Raphael Varieras http://www.raphaelvarieras.com Solar Energy | Sustainability | San Francisco Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:21:44 +0000 en hourly 1 Resume http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/resume/ http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/resume/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:20:35 +0000 Raph http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/?p=5

Half spreadsheet cruncher with an engineering background, half project manager developing large scale renewable energy projects, I’m a perpetual learner who enjoys solving problem through knowledge and creative thinking, dedicated to challenging projects and ventures that can change the world.

Experience

Solaria Corporation, Fremont, CA

2010 – current

Project Engineer – Product Performance and Applications

  • Developement of models and procedures for energy yiel forecast and recommendation of best fit applications

Chevron Energy Solutions, San Francisco, CA

2006 – 2010

Project Manager – Large Scale Projects Business

  • Solar technology subject matter expert, procurement and modeling technical lead on numerous projects
  • Managed the development of two wind farms in Iowa and Massachusetts ($40M)
  • Managed the development, engineering, procurement and construction of a test solar plant in California ($5.5M)
  • Prepared responses to request for proposals, bids and other sales and marketing efforts
  • Led the design and engineering of solar power plant ranging from $30M to $100M in size
  • Founder and leader of a young employee network focused on fostering career development, volunteering and mentoring

Project Engineer – Public Sector Business

  • Developed models and business practices currently used to pursue and implement solar projects at Chevron
  • Led the design and engineering of customer-sited solar power project ranging from $5M to $30M in size

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA

Spring 2005

Visiting Researcher – Energy and Technology division

  • Research on supply- and demand-side integrated energy forecasts for the US
  • Study of 2050 scenarios for hydrogen economy, strong renewables penetration, etc.

AIR FORCE, Salon-de-Provence, FRANCE

2002 – 2003

2nd lieutenant – Military Instruction unit of the air force academy

  • Assignment as supervisory staff officer, preparing and directing training exercises for cadets

Education

M.Sc. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

2005 – 2006
  • Tailored curriculum around Renewable Energy, GPA 3.7

M.Sc. Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique, France

2002 – 2005
  • Interdisciplinary program in physics, biology, chemical and mechanical engineering, GPA 3.4
  • Student leader and organizer of campus life events, military administration liaison

 

Skills
  • Certified Engineer-in-Training
  • Software: Office (Basics + Visio & Project, VBA) – Engineering (CAD, GIS, Matlab) – Programming (Java, C#, VB.net, PHP)
  • Bilingual French and English, German: intermediate

Interests
  • Net Impact San Francisco chapter member and Service Corps Fellow, worked with the California Cleantech Open coaching a start-up in their first steps toward sustainability
  • Developed a volunteer program between Chevron and local Non profits: Grid Alternatives, to install solar panels on low income housing, and Junior Achievement, volunteering at the Long Now Foundation, member of the sustainability committee of the French American Chamber of Commerce
  • Volley-ball enthusiast, tennis, climbing, ski, cooking amateur, drums player, season Opera ticket holder, leader of 20+ people Burning Man camp, occasional metal and wood worker – member and loyal student at the Crucible

 

]]> http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/resume/feed/ 0 Social Networks http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/social-networks/ http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/social-networks/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:10:51 +0000 Raph http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/?p=16 You can find me on a few networks out there:

]]> http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/social-networks/feed/ 0 Project Brightfield http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/brightfield/ http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/brightfield/#comments Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:40:56 +0000 Raph http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/?p=30

I started working on this project in early 2008, defining what we wanted to accomplish, and ended up managing the project for Chevron Energy Solutions mid-2009 when we finally decided to pull the trigger. Located in Bakersfield, CA, on a site where Chevron once was operating a refinery, it comprises seven cutting edge solar panel technologies, but also different systems for racking, and different brands of inverter. A great wealth of knowledge was gained from the construction and is still to be extracted from the monitoring of this facility.

Press:

