Energy Customers Do Not Need More Explanations, Sean Layerle

Why does the energy sector keep trying to explain, rather than designing better?

In this episode of Energ’Ethic, Marine Cornelis speaks with Sean Layerle, Managing Partner at Baalbek Insights, about a stubborn reflex in the energy transition: the belief that low adoption can be fixed by better explanations.

With 14 years in Silicon Valley and experience across five continents, Sean has worked at the forefront of digital energy products, demand-side management, and behavioural science, including roles at Opower and EnerNOC. Today, he supports energy and tech companies as electrification, flexibility and distributed energy resources accelerate.

Together, they unpack why tech-first thinking persists, how behavioural biases quietly shape energy decisions, and why collecting more data rarely leads to better customer understanding.

The conversation moves from early lessons in demand response to today’s challenge: designing digital products that align with real human motivations, not expert assumptions.

Energ' Ethic goes out every other week.

Marine Cornelis is the founder of Next Energy Consumer, a policy consultancy working on energy poverty, consumer rights, and housing at EU level. If you are working on a related mandate or research question, you can reach her at [email protected]

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Music: I Need You Here - Kamarius
Edition: Podcast Media Factory 

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