Vol. I · No. 1Established MMXXVIThe Energy Desk
For the builders of the physical world
The Assembly iii

The Energy Fifty.

Our annual roll of the fifty most consequential builders in American energy. Not the largest companies. The people who built them.

Nominate a builder How the roll is made
Process piping inside an American energy facility.
Fifty names ยท One standardPhotograph · Unsplash
The inaugural roll

MMXXVI

Nominations are open. The first roll will be published when fifty names have earned it, and not before.

The Method

How the roll is made.

i

Nominated

By Foundry guests, salon alumni, and readers. Builders may nominate themselves; the desk weighs those accordingly.

ii

Vetted

The editorial desk verifies the record. What was built, what was risked to build it, and what it is now. Where the numbers matter, we ask to see them.

iii

Named

Published once a year, unranked and in alphabetical order. No fee, no sponsorship, and no way to buy a place on the roll.

The Standard

What counts.

Three things, weighed together. None of them can be bought.

Iron

Capital put to work

Money turned into physical assets that do useful work, and the risk that was carried to do it.

Payroll

People employed and kept

Jobs created, crews trained, and payroll made in the years when it was hard to make.

Endurance

A business that lasts

A company that runs without its founder, or has been passed on intact.

What does not count: press coverage, follower counts, or the size of the booth.

Nominations

Nominate a builder.

Put a name forward, with a few lines on what they built and why it matters. Every nomination is read by the editorial desk and verified before a name is considered.

    Yourself, or the person you are putting forward. What they built, what was risked to build it, and what it is now.

    If a past guest or a member suggested you write, their name helps.

    Nominations are confidential. The person nominated is not told who put them forward.