Interview with Jonathan Jutsen (10/2008)
Friday 10 October 2008
1. Tell us how your career developed and where the idea for "Energetics" come from?
I started off intending to study Medical Engineering: I was going to cure cancer! But, at the last minute when I was on orientation at the university, I asked some questions at the medical school and the people were very off-hand. On my way out I saw the Chemical Engineering school. I talked to the head of the school who recommended that I go to their open day. We talked for two hours and he convinced me to choose Chemical Engineering.
I became very interested in resource efficiency and sustainability. From reading books by Rachel Carson and Ralph Nader and others I became concerned about how we were wasting scarce resources.
But I didn’t pursue this interest when I first went into chemical engineering. I joined Commonwealth Industrial Gases Ltd (CIG), a former industrial gas company in Australia, now BOC Australia, because they offered me a job commissioning engineering with the opportunity to travel extensively setting up new air separation plants. So I did that for a couple of years.
But I became very interested in how we were going to address the shortage of oil in the 2nd oil shock. Initially I did gas contract work for CIG when they were investigating the best outcome for gas supply in country NSW: either pursuing LPG or a natural gas pipeline. At that time the Energy Authority of NSW (precursor to the Department of Energy) put out some ads for people to start their Policy section to address the oil crisis. So I joined. I worked in Policy for around 18 months but felt frustrated because, while we were writing lots of interesting papers, very few of them were becoming government policies.
So I told them I was going to leave and they said, “don’t do that, head up our energy efficiency area instead”. I thought this would be particularly interesting because at the time I was completing a Masters of Applied Science in Fuel Technology, which I started as soon as I began with the department.
I headed up the Energy Management Advisory Service for about 2 years. We were basically doing industrial energy audits and training. I’d finally gotten into the area that I wanted to go into - energy efficiency. But I was frustrated with not being able to serve the public more effectively because of all the bureaucracy. One day I had coffee with Ron Hardwick, the technical manager for Visy Paper, who was saying how I’d done such a great job for them in NSW and how he wished I could do that for the national organization.
I replied “It just so happens that I’m ready to leave the public service and set up my own business”. I had already bought a shelf company and named it Energetics a few months before - in October 1983 - and was trying to work out the best time to leave. He suggested that he could give me my first contract.
I started the business with that project. I liked the name Energetics because that was the most common adjective people used for me personally, and the business was all about energy management. I originally had an office above an arcade in Strathfield - which doesn’t exist anymore - and people often came up asking about exercise classes on account of the name!
The business was profitable from the first job. But it was not always easy to keep the business going. There were periods of economic downturn and also times when energy costs were low. Those were times where we basically did any sort of work to survive, and we did some very interesting things! Whatever it took to keep the cashflow coming in! We did a lot more project management and turnkey projects in those days.
In those early days there was no carbon legislation. There were no mandates. Business decisions to pursue energy efficiency were entirely voluntary: we had to sell our services and if there was no return for our clients, there was no business for us. Our business survived on providing really practical recommendations to our clients and helping them gain the savings. We always focused on adding real value to our clients in every assignment. I think that this will be our big differentiator going forward. Anyone can provide advice – but talk is cheap. Being able to implement and demonstrate the value you created by the engagement will be hard for all these newcomers for many years, and this is very valuable in a recession.
2. Looking back, what do you consider the most significant milestones in Energetics' growth?
Energetics developed a whole range of Intellectual Property that has strongly influenced the direction of the energy/resource management field. Just look at the programs for energy, water, sustainability management in Australia and almost every one of them has a strong mark of our IP. This includes the One-2-Five® family, EnTERPRIZE.EM and many of our other methodologies and products that we have developed. We are looking to step up the rate of innovation again in the next 3 years.
We strongly influenced the direction of the energy efficiency industry in the USA as well. One-2-Five® and our continuous improvement approach have changed the way energy efficiency is thought of in USA, and our programs have been implemented in many States.
The fact we have survived and thrived for 25 years despite very tough market conditions for extended periods of time – how many other businesses in any field have done this?
Our strong reputation for commitment, passion and achievement has been maintained through this period.
Our ability to be ahead of the curve and being able to predict and prepare for changes in the market years before it was apparent to others – and thus our leadership of the field.
3. What will be the biggest challenge facing Energetics’ professionals over the next decade?
- Staying at the forefront will require continuous innovation in a very rapidly moving market.
- Keeping our core of wonderful people and building on this into the future.
- Building our knowledge base rapidly and knowledge sharing.
- Staying entrepreneurial as we get much bigger.
- More effectively networking with other providers in complementary fields.
- Globalising; as this will become a truly global market in the next decade.
4. What will be your biggest challenge in the coming decade?
- Maintaining the rage
- Having time to innovate and write a few books
- Deciding on which of the many opportunities to pursue that arise in the market
- Doing all that I want to do and balancing that with my family life
5. Any regrets?
I am not keen on regrets, so no. That is not to say we have not made lots of mistakes but if you learn from them there is nothing to regret.
6. What does Energetics mean to you?
25 years of wonderful friendships and achievement.