I Need Engineers

An off-topic post to be sure, but I need to find some engineers who want an opportunity to get rich while working in a ‘green’ job. My company, Accsys Technologies PLC, is looking for more engineers to support our Accoya® business. You can see a complete listing of our job openings here. However, what I am looking for is more specific.

I need process engineers, from fresh out of school to highly experienced. I need people who are prepared, at least for the first six months, to spend two weeks a month in the Netherlands working for our Titan Wood division and learning our wood acetylation process. For WWII buffs the city is Arnhem, home of Operation Market Garden (aka A Bridge Too Far).

These positions report to me, and I am very picky. I have gone through 100 resumes to find the right person. So let me be very specific on what I need. My ideal junior candidate will have a chemical engineering degree, a high GPA, some work experience, an interest in sustainability, an interest in travel and other cultures, the ability to get along with diverse groups of people, and most importantly they will be a creative thinker with the drive to see their solutions implemented. I am looking for inventive solutions to unusual problems. The person will be tenacious, but respectful. They will be persuasive without being overly pushy. They will demand high standards from themselves. Our process doesn’t exist commercially anywhere else in the world, so you will see some problems that are unique from a chemical engineering perspective.

My ideal senior candidate will have design experience. They will understand mass & energy balances, equipment sizing, PFDs, P&IDs, and will have been involved in some major projects. This candidate will help support the design and construction of the Diamond Wood facility in China, followed by the Al Rajhi facility in the Middle East. They will also help mentor and develop the junior engineers, who may be involved in unit support, or helping to support the new facilities. They will be able to assume the lead position when I am away.

For legal reasons, I am advised that applicants must be either U.S. citizens or hold a green card for positions that will be based in Dallas, Texas. Separately, I am looking for applicants who are authorized to work in the Netherlands. I think this includes citizens of all EU countries. This position will be based in Arnhem.

I don’t want to sort through a bunch of resumes, so let me provide some guidance. For entry-level engineers, if your GPA is not on your resume, I will ask you about it. I will ask for references. I will call your professors to find out their opinion of your ability. I am looking for people who excelled in their science and engineering classes. I am looking for someone who, without any references, can approximate the answer to this question: If you dropped a cannon ball from the surface over the deepest part of the ocean, how long would it take to reach the bottom? And they will understand why I asked that sort of question.

If I haven’t scared you off, and you are prepared to be shipped to Europe right away, look up my e-mail address in my CV and e-mail me a copy of your CV and any questions you might have. You may also feel free to ask general questions following this post. If your qualifications look like what I have described, I will call you back.

The World’s Top Sustainable Business Stocks

My new company, Accsys Technologies PLC, made this year’s Top 20 list at SustainableBusiness.com:

SB20: The World’s Top Sustainable Business Stocks

2008 marks the seventh year for the SB20, which is presented in our sustainable investing newsletter, Progressive Investor. Each year, we work with a group of judges who are leading sustainability stock analysts to select the companies.

The purpose of the SB20 - the Sustainable Business 20 - is to showcase the most innovative, model companies that have the potential to greatly impact our ultimate goal of reaching a sustainable society.

The challenge we give our judges is to nominate, discuss and then vote on 20 companies that, through their products or initiatives, are contributing substantially to the advance of a sustainable economy.

To be on the list, companies must be strong on both the sustainable and financial sides. It is not a “buy” list, but because the companies are strong financially, their stock may well be worth be buying at some point based on stock market positioning.

About Accsys, they write:

Accsys Technologies Plc

England-based Accsys has developed a unique, important process that gives softwoods the same quality and durability prized in hardwoods - partly the cause for the destruction of the world’s forests. Replacing hardwoods with Accsys’s Accoya Wood enables windows, doors and many other construction materials and furnishings to be made from easily available, cheaper sources instead of from endangered, primary forests. The company’s decentralized business model is based on licensing the technology to local operators.

At some point I intend to write a detailed post on exactly what it is that we are doing. That’s pretty far down the ‘to do’ list, though.

The World’s Top Sustainable Business Stocks

My new company, Accsys Technologies PLC, made this year’s Top 20 list at SustainableBusiness.com:

SB20: The World’s Top Sustainable Business Stocks

2008 marks the seventh year for the SB20, which is presented in our sustainable investing newsletter, Progressive Investor. Each year, we work with a group of judges who are leading sustainability stock analysts to select the companies.

