Today's spotlight: Nico Kieves

Age: 27

Title: Counsel, Excelsior Energy

What do you do? My work as counsel for Excelsior focuses on local, state and federal legislative affairs, regulatory work before the Public Utilities Commission and the company's policy on carbon capture and sequestration.

Education: Law degree, University of Minnesota Law School; master's degree in public affairs, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs; bachelor's degree, Middlebury College in Vermont

Previous jobs: Operations coordinator, Motoprimo Motorsports in Burnsville

Hobbies: Ice hockey, photography, motorcycling, bicycling, travel

How did you choose this line of work? I have had a long passion for environmental work, but realized in college that working in the policy arena, rather then as a scientist, is where my personal strength lies. I once thought about pursuing a legal career and discovered that a [law] degree was a good match for the résumé I wanted to build to have an impact on environmental issues. The University of Minnesota offered me the chance to simultaneously pursue a master's in public policy to complement my law degree. I happened onto the energy industry ... as the perfect opportunity to allow me to both practice law outside of the traditional big-firm setting, while having a real impact on the environmental issues of my generation.

Other than your current job, what's your dream job? My passion for environmental issues stemmed from an early love for animals. My twin sister might have chosen more wisely than me and is about to earn her doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the University of Minnesota, a path I would've likely followed if I hadn't pursued law.

What's something about yourself others are surprised to learn? I spoke German before I spoke English. My mom spoke German to my sister and me, while my dad spoke English. We generally spoke German until we started school; after that, we began answering all our mom's questions in English.

Distinguishing talents: I am fortunate enough to be part of a generation of women who were more and more involved in athletics at a young age. Being among the first generation of female hockey players that were able to compete for a national collegiate title - while actually winning a pair of titles - was great preparation for my legal career.

Why is clean-coal technology important, and how does it help solve the global climate change problem? With the global community coming together in early December to adopt the Bali road map, which calls for deep cuts in global emissions, we will need to convert parts of our energy economy to wind and other renewable technologies, while understanding that fossil fuels will continue to supply a large majority of our energy demand. In the United States, over half of our energy comes from coal. Therefore, as we transition away from old, dirty coal technologies in our new energy economy, coal-gasification technology ...will play a vital role in our ability to most efficiently and cost-effectively achieve cuts necessary to combat global climate change.