Rod Walton, Managing Editor

For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023. 

I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future. 

Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

Rendering of MSR reactor housing. Image credit ACU

Nuclear in the Oil Patch: Natura, Texas Tech Exploring SMR to Power Water Desalination from Shale Drilling

Feb. 20, 2025
This collaboration, which includes the Texas Produced Water Consortium (TxPWC) at Texas Tech, focuses on integrating Natura’s MSR-100 technology to provide a sustainable solution...
Image credit Quality Stock Arts/Shutterstock.com
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On (Site) and Off (Grid): Industrial Electrification Future May Avoid Utility Interconnections

Feb. 18, 2025
The current and anticipated growth of load demand from new data centers is propelling the notion of massive behind-the-meter projects to meet future load necessitated by the growth...