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Denver is ground zero for the U.S. renewable energy industry this week, as ASES (http://ases.org/), the American Solar Energy Society, and the World Renewable Energy Forum (WREF) join forces for the first time to collocate in the LEED-certified Colorado Convention Center. The result? A solar conference that is breaking free from traditional PV events by happily sharing the stage with wind, storage, energy efficiency, electric vehicles and other synergistic technologies.

For those of us that have been a part of the cleantech movement over the past decade, solar has long been positioned as the heir-apparent to the energy generation challenge, with a multitude of different flavors (Si, aSi, concentrated, thin film) and applications. And while solar has unquestionably taken root, it, like the other renewable technologies, has remained virtually siloed.

Panelists discuss the market opportunities for EV and PV

So, at WREF it was encouraging to hear the solar conversations evolve beyond talk of simple PV installations and instead reveal the new avenues in which solar is fulfilling its potential in the nation’s renewable energy portfolio.

Representatives from REC Solar and Schneider Electric join the panel on the intersection of PV and EV

Yesterday gave way to insightful talks on new directions in which solar is evolving, ranging from PV’s integration with energy efficiency and demand response to solar’s emergence as a new financial asset class. I even had the pleasure of moderating a panel on PV’s growing role in the electric vehicles movement, which showcased three pioneers—ECOtality www.ecotality.com, REC Solar www.recsolar.com and Schneider Electric www.schneider-electric.com —that are driving industry collaboration. Each has achieved impressive milestones towards the creation of a new national infrastructure based on years worth of behavioral data, technical advancements and demand dynamics.

My last image of the panel was the sheer knowledge of the audience. 10 years ago most members would have struggled to decode the acronyms and techo-talk being tossed about, but today’s Q&A underscored just how far we’ve come, both as a nation and as a united industry.

- Caroline Venza

Global warming doomsayers may have taken an ironic satisfaction from the fact that the cocktail reception and exhibition at the recent 4^th Annual Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum was held in the dinosaur hall at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia. In their view, the mass extinction of the dinosaurs offers a preview of their apocalyptic vision for the destiny of humankind if we don’t take strong steps to prevent man-made global warming from overheating the Earth.

Under the shadows of more than a dozen full skeletal mounts of Cretaceous-era titans such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Corythosaurus casuarius, or duckbill dinosaur, the conference participants munched on hors d’oeuvres and traded notes on what they were doing to prevent such a fate.

The reception followed a conference focused on clean tech opportunities and challenges in the mid-Atlantic region that included panels on “fostering clean tech investment” and shale gas development, the latter being only fitting since most of Pennsylvania is covered by the Marcellus Shale Formation, the world’s third largest reserve of natural gas. The panels were followed by a cleantech showcase highlighting companies involved in enterprises as diverse as OmniWind’s wind turbines and Primus Green Energy’s technology to transform biomass and natural gas into a high octane, drop-in gasoline.

But if the conference were to be distilled down to a single idea, it would be energy efficiency, which was the theme of keynote speaker Mark Fulton, the managing director and global head of Climate Change Investment, Research & Strategy for Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors. While politicians may still be debating the existence of climate change, investors at financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank are planning how to deal with it. Fulton coordinates a team of analysts who publish white papers on key industry, policy and strategic topics that are used to advise investment managers on climate change-based strategies across their asset management platforms.

Drawing on a  research study conducted by Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors and the Rockefeller Foundation (http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/news/publications/united-states-building-energy-efficiency), Fulton said that proven technologies to retrofit buildings — from upgrading lights to replacing heating and cooling systems and building controls — can both conserve energy and create a large number of jobs. He noted that buildings consume about 40 percent of the world’s energy and are responsible for 40 percent of global carbon emissions. According to the study, an investment of $279 billion in the residential, commercial and institutional energy efficiency market segments could yield more than $1 trillion of energy savings over 10 years, which would be the equivalent of saving approximately 30 percent of the annual electricity spend of the United States. Perhaps more importantly — at least from a climate change perspective — the retrofits represented by such an investment would reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by nearly 10 percent.

