Capuano Engineering Company (CEC) was founded in January of 2012 as a geothermal engineering company specializing in geothermal resources around the world. Over the last 20+ years founders, Louis E. Capuano, Jr. and Louis Capuano III, became recognized names in the geothermal industry. CEC continues to work in all forms of geothermal development as well as geothermal exploration projects. CEC excels at providing project management, drilling plan development, engineering, drilling program design, materials, services, and technologies as well as establishing cost control analysis. The CEC team has a proven history in performing resource testing and verification.
Louis Capuano III is a 2006 graduate of Louisiana State University with a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering and has worked in the drilling field since his graduation. Louis III started Capuano Engineering (CEC) with his father in 2012, and after Louis Jr.’s passing, Louis III became President and CEO of Capuano Engineering as CEC continues to be a trusted and respected name in the geothermal industry. Louis III has worked as project manager, advisor, and engineer on many geothermal projects and continues to lead CEC in its active projects.
George Scheid has worked with the Capuanos on numerous projects over the years and joined CEC full time in June of 2024. He is an experienced field foreman and rig-site supervisor and knows geothermal drilling equipment and drilling practices through both theory and experience. He has worked as a project manager on many projects, with experience in most geothermal fields on the West Coast.
Charles “CJ” Triola Jr. is a 2013 graduate of Louisiana Tech University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. CJ started his career in oil and gas on the West Coast and worked on all phases of well construction and remediation in fields across California. He then moved to the geothermal industry, where he worked as the Director of Drilling on projects all over the globe before joining CEC in October of 2025.
Louis Ellis Capuano, Jr. was called home to our Lord on Saturday, November 8, 2025, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at the age of 76. He was surrounded by love, family, and peace as he left one group of people he deeply loved to join another he has missed every day since they left. Louis was born on April 13, 1949, in Biloxi, Mississippi, to Louis and Jeanette Capuano. He was the eldest of five siblings, whom he always considered his best friends. He loved to tell stories of growing up on the coast surrounded by his large extended family, learning from his first-generation American grandparents, working at the family seafood factory and grocery store, and piloting the excursion boats to Ship Island. He graduated a year early from Notre Dame High School after skipping the 8th grade, a fact he brought up often. He attended Perkinston Junior College and completed his degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1971. He began his career working off the coast of Louisiana on the oil rigs for Signal Oil. After a short time, he was “temporarily” transferred to Santa Rosa, California, to pursue a new form of drilling—geothermal. Over the next 50 years, he became a pioneer and world-renowned expert in this clean form of alternative energy. His career experiences, among many others, include drilling wells on every continent with the exception of Antarctica, being chosen by the United Nations to teach a course on geothermal work in China, drilling the SAFOD well into the San Andreas fault in California for research being done by Stanford University, and working in New Mexico on the first enhanced geothermal system project in the United States. In 1980, he was a founding partner in ThermaSource, Inc., a geothermal engineering consulting firm. He led ThermaSource to become a prominent and self-contained drilling company that worked with both private and public entities. In 2012, Louis left ThermaSource to open Capuano Engineering Company with his son, Louis Capuano III, the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Louis continued to work for CEC until the time of his death.
Louis was a member of the Geothermal Resources Council since 1975 and served as Vice President from 1996–1998 and was the first two-time President, serving from 2001–2002 and 2013–2014. He won the prestigious GRC Aidlin Award in 2002. Louis was a member of the Board of Directors of the Geothermal Energy Association from 1999–2012. He was a founding member of the Committee of Geysers Geothermal Association and served as its first president from 1983–85. Louis was also a member of industry advisory panels for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratory. Louis was one of the first instructors of the drilling section of the National Geothermal Academy that began in 2010. He has written, presented, and published many articles about drilling practices, innovations, and expertise in industry publications.
Despite having such a prestigious and renowned career, it was not the most important thing in Louis’s life. That honor goes to his marriage to the love of his life, Linda Kay Kostmayer Capuano, and the family they created together. Louis and Linda both grew up in Biloxi, gathering at family homes only streets apart. They married on June 8, 1969, and began an incredible journey. Throughout their 48-year marriage until Linda’s death in July 2017, they lived in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Santa Rosa, California, with a part-time home in Denham Springs, Louisiana. They went on many great adventures together, but nothing more important than raising their four children. Louis was a dedicated father who placed a lot of value on being present in his children’s lives. He was devoted to teaching them his Catholic faith and instilling the morals and values that were passed down to him. He knew the best way to teach was to show by example, so his children grew up seeing their dad serve his community as a Jaycee president, church parish board member, creator of a school endowment fund, Rotary president, Eucharistic minister, and sports coach. When he was not traveling the world, he could be found at his kids’ sporting events, volunteering in his community, watching westerns, and creating incredible food for all to enjoy. His most cherished time was spent with his family. For the last two and a half years, Louis lived in Baton Rouge. Despite many health issues, he was a constant in his grandchildren’s lives, rarely missing an important (and not so important) event. His family will greatly miss his involvement in their daily lives, his comforting calls and advice, his need to take care of those he loved, his sharp wit and even quicker temper, his fondness for John Wayne and frankly anything western, his extensive knowledge as the most desired trivia partner, his amazing childhood and family stories, his love of classic rock, his warm hugs, his pecan pies, and his classy sense of style. He was larger than life, smarter than this world deserves, and stronger than humanly possible. He was our hero and always will be.
Louis is preceded in death by his wife, Linda; parents, Louis and Jeanette; grandson, Owen Philip Tabor; son-in-law, Charles “Beaux” Brumfield; sister, Stephanie Capuano; mother-in-law, Bernadine Kostmayer; and father- and mother-in-law, Ebbie and Catherine Kostmayer.
Louis is survived by daughters Dawn Brumfield, Christie Lepe (Carlos), and Lisa Tabor (Jordan); son Louis Capuano III (Jennifer); grandchildren Chad Brumfield, Caitlin Brumfield, Elizabeth Brumfield, Reed Tabor, Michaela Capuano, and Eli Lepe; brothers Peter Capuano (Karen) and Nick Capuano (Kathy); sister Laurie Herring (Jody); and many godchildren, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and colleagues.
The family would like to thank all the doctors and their care teams who helped care for Louis, particularly in his last few days: the ICU staff at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital; Renal Associates, Dr. Jones Samuel and Dr. Michael Rappolo; and Fresenius Kidney Care nurses Chip Wood and Claudette London.