Sebastian W. Freund is an independent consultant and works with clients from technology start-ups to major utilities on energy and process technology to tackle current challenges in energy economics and sustainability. Specialized in thermodynamics and heat transfer he previously worked at Malta Inc., an energy storage startup firm, Google X, who experiment with disruptive new products, and GE Global Research, GE’s R&D division, where he worked on energy storage technology including ADELE compressed air, heat exchangers for power plants, concentrated solar, gas turbines, compressors and Diesel and gas engines. Prior to corporate R&D he worked in a consulting firm for industrial refrigeration and HVAC. He holds a PhD (HSU Hamburg) and a MS (UW-Madison) in mechanical engineering and wrote numerous publications and patents on power plant and heat transfer technology (available on Google Scholar). Besides work he likes teaching off-grid PV installation in development aid programs and enjoys mountaineering and cycling.