But the report also noted that, despite the market potential and rapid payback of energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits, this “low-hanging fruit” in the energy and climate space has consistently proven to be farther out of reach than expected. In his address, Fulton profiled various financing models with the potential to scale investment in these markets and to overcome supply- and demand-side barriers. He concluded that the Energy Services Agreement (ESA) model holds the most promise for the near term, given its potential to scale without the need for policy initiatives or regulatory changes. Under such a model, the lender funds the costs of improvements and assumes responsibility for the payment of the energy bill. The property owner is then charged back based on historic consumption, thus allowing the lender to capture the energy savings. For more on the benefits and drawbacks of the various financing models, please consult the report.

We hope that the climate change prophets of doom, many of whom say we have only a few years left until we lose the levers of control, are wrong. But if we are well on our way to environmental annihilation, as the zealots aver, learning to control the carbon emissions produced by the built environment, while not especially glamorous, would seem like an eminently sensible way in which to forestall catastrophe while we are waiting for those magic bullet technologies that the optimists predict are on the horizon.

- Stefanie Matteson

We’ve all heard about the role of biofuels in reducing reliance on foreign oil, enhancing national security, creating jobs, promoting national prosperity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, in an eloquent address to the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference held recently in Washington, D.C., cited these and more in his keynote address before the more than 500 conference delegates. But he also spoke of an overlooked role for biofuels: as a preserver of American values.

Vilsack noted that while much of the American population is focused on personal gain, farmers by the very nature of their occupation recognize that prosperity is a two-way street: their livelihood depends on conserving and protecting natural resources such as soil and water through those venerated American values of hard work, sacrifice, patience, self-discipline, prudence and thrift. The nation was founded and built upon agricultural values in which the role of stewardship plays a paramount role, the secretary said, noting that the agricultural community’s contribution to the nation — for instance, in terms of military service — has always been disproportionate to its numbers. (Note: I am paraphrasing his remarks.) The perpetuation of these values is now threatened by the aging of the farming community, he said. According to a recent agricultural census, the fastest-growing age group of farmers is the cohort over 65. But all of this may be changing. The growing biofuel industry promises to revitalize the farming community, attracting new blood, bringing new wealth to dying communities and restoring the importance of the heartland as a repository of American values whose influence extends throughout the country. In other words, biofuels could create a comeback for rural America.

If the trends are any indicator, Vilsack may be right. Nearly 40 percent of the nation’s corn crop is already devoted to the production of ethanol, which by mandate makes up 10 percent of the fuel we use in our cars. Biofuels are already enriching agricultural incomes. And that’s without even taking into consideration the potential impact of the cultivation of advanced (non-food) biofuel crops such as switch grass and Miscanthus that the industry is now focused on for use as feedstocks in the production of fuels, chemicals, plastics, fragrances and flavors.

The “Go Big. Stay Strong” theme of the conference was a reference to the commercialization of biofuels, with “strong” referring to the danger of becoming overextended on the path to expansion. But “strong” can have another meaning as well: namely, the role of biofuels in making the country stronger. In Vilsack’s view, biofuels hold the promise of strengthening the values of the nation so that it can continue to serve as a beacon to the world. If he’s right, the restoration of those values lies as much with the revitalization of the imperiled farming community as it does with changes in behavior or beliefs fostered by government, religion or the social order.

- Stefanie Matteson

Here at Antenna Group, our job is to communicate. A lot. Given the piles of email in my inbox, quite possibly too much.

So, last week—as part of a constant effort to freshen our thinking with outside perspectives—Antenna hosted an in-depth, no-holds-barred, two-coast cleantech pizza briefing with energy and climate analyst Jesse Jenkins. Jesse’s a friend, and also a fellow at the Breakthrough Institute as well as an editor at the Energy Collective, where he assembles the best of the web in clean energy and climate. He’s regularly featured as a cleantech commentator in leading media, and appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition just last weekend discussing Japan’s overreaction against nuclear power in the wake of Fukishima.

It was a little like sitting down with a combination of Al Gore, Steven Chu, Wikipedia, Otto van Bismarck and Ryan Seacrest. Jesse’s knowledge of cleantech is encyclopedic and visionary, with a deep understanding of how we got here and where we need to go. Jesse drew historical parallels underscoring the essential role of government in pushing clean energy innovation and market adoption, from military investment in semiconductors in the 1950s moving us toward the iPhone 4S, to government investment in shale gas drilling and jet engines sparking the cheap natural gas and reliable air travel we enjoy today. He also noted that the federal government invests $30B in NIH and $18B in NASA today, compared to just $4B in energy R&D—a sobering figure.

