New independent research organization brings practitioner expertise to electricity, permitting and siting, energy innovation, and other pressing policy challenges
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Lighthouse Energy Institute (LEI), a new independent, nonpartisan think tank dedicated to improving energy and environmental (E&E) policy, officially launched today.
LEI was founded to meet a growing demand for rigorous, practical energy policy expertise at a time when the sector is confronting major economic, technological, and institutional change. Rising electricity demand, aging infrastructure, supply constraints, affordability concerns, reliability challenges, and an outdated regulatory architecture are making issues that were once largely confined to specialists more salient for policymakers and the public alike. At the same time, environmental stewardship remains a central concern.
LEI’s mission is to provide information that improves the quality of energy and environmental institutions and policies through honest, robust research and education. Its work is guided by three principles: competitive markets, limited government, and quality institutions.
“Policy stakeholders have been clamoring for trusted energy expertise,” said LEI President Devin Hartman. “The Lighthouse Energy Institute will deliver that in federal, state, legislative, and regulatory domains.”
LEI was co-founded by Devin Hartman, Kent Chandler, and Philip Rossetti. Corie Whalen serves as LEI’s director of communications and editorial. The organization follows a practitioner-scholar model designed to pair deep subject-matter expertise with research that is useful in real-world decision-making contexts.
LEI’s initial policy team—which includes Beth Garza and Michael Giberson as non-resident senior fellows—brings decades of combined experience across energy markets, regulation, economics, and public policy. Team members have served in leadership and expert roles at state utility commissions, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Congress, universities, think tanks, and other public-policy institutions.
The organization’s initial work will focus on three core areas: electricity policy, energy permitting and siting policy, and energy innovation and fiscal management. LEI plans to expand into additional areas over time, including transportation and environmental policy affecting the energy sector.
LEI’s planned projects include a policy handbook covering its three core areas, designed to provide policymakers and other stakeholders with rigorous, practical guidance and to be updated as evidence, technology, economic fundamentals, and the policy landscape evolve. LEI also plans research on state-level permitting, siting, and electricity policy, collaborative work with peer research organizations, and briefings and technical education for public officials and other policy stakeholders.
LEI’s research and education will span the policy process, from agenda setting and policy formulation to implementation and evaluation. Its work will include research papers, commentary, applied policy analysis, regulatory comments, legislative testimony, media engagement, and stakeholder education. The organization will also collaborate with researchers and practitioners across the energy policy community while maintaining its role as a research and education organization rather than an advocacy group.
LEI is independent of its donors, and its research conclusions and policy recommendations are determined by its subject-matter experts. LEI is committed to empirical analysis, transparency, and updating its positions as new evidence emerges.
LEI’s board of directors is chaired by Nora Brownell and includes John Graham, Lynne Kiesling, Susan Dudley, and Gordon van Welie. The organization has also established an advisory board composed of experts from across the energy and environmental policy community.
For media inquiries, please contact pr@lhenergy.org.