The question is no longer if clean energy will become competitive with conventional energy forms of energy; the question is, when will it happen?

The first question from the audience during Q&A vocalized the frustration many feel in the renewable energy world at the political debate around energy in Washington. The issue this question referred to was on subsidies for renewables without recognizing that fossil fuels have been receiving subsides for decades. The list goes on and on.  The audience member urged Steven Chu to lead the DOE to create a new dialog for public discourse around energy. Chu responded that the last thing we want is to let clean energy get bogged down in a political debate. It is on its way to becoming a cheaper form of energy. Conversation should be to phase out all subsidies because technology is going at such a pace where we should not need subsidies. Chu is a scientist, not a politician, and his perspective that politics should stay out of rational decisions about this country’s energy future is probably a wise one. Toxic politics are rendering useless to much of our public discourse about the future. If the energy world can embrace both sides of the aisle in Washington and keep the focus on logical strategies that will support a better future for everyone, their cause will benefit.

The talk Oreck delivered Tuesday morning at the World Renewable Energy Forum plenary session was not about any of these things though. He didn’t talk about climate change or the bright future of renewable energy. Instead, he spoke about the semantics crisis in the energy world.

Oreck called for a new vocabulary to describe a new relationship with energy for the 21st century. Semantics, the words we use to talk about this new relationship, matter in a significant way. Oreck’s talk drew heavily on big thinkers from Einstein to Lincoln in science and politics who, during their time, ushered society into new eras.

“As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall our selves and then we shall save our country” – Lincoln

Oreck emphatically demanded that we, as a collective, stop using the word ‘green’ to describe the energy revolution. He attacked the concept of ‘saving energy’ and urged the audience to re-frame what they do as ‘earning energy.’ He argued that by appealing to people’s desire for positive gain, you will engage their interest. Energy efficiency should be pitched as a business of energy exploration, not energy savings.

The crux of Oreck’s talk to the audience at this year’s WREF was to rethink how our industry engages with systems that we hope to change. He argued “Human behavior is subject to the same laws of inertia as the physical world. People will continue doing what they are doing, unless an unbalanced force acts upon the system.” The creation of this unbalanced force, to be effective, must connect with people’s hopes, fears, and desires for the future. It must come through a voice that people respect, with an angle that resonates with their lives.

Orek’s talk was indeed a departure from the normal. It issued a call for professionals in the energy world to engage the public around energy not through an engineer’s dry equations, but in ways they can understand and that matter to them. We must seek new ways to communicate our value proposition and work to capture the attention of the human spirit and the consumer’s wallet.

How do we do this?

Students of the humanities, expert wordsmiths, and story-tellers unite! Together we need to create a new vocabulary and narrative to unite this country and the globe around a new relationship with energy and solar for the 21st century.

Chevy Volt parked outside the Denver Convention Center at the WREF 2012

Driving on Sunshine is a reality for more and more folks across the country.

Though EV deployment across the country is still in the early adopter phase, many people in the industry are extremely bullish about the number of EVs we will see on the roads in the coming years.  By some estimates, the United States could see as a total market size of 10 million vehicles by 2020. If gas prices continue to rise as they have in the past year, this number could go even higher.

The Solar-Charged Vehicles panel on Tuesday at the World Renewable Energy Forum in Denver, CO featured three experts coming from diverse fields. Sudipta Chakraborty, a scientist from NREL, Christof Demont-Heinrich, a journalist and founder of SolarChargedDriving.com, and Cary Hayes, director of business development at REC Solar provided an overview of the many unique – and exciting – dimensions of the rooftop/home solar PV + electric vehicle synergy.

As EVs roll out across the country, car companies are creating partnerships with solar manufacturers and installers. Ford has teamed up with solar panel manufacturer SunPower Corporation to offer a special package that will include a 2.5kW rooftop solar panel to offset the energy used in charging up a Ford electric car. According to the two companies, the solar charging station will be good for around 1,000 miles per month of driving. This offer gives purchasers of an electric vehicle the chance to “drive green for life” for an additional $10,000.  BMW is also preparing for the 2013 launch of their fully-electric vehicle i3 by offering all of their 700 test drivers discounts and financing to install a solar PV system through Real Goods Solar.

Christop Demont-Heinrich sited an already 35% crossover between solar buyers and EV buyers, with this number expect to grow as solar becomes more affordable. Demonts’s site SolarChargedDriving.com has a survey of what is the most enticing reason to solar-charge a car? The responses point to the value of driving on home-produced solar energy for EV owners of the future:

Fueling independence (131)  42.7%
True zero emissions driving (72)  23.5%
It makes economic sense (68)  22.1%
Reduce global warming (30)  9.8%
Other (6)  2%

Results collected on 5/15/2012

Will EV’s help to drive wide-spread adoption of solar technologies or will solar warm-up buyers to consider an EV? With bullish outlooks for both technologies in the coming years and more programs combining the purchase of a new EV with a PV systems set to be released, PV could follow EVs into new areas where current penetration of the technology is low.

In the midst of all of the talk of new technologies, government programs, and trends from around the world, there was also a growing dialog at this year’s World Renewable Energy Forum about marketing strategies. The conversations were about how the renewable energy industry and other green businesses can best market themselves to the mass public. As eco-friendly technologies and products mature and become cost competitive, the next problem to tackle will be effective marketing.

Michael A. Law, President of Ogilvy & Mather West and Managing Director at Ogilvy PR Worldwide explored the barriers that keep people from adopting green products and practices. According to a recent study, 82% of people poled claimed to have deep green beliefs, but only 18% actually invest money in being green. Why the huge gap?

