RMI, or Rocky Mountain Institute, is a global, independent, non-partisan non-profit organization co-founded in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Amory Lovins Amory Bloch Lovins (born November 13, 1947) is an American writer, physicist, and former chairman/chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He has written on energy policy and related areas for four decades, and served on the US Nation ...

. As of 2025, RMI's stated mission is to transform "global energy systems through market-driven solutions to secure a prosperous, resilient, clean energy future for all." Established in 1982, RMI has grown into a broad-based institution that is active in more than 60 countries with over 700 staff and annual revenues of $170 million in 2023–24. RMI works with businesses, policymakers, financial institutions, local communities, and other partners to drive investment in clean energy solutions.

History

By 1978, experimental physicist

had published many books and consulted globally. Lovins is the leading proponent of the

soft energy path In 1976, energy policy analyst Amory Lovins coined the term soft energy path to describe an alternative future where energy efficiency and appropriate renewable energy sources steadily replace a centralized energy system based on fossil and nucl ...

. Later in 1979, Lovins married L. Hunter Sheldon, a lawyer, forester, and social scientist. Hunter received her undergraduate degree in

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

and

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

studies from

Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was founded in 1963 as a women's college in the Claremont Colleges consortium and became coeducational in 1970. Pitzer enrolls approximately 1000 students. Pitzer off ...

, and her J.D. from

Loyola Marymount Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

School of Law A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for bec ...

. In 1982, Amory and Hunter founded Rocky Mountain Institute, based in Colorado. Together with a group of colleagues, the Lovinses fostered efficient resource use and policy development that they believed would promote global security. RMI ultimately grew into an organization with a staff of around fifty. By the mid-1980s, the Lovinses were featured on major network TV programs, such as ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

''. The Lovinses described the "hard energy path" as involving inefficient liquid-fuel automotive transport, as well as giant centralized electricity-generating facilities, often burning

fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geolog ...

s such as

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

, or harnessing a fission reaction, greatly complicated by electricity wastage and loss. The "soft energy path" which they wholly preferred involves efficient use of energy, diversity of energy production methods (and matched in scale and quality to end uses), and special reliance on "soft technologies" (alternative technology) such as

solar Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from Biomass (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...

s, and

geothermal Geothermal is related to energy and may refer to: * Geothermal energy, useful energy generated and stored in the Earth * Geothermal activity, the range of natural phenomena at or near the surface, associated with release of the Earth's internal he ...

. According to the institute, large-scale electricity production facilities had an important place, but it was a place that they were already filling in the middle 1970s; in general, more would not be needed. In a 1989 speech, Amory Lovins introduced the related concept of Negawatt power, in which creating a market for trading increased efficiency could supply additional electrical energy to consumers without increasing generation capacity—such as building more power plants. In the 1990s, RMI convened a team of designers and engineers to develop a super-efficient prototype automobile, which they dubbed the Hypercar. In December 2014, RMI merged with Carbon War Room, an organization with similar goals but a different approach. In June 2017, RMI merged with WattTime, an organization providing real-time power plant data to consumer devices for automatic dispatchable power consumption. RMI, in 2021, launche
Canary Media
a nonprofit newsroom covering the clean energy transition. In 2021, the Rocky Mountain Institute

rebranded Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

itself as RMI.

Programs

RMI operates programs in many countries: * Carbon-Free Electricity * Carbon-Free Buildings * Carbon-Free Mobility * Climate-Aligned Industries * Breakthrough Technologies * Climate Intelligence * Urban Transformation * Strategic Analysis & Engagement * Global South * China Program * India Program * US Program.

Electric vehicles

In January 2008, led by John E. Waters,

Bright Automotive Bright Automotive was a startup company in Anderson, Indiana, working to create a fuel economy in automobiles, fuel-efficient line of plug-in electric vehicles.Fehrenbacher, Katie. "The First Investment from GM's VC Arm: Bright Automotive: Clean ...

launched from RMI with the goal of building on the work of a consortium of organizations, including

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for "Aluminum Company of America") is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary alu ...

Google.org Google.org, founded in October 2005, is the charitable arm of Google, a multinational technology company. The organization has committed roughly US$100 million in investments and grants to nonprofits annually. The organization is noted for severa ...

Johnson Controls Johnson Controls International plc is an American, Irish-domiciled multinational conglomerate headquartered in Cork, Ireland, that produces fire, HVAC, and security equipment for buildings. As of mid-2019, it employed 105,000 people in arou ...

and the Turner Foundation. Bright Automotive sought with its Bright IDEA project to develop a brand new,

plug-in hybrid A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or simply plug-in hybrid is a type of hybrid electric vehicle equipped with a rechargeable battery pack that can be directly replenished via a charging cable plugged into an external electric power so ...

electric (PHEV)

fleet vehicle A fleet vehicle is a vehicle owned or leased by a business, government agency, or other organization rather than by an individual or family. Typical examples include vehicles operated by car rental companies, taxicab companies, public utilit ...

. It launched Bright eSolutions to consult on engineering, design,

powertrain In a motor vehicle, the powertrain comprises the main components that generate engine power, power and deliver that power to the road surface, water, or air. This includes the internal combustion engine, engine, transmission (mechanics), trans ...

, battery technology and plug-in hybrid conversion technology services. Bright Automotive secured a conversion contract with the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) to convert military non-combat vehicles into a parallel

PHEV A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or simply plug-in hybrid is a type of hybrid electric vehicle equipped with a rechargeable electric-vehicle battery, battery pack that can be directly replenished via a power cord, charging cable plugg ...

for evaluation, including V2G testing. The venture failed. Advanced Energy, in partnership with RMI, announced a

Request for Information A request for information (RFI) is a common business process whose purpose is to collect written information about the capabilities of various suppliers. Normally it follows a format that can be used for comparative purposes. An RFI is primarily ...

(RFI) for Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) specific to charging stations for

plug-in electric vehicle A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is any road vehicle that can utilize an external source of electricity (such as a wall socket that connects to the power grid) via an detachable power cable to store electrical energy within its onboard rechar ...

s (EV).

Books

Books published by RMI include: *'' Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profit, Jobs and Security'' (2005)
Available Online in PDF
*'' Small is Profitable: The Hidden Economic Benefits of Making Electrical Resources the Right Size'' (2003) *'' Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution'' (2000) *'' Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era'' (2011) .

Recognition

Co-founder Amory Lovins has received many awards.

References

External links

RMIYouTube channel
{{Authority control Climate change organizations based in the United States Energy policy Sustainability organizations Renewable energy organizations based in the United States Environmental organizations based in Colorado