Michael J. Osborne (born September 20, 1949, in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County ...

) is an author, inventor, entrepreneur, and energy policymaker. He was one of three founding members of the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Alliance (TREIA). His public service appointments have included the steering committees of the

State of Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Energy Policy Partnership (STEPP) and the Sustainable Energy Development Council under ''Governor

Ann Richards Dorothy Ann Richards (née Willis; September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A Democrat, she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer, ...

;'' and later, the Texas Energy Coordination Council appointed by Governor

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. As chair of the Austin Electric Utility Commission, Osborne has traveled internationally to speak and consult about the Texas energy experience. In 2015, he was part of the Austin, Texas, delegation to the

2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 was held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 12 December 2015. It was the 21st yearly session of the United Nations Climate Change conference, Conference of the Parties (COP) ...

held in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Early life and education

The youngest of two sons born to Maxine Joan Chambers Osborne (a businesswoman and investor) and Jack Harold Osborne (a World War II navy pilot and rancher), Michael was born in

, on September 20, 1949. When he was six, his family moved to the small town of

Pampa, Texas Pampa (from the Quechua: ''pampa'', meaning "plain") is a city in Gray County, Texas, United States. Its population was 16,867 as of the 2020 census. Pampa is the county seat of Gray County and is the principal city of the Pampa micropolita ...

, where Osborne's interest in music grew as he played guitar and piano in two rock-and-roll bands. He graduated in 1967. Michael moved to

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, at the age of seventeen, to attend the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

and majored in

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

and later,

business marketing Business marketing is a marketing practice of individuals or organizations (including commercial businesses, governments, and institutions). It allows them to sell products or services to other companies or organizations, who either resell them, ...

. He withdrew from school one semester short of a degree after his business school dean denied him project credit for an advertising agency, Directions Company, he had started on the side.

Professional life

Marketing music. As founder of ''Directions Company,'' Michael focused on marketing music venues such as ''Castle Creek,'' ''Mother Earth'', and the legendary '' Armadillo World Headquarters'' (19711980), a famed venue that led the Music of Austin Texas to national prominence. The ''

Armadillo Armadillos () are New World placental mammals in the order (biology), order Cingulata. They form part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are dis ...

'' became a springboard for the careers of celebrated musicians such as: ''

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

Waylon Jennings Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Outlaw country, outlaw movement in country music. Jennings started playing ...

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble. Although his ma ...

Marcia Ball Marcia Ball (born March 20, 1949) is an American blues singer and pianist raised in Vinton, Louisiana. Ball was described in ''USA Today'' as "a sensation, saucy singer and superb pianist... where Texas stomp-rock and Louisiana blues-swamp me ...

Joe Ely Joe Ely (; born February 9, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was "one of the main movers" of Austin, Texas' progressive country scene in the 1970s and '80s. He has had a genre-crossing career, performing with Bruce ...

Jerry Jeff Walker Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an American country and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He also wrote t ...

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

, Shiva’s Headband,'' and many more. Renewable Energy Business. Influenced by

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, ''

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more t ...

'', who believed in the importance of ''

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

'', Osborne began to focus on the renewable energy business in the late 1970s by building '' passive solar homes'' and selling

energy-saving Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less and better sources of energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavi ...

wood stoves. In 1981 he developed the first ''

wind energy Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ...

'' project (consisting of five 25-kilowatt ''

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s'') that sold energy to an ''

electric utility An electric utility, or a power company, is a company in the electric power industry (often a public utility) that engages in electricity generation and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. Electric utilities are ...

'' in Texas. in 1983, he signed on as the first distributor in Texas for ''Solarex'', a now-defunct maker of ''

solar cell A solar cell, also known as a photovoltaic cell (PV cell), is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by means of the photovoltaic effect.

s'' used then as power sources for such things as ranch gates, railroad signals and other places where stringing power lines was difficult or expensive. In the 1990s he ran the Texas operations for ''Zond Energy'', which is now part of ''

GE Wind Energy GE Wind is a division of GE Vernova. The company manufactures and sells wind turbines to the international market. In 2018, GE Wind was the fourth largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world. Vic Abate is the CEO of GE Vernova’s Wind busines ...

'', the largest U.S. ''

'' maker. Throughout the 80s and 90s, Osborne documented and leased the wind resource for Texas wind fields. Many of his exploits are documented in the book, ''The Great Texas Wind Rush''. In 1999, Osborne was awarded Patent No. US5961739A for his invention of the hemispheric moving focus power plant. Renewable Energy Policy. In 1984 Osborne co-founded the ''Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association (now Alliance) (TREIA)'' with two partners and worked with other key individuals and organizations to bring the nascent ''

'' industry to the attention of policymakers on the state and federal level. Governor

appointed him to the steering committees of the State of ''Texas Energy Policy Partnership'' and the ''Sustainable Energy Development Council'' followed by an appointment by Richards’ successor, George W. Bush to the ''Texas Energy Coordination Council.'' In 2002, Osborne was commissioned by the '' City of Austin'' to write a white paper funded by a ''

U.S. Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear we ...