The purpose of the SB20 - the Sustainable Business 20 - is to showcase the most innovative, model companies that have the potential to greatly impact our ultimate goal of reaching a sustainable society.

The challenge we give our judges is to nominate, discuss and then vote on 20 companies that, through their products or initiatives, are contributing substantially to the advance of a sustainable economy.

To be on the list, companies must be strong on both the sustainable and financial sides. It is not a “buy” list, but because the companies are strong financially, their stock may well be worth be buying at some point based on stock market positioning.

About Accsys, they write:

Accsys Technologies Plc

England-based Accsys has developed a unique, important process that gives softwoods the same quality and durability prized in hardwoods - partly the cause for the destruction of the world’s forests. Replacing hardwoods with Accsys’s Accoya Wood enables windows, doors and many other construction materials and furnishings to be made from easily available, cheaper sources instead of from endangered, primary forests. The company’s decentralized business model is based on licensing the technology to local operators.

At some point I intend to write a detailed post on exactly what it is that we are doing. That’s pretty far down the ‘to do’ list, though.

Winner: Sustainable Production Technology

As I have mentioned before, I am not going to use this blog to promote my new company. I have said very little about it to this point, but I intend to write one post explaining in detail what we do. I do think we have the best (the only?) commercial carbon sequestration technology, and I wanted to highlight that this week we won a national award in the Netherlands for Sustainable Production Technology:

Titan Wood Wins Prestigious National Awards for Sustainable Production Technology and Innovation

Titan Wood is the wholly owned subsidiary of Accsys Technologies that makes Accoya®. Here is the news release:

Titan Wood Limited (“Titan Wood”), has won the overall Dutch National Award for Sustainability Innovation – “The Columbus Egg” http://www.ei-van-columbus.nl/ – with its pioneering Accoya® wood product. Titan Wood also won in the category of Sustainable Production Technology. Titan Wood will now be entered into the European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE) contest where winners will be announced during “Green Week 2008″ the first week of June.

This year’s awards were opened by the Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, and are granted by the Dutch Government bi-annually to reward sustainability innovation in the Netherlands.

Wim Quik, one of the judges, commented: “Titan Wood’s Accoya® wood modification process is truly innovative. Thanks to this production technology, Accoya® wood has become a real alternative to increasingly scarce tropical timber. The ability to make high performance timber from fast–growing, sustainable species will help to protect threatened species and rainforests. Further advantages are that Accoya® wood can replace less environmentally friendly materials in demanding exterior applications and that it requires less frequent maintenance due to its improved durability and dimensional stability.”

Finlay Morrison, CEO of Titan Wood, added: “These awards recognize Accoya® wood’s innovative nature and its environmental credentials. It is a solid wood product made from certified sustainable sources and has multiple long-term environmental benefits as it is non-toxic, recyclable and acts as a carbon sink. We are enormously proud of the hard work that the Titan Wood team has put into the development of Accoya® wood and appreciate the growing recognition of its benefits.

Green Job Opportunities

Since I was a kid, I have always wanted to “make a difference” by making a significant contribution to society. I have a soft spot for families and especially for kids, and I really wanted to contribute toward the quality of life for those groups. A big concern is that quality of life for a large segment of the world’s population, never good to begin with, is poised for further deterioration as fossil fuel supplies deplete.

Quality of life to me starts with the basics: People have enough food and clean water, they have shelter, they live and work in safe conditions, and they have adequate access to affordable energy. At various stages of my life I have had involvement in projects in all of these areas, but most of my career has been focused on the energy portion – both in providing adequate supplies, and in urging conservation efforts to stretch our supplies.

The affordable energy piece is becoming more challenging, and we need more people working on this issue. As I transition into my new “green” job, I intend to step up my efforts on the sustainable energy front. There are a number of ways I can do this. First, my new job directly impacts on this. The technology we are engaged in – described briefly in the final section – promises significant environmental and sustainability benefits. But that isn’t the sole contribution I can make. I can also help bring promising sustainable technologies together with highly-motivated and talented people to enhance the odds of success. Up to this point I have done this by calling attention to technologies that I felt were promising, as well as by providing technical advice for some projects on an ad hoc basis.