My favorite question—aside from “how many slices of pizza do you want?”—was from Antenna Group’s own Sarah Horn, who asked, “If you were running for president, what would your slogan be?”

Leaping to the task, Jesse unveiled his campaign bumper sticker: “Make Clean Energy Cheap.” It’s a communicator’s favorite sort of saying—short enough to tweet, seemingly simple but richly layered, honest, and—most important—sticky.

The greenest 100,000 people in the world will go for clean energy without much prodding. The rest of us need to see a pretty big payoff to overcome inertia. And no technology—or product—will stand up in the market for long without winning on the merits, which in the case of energy—a commodity—is price.

Jesse’s point: we can’t simply encourage clean energy production. We’ve got to promote clean energy cost-competitiveness. Because from the feistiest Tea Partier to the most granola-snacking Berkeley hippie, we can all agree that saving money on energy never goes out of style.

Many are too young to remember the Arab oil embargo of October 1973 that resulted in lines for gasoline that snaked around the block. The embargo, which lasted through March 1974, was launched in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military during the Yom Kippur War. I was little affected because I was living in a state favored by a flawed gasoline allocation system that rewarded rural over urban areas. But the embargo severely affected most of the nation: the price of oil quadrupled, gas was rationed, speed limits were reduced and year-round daylight saving time was implemented. There was even a toilet paper panic as rumors spread about a shortage due to a lack of petroleum used in paper manufacturing. And that’s to say nothing of the general economic chaos: the American Automobile Association reported, for instance, that 20 percent of American gas stations had no fuel in the last week of February 1974.

The 1973 oil embargo was one factor influencing President Jimmy Carter to launch his MEOW initiative in 1977, in which he likened the need for energy security to the Moral Equivalent Of War, memorialized by the acronym MEOW. Carter proposed a 10-point plan to increase energy security in order to forestall the “national catastrophe” that he envisioned as a consequence of future interruptions to the oil supply.

Nearly 40 years later, very little has changed — in fact, we are now far more vulnerable than we were then. In 1973, we imported 35 percent of our oil, compared to more than 61 percent in 2010. In 1973 we spent $37 billion a year on foreign oil, compared to about that much per month today — money that is in large measure funding the arming of our enemies. And the Middle East is now more unstable than ever. The heightened tensions resulting from recent Iranian sabre-rattling in the Strait of Hormuz again raise the threat of a cut-off of oil supplies, the consequences of which would be far worse than in 1973. The strait is the only sea passage to the ocean for large areas of the Persian Gulf. About 14 tankers carrying 15.5 million barrels of oil pass through it on an average day. Unfortunately, memories are short, history is too quickly forgotten (the President was only a child at the time of the 1973 embargo, as is no doubt true of many members of Congress — if they were even born) and it is the seeming fate of initiative to be smothered by complacency.

The President has affirmed the administration’s commitment to increasing energy security in his “Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future,” which he unveiled in March 2011, as well as in various other addresses. While this commitment is to be commended, he needs to up the ante: we are more vulnerable than ever. The result, as Carter noted in his MEOW speech, could be catastrophic. Now that the troops are coming home from Iraq, it’s time to declare a war for energy security.

A serious, well-funded initiative to promote national energy security could have benefits far beyond those of releasing us from the grip of foreign oil: it could also stimulate the economy, create jobs and establish the United States as a world leader in alternative energy, just as an interruption of natural gas supplies from Russia prompted Germany to turn to solar.

The President is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address later this month, in which he should highlight the importance of energy security. But this time, a MEOW won’t be enough — we need a roar.

Antenna Group is the nation’s largest clean technology public relations firm, representing companies in sectors including renewable energy, energy efficiency, alternative fuels, energy storage, finance, waste management and water. Here, drawn from input provided by our client-partners, is Antenna’s list of the top 10 clean tech trends to watch in 2012. Judging from the changes that are in the offing, 2012 is shaping up to be a critical year in the transition to a cleaner, more energy-efficient world.

