Bruce Oreck, the U.S. Ambassador to Finland, began on one of the days at WREF with a talk on how to use language effectively to promote renewable energy. Oreck’s presentation focused on using a different style of language than currently used to promote renewables. For example, instead of using the phrase that renewable energy “saves money,” focus on using “making money” by going solar instead. You can view Oreck’s presentation from WREF here:

To read more about Oreck’s presentation, view the articles  below:

• Oreck Calls for a Change in Semantics to Promote Renewable Energy
• WREF Tuesday Plenary – Solutions for Sore Eyes
• Bruce Oreck, U.S. Ambassador, Finland

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.

"SolarCity" at Davis Monthan Air Force Base, outside of Tucson, AZ, was a partnership with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. (Photo credit: http://www.npr.org/2011/11/30/142935396/big-solar-project-moves-forward-without-uncle-sam)

First up was the Department of Defense (DOD), steely sights set on the edge to be gained through energy security.  Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment Dorothy Robyn demonstrated countless current and planned projects in energy streamlining and renewable supply.  As usual, they go big:  they have committed over $1 billion in the next two years in load reduction for existing buildings, using performance contracting.  They plan to shake their dependence on the grid with 3 GW in renewable supply by 2025, leveraging private partnerships, and plugging into advanced microgrids.  If the DOD is investing, you know there’s a payout.  Following their long tradition of “Dem/Val” (Demonstration/Validation), the DOD is not afraid to act as a test bed for emerging technologies, such as electrochromic self-tint windows, membrane-based dehumidification, and beetle-kill biomass gasification.  Camp Roberts is currently testing its new 1 MW solar array, printed in nano-particle ink, heat-seeking that holiest of grails — grid parity.

Ambassador Oreck in one of the channels of the district heating system under Helsinki. (Photo credit: http://www.usembassy.fi/blog/?p=848)

Next up was Bruce Oreck, bodybuilding river guide and U.S. Ambassador to Finland.  Working on his LEED Platinum house in Boulder, I came to appreciate his direct-drive diplomacy.  Bruce doesn’t mince words – he hammers them into shape.  His talk, appropriately, (but to the surprise of those expecting another talk about energy), was about communication.  Our problem solving the carbon and energy crisis, he says, is not about technology – it is about words.  His tough love for the clean energy crowd addresses their habits of speech:  DO NOT SAY “go green,” he says — “It is poisonous to your objectives” — conjuring hippies and wrinkling the noses of half of the population.  DO NOT SAY “save energy” – it implies scrimping.  Psychologists know that people would rather make $20 than save $20.  In some of our best oil country, only 20% of the wells pay out in 7 years – and they talk about making money.  Energy efficiency, on the other hand, shows higher returns than popular securities.  So why are we still talking about saving?  Bruce makes believers when he crosses those oarsman’s arms and talks money:  energy efficiency has “No dry holes, I guarantee it.”

Seattle's 2030 District (Photo Credit: Architecture 2030)

To wrap, Edward Mazria rolled out the roadmap.  The founder of Architecture 2030 closed his practice to take up the challenge of mapping the steps to carbon neutrality in the building sector by 2030.  The goal is to return to safe levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases by zeroing the use of fossil fuels in buildings.  Mazria is not naïve of the gloom and political menace under the “business-as-usual” curve, but he is an architect, and his business is vision.  When I caught up with him after the plenary, I asked him how his goal compares with the sunsetting Kyoto Protocol, which comes in for criticism as unattainable.  The 2030 Challenge is growing in popularity, not shrinking, he says, and names some of the latest recruits.  He can claim 41% of architecture and engineering firms, 7 states, the National Governor’s Association, the US Conference of Mayors, many cities, and section 433 of the Energy Independence and Security Act, signed by President Bush.

The popularity of the 2030 Challenge is that it deals not in problems but in solutions, through discrete and approachable example.  This attainability – this challenge – inspires hope and attracts talent.  Federal leadership is frozen?  Any state, city, town, or firm can pull up to the drawing board.  Architecture 2030 is about to open the toolbox — the 2030 Palette will launch in a global summit in 7 months.  The toolbox is a free shared library of building and planning resources for decarbonization – evolving as it incorporates solutions and lessons learned come from participants worldwide.  We are already beginning to move in the right direction:  emissions are down from Energy Information Administration projections by the equivalent of 700 coal plants and $3.6 trillion.  This progress is not just an artifact of the economy – it has been due to the adoption of building energy codes as recommended by Architecture 2030.  Mazria reminds us that 75% of buildings will likely be new or renovated by 2035, and ripe for upgrades.  Ever since he called out the building sector as the problem  in It’s the Architecture, Stupid!  Mazria and the movement he founded have been the first to say that projections are not fate, and to supply the inspiration for this wave of change.  To lend your hand to the 2030 Palette, create a profile here.

Though diverse in their perspective, Robyn, Oreck and Mazria all provided interesting solutions  to important issues the world is facing.