With this essay, I am attempting to marry talent/passion with need by publicizing vacancies for some specific “green jobs.” I have had a series of conversations over the past year or so with Choren, a renewable diesel company that is now looking to scale up. Google contacted me last week to inform me of some of their vacancies in their new renewable energy efforts. Vinod Khosla has informed me several times that many of the companies he is involved with are looking for talent. And my new company is recruiting as well. I don’t think these jobs will be competing for exactly the same talent pool, because the job locations are geographically diverse. So, if you are looking for a green future and decent job stability (a recent story from Yahoo identified jobs in the energy and environmental sectors as “recession proof”) – here are some opportunities of which I am currently aware.

Choren

I have had a series of discussions over the past year or so with some of the Choren staff, including the president of Choren USA, Dr. David Henson. During the course of these discussions, I formed the opinion that Choren is ideally positioned for long term success in the renewable energy sphere. I think they are focusing on the right technology (biomass-to-liquids) for sustainable liquid fuel production, and they are on the leading edge of that technology. Dr. Henson will be hosting me at Choren’s new BTL plant in Germany in a month or so, and hope to make a report on the visit.

Their opportunities are described from their website as follows:

For the expansion to “world”-scale 600 MWth “Sigma” production facilities and the exploration of additional applications of CHOREN’s technologies we are now seeking highly motivated engineering specialists in the areas of Mechanical Engineering, Process/Chemical Engineering and Energy Technology, preferably with long or short-term experience in any of the fields of gasification, Fischer Tropsch Fuel Synthesis and/or in the Petrochemical Industry.

Choren is looking to fill the following positions in Houston:

Project Manager CHOREN USA, Job Description

Senior Process Engineer CHOREN USA, Job Description

Process Engineer CHOREN USA, Job Description

You can learn more information about the job opportunities at Choren by visiting their Employment Opportunities USA page.

Google

I have admired Google for a long time. They seem genuinely motivated by a desire to help humanity. You may also be aware that they have topped CNN Money’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For for the second year in a row.

Recently, they announced their intent to help power a clean energy revolution. I was aware of, and supportive of their efforts, and in a different time and place I might jump at the opportunity to work for them. Recently, they contacted me about just that, and I replied that while the timing is not right for me, I would help them publicize their vacancies.

Here is a short description of their vision, and what they are looking for:

Our thinking is that business as usual will not deliver low-cost, clean energy fast enough to avoid potentially catastrophic climate change. We need a clean energy revolution that will deliver breakthrough technologies priced lower than carbon-intensive alternatives such as coal. Google is launching an R&D group to develop electricity from renewable energy sources at a cost less than coal.

We are looking for extraordinarily creative, motivated and talented engineers with significant experience in developing complex engineering designs to join our newly-created renewable energy group. This group is tasked with developing the most cost-effective and scalable forms of renewable energy generation, and these people will play a key role in developing new technologies and systems.

…if you know other outstanding engineers who may be interested, I encourage you to pass along this information as we are hiring for multiple positions. If you prefer that I reach out to them directly, I am more than happy to do so.

Their specific job opportunities at the moment, mostly at their Mountain View, California site:

Renewable Energy Engineer
Head of Renewable Energy Engineering
Director, Green Business Strategy & Operations
Director of Other
Investments Manager, Renewable Energy

They are also asking for people with the following experience:

If you have relevant expertise in other areas beyond these specific positions, please send an email with your resume to energy@google.com . Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• regulatory issues
• land acquisition and management
• construction
• energy project development
• mechanical and electrical engineering
• thermodynamics and control systems
• physics and chemistry
• materials science

Khosla Ventures

Vinod Khosla has built quite a renewable energy portfolio. See this PowerPoint presentation for his complete (or at least what’s public) renewable portfolio. Opportunities range from corn ethanol (which I don’t recommend) to cellulosic ethanol (some promising opportunities there) to advanced biofuels, electrical power, and even water desalinization. There are far too many companies to give details on all of the job vacancies, so I will just pick out one of the most interesting (to me), LS9. They describe themselves as the Renewable Petroleum Company™, and have this description on their website:

LS9 DesignerBiofuels™ products are customized to closely resemble petroleum fuels, engineered to be clean, renewable, domestically produced, and cost competitive with crude oil.

LS9 is the market leader for hydrocarbon biofuels and is rapidly commercializing and scaling up DesignerBiofuels™ products to meet market demands, including construction of a pilot facility leading to commercial availability. While initially focusing on fuels, LS9 will also develop sustainable industrial chemicals for specialty applications.

