4 minutes with… Brett Hulsey, President and Founder, Better Environmental Solutions

Tell us about your company and it’s role in the Advanced Bioeconomy.

For the last 10 years, our award-winning company worked to save lives, jobs and money. We help companies build to cutting edge technologies that reduce pollution and solve key problems around the world. Our Cellulose Prairie report showed the Midwest is the Saudi Arabia of biomass and could produce much of its own fuel and electricity.

Tell us about your role and what you are focused on in the next 12 months.

Our goal is to get more proven technologies from the lab to full scale production.

* Expand efforts by governments at all levels to increase efficiency and buy more biofuels, like the US Navy and Department of Defense has done.

* Convince conservatives that we can reduce carbon air pollution, save lives and create jobs.

* Convert old power and ethanol plants to excess biomass to produce cleaner electricity and biofuels.

What do you feel are the most important milestones the industry must achieve in the next 5 years?  

Milestones. Commercialize more second generation biofuels with movement toward energy independence. Open up our National Forests to RINS for biofuels in areas with beetle kill and fire danger. Quit fighting over the 14 billion gallons of corn ethanol we produce and work toward more cellulosic production.

If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about the Advanced Bioeconomy, what would you change? 

Have more governments put their money where their mouths are and fund advanced bioenergy projects with up front grants the way Norway does.

Of all the reasons that influenced you to join the Advanced Bioeconomy industry, what single reason stands out for you as still being compelling and important to you?  

To me, the most compelling reason to be in the advanced bioeconomy is creating cleaner fuels that will save millions of lives from urban air pollution, reduce the risk of climate change, and make is so we don’t have to fight for oil.

Where are you from? 

I was born in Oklahoma City and grew up in Norman, Oklahoma. I spent my childhood fishing, hunting, and camping across North America.

What was your undergraduate major in college, and where did you attend? Why did you choose that school and that pathway?

College was the best 11 years of my life. I started in Wildlife Biology at Colorado State but took time off to work as a VISTA volunteer doing energy work in Alaska.

I went back to Middlebury College and got a BA in Political Economy. My Masters started at Dartmouth Engineering and ended with a Masters in Natural Sc. at the OU. Got many skills.

Who do you consider your mentors – could be personal, business, or just people you have read about and admire. What have you learned from them?

Many people who have helped me along the way.

My mother, a long-time English teacher, taught me how to read and write and appreciate music, the cornerstones of good thinking and living.

My father taught me to care about people, the environment, and public service.

Many teachers helped me along the way. Two in particular are Bob Prigo who taught me to think about physics and how things work. John Elder taught me how to appreciate nature.

Jane Elder gave me my break with the Sierra Club and taught me to love the Great Lakes.

Kim Zuelke helped me start my business and promote real biomass solutions.

What’s the biggest lesson you ever learned during a period of adversity?  

When I was cross ski racing, my downhill technique was not great coming from Oklahoma and not being a downhill skier.

I fell a lot. But I learned to get up, dust myself off and go back and do that hill until I had it down.

That same lesson applies to life–get up, and do that job until you get it right.

And remember, if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger.

What hobbies do you pursue, away from your work in the industry?

I like to sail, windsurf and/or paddleboard every day I can. My dog really likes to hang 20.

My gardening is coming along, and I enjoy cooking what I grow or catch. I fish, camp, run, bike and swim a lot. My golf game always needs work.

In winter, I coach skiing and love to ski and snowshoe. I like to fix up old cars and take yoga classes.

What are 3 books you’d want to have with you, if you were stranded on a desert island

The U.S. Army Survival Manual

How to Build a Raft

The Outline of History by H.G. Wells

What books or articles are on your reading list right now, or you just completed and really enjoyed?  

I read the Digest every morning and send relevant stories to my clients. Not to suck up too much, but you do a great job. I am reading Tim Egan’s The Big Burn, Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America, that traces the roots of the National Forests and efforts to stop wildfires. I think we should use that beetle kill for biofuels.

What’s your favorite city or place to visit, for a holiday?

Having lived all over the country from Oklahoma to Alaska, Colorado, Arkansas, New England, to Washington, D.C. I find that I can meet great people and do interesting things everywhere. That said, I really enjoy sunset at the lake, whether it is my local lake in Wisconsin or one of the Great Lakes. Superior is my favorite.