Rory Christian - Keeping the lights on

Rory Christian is the director of New York Clean Energy at the Environmental Defense Fund, focusing on energy and clean air in New York. He works with state and city officials on policy to guide an evolving utility landscape, and also works with Green Bank and private sector clean energy companies on financing clean energy projects in the state. Prior to that, he was director of energy, finance and sustainability at the New York Housing Authority, where he managed a $500 milllion utility budget while promoting energy conservation. Christian was a key player in world-leading energy market reforms that started in New York in 2014, and is in New Zealand as a guest of Vector, which says it will need to invest almost $2bn in the next 10 years in Auckland alone to ensure the city can "keep the lights on". However, the spend will be put towards developing technologies, such as those championed by the New York Clean Energy initiative, rather than "poles and wires".