1. Energy efficiency goes retro – New construction has taken a massive hit over the last few years, resulting in fewer new green builds, but that hasn’t slowed retrofit demand for energy efficient devices. According to a report by McGraw-Hill Construction in 2011, 78 percent of building owners plan to retrofit existing properties with energy efficient improvements. Driven by the increased awareness in Property Assessed Clean Energy or PACE states (in which property owners can finance solar systems or energy efficiency retrofits through city loans that are paid back through property taxes over terms of 15 or 20 years), Obama’s Better Buildings Challenge and new financing models that make it simple for cities and property owners to do upgrades, expect to see energy efficiency finally claim its moment in the spotlight.
2. Cellulosic biomass comes online; drives U.S. manufacturing jobs – Imagine being able to turn a wide variety of biomass inputs including wood, agricultural waste and non-food crops into fuels, plastics, nutraceuticals (food products that reportedly provide health and medical benefits) and pharmaceuticals. That’s the promise of bio-based materials, which are expected to replace first-generation biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel, as well as a wide variety of synthetic chemicals. As strategics such as BASF Corp., DuPont and Dow Chemical Co. enter the cellulosic biomass game, watch for the number of U.S.-based biorefineries to dramatically increase.
3. Recycling finds its true potential – Many of us still remember the awareness campaigns that drove what are now highly successful changes in consumer behaviors with regard to recycling. As went paper, glass and plastics, so go consumer electronics and tires. A number of states already have legislation around recycling what consumers have deemed “waste” and are supporting efforts to renew those materials and give them second — and perhaps even third — lives. Watch for the big box, telecom, tire and asphalt sectors to pick up the sustainability baton for Recycling 2.0.
4. The EV market picks up speed, while Tesla, Fisker get some competition – While we’ve heard a lot about electric vehicles such as the all-electric Nissan Leaf and the gas-electric hybrid Chevy Volt, in fact there are precious few of these cars on the roads. But that’s expected to change in 2012 when a much wider selection of cars that require little or no gasoline will hit the market. Almost every major automaker — and some minor ones — plans to have at least one plug-in model on the market by the end of 2012. These include three models from the world’s leading seller of hybrids, Toyota — a plug-in hybrid version of the popular Prius, the all-electric Scion iQ EV and the 2012 RAV4 EV, an all-electric compact SUV. Also hitting the market in 2012 is the all-electric Ford Focus Electric, which will compete with the Nissan Leaf. Other EV models planned for 2012 include the four-passenger Mitsubishi i-MiEVc, and — for the luxury loving — the Rolls Royce 102EX, the Tesla Model S luxury sedan and the Fisker Karma luxury sports plug-in hybrid. Accompanying the EV rollout will be a dramatic expansion of the national car-charging infrastructure, with Pike Research, a clean tech market research firm, predicting more than 1.5 locations by 2017.
5. Smart meters reach critical mass – For decades, utilities have been forced to rely on customer reports to discover a power outage. This decidedly low-tech approach to reliability is now changing with the national deployment of smart meters that record the consumption of electric energy in intervals of an hour or less, communicate data back to the utility and allow consumers to better manage their electricity usage. And, the national deployment of smart meters is forging ahead: according to federal sources, the current penetration rate is 13 to 18 percent, with a penetration rate of more than 50 percent predicted by 2016.
6. Offshore wind takes root in the Northeast – While small wind continues to grow, the greatest potential for the significant generation of energy from wind lies with offshore wind. Much of the eastern seaboard is ideal for offshore wind as a result of the fact that the relatively shallow waters of the continental shelf make it easier to locate wind turbines far offshore where the winds are the strongest. A 25-megawatt wind farm off the coast of Atlantic City, N.J., which is expected to be the nation’s first, is now moving ahead, and the Garden State can look forward to the construction of larger offshore wind farms with the implementation of the nation’s first OREC, or Offshore Renewable Energy Certificate, a wind incentive similar to New Jersey’s innovative Solar Renewable Energy Certificate, or SREC, which propelled the state to second place nationally after California in solar capacity and inspired similar incentives in many other states.
7. Dropping balance-of-system costs nudge solar closer to grid parity – As a result of a dramatic decline in module prices (prices dropped approximately 40 percent in 2011 — a decline that is expected to continue through 2012), attention has shifted to solar balance-of-system (BOS) costs, a term that refers to costs other than those of the modules. While BOS costs include physical components such as inverters and racking, the largest share of BOS costs is for non-physical costs such as labor and permitting. These costs are also expected to decline in 2012 as a result of industry consolidation resulting from the expiration of the Section 1603 Treasury Grant Program. The solar boom stimulated by the grant attracted many small installers (the “two Chucks and a truck” phenomenon) who will be replaced in a maturing market by larger players who will bring improved operating efficiencies to the industry, nudging solar closer to grid parity.
8. Distributed solar continues to thrive – While debate continues on the role of utility-scale photovoltaic systems in the nation’s energy mix, the small- to mid-sized commercial solar segment has witnessed explosive growth, particularly on flat-roofed commercial buildings that are ideally suited to the deployment of solar. New Jersey, for instance, where strong solar incentives and high energy prices have contributed to a robust local solar industry, has now outpaced California as the nation’s top commercial solar market, thanks to a high concentration of such buildings. In addition to reducing electricity costs and providing a hedge against future rate increases, distributed — or “behind-the-meter” — solar also has the advantage of generating power at the site where it is used, thus increasing energy security and diminishing demand for utility infrastructure. The U.S. growth pattern in commercial solar is mimicking what has occurred in Europe, most notably in Germany, the world’s solar leader, where the German Solar Energy Industry Association estimated in 2009 that 80 percent of capacity was roof-based.
9. Grant-to-tax credit shift means more third-party ownership of solar systems – The introduction of the federal Section 1603 Treasury Grant Program as a substitute for a federal Investment Tax Credit in 2009 created a change in the form of ownership for most commercial solar systems. Prior to the implementation of the treasury grant, which covers 30 percent of the cost of solar, most commercial systems were owned, operated and maintained by third-party investors with the tax appetites to monetize the tax credit. These investors typically sold the power back to the host entities at reduced rates under a long-term contract called a Power Purchase Agreement, or PPA. In addition to requiring no capital outlay, the benefits for the host entities included a fixed rate, a smaller carbon footprint and a visible renewable asset. After the implementation of the Treasury Grant Program, the form of ownership shifted, with the majority of commercial building owners taking advantage of the immediate payback offered by the grant to install and operate the systems themselves. With the grant reverting to a tax credit in 2012, however, we can expect a shift back to third-party ownership.
10. Gas-to-liquids technologies go mainstream – Gas-to-liquids (GTL) technologies, which transform natural gas into liquid transportation fuels, went mainstream with the recent completion of Shell’s $19 billion Pearl GTL plant in Qatar, an Arab emirate. The world’s largest GTL plant will process about three billion barrels of diesel, jet fuel and synthetic oil over the course of its lifetime from the world’s largest gas field. The project, which will reach full production in 2012, will add almost 8 percent to Shell’s worldwide production, making it the company’s primary growth engine for 2012. The completion of the Pearl facility is a harbinger of things to come: GTL technology is expected to play an increasingly significant role in meeting energy demand in the United States, which has some of the world’s largest natural gas reserves. South Africa-based Sasol, which also has a GTL plant in Qatar, has announced plans to build a $10 billion GTL plant Louisiana. If it moves ahead, it would be the United States’ first GTL facility. Once viewed as not economically feasible, GTL technologies are gaining traction in the face of declining oil reserves, high oil prices and increased concern about energy security.

