Show Notes

Welcome to The Firestarter Podcast—people, ideas and conversations that move us forward. It’s your host Willa Kammerer’s business and passion to make the world a better place through storytelling, which is why we’re here today. We’ll talk to mission-driven entrepreneurs, philanthropists, investors, thought leaders, and experts on the front lines of the world’s most pressing issues about designing and thriving careers—and lives—of impact.

In this episode, Willa is joined by guest Michael Hennessy, founder and CEO of Wavelength Lighting. Wavelength Lighting develops and implements energy efficient lighting in New York City. His company both works with industries that want to reduce their carbon footprint and companies building their first office or space with conservation in mind.  Michael didn’t start his career in the lighting industry. In fact, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do out of college, but very quickly realized clean energy and conservation were passions of his. He worked in banks, and with hedge funds before he discovered the lighting industry.

In the shift to energy efficient solutions, lighting has a unique set of challenges because, unlike wind and solar energy, it was already a developed field. Michael explains that one of the core challenges has been educating people: that there is a better way to approach lighting, and how our lighting choices add up to a significant part of our carbon footprint. Michael explains that filament lighting is a byproduct of heat, which is not a good use of energy. Industries then switched to fluorescent lighting which is slightly better in terms of energy converted to light; roughly 10% of the energy used in fluorescent lighting is making the light. LEDs, however, use 25% of the electricity to create light. They last longer than traditional light bulbs and they’re much better understood now than they used to be.

His company has never had investors, so he’s been bootstrapping it from the beginning. In a lot of ways it was more of a small business than a startup in that way. For the first 18 months or so, Michael was on the streets of Brooklyn, visiting businesses and discussing the benefits of switching to LED lighting. If he was able to convince them to change their lighting to LEDs, he was the one installing those solutions in the early days.

In recent years, there has been a shift within industries, and pressure to reduce their carbon footprint. These LED lighting systems not only are more energy efficient, but they are also cost more effective and tend to pay for themselves within 3 years. Businesses have a responsibility to leaders in sustainability and environmental stewardship.

There are risks to starting a company, and Michael says that he is naturally a fairly risk averse person. Through the years, he’s been able to persevere and build a business that helps people and makes positive changes. He’s also learned to love the physical aspects of their business. Before, he thought of work in terms of sitting at a desk for eight hours, and while he does less installation now than he used to, he enjoys that his job isn’t being stuck at a desk. When he thinks about his early career, he says it was about staying true to himself and admitting he didn’t know how things would go. For those just starting their career, he recommends reflecting on your why and identifying your purpose in the broadest possible terms so you can give yourself flexibility. 

Michael is hopeful about the future, and plans to expand the company’s business in New York, while at the same time continuing to improve upon Wavelength’s model to make it even more effective. He also nurtures hope for the future of the planet and climate, reflecting that things are starting to change and trend for the better.

Timestamps:

0:01 – Host Willa Kammerer introduces the podcast and today’s guest 

2:52 - Michael’s elevator pitch for Wavelength Lighting

8:47 - The challenges and opportunities of energy efficient lighting

10:59 - The advantages of energy efficient lighting

13:52 - Michael discusses being an entrepreneur 

17:10 - Early days of being an entrepreneur

21:10 - What Micheal hears from the customers he works with

35:48 - How Michael has learned to tolerate risk

42:31 - Michael shares his advice to young people starting their career

47:17 - Hopes for the future

Links:

Learn more about FirestarterIX. 

Connect with Willa on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 

Subscribe to the podcast, find show notes and the video of today’s show here.  

Learn more about Michael Hennessy.

Keywords:

Lighting, carbon footprint, conservation, energy efficient, sustainability, Brooklyn, New York City, LED lighting, entrepreneur, Let My People Go Surfing, Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, fluorescent lights, energy, clean energy, climate change, climate crisis, bootstrap, small business