According to Law, half of Americans think green products are targeted to rich and elitist snobs or crunchy granola hippies. In addition, 82% say most green marketing is gendered toward women. Eco-suspicion and eco-confusion form because the level of sustainability understanding generally hovers far above the average citizen’s head.

Law made several recommendations for marketing professionals as they craft their message for green products:

1. Make it normal. To make a real impact in the lives of the greatest number of people, green needs to be removed from a fringe market and these values need to be part of a new normal that drives the everyday consumer.
2. Lose the “crunch.” Products marketed for only their green attributes will fail to take hold with mainstream consumer. Marketers should emphasize other attributes or benefits such as the techie appeal or improved health and well-being.
3. Make it tangible and easy to navigate. The new “green” should not rely on technical studies or complicated specifications to convey its value.
4. Eliminate the sustainability tax. Whenever possible, green products should be priced at the same level of traditional counter parts.
5. Turn eco-friendly into male ego friendly. Eco-friendly products are often marketed to appeal to a female consumer, ignoring half of the population.
6. Don’t stop innovating. Eco-friendly products, just like any other product, must continue to reinvent themselves to stay competitive in today’s market.

Whether it is an electric car or laundry detergent, these principles can help to make green go mainstream.

Photo Credit: USACEpublicaffairs

As debates in Washington rage on about the appropriate use for government funds, speakers at this year’s World Renewable Energy Forum presented many examples of government and the private sector working together to foster innovation and expand markets.  Government speakers and scientists from government funded organizations gave progress updates on initiatives related to solar market development.

During a session on Tuesday, Melinda Marquis discussed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA)’s work with the private sector to improve the quality of weather forecasting models. The NOAA has a long history of collaborating with private sector players to collect data while keeping sensitive information private. Historically, this has been a common occurrence with the aviation industry. Related to the energy industry, in recent years NOAA has signed agreements with Xcel as well as one of the largest wind developers in the country to share data. There has also been interest from players in the solar industry. NOAA integrates this weather information from outside sources to help improve weather forecasts publicly available through the National Weather Service.

Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Dorothy Robyn spoke during the Tuesday morning plenary about the DoD’s activities related to energy. With 300,000 buildings, 2.2 billion sq ft, 160,000 fleet vehicles, 28 million acres of land containing 400 endangered species, the DoD has the potential to make a huge impact. As the largest energy user in the country, the DoD is responsible for 1% of all energy use.

Undersecretary Robyn described a variety of initiatives the DoD is working on to reduce it’s energy use as well as support the development and successful commercialization of emerging technologies. For example, the Army, Navy, and Airforce have commit to a combined 3 gigs of installed solar by 2025. The DoD is also launching new programs in microgrids and energy management systems. Most importantly perhaps, the Undersecretary described the DoD’s role as a test bed for new technologies and their philosophy of testing and evaluating different applications.

Solar market development has also received a boost in the past years thanks to the innovative work that was supported under the Solar America Communities program and also the more recent Sunshot Initiative.

The DOE SunShot Initiative is a collaborative national initiative to make solar energy cost competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade. Reducing the installed cost of solar energy systems by about 75% will drive widespread, large-scale adoption of this renewable energy technology and restore U.S. leadership in the global clean energy race.

Government support for expanding renewable energy markets has and will continue to play a critical role in transitioning our country to a clean energy future.

Photo Credit: PortlandOnline.com

Solarize began as an innovative program out of the City of Portland and has grown into a movement across the country. The program helps members of a community organize around the common goal of installing solar and simplifies the process of deciding who to hire for the installation, what to budget, and where to start. Interested neighbors come together to choose a contractor, purchase and install solar as a community, and save significant costs as a result of bulk purchasing of solar electric panels. This tried and tested model has successfully expanded residential solar markets in states from Washington to Massachusetts.

The Beyond Solarize panel Tuesday morning at WREF 2012 in Denver, CO was put together as part of the Energy Access track. Five representatives from across the country shared program successes and insights into how they had adopted the Solarize model in their city. Most of the cities had utilized the program to reduce the cost of solar PV panels, but programs in Minnesota and Oregon are also using the program for solar thermal technologies.

Though it is true that these programs are most successful when they are paired with generous local incentives and the value proposition for solar is already very attractive, the members of the panel insisted that this model could also work in areas with inexpensive electricity and little or no extra incentives available beyond the 30% federal tax credit.

Several of the panelists made the point that the real value of the program does not lie in the reduction of costs, though the program has achieved this in most areas. The program works because it  reduces fear of an unknown technology and simplifies the process from beginning to end for the consumer. It also taps into community spirit and pride. To achieve large scale results, the program fosters a sales mentality among neighbors and creates a set time frame that motivates consumers to act.

As solar prices continue to drop and cost of installed solar approaches grid parity, Solarize is set to continue to be a force for motivating communities to install solar on a mass scale. For example, this program is set to launch in 17 communities in Massachusetts, with the realistic potential of an additional 8-10,000 solar projects expected this year.

A big thanks to Lee L. Rahr from Portland’s Bureau of Planning & Sustainability, Jessie Denver from Group Energy, Elizabeth Kennedy from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Clare Carlson from Solar Oregon, Alexandra Sawyer from NW Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (SEED), and Laura Cine from the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society for sharing their experiences and insights!

This fall ASES will hold our annual National Solar Tour where you can see solar in action in communities all across the country.