For more information on Antenna Group, please visit www.antennagroup.com.

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Compass

If you are concerned, as I am, that climate instability is a critical issue, then you are very lucky to be a PR pro. Your craft gives you the power to make a difference. No scientific finding will be acted on unless someone has the skill to explain and transmit it. Solutions will go unused unless thousands of PR pros like you and I direct our skills to create understanding and the will to try.

Challenge equals opportunity. There is a ground swell now: Flagship businesses are proving that sustainable practices are safer and more profitable, especially as new policies include the real costs of wastefulness.

Scientists, entrepreneurs and policy-makers are searching for improvements to every practice of civilization. Governments on every continent face the need for transformation. And citizens want to do more than spend their lives as unconscious consumers. Green is good business; it’s industry; it’s life.

Four PR paths

There are four PR paths: Cleantech, Corporate Sustainability, Green Lifestyle and Government Relations. Build on the brand you have. If you excel at corporate counsel, then learn the principles of corporate sustainability. If your expertise is in consumer products, lifestyle or healthcare, then you can shift toward green lifestyle and LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability).

If you’re in government relations, you may already be experiencing a boom in demand. Modern energy and efficiency have been designated the saviors of our economy and environmental woes.

My passion is cleantech. Emerging technology has always excited me: I love being at the edge of change and am willing to accept the business risk that comes with that.

