Energy that just works: lessons from women shaping the future of home energy
Energy that just works: lessons from women shaping the future of home energy
By
Marissa Muller
Strategic Marketing Advisor
Published on
March 12, 2026
4 min read
When I recently surveyed 75 households about how energy decisions actually get made at home, one word kept surfacing again and again:
Control.
Not control in the technical sense.
But control that feels personal.
Invisible.
Reassuring.
Control that supports daily life without demanding attention.
It was a reminder that while the energy industry often focuses on infrastructure, megawatts, and policy, homeowners are asking a much simpler question:
Does this make my life easier?
As part of this exploration, I spoke with two women whose work sits at very different parts of the energy ecosystem but whose perspectives converge in surprising ways.
- Mary Powell, CEO of Sunrun, the leading residential solar and battery company in the United States.
- Emily Kirsch, Founder & Managing Partner of Powerhouse Ventures and a long-time investor in the next generation of energy innovation.
Both are helping shape the future of energy. Both are also homeowners navigating these choices in real life.
Their reflections reveal something simple but powerful:
The future of energy isn’t just about technology. It’s about experience.
Control: energy that works in the background
Mary Powell has spent decades transforming how electricity reaches homes.
Before becoming CEO of Sunrun, she spent over twenty years leading Green Mountain Power in Vermont, where she pushed the utility industry toward a more customer-focused model.
But what stands out most about Mary is not just her leadership, it’s her deep belief that energy companies exist to serve people.
When I asked her what control over energy at home actually means, her answer was refreshingly human.
“For me, control means having direct say over how and when energy is used, financially and from a resilience standpoint, without having to think about it day to day.
Mary went on to describe how different this feels from the traditional relationship most homeowners have had with their utility.
It’s about knowing the system is working in the background, optimizing for cost and reliability, and doing it in a way that’s seamless and worry-free. In that sense, it’s a far better experience than what a traditional utility model has historically offered.”
That idea, energy quietly doing its job, came up repeatedly in the homeowner survey as well.
People don’t want to become energy experts.
They want confidence that their home is powered reliably and affordably.
Mary also sees women playing a major role in shaping how these decisions unfold.
“Women are strongly involved in two ways,” she told me. _“First, they’re seeking a greater sense of comfort and security for their families. Second, they’re very strongly involved in the aesthetic placement of any new hardware.