Electric vehicles (EVs) are the greatest strategic opportunity for utilities since the lightbulb. As I explain in The $100B Prize: Why EVs Are the Opportunity of the Century for Utilities—the first installment of my recent five-part series in Utility Dive—EVs could increase annual US electric utility revenues by 25 percent, or roughly $100 billion, while putting downward pressure on rates.

I’m what you could call an EVangelist. I’m all in when it comes to the modern-day electric vehicle (EV). Personally, there’s no doubt in my mind that during my lifetime, EVs will replace the majority of combustion-engine vehicles; it’s just a matter of when. That said, we’re a long way from EVs taking over the world, which means there are lots of opportunities to influence the EV revolution.

When the tech research team at E Source started talking about delving into the relationship between water and energy, I was quick to volunteer to take the lead. Back when I started at E Source, I was interested in the energy sector because I wanted to learn more about something that most people take for granted: energy and its infrastructure. Now, more than two years later, I’m thrilled to take on the water-energy nexus for the same reason.

Many pixels have lit up with speculation about whether the Trump administration will pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, but there’s been little discussion of 2016’s other climate accord: the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol. Approved on October 16, 2016, by representatives of nearly 200 countries, the amendment is designed to curtail the production and use of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, which are known contributors to global warming.

In 2016, additional states legalized marijuana, more people implemented voice-activated smart home hubs, and representatives from 200 countries passed an amendment to the Montreal Protocol. These are just a few energy-related trends we discuss in our new Top 20 Technologies and Trends of 2016 report (available to E Source Technology Assessment Service members). It’s fun to look back at what happened over the course of 2016, but it’s also valuable to think about what those trends portend for 2017.

Not too long ago, I had the privilege of speaking with Connie McIntyre and Sandra Broughton about their success in implementing a customer experience (CX) culture at AGL Resources. What struck me in talking to them was the perspective they brought to the task.

Voice-controlled devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home are rapidly gaining market share and may prove to be a key interface for the smart home over the next year or two. These continually evolving Wi-Fi-enabled speakers with voice recognition can play music, answer questions, and control an expanding range of smart devices. But for energy nerds like me, there’s a persistent and nagging question: How much energy do these devices actually consume?

We’ve been watching the evolution of microgrids for a few years now, but every time they appeared ready to gain some ground in the market, development got bogged down and progress stalled. So I was intrigued to read a February 2017 article in Microgrid Knowledge on APS’s bullish new microgrid deployments.

I can pass more time than I’d like to admit watching YouTube videos. One baking tutorial turns into dozens of elaborate cake videos, which then turn into a few vegan cookie recipes, and eventually I’m watching two guys recreate Big Macs in their New York apartment. You can imagine my surprise, and delight, when I found a connection between my energy-efficiency research and my love for YouTube.