Today, the cleantech sector – renewables, green transportation, green buildings, electric motors, energy efficiency - is finally growing fast enough to pose a serious, market-disrupting competitor to traditional, status-quo industries, such as coal and oil. The dirty energy lobby doesn’t like it one bit. It has launched a concerted campaign of attacks through heavy spending an array of front groups to undercut the popularity and viability of solar, wind and energy efficiency as foundational parts of our energy future.

Last week, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar launched his ‘Smart from the Start’ Atlantic OCS Offshore Wind Initiative, Its objective is to “speed up development of wind energy by searching the Atlantic Coast for the most desirable places to build windmills rather than wait for developers to propose sites that could hurt the environment or sit in the middle of a shipping lane."

On October 12, I suggested one answer to the question: “How can solar and other renewables possibly push back against the fossil fuel industries, which have so many more resources to commit to the fight?”

Last week on PBS’ Nightly Business Report, Sungevity president and co-founder Danny Kennedy discussed the business model that has made his California-based company so successful. The story was sponsored by Planet Forward, a media project from the George Washington University’s Center for Innovative Media. The program highlighted how Danny is overcoming the financial challenges to home solar installations through use of the Internet to give virtual (and visual) estimate and cutting-edge financing, which puts the heaviest burden on banks instead of the individual. The interview, done by CNN veteran Frank Sesno, was the first we’ve seen done on mobile phones. Expect this to prove a trend, as ABC has taken to conducting interviews by computer screen. Watch the interview below:

By Colin Silver, TGC intern, and Katie Alexander, senior at American University