, solutions, and hope for a sustainable environment that fosters public and economic health, job creation, and improved national security. Follow her on Twitter @Eve_Simmons and her website and blog, TheGreenFlash.org.