dirty nasty people
Short film focused on Houston entrepreneur, energy transition ecosystem releases online
In a new short film, a Houston energy entrepreneur sets the scene for the energy industry and showcases her passion for an equitable transition for the sector.
"Dirty Nasty People" originally premiered May 18 to the Houston community. Now, the NOV-produced film featuring Katie Mehnert and her company Ally Energy is available for viewing online.
The film, directed by Paul Dufilho, tells Mehnert's story, her passion for energy, and her career, which began at Enron, grew at Shell and BP, and took her to founding a company dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the space. Ally Energy, which was founded in 2014 as Pink Petro, is a community and talent platform for the evolving energy industry.
In the movie, Mehnert introduces the dual challenge the industry is facing — and how DEI is integral to solving it.
“On the one hand, we all need energy — affordable, reliable energy — to keep lives going,” she says in the film. “But we are harming the planet. And ourselves.
"It is complicated — this challenge is very complicated," she continues. "But it’s going to take collaboration, and diversity of thought — diversity of energy form. It’s going to take bringing people into the energy industry, into the fold, looking at this challenge in a different way — but it’s all about working together.”
Houston-based NOV Inc., an international oil and gas industry equipment and tech provider, backed the production of the film which was meant to showcase Ally, Mehnert, and the energy transition ecosystem locally.
"The energy workforce of the future will need to be as large and diverse as the technical solutions that will be needed to offset the effects of Climate Change," writes Dufilho on the website. "This project hopes to put a singular human focus on what is one of the largest issues of our day.
"There are already incredible people inside the industry doing the work of developing better energy solutions, and this project highlights just one of them," he continues. "However, the energy problems of the near future will require the perspectives and know-how of those who have not yet seen themselves as part of the solution. The outsider. The consumer. This project is for them."
Pieremanuele Canepa, Robert Welch assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UH, is leading a research project that can change the effectiveness of sodium-ion batteries. Photo courtesy of UH