  • LA Times – http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-chevron-solar22-2010mar22,0,6520345.story
  • Wall Street Journal -http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100322-709195.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLEHeadlinesAsia
  • New York Times - http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/chevron-testing-solar-technologies/
  • Forbes.com – http://blogs.forbes.com/energysource/2010/03/22/chevron-stages-solar-talent-show/?boxes=businesschannelsections
  • Reuters – http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2220921520100322?type=marketsNews
  • Contra Costa Times / San Jose Mercury News - http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_14733668?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com&nclick_check=1
  • The Bakersfield Californian - http://www.bakersfield.com/news/business/economy/x1664565803/Chevron-project-tests-solar-technologies
  • Southern California Public Radio/NPR affiliate (KPCC, KUOR, KPCV) - http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/03/22/chevron-solar/
  • KERO (Turnto23.com) - http://www.turnto23.com/news/22910661/detail.html
  • San Francisco Business Times – http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2010/03/22/daily10.html
  • NBC/KGET – http://www.kget.com/news/local/story/Project-Brightfield-to-power-oil-fields/d_GmbLFuDkW-O8sG53ff9w.cspx
  • Venture Beat: http://green.venturebeat.com/2010/03/22/chevron-launches-project-brightfield-to-put-new-solar-tech-to-the-test/
  • Earth2Tech: Project Brightfield: Chevron Launches Solar Test Bed
  • Environmental Leader: Chevron Installing Massive Solar System to Run Oil Plant’s Pumps, Pipelines
  • EarthTechling: Chevron Turns Former California Refinery Into Solar Testing Ground
  • Green Energy Reporter – http://greenenergyreporter.com/2010/03/chevron-puts-solar-panels-through-the-paces-at-test-facility/
  • Clean Skies Energy Network  - Energy Report from Washington D.C. includes video of solar panels being installed on the site -http://www.cleanskies.com/videos/the-energy-report-32210-morning-edition
  • GetSolar.com – http://www.getsolar.com/blog/solar-power-rundown-for-monday-march-22/4862/
  • Semiconductor Today – http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/2010/MARCH/ABOUNDSOLAR_220310.htm

    • ]]>     http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/brightfield/feed/ 0     Books http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/books/ http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/books/#comments Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:01:44 +0000 Raph http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/?p=58 This is the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership’s Top 50 Sustainability Books. I obviously haven’t read them all yet, but I would welcome your comments as to which one I should tackle next! 

    Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the battle Against World Poverty, by Muhammad Yunus, 1999

    Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, by Janine Benyus, 2003

    Blueprint for a Green Economy: by David Pearce, Anil Markandya and Edward B. Barbier, 1989

    Business as Unusual: My Entrepreneurial Journey, Profits and Principles, by Anita Roddick, 2005

    Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business, by John Elkington, 1999

    Capitalism as if the World Matters, by Jonathon Porritt, 2005

    Capitalism at the Crossroads: Aligning Business, Earth, and Humanity, by Stuart Hart, 2005

    Changing Course: A Global Business Perspective on Development and the Environment, by Stephan Schmidheiny and  WBCSD, 1992

    The Chaos Point: The World at the Crossroads, by Ervin Laszlo, 2006

    The Civil Corporation: The New Economy of Corporate Citizenship, by Simon Zadek, 2001

    Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, by Jared Diamond, 2005

    The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, by Joel Bakan, 2005

    Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, 2002

    The Dream of Earth, by Thomas Berry, 1990

    Development as Freedom, by Amartya Sen, 2000

    The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability, by Paul Hawken, 1994

    The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review, by Nicholas Stern, 2007

    The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, by Jeffrey Sachs, 2005.

    Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resources Use-A Report to the Club of Rome, by Ernst Von Weizsäcker, Amory B. Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins, 1998.

    False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism, by John Gray, 2002

    Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side on the All-American Meal, by Eric Schlosser, 2005

    A Fate Worse than Debt: The World Financial Crisis and the Poor, by Susan George, 1990

    For The Common Good:  Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment and a Sustainable Future, by Herman Daly and John Cobb, 1989

    Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits, by C.K. Prahalad, 2004

    Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, by James Lovelock, 1979.

    Globalization and its Discontents, by Joseph Stiglitz, 2002

    Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning, by George Monbiot, 2006

    Human-Scale Development: Conception, Application and Further Reflections, by Manfred Max-Neef, 1991

    The Hungry Spirit: Beyond Capitalism: The Quest for Purpose in the Modern World, by Charles Handy, 1999

    An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It, by Al Gore, 2006 

    The Limits to Growth, by Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows and Jorgen Randers, 1972

    Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World’s Most Unusual Workplace, by Ricardo Semler, 1993

    The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, by Hernando De Soto, 2000

    Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins, 2000

    No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs, by Naomi Klein, 2002

    Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism, by George Soros, 2000

    Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, by Buckminster Fuller, 1969

    Our Common Future, by The World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987

    The Population Bomb, by Paul Ehrlich, 1968

    Presence: An Explanation of Profound Change in People, Organizations and Society, by Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers, 2005

    The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future, by Elizabeth C. Economy, 2004

    Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold, 1949

    Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, 1962

    The Skeptical Environmentalist, by Bjorn Lomborg, 2001

    Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, by E.F. Schumacher, 1973

    Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development, by Vandana Shiva, 1989

    The Turning Point: Science Society and the Rising Culture, by Fritjof Capra, 1984

    Unsafe At Any Speed: The Designed-in Dangers of the American Automobile, by Ralph Nader, 1965

    When Corporations Rule the World, by David Korten, 2001

    When the Rivers Run Dry: What Happens When Our Water Runs Out? by Fred Pearce, 2006

    ]]>     http://www.raphaelvarieras.com/books/feed/ 0