SmartPower 2.0

Posted on August 31, 2007
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Some big changes are in the air at SmartPower.

Since birth, SmartPower has been an organization that has had a laser-like focus on one purpose: marketing clean, renewable energy. To that end, we have avoided talking about conservation, or energy efficiency. We learned, through market research, that too many people were turned off by the idea of conservation.

But times have changed and when it comes to attitudes about energy use the public has gotten….well…smarter. Energy efficiency has huge potential to dramatically reduce our dependence on greenhouse-gas-producing fossil fuels (and save us a heap of money in the process.) Just as importantly for us, we’ve found the public willing to listen. And SmartPower is going to be part of that conversation.

From now on, energy efficiency is going to be part of SmartPower’s focus. Marketing clean energy is still our number one priority, but we’re going to start folding a little efficiency into the mix.

Want to really understand what’s behind this shift? There’s no better source than SmartPower President Brian Keane. Brian and I had a little chat the other day and you can listen to it by clicking on the link below.

USA Today’s Upbeat Report on Solar

Posted on August 29, 2007
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manufacturingtUSA Today ran an overview article on the state solar power this week–and the headline pretty much sums it up:  “Forecast for Solar Power:  Sunny.”

The themes are familiar to those who follow clean energy–dramatic increases in solar panel sales with improved efficiencies and lower costs.  But the numbers are quite striking:  The solar industry is expected to triple in size over the next three years, from $14 billion to $40 billion.  Venture capital grew from $64 million two years ago to $264 million this year.  And perhaps most significantly:  solar power is expected to be as cheap or cheaper than conventional (read “dirty”) power in 5 to 7 years–without any government subsidy.

There are,of course, a number of factors driving the dramatic increases in the popularity of solar power, but high on that list has to be the gains in efficiency.  According to the USA Today article SunPower discovered that by changing the way silicon and metal plates are sandwiched together the efficiency of their solar panels jumped by about a third.   Meanwhile, thin-film manufacturers have figured out how to make solar panels with a lot less silicon, which cuts the manufacturing costs pretty significantly.

Each day clean energy becomes more and more mainstream, more “conventional.”  But don’t let that lead you to think for one moment that clean energy isn’t already here, already available.  It’s a little bit more expensive most of the time, but every bit as reliable.  So if you haven’t signed up for renewable power, do it today.
Someday everyone will be getting their power from a clean energy source, but right now, it’s just the smart people.

The Wind

Posted on August 28, 2007
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windstillHumor is often a very culturally-specific concept. What is funny in the US might not seem that clever in France. What has them rolling in the aisles in Russia might, at best, elicit a mild chuckle in Canada. But what passes for a sense of humor in Germany is still a bit mysterious to me. Every German I’ve ever asked claims to have a sense of humor, it’s just that I haven’t been able to identify it.

But this video–for a German company called Epuron–may be the first indisputable evidence that the Germans do, in fact, have a very subtle and sophisticated sense of humor.

It’s definitely not an American-style commercial–it takes nearly two minutes to get to the payoff—but it’s worth the wait. The spot is called “The Wind.”

Build Your Own Wind Turbine

Posted on August 27, 2007
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turbine closeup 1Ever wonder what goes on inside a wind turbine? And when the blades turn so slowly, how could it possibly make any electricity?

National Geographic has a great interactive site that walks you through the internal workings of a wind turbine and, at the end, you get to put together your own turbine and see what effect things like wind speed and elevation have on the output of the generator.

I figure I can mess around with this site for at least half an hour and call it “work.” Now if I can just figure out a way to justify all that time spent playing solitaire online.

SmartPower in the News

Posted on August 27, 2007
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NewsSmartPower has popped up on a couple of media outlets over the last few days:

The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a nice piece on the nearly two dozen Pennsylvania communities that have committed to SmartPower’s 20% by 2010 campaign. This story includes a quote from Walt Cressler, who runs an environmental advisory committee for the town of Media. It’s a quote that really highlights one of the key aspects of much of the work that SmartPower has done:

“The local level is where the conversation happens,” Cressler said. “From the local level, important movements swell and create a critical mass for necessary change nationwide.”

We can all ring our hands and commiserate about the incredible lack of action on issues like climate change from our national political leaders. Or, as Walt points out, we can start making a difference at home.

Connecticut communities are continuing to hop aboard the SmartPower clean energy bandwagon, as we learn from an article in the New Britain Herald, reporting on how Berlin, CT has become the 53d Connecticut town to commit to the campaign.

Meanwhile SmartPower President Brian Keane was quoted in a political column in the Nashua Telegraph over the weekend. The topic was the lack of talk of energy issues during a presidential debate on ABC.

“It is truly unacceptable that questions about clean energy, energy efficiency and energy independence are not being asked in a major presidential candidates debate,� SmartPower President Brian F. Keane said. “A very strong majority of the U.S. public embraces the idea that global warming is a real and serious problem, and we are truly disappointed that this debate offered no substance on how we will deal with these important issues.’’

Dennis Kucinich/The SmartPower Interview

Posted on August 25, 2007
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kucinich

SmartPower’s Mike Garafolo sat down with Democratic Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich in New Hampshire the other day to talk about energy policy.

Congressman Kucinich talked about his plan for a “Works Green Administration”—an ambitious program to bring clean energy and increased energy efficiency to every home in the country. Under Works Green Kucinich sees it as a way to dramatically reduce the production of greenhouse gas and freeing the country from a dependence on foreign oil.

Click on the button below to listen to the interview.

SmartPower on Nationwide Radio

Posted on August 24, 2007
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mic

Dave Graveline will be spreading the SmartPower message on “Into Tomorrow,” his nationally syndicated radio show. The segment, which will air in late September, describes the success SmartPower has had in convincing over 20,000 homeowners to switch to clean energy. Here’s an excerpt:

Clean energy is just as reliable and just as dependable as energy from fossil fuels. The air conditioner, the television, and the heat all still work as they did before. But the air is cleaner and America is more energy independent. And it will cost you about the same price as having two lattes a month from a coffee shop.

Into Tomorrow runs on dozens of radio stations all over the country, as well as on XM satellite radio.

The Daily Show on Cape Wind

Posted on August 11, 2007
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The Daily Show’s Jason Jones tries to get to the bottom of the controversy over wind power on Cape Cod. Click below to watch!

GOP Candidates Disappoint

Posted on August 9, 2007
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debateWhen it comes to doing something about our reliance on greenhouse- gas producing fossil fuels, we didn’t hear much from the Republican Presidential candidates on Sunday during their debate in Iowa. The closest we got was a couple of  “end our dependence on foreign oil” comments from Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. As SmartPower President Brian Keane put it, ““It is truly unacceptable that none of these candidates offered any plans for energy independence or even recognized the fact that the American public is concerned about global warming and climate change.”

When you lay out all the presidential candidates, Democratic and Republican, it becomes clear that, in general, it’s the Ds who are talking about moving to clean energy and doing something about climate change while the Rs are doing their best to avoid the issue. If you look at this table from the League of Conservation Voters, for example, the words that appear most often after the Repbulican candidates are “no articulated position” and “oppose.”

It’s too bad–because climate change is distinctly non-partisan. A warming planet doesn’t just effect one party. There is no good reason why making the transition to clean energy and improving energy efficiency should be a Democratic issue–it’s a human issue and one we all are concerned about.

Another community jumps on the clean energy bandwagon

Posted on August 8, 2007
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(And the clean energy bandwagon, by the way, is a hybrid.)

The lovely seaside town of Madison has become the 54th Connecticut town to commit to SmartPower’s 20% by 2010 campaign. That means the city will start moving to get 20% of it’s energy from clean energy sources, while at the same time community members will be encouraged to start buying renewable power at home.

Congratulations to Madison–you’ve made a real commitment to help us all move toward a fossil-fuel free future.

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