Verena
Rauchenwald
Experienced researcher and environmental consultant with a passion for climate change solutions, innovation and meaningful connections
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I am an experienced researcher and environmental consultant with a passion for innovative and solutions-based thinking, communication, collaboration and entrepreneurship. My strong analytical skills stem from my Masters of Science degree in Environmental Chemistry and Health from the University of Copenhagen, and my work at a leading international research institute on system analysis. My curiosity and environmental awareness led me to work with air pollution, climate change, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, cities, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture and urban farming in Austria, Denmark and the USA. These experiences enriched me with an in-depth understanding across sectors. Through my work I strive to better people's quality of life in symbiosis with nature and all beings.
Coordinates the Second Austrian Assessment Report (AAR2) on Climate Change, which will be published in 2025, as part of the Technical Support Unit.
As Research Assistant at IIASA’s Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases program, I worked with greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and modeled global GHG emissions from agriculture and land use change. I developed models which examine the theoretical scenario of shifting global rice production from agricultural land into vertical farms. The research touched upon aspects necessary to consider when building a vertical farm, such as building area, growing medium, source of light, energy use, and others. It further addressed the question whether land would be freed up by growing rice vertically, or whether the use of land will simply change by installing necessary solar power plants to meet the vertical farms’ electricity demand.
Further, I joined the global research initiative, the World in 2050, and co-authored a report on the transformations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which was presented at the UN High-level Political Forum in New York City in 2018.
At FTC Solar, an international solar tracker and software company, I joined the Strategy and Marketing team, where I develop product roadmaps based on customer feedback and interviews, and create value proposition and perform competitive analysis.
I marketed and sold SunDAT (solar PV design software) and Atlas, and supported customers through troubleshooting, handling of feature requests, invoicing and payments.
As a team member of the US chapter of the global energy research collaboration Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project, I conducted research on the formation processes of state level decarbonization policies. I worked on a policy brief to identify the factors which enabled California to become the US leader in decarbonization. I further supported SDSN at its events during the General Assembly of the United Nations in the fall of 2019, and developed concepts for webinars and white papers.
At Agritecture, a global urban agriculture consulting company, I developed extensive concepts for the company’s new digital planning product and an internal data integration system. Through online research and interviews I identified the company’s needs, their consulting processes, and the technical and economical requirements to build and run an urban farm. Further, I facilitated a one-day data sprint with Agritecture and two other companies to evaluate potential collaborations, I set up a global farming survey, drafted requests for proposal, and conducted market research for urban farm feasibility studies.
The global innovation hub UNLEASH was founded in 2017. Since then, every year UNLEASH brings together 1000 international talents between the age 18-35 to develop ideas on how to achieve the SDGs by 2030. In 2017, I applied to UNLEASH which was taking place in Denmark, and was selected for the Sustainable Cities and Communities track. Four talents from China, Egypt, Uganda, the USA, and I formed a working group to first identify a problem, and then develop a suitable solution. After talking to East African farmers, intermediaries and urban businesses on the phone, we found that small-scale farmers in Eastern Africa have difficulties selling their produce to urban businesses. In response we came up with FarmNet, a digital platform which communicates with intermediaries and businesses online, and with farmers via text message. Its purpose is to better match businesses’ demand with farmers’ supply to increase income streams and reduce food waste.
"Gehl is an urban design and research consultancy offering expertise in the fields of architecture, urban design, landscape architecture, and city planning" (Gehl, 2021). As a freelancer, I assisted in project planning and proposal writing. Further, I represented Gehl at the two week long Save Our Air data sprint, an experiment funded by OrganiCity and developed by the Public Data Lab. The Save Our Air data sprint’s purpose was to create data stories on social and political aspects of local air pollution in London and Copenhagen. Ángeles Briones, Daniel Bach, Pelle Annfeldt Israelsson and I formed a team and developed the online platform Mobilize Our Air. It connects local activist groups, brings the issue of better air quality to their attention, and informs individuals interested in activism about activist groups in their vicinity.
Upon the completion of my Master’s degree, my supervisor Professor Matthew Johnson hired me as his first employee in his Copenhagen-based air purification startup. My main task was to research the market of individual household air purifiers and evaluate whether AirScape should develop its own indoor air purifier. I further wrote funding proposals, supported the hiring process of new colleagues and coordinated the startup’s intellectual property development. During my time at AirScape, I co-invented one of AirScape's patents, which is currently pending, which presents a way of air cleaning in open spaces through street furniture.
At Belectric, an international solar PV company in California, I analyzed the company’s market entrance opportunities in all states of the US and the Caribbean islands by identifying key policies and reviewing demographic and climate data. I further supported early-stage project development, filed permit applications and identified properties via Google Earth and County Tax Assessors websites.
In 2013, I joined the Elite Master's Degree program in Environmental Chemistry and Health at the University of Copenhagen. The coursework covered air pollution and health, aquatic and terrestrial environmental chemistry, toxicology and ecotoxicology, epidemiology, environmental and human health risk assessment, life cycle assessment, and knowledge-based entrepreneurship. The courses were hands-on and encouraged critical thinking through group and lab work, presentation and discussion.
I soon became fascinated by atmospheric chemistry and started working as a technical student assistant at the Copenhagen Center for Atmospheric research (CCAR), while pursuing my coursework. I designed two air purifiers based on professor Matthew Johnson's patented gas phase advanced oxidation technology. One was designed as an interactive device to present the air cleaning technology to any interested audience (top air purifier in picture). The other (bottom air purifier in picture) was installed at a dry cleaning facility during my Master thesis project.
For my Master thesis, I focused on indoor air purification of halogenated organics using gas phase advanced oxidation for environmental and health impact control. CCAR collaborated with the Greater Region of Copenhagen, Region Hovedstaden, and we installed an air purifier inside a former dry cleaning facility to measure the removal efficiency of occurring halogenated organics at the site.
During my Master's program, I conducted a six weeks research project on the air purification of waste anesthetic gases at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center as visiting graduate. With the help of my supervisor Mark Rollins, MD, PhD, and colleagues, I set up the research project in a laboratory space, which was solely dedicated to my research and experiments. In 2019, I published the research results as first-author in the Medical Journal Anesthesia and Analgesia.
Scientific publication: new method of destroying waste anesthetic gases using gas-phase photochemistry.jpg)
I convinced a jury and received the Green Scholarship from klimaaktiv, the climate initiative from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK), to pursue the Energy and Carbon Dioxide Manager Certificate at the Danube University Krems.
While finishing up my Bachelor's degree, I attended weekend lectures on the following topics: basics of energy and carbon dioxide management, energy and carbon dioxide strategies for companies and municipalities, as well as regenerative energy supply and installation engineering.
My final report evaluated the ecological footprint calculation of vegan and fairtrade Ethletic Sneakers under the supervision of Dr. Christine Jasch, founder of the Viennese Institute for Ecological Economic Research.
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My Bachelor of Science coursework included resource and environmental economics, global environmental governance, basics of macro-and microeconomics, data collection, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and project management, among others. In a collaborative effort, requiring good communication and organizational skills, a group of eight students and I wrote a Bachelor thesis on the analysis of three Austrian national parks and their organizational structure.
For questions or inquiries please email me at verena.rauchenwald@gmail.com