Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Jeremy opened my eyes to the value of “campaigning corporations”—businesses
fightingforsocial change.Hisbook
The Empty Tank: Oil, Gas, Hot Air, and the Coming
Global Financial Catastrophe,
does a great job of explaining the future technology
choice we face between “solarization” and “coalification.” He's tireless and ever will-
ing to try something new to bring on the Solar Ascent. His life's work and passion have
shown that businesses can join the fight against Dirty Energy.
In 2011, alongside Friends of the Earth, Jeremy got his company to sue the UK gov-
ernment all the way to the High Court of England for cutting the financial support for
smallsolarsystemsithadsetuponlyayearbefore.Thesecompaniesestablishedthatthe
Tory government had failed in its public process to consult with affected parties before
making the policy change. This was a small but important victory because the main risk
to solar companies now is uncertainty, and on-again, off-again policies like this under-
mine investor confidence.
Back in the Maldives in 2010, through our long-term lens as climate activists, Jeremy
and I checked in on the state of play in solar globally, and we concluded that we needed
more—andweneededityesterday.Atabaronareefduringaglorioussunset,wereveled
in the seemingly impossible but ultimately inevitable rise of solar. We discussed how
someofthelow-hangingfruit,especiallythebusinessopportunitytodisplacedieselgrids
on islands like the ones we were enjoying, were the bite-sized victories on the march to
the Solar Ascent. We determined to help make that happen by encouraging other entre-
preneurs to fill that niche, and we returned to the work in the United Kingdom and the
United States.
So, all you fledgling solar entrepreneurs out there searching for a hero to show you
how to gain success and channel your passions into your business—Jeremy is your man.
His vision of using solar panels as the skin of every building and combining them with
smart microgrids, even in places like those quaint, cloudy islands in the United King-
dom,shouldinspirenationbuilderseverywhere.It'sanawesomeopportunity,thoughthe
challenge is building the business to do it. Who of you out there is up for that challenge?
Tom Steyer: Fighting the Good Fight
I got back to the States just in time for the final throes of the campaign to reject Califor-
nia's Prop 23 on the November 2010 ballot. This proposition, as mentioned earlier, in-
tendedtotrickvotersintooverthrowingCalifornia'slegislationregardingclimatechange
mitigation known as Assembly Bill 32. This AB 32 is the overarching law on the sub-
ject in California, which is one of the world's top 10 economies, and the legislation con-
tainsabroadsweepofeffortstoreducecarbonemissions.Itincludestargetsforpollution
reduction and a market-based mechanism supposedly to raise funds for a clean-energy