They are looking for the following for their South San Francisco location:

Current openings at LS9 are listed below. Please submit your resume stating qualifications and relevant experience to hr@ls9.com and include the job title in the subject line. We look forward to hearing from you.

Bioprocess/Engineering

Director, Bioprocess Development
Scientist, Fermentation
Scientist, Fermentation
Associate Scientist, Fermentation
Research Associate/Senior Research Associate, Fermentation
Downstream Recovery Scientist

Chemistry/Biochemistry

Biochemist / Bio-organic Chemist Scientist
Research Associate/Senior Research Associate, Biochemistry

Instrumentation

Automation Laboratory Specialist

Metabolic Engineering

Scientist, Metabolic Engineering
Associate Scientist, Microbiology
Senior Research Associate, Microbiology

Corporate Development

Corporate Planning Analyst

What LS9 is attempting is Holy Grail stuff, but what they are trying to do should be technically feasible. However, it won’t be easy and it’s going to take some very talented people.

Don’t forget that this is only one of the Khosla Ventures’ companies. There are numerous job opportunities there if you dig a little.

Accsys Technologies

As I have mentioned previously, I left the oil industry on March 1, 2008 to become the Engineering Director for Accsys Technologies. While we are not creating energy as was the case with the previous companies I described, we are saving energy and attacking the problem of rainforest destruction. Here is a brief summary of what appealed to me about the company and my desire to make a difference:

Growing concerns about the destruction of tropical rainforests, a declining world stock of high quality timber and increasingly restrictive government regulations regarding the use of wood treated using toxic chemicals have created an exceptional market opportunity for the Company. Accsys believes that its technology will transform the use of wood in existing applications where durability and dimensional stability are valued, both halting the decline in the use of wood in outdoor applications and substituting plastics and metals.

Wood acetylation is a process which increases the amount of ‘acetyl’ molecules in wood, thereby changing its physical properties. The process protects wood from rot by making it “inedible” to most micro-organisms and insects, without - unlike conventional treatments - making it toxic.

I think you can see why that might appeal to me - this technology enables a sustainable replacement for tropical hardwoods, and can replace plastics and metals in some applications.

We are working on getting our job opportunities posted, but for now I will just mention a few. We are filling a wide variety of positions at our plant in Arnhem, in the Netherlands. If you are a citizen of an EU country, I believe you are eligible to work in the Netherlands. We should soon have a complete listing of jobs at our Titan Wood site (Titan Wood is a subsidiary of Accsys), but some of the current vacancies in Arnhem include Process Control Engineer, Project Manager, Supply Chain Manager, and process and mechanical engineers.

We are also filling jobs in our new Dallas office that are global in nature. For Dallas we are looking for a Global Process Improvement Manager (reports to me), Global Procurement Manager (reports to CEO), and a Panel Products Manager (reports to Panel Products Director). These positions require travel (got to break a few eggs to make a cake) to places like the Netherlands and China (where we are building a large facility in Nanjing). Required qualifications for these jobs include an engineering or chemistry degree, 7-10 years of relevant experience, and a preference for an MBA. Further, I want my Global Process Improvement Manager to share my passion for making the world a better place.

For now, you may send a cover letter and your resume or CV to JOBSUSA “at” accoya “dot” info (edited to slow the spambots) for positions in the U.S., or JOBSEurope “at” accoya “dot” info for positions in Europe. You may want to indicate that you are responding to this essay, and then the resume may be circulated to me.

Conclusion

Rest assured that I am not going to get in the habit of using my writing as a platform for promoting my new company. I do think it is directly topical to what I write about, and I plan to do one post in the future about the technology. However, most of my posts will be as they have been in the past: Covering energy, sustainability, and environmental responsibility. I do plan to shift more in the direction of “problem solving”, and this post was one aspect of that. It is an attempt to bring together talent and passion with a critical need, and it also will hopefully provide needed job stability in a fragile economy.

I am really interested in writing more about promising technologies, especially those that haven’t received much attention, but I first have to figure out a way to manage this. I tend to get about 19 bad or unworkable ideas e-mailed to me for every 1 that shows promise. I can’t afford the time at present to work my way through that sort of volume (and some of the proposals I see are very extensive), so I will continue to focus for now on those that are already on the radar.