Guidelines for going green

Like a good physician, above all, do no harm. Entrenched power players will keep acting in their short-term self-interest. You don’t have to help them. The knowledge you may have of a dirty business can get you a good job or client engaged in cleaning it up.

Avoid greenwashing, for your company or your clients. Do your homework and bring your heart to your work: How satisfying that is!

Don’t be afraid to set sail in a new direction.  Antenna Group was founded in dotcom days. I met our first solar client at a cleantech venture-capital event. Go meet new people and perspectives.

Build community. If there aren’t useful green networking events in your area, you can organize them for your clients as a way of refocusing their practices and brands. Antenna started our Power Hours three years ago – now we host seven or eight receptions a year, each with a different co-host to spice up the guest list. We also sponsor events.

Extend from your base of strength. Building on one good client in the solar space, we now represent about a dozen solar companies (and many more in other cleantech areas). The first one is still a happy client, five years later. We’re now attracting Fortune 500 clients seeking guidance in areas new to them.

High-tech PR with industrial gunk

Like the technology PR of recent decades, cleantech PR works with wildly creative scientists and entrepreneurs. We try to win our clients a temporary suspension of disbelief so they have a chance to turn their dreams into reality. Using our technical and business knowledge, we paint their products into the landscape and translate their technology’s features into the audience’s benefits.

Unlike Web 2.0 and software high-tech, cleantech is about the messy physical stuff of our world. It spans many different industrial and manufacturing sectors and is overlaid with complex issues of public policy and finance.

For each client at least one audience will be extremely technical, yet you also have to be able to communicate to business, finance, government and community audiences, internationally. If your practitioners do not genuinely enjoy the constant learning about science, technology and policy, you will lose either them or your clients.

In hiring I aim to create a mix of people to learn from each other. Those with strong technical affinity collaborate with skilled PR pros, as everyone grows. My ideal entry-level candidate arrives with a dual-major degree in Communications and Environmental Science or Economics.

Purpose at a premium

While these people are deeply purpose-driven, they are talented high-achievers who expect to be rewarded well. I’m still trying to figure out how to charge the premium the craft deserves. The traditional industrial sector hasn’t invested much in marketing, other than IR or crisis communications.

But marketing spends will grow as the young cleantech industry sees more big successes and becomes increasingly competitive. Companies get the best leverage on their PR investment when pursuing a large market opportunity in the midst of substantial competition. And there’s never been a larger market opportunity than modern energy.

While I’m not the world’s biggest fan of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” I can appreciate the benefits the show provides for a variety of deserving families, as well as the boost a product can receive from being featured on it. So when I heard one of my clients, Akeena Solar, would be providing a featured solar system to a family in Southern California that was being highlighted on the show, I started getting excited. What could be better for a solar company than a little celebrity endorsement from none other than the well-tanned, well-groomed Ty Pennington with the well-spiked hair?

When I first heard the news a few months ago, the episode wasn’t set to air until the end of March. Immediately, Akeena crews hustled down to San Bernardino to install the system in what amounted to a matter of hours. It was then that I started paying a bit more attention to the show: nearly every weekend the builders featured a new green building element—bamboo floors, eco-friendly paint, energy efficient appliances, and lots and lots of solar systems. And each time the green element was explained, it seemed to become more and more…well, normal, to feature these types of products. They look great and are environmentally friendly, the designers said. They are quality products with real cost-savings benefits, the builders said. They just made sense, Ty said.

Installing Akeena's Andalay Solar Panels

Had going green become mainstream?

For a while, my public relations team was able to rely on the uniqueness of solar when pitching the media. We could leverage the story of that kooky family down the block who installed a solar system, watched their meter spin backwards and never paid the electric company more than $12. But that was because not everyone had a solar system; people weren’t accustomed to seeing silicon panels popping up on rooftops everywhere. Fast-forward a few months, and solar—while not reaching the point of widespread adoption by any means—is no longer unfamiliar. Journalists tell me that the latest installation isn’t big enough, it isn’t sexy enough, and it’s something they’ve already covered. During those lonely hours watching late-night television, green suddenly begins to work its way into the vocabulary of infomercials and QVC. And green guides everywhere are popping up telling consumers how to shop.

It’s still a long road for green products to be the default choice in consumer’s brains. But with millions of viewers tuning in each weekend to see how easily green elements can be incorporated into homes, it’s going to get a lot easier to be green.