Today, though First Mode does provide its engineering expertise for space technologies — its developing a goniometer for NASA — the company is mainly concerned with urgent climate change solutions, such as its hydrogen powertrain technology. “It’s hard for me to actually work on anything else now,” Voorhees says, “given how time is of the essence.”

The world’s four-phase reaction to climate change

Part of First Mode’s mission, arguably, is to change the public perception of the technologies that can lead to decarbonization as well as the urgency with which they are required. 

“I think we’ve been watching the world, and industry, progress across four phases,” Voorhees explains. “The first phase is that people see the [clean energy] transition as a fool’s errand. It’s a folly and it’s something that’s just not in the cards, either for their industry or their particular viewpoint. The second phase is that it’s necessary, but that it will happen someday and at some point in the future. The third phase is where people see it as inevitable. And that’s when regulation, technology, and political and social pressure start catching up.”