Millstein, who took hiking trips with his family in Yosemite National Park from the time he was three years old, started witnessing the devastating effects of pollution and climate change as a young child. “When I started those trips, we could see clearly all the way to Mount Diablo a full 200 miles away,” he recalls. “By the time I was eleven the mountain had disappeared behind haze.”

Millstein developed a robust understanding of energy systems studying physics at Harvard, working in Department of Energy labs, and acquiring a joint MS from Stanford while earning an MBA from the Graduate School of Business in 2010. Working for NYSERDA, he helped more than 275 manufacturing plants and office buildings in New York City identify, execute, and fund energy efficiency and demand response projects.

At Stanford, Millstein strengthened his business expertise and networks through coursework and various venture capital projects. “I was looking to join a startup that could make customers 100 percent carbon free for less than the cost of coal power, but I couldn’t find one so I started my own,” he says. “Nevertheless, I was able to talk to hundreds of companies that are now potential partners, and benefited immensely from the guidance and enthusiasm of professors and fellow students. Out of that, I was able to form Carbon Lighthouse with my longtime friend and colleague Raphael Rosen. It’s really hard to start an enterprise, but I can’t think of a better — and more fun — place to do it than Stanford.”