By Bee Hui Yeh and Jacob Susman, Energy News Network

The fight for clean energy is the fight for a better tomorrow: the right to clean air and water, affordable and reliable electricity, and better transportation. But for too long we’ve ignored a central question: for whom? A monolithic population? Or, more precisely, for the communities of color hurt first and worst by the impacts of climate change?

Nearly a century after the construction of the arsenal of democracy helped drive the U.S. from the depths of the Great Depression, as we find ourselves amid a pandemic and economic crisis, the prospect of a clean-energy economy puts us at the cusp of a bright new industrial age. It’s one that can reshape our grid, our businesses, and our lives, generating millions of reliable, well-paying jobs to build a cleaner, safer, more resilient, and more energy-secure America. Continue reading here.

About the Authors
Bee Hui Yeh is the founder of the Power of We and an advisor at Plan C Advisors. Jacob Susman is an impact private equity investor and founder/CEO of the renewable energy startup OwnEnergy.

Photo by Laurie Schaull / Wikimedia Commons

NONPROFIT OLYSOLAR

Youth Climate Activists Strive to Build Thurston County’s Largest Solar Energy Installation, Thurston Talk. Of the 8 team members that make up Olympia Community Solar (OlySolar), 7 are under the age of 30. Motivated by the realities of the planet’s changing climate, OlySolar is a nonprofit whose mission is to help every electric customer in Washington access clean energy.

NEBRASKA CLIMATE ACTION LEADERSHIP

Regents hear renewed plea to divest NU funds from fossil fuels, Lincoln Journal Star
Since students in Divest NU first raised the issue of the University of Nebraska pulling $91.3 million in investments from fossil fuel companies to the Board of Regents, late last year and earlier this year, the world changed once more. In addition to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, wildfires have scorched hundreds of thousands of acres in the West. Hurricanes and tropical storms continue to batter the Gulf Coast in a record-breaking year. And nearly 80% of Nebraska is experiencing a drought. Representatives from Divest NU returned to Thursday’s meeting of the board to renew their plea for the university to take action.

Updated, previously posted Journal Star articles:

• Creighton says it will move away from some fossil fuel investments
• Poor returns on fossil fuel investments helping students convince colleges to divest

FEATURED CLIMATE EDUCATION PROJECT: CLIMATE CHANGE NEBRASKA

Climate Change Nebraska was created by journalism students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For this in-depth project examining the impact of climate change on Nebraska, the College of Journalism and Mass Communications opened the rigorous application process to all students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In the end, 20 students drawn from seven different colleges representing 13 different majors were selected for the yearlong project.

Students enrolled in the spring semester focused primarily on problems associated with climate change – including its impact on Nebraska’s agriculture, livestock, wildlife, public health, waterways, national defense and religions. Students in the fall 2020 semester will focus primarily on a range of potential solutions to a variety of climate change issues – including renewable energy sources, sustainability initiatives, no-till farming, carbon sequestration, nuclear fusion and stronger environmental laws.

NEW SOLAR INDUSTRY ALLIANCE

New Alliance Formed to Support Low-Carbon Solar Energy, Solar Industry
Renewable energy companies from a diverse cross-section of the solar industry have joined together to launch the Ultra Low-Carbon Solar Alliance. The alliance will work to build greater market awareness around how solar supply chain decarbonization is producing solar panels with low embodied carbon to help governments and companies meet aggressive sustainability goals. 

AGRIVOLTAICS

How To Have Your Solar Farm And Keep Your Regular Farm, Too, NPR / KIOS 
[Zaid Ashai, CEO of Nexamp, a solar company based in Boston] believes that farming and solar can be friends. For small farms that are struggling, leasing land to solar companies can be a financial lifeline, helping them survive. Farmers can earn a thousand or more dollars per acre per year from these deals. Ashai and others are also exploring ways to capture the sun and still farm the land–though perhaps with a different kind of farming.

SOLAR OPTIONS FOR RENTERS

Will the Distributed Energy Revolution Leave Renters Behind?, Greentech Media
Renters can enjoy clean backup power through a handful of groundbreaking programs that make it available to multifamily housing. And a small crop of products can help renters through a blackout without radically altering their homes. But the few emerging options leave plenty of gaps for the industry to fill.

TRI-STATE

Tri-State proposes rate reduction, resource procurement flexibility, but not enough to stop member exit, Utility Dive

The T&D provider’s efforts may not be enough for members looking to exit its service. United Power and Tri-State have been at odds over whether state or federal regulators have oversight of exit fees that would be required to terminate their supply arrangement. La Plata Electric Association is also seeking an exit charge. Tri-State is a cooperative of 45 members, including 42 electric distribution cooperatives and public power districts in four states: Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming.

CLEANTECH CAREERS SERIES

What’s It Like to Be an HVAC Installer or Technician?, Greentech Media
One of the biggest jobs in clean energy is also one that is sometimes overlooked. In this GTM series, we’re asking people in cleantech to tell us what their jobs are like. We hope the series can serve as a source of information and inspiration for recent graduates, professionals planning their careers or anyone who wants to transition into the industry. We also hope it makes cleantech opportunities more visible and accessible to groups that are underrepresented in our growing industry, including women and people of color.

GREEN BONDS

In recognition of clean energy progress, green bonds shoot past trillion-dollar mark, Renewable Energy World. According to research company Bloomberg New Energy Finance, green bonds have passed their biggest milestone yet, with more than $1 trillion issued since these securities first emerged in 2007. BNEF says that green bonds are the longest standing and most heavily used instrument in the sustainable debt market, which covers a range of fixed-income products offering environmental and social benefits.

PV RECYCLING

This game-changing solar company recycles old panels into new ones, Fast Company
At a recycling plant in Ohio, next to the company’s manufacturing facility, First Solar uses custom technology to disassemble and recycle old panels, recovering 90% of the materials inside.

DOE’S WIND ENERGY TECHNOLOGY DATA UPDATE: 2020 EDITION

From DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The United States added 9,000 MW of new land-based, utility-scale wind power capacity in 2019, bringing the national total to 105.6 gigawatts. Wind power represented the second-largest source of U.S. electric-generating capacity additions in 2019 and provides more than 10% of electricity in 14 states. Continuing the long-term trend, average turbine capacity, rotor diameter, and hub height increased in 2019, significantly boosting wind project performance to a capacity factor of 41%. The national average price of wind power purchase agreements has dropped to less than 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, and the levelized cost of energy has dropped 60% in the past 10 years to $36 per megawatt-hour. View a PowerPoint summary.