UtilityAPI
  • Blog
  • Go to UtilityAPI.com
  • Sign up for UtilityAPI's Newsletter
  • Blog
  • Go to UtilityAPI.com
  • Sign up for UtilityAPI's Newsletter
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

8/12/2020

Doing Good by Doing Well: Fighting the Other Pandemic

Clean Tech's mission is anti-racist. But our lack of diversity across our own teams handicaps our efforts. Part 1 of 2  |  go to part 2
Picture


Clean tech exists to fight climate change. But we’re going about it with one hand tied behind our backs. Let’s fix that. 

We know climate change disproportionately impacts low wealth communities and communities of color. By its very nature, our mission is anti-racist. But our lack of diversity across our own teams handicaps our efforts. And the benefits of clean energy simply do not accrue equally to all individuals and communities. 

In addition to the moral imperative to diversify, which is massive, diversity in clean tech is simply good business. This is a huge opportunity for our industry not only to ally ourselves with what is right, but to grow. We can stamp out racism and exclusion where we see it. Doing that will make our industry stronger. We should want this. 

It’s not something to fight. It’s something to fight for, compelled by a sense of fairness and a vision of what our industry could be.

Things are Better Than They Used to Be
It can be depressing to look down the barrels of our double pandemic — COVID-19 and racial injustice — and wonder how clean tech can survive. And yet, our industry has made significant progress on other fronts. We now have many multiple billion dollar solar, EV and battery storage companies. Rooftop solar is growing dramatically — up 50% a year since 2012. Hardware technology costs and soft costs are plummeting. Permitting and interconnection barriers have dropped, making clean energy projects easier and faster to build.

But It’s Still Bad; This Work Can’t Wait 
However, clean energy needs justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) more than ever. In the past few months, research from UC Berkeley and others has reminded us of the disparities in both the clean energy workforce, as well in solar energy deployment/business models. 

Low-income, Black and Latinx communities pay up to three times more than the average household on home energy costs, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. This is what we call the Energy Burden. Despite showing higher levels of interest in fighting climate change, Black- and Latinx-majority census tracts have installed significantly less rooftop PV compared with no racial majority and white tracts. This is what we call a missed business opportunity. 
​

So, while clean tech is making strides, we can help it along by fixing these systemic, institutional and individual JEDI issues. Imagine how much faster and to scale we could do it with both hands free to get to work. 

Next week, Part 2: less talk, more action. Places to get started doing the work.
Everyone in the energy ecosystem needs easy access to secure data from a system that actually works.That's UtilityAPI.
Sign up
Get a free demo

​This post was co-written with Shiva Patel, MBA Candidate @ Berkeley, Haas | Energy & Climate Justice Finance + Investments.

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    December 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    UtilityAPI

    All blog posts are to help UtilityAPI users connect with their customers and successfully collect their utility data.

    Links
    UtilityAPI.com
    About
    Business Products
    Utility Products
    Support

    Categories

    All Interval Data Lead Qualification Work From Home

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly