EmPower’s Solar Systems are Hurricane Tested

“Did You Feel That?”

In response to the catastrophic earthquake in Japan earlier this year, and the ongoing tragedy at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, both Japan and Germany have put forth bold strategies to make solar and wind main contributors to their energy supplies. Germany, already the world’s solar energy leader, has committed to shutting down all of its nuclear plants (25% of its power mix) by 2022.

To replace nuclear, Germany is pursuing an even more aggressive renewable energy program. In addition to installing more renewable capacity, the program will include “smart grid” investments that will make intermittent energy generation technologies more predictable, reliable and dispatchable.

Nuclear, while an impressive technology, has severe shortcomings. Plants take years to site and build, and are prohibitively expensive to safeguard adequately. In addition, there is still no solution for long-term spent fuel storage. Instead, the spent fuel remains in pools at the hundred odd plants around the United States.   Then there is the scale problem: because the plants are so large, it is challenging to make up the supply if one goes down, and it takes a decade or so to build a new one.

Yesterday, a rare 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit Virginia and was felt all along the eastern seaboard.    A major nuclear plant was shut down and the back-up generators were turned on to keep the nuclear fuel cooling system operational. At this time everything looks okay, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is overseeing a post-event analysis of a number of east coast plants.

We recommend reading “Brittle Power” and “Small is Profitable” by Amory Lovins, the highly regarded scientist at the Rocky Mountain Institute, for deeper insight into the shortcomings of the large, centralized power infrastructure that defines the current paradigm.  One theme that Mr. Lovins emphasizes is that we should look to biology when considering how to optimize systems.   He states that:

Kids Lead the Green Energy Movement

Recently at EmPower we’ve been seeing kids more and more on the “green” scene.  Last week, a grade school class dropped in on one of our residential installations.  As you can see in the photo above, EmPower’s Brad Morrison gave an impromptu lesson on how solar panels work.  Also last week, I went with Robin Broder to the Long Beach Catholic Regional School’s Earth Day celebration where we got to see some of the awesome stewardship projects the kids were working on (pictured below) and spoke to them about their school’s 30 kW solar system.  Their understanding of environmental problems was amazing – and their excitement about the solutions even more amazing.  They believed in their own power to make positive changes in their homes and communities.

Last Wednesday, Allison Arieff wrote for the NYTimes about the power of kids to lead the green movement.  Specifically, she spoke about GreenMyParents,  a non-profit led by young people which educates other kids on how to talk to their parents and peers about adopting energy-saving habits.  GreenMyParents has a pretty stellar cast of prominent young green leaders at it’s front, including 12-year-old Adora Svitak, whose impressive TED Speech on the power of children’s perspectives can be seen below.

GreenMyParents (GMP) is remarkable for a couple reasons:

1.  It places kids at the forefront of the movement.

While Arieff’s articles drew some critical (politically charged) comments from people who felt GMP was indoctrination or would undermine adults’ authority, actually having children speak about green energy issues is an underutilized powerful tool.  The youngest of our communities are going to be the ones hardest hit with the economic and environmental consequences of the decisions we are making today – if kids are smart enough to understand what their future may be like (which they are) and if they have opinions about what their future should be like (which they do), then we should take the time to listen.  Moreover, knowledge wealth is different when it comes to sustainability issues.  Kids growing up today are already using sustainable behaviors – they don’t need to be taught them AND they do have the potential to educate their parents and grandparents about these issues.

2.  It leverages economics as a powerful marketing tool.

If you check out GMP’s About Us page, you see that their goal is to help parents save money ($100 million over the next year to be specific) through conservation measures.  GMP acknowledges the important environmental benefits of sustainability, but their stated focus is to help people conserve resources and save money.  This is messaging that people relate to: how can I save money?  People are not receptive to being criticized for damaging the environment, but everyone wants to know how they can spend a little less.  The green movement in general should be emphasizing the economic savings AND the potential for job growth which come with sustainability projects.  Green jobs – energy auditing, weatherization, solar system installation – are jobs which can’t be outsourced.  This is another issue which young people also care about: being able to get work when they enter the job market.

Enjoy this video of Adora Svitak wowing the TED Crowd: