Nancy J. Cole by BradB from 1BOG

“In the end, it comes down to changing people’s long-term views on energy.”

Nancy is 25, a city and regional planning graduate from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and masters candidate in renewable energy management at the University of Freiburg, Germany. Her interests in renewable energy include community-based energy, microgrids, municipalization and localization. Her career plans are to facilitate community-owned and local government-operated clean energy infrastructure.

There are three categories of responses that I hear from people concerning solar energy: ‘it is too expensive,’ ‘it is too new of a technology,’ or ‘it is not my concern.’ The first two are easy to answer: “Yes, it is rather expensive—that’s how 1BOG helps—by organizing the collective purchase to significantly reduce the cost of installation.” When I hear, ‘it is too new of a technology,’ I reply that a breakthrough in power conversion technology will only improve solar photovoltaic efficiencies, but home energy production appliances are available NOW with known performance standards. The last concern is a bit more challenging for me: ‘it is not my concern,’ which reflects an indifference to climate and energy issues. I’m diametrically opposed to this group of folks and therefore have to step back from my own eco-bias and focus on the benefits of cost stabilization and energy independence. In the end, it comes down to changing people’s long-term views on energy. Whether affordability, availability, or clean options are their focus, the bottom line remains that there will be a significant shift in the way that energy is supplied, and 1BOG is making it easy to transition away from fossil fuel.