I got to talk with Renewable Energy World’s John Engel about our recent paper, “We’re the People We’re Waiting For,” along with SOLV Energy CEO George Hershman. I loved what George said, and I encourage you to listen to at least his half of the episode.
To skip listening to me, here are the main points I made to John and his audience:
6:26 - The IRA was a miraculous win that happened in spite of cleantech’s political weakness, not because of it.
9:26 - The state and local levels of policy making are the places to begin building cleantech’s political power.
13:18 - Renewable energy project development in rural areas should be earlier, be more proactive and use digital media to engage locals rather than just distribute information to them.
17:00 - The corporate DNA origins explain at least some of their reluctance to us social media as an engagement tool with local communities.