'' (DOE) Grant, to develop a ''

Sustainable Energy Energy system, Energy is sustainability, sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the e ...

'' Plan for the City. The white paper was published as the book, ''Silver In The Mine''. He was subsequently hired by the

City A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

to implement this sustainable energy plan as Director of Grants, Patents and R&D. Osborne served as Special Assistant to two ''

Austin Energy Austin Energy is a publicly owned utility providing electrical power to the city of Austin, Texas and surrounding areas. Established in 1895, the utility is a department of the City of Austin and returns its profits to the city's general fund t ...

'' General Managers and was charged with developing a vision for Austin which included a successful national campaign to get the automakers to support mass production of ''plug-in hybrid electric vehicles''. Upon leaving

in 2014, Osborne served as Chairman of the ''City of Austin Electric Utility Commission'' from 2014 to 2016 and currently serves as a member of that body. He was also appointed Chairman of the ''City of Austin Generation Resource Planning Task Force'', which resulted in an adopted generation plan to bring

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

(the nation's 7th largest public power utility and the 11th largest city in

America 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 ...

) to 55%

by 2025. In April of 2018, Michael founded the Texas Electric Transportation Resources Alliance with Tom "Smitty" Smith. In October of 2019, Mayor Steve Adler appointed Michael to be the Special Envoy for the City of Austin to the C40 Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen. He lives in Austin with his longtime partner, Dana Sprute.

Author

Osborne is a published writer. His book, ''Lightland'', is a philosophical look at the human potential in light of the challenge of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. His book, ''Silver in the Mine'', is a long-term comprehensive energy plan for the City of Austin, Texas. His third is an allegory called ''Day of the Heart''. His most recent work is ''Beyond Light and Dark''.

Articles and interviews about Michael Osborne and renewable energy in Texas

* How Austin Came to Be A Solar Powerhouse, The Texas Sierra Club, Nov 5, 2015
How Austin Came to Be A Solar Powerhouse
* Austin Energy Offers Solar Expansion as City Zeroes in on Carbon-Free Goal, KUT Public Radio, Austin, Texas, Sept. 25, 2014
Austin Energy Offers Solar Expansion as City Zeroes in on Carbon-Free Goal
* Deep in the Heart of Texas: A Wind Energy Maverick Takes an Alberta Field Trip, Ecocide, Aug. 1, 2014 * Texas Solar Power May Have its Day in the Sun, The Texas Observer, March 27, 2014
Texas Solar Power May Have its Day in the Sun
* A Mighty Wind, Texas Monthly, Aug. 2011
A Mighty Wind
* The Austin Chronicle: ** Point Austin: A Funny Thing Happened, Dec. 11, 2015
It's going to be a while before City Council hires an Austin Energy consumer advocate
** Pioneers or Settlers?, Jan. 16, 2015
The latest on AE and solar
** Affordability Key to Climate Plan Goals, July 17, 2014
Can Austin reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030?
** Fighting for the Right to Clean Energy, Nov. 19, 2004
Fighting for the Right to Clean Energy

References

External links

* Austin Electric Utility Commission Chairman Michael Osborne on Austin Texas Solar Energy Programs:
Michael Osborne on Austin, Texas Solar Energy Programs
* Michael Osborne on Predictable Renewable Energy:
Michael Osborne on Predictable Renewable Energy
* Michael Osborne: Solar Energy A lot More Valuable Than Conventional Energy:
Michael Osborne: Solar Energy a Lot more Valuable Than Conventional Power
* Michael Osborne: The Solar Age Comes:
Michael Osborne "The Solar Age Comes"
* Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association (TREIA) Annual Conference, Michael Osborne - The Long Dawn - Part 1
Michael Osborne on Renewable Energy TREIA part one
* Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association Annual Conference (TREIA), The Long Dawn - Part 2
MICHAEL OSBORNE on Renewable Energy TREIA 2014 part 2
*

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

Radio: "The Maverick of Renewable Energy - Making Life Brighter with Michael J. Osborne":
Michael J Osborne on Making Life Brighter , Monday, November 17, 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Michael J 1949 births Living people Businesspeople from Amarillo, Texas Renewable energy in the United States American male writers Writers from Texas