Interchange Recharged

The clean energy industry may not have a lot of money to spend collectively on advertisements. But over the years, we've seen numerous TV ads, infographics, slogans, and all kinds of marketing campaigns from individual companies.So this week, we are going to rank some of our favorite – and least favorite – marketing efforts. We'll also debate the perennial question: do we need a "Got Milk" campaign for clean energy?We're joined by Tor Valenza, a marketing expert better known as Solar Fred. Tor founded the marketing firm UnThink Solar and is currently the director of marketing at SepiSolar. Firstly, what is unique about clean energy that makes branding so important – yet so hard? Then, what are the best marketing campaigns in history outside of energy? Why are they so good? Finally, we’ll pick our favorite and least favorite ads or marketing campaigns in cleantech.Below are links to our picks for best and worst campaigns.Best non-cleantech campaigns:Mac versus PC adsGot Milk commercialOur favorite cleantech ads or pop-culture placements:Nanosys thin-film solar mention from "Wall Street 2"Sunrun dolphin babies adMr. WOur least favorite cleantech ads or campaigns:Yingli's World Cup sponsorshipSolar freakin' roadwaysSolon AG ad SolarWorld's racist Christmas cardThis podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we’ve got an investigation into the always-on vampires lurking in your home. Actually, one vampire in particular: your DVR box.The engineers over at Sense Labs recently started opening up and testing DVR boxes. They found that power-save mode doesn’t actually do anything — it only saves about a watt of energy.Compared to smart televisions, gaming consoles or smart phones, the power-save mode of DVR boxes is abysmal. But the cable industry says that it’s the overall efficiency of devices that matters — and they’ve slashed total power consumption by half since 2012.Should consumers expect more? In this episode, we investigate.This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects. Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we present an original podcast, brought to you by Wunder Capital. If you’re interested in learning more about is connecting investors and installers at a record pace, read the company’s 2018 mid-year review. Nick and Nick are good friends. They’re fellow solar geeks. They do business together.In fact, they may have cracked the commercial solar code together.Nick Kerwin is the director of partner development at Wunder Capital. Nick Giannotti is the president of New Columbia Solar in Washington, DC. The two met randomly when Nick Kerwin was on a trip in DC.They formed a bond over solar that resulted in a single deal. And then another. And then 26 deals. And now it’s closing in on 40. In a single year, Wunder and New Columbia closed $7 million in small commercial solar projects — some of the hardest projects to finance. “That was the beginning of the solar bromance,” said Kerwin. How are these companies blowing up so fast? Just this year, Wunder Capital financed 48 projects worth 33 megawatts of capacity all around the U.S. That’s $869 million in projects in just the first half of 2018. Isn’t commercial solar supposed to be really hard?We spoke with Nick and Nick about why they’ve had so much success. Have we finally created a replicable model for commercial solar?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Watt It Takes: We’ll hear from Susan Kennedy, the CEO of Advanced Microgrid Solutions, about her transition from politics to behind-the-meter energy storage.Kennedy was an important player in California environmental politics. She influenced some of the biggest pieces of legislation that launched the state’s solar industry and cap-and-trade market. She also worked as a senior advisor to some the biggest names in both parties, including Dianne Feinstein and Arnold Schwarzenegger.After two decades in policy and politics, Kennedy set out to build a company that could take on the unique challenges of distributed energy integration. AMS was born. It has since become one of the most important startups in the booming behind-the-meter storage market."You have to believe that you can do anything. You have to have courage and faith to do what you've never done before."Watt It Takes is a collaboration between Powerhouse and Greentech Media. The series is recorded in front of a live audience at Powerhouse headquarters in Oakland, California. Buy tickets for upcoming events.This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ten years ago, in the summer of 2009, the U.S. House passed a landmark cap-and-trade bill. Then it died in the Senate a year later.The politics of climate have been completely frozen ever since.The rise of the Tea Party, Republican anti-Obama sentiment, and an influx of money against pro-climate candidates derailed the issue. Republicans stopped engaging — and the ones who did believe in finding solutions were either "primaried" out of office, or just fell silent. One group, RepublicEN, has been working hard to rally grassroots support in Congress for conservative, free-market climate solutions. It's a small organization looking to influence a party in the midst of a tumultuous transition. But Alex Bozmoski, the group’s managing director, thinks it's still possible to move the needle on climate in Congress.In this week's episode of The Interchange, we'll talk with Bozmoski about how to reach conservatives, how to categorize Republican lawmakers on climate, and why convincing politicians may not be as hard as it might seem.This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Elon Musk recently laid out his plan for a government on Mars in one tweet: “Direct democracy by the people. Laws must be short, as there is trickery in length. Automatic expiration of rules to prevent death by bureaucracy. Any rule can be removed by 40% of people to overcome inertia. Freedom.”That got us thinking. Could we craft an ideal U.S. energy policy in less than 280 characters? On this week’s podcast, take up the challenge.Stephen and Shayle will each lay out their overall approach to policy and then argue each one.Stephen’s policy: Price climate pollution and send the money back to citizens or local governments. Put an end to supporting energy with the tax code. Establish fair and open access for all technologies on the grid. Electrify everything. Don't dogmatize renewable energy. Double ARPA-E's budget. Shayle’s policy: Remain in Paris Accord. Retain CPP but increase targets. Resume and increase CAFE standards. Introduce federal green bank. Triple R&D on clean energy enabling tech. Federal push for HVDC transmission. Major infrastructure investment in public transit system. Freedom.We want to hear from you. Craft your energy policy, take a screenshot and tweet it out to @InterchangeShow. Make sure to tag #energypolicyinatweet.This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ah, the pivot.Did you know that Nokia started out as a paper mill in Finland? Or that Nintendo once made instant rice? Many of the world's leading companies start out in radically different markets.Cleantech is the same. Sales cycles are often slow, technologies don't work as planned, and customer needs are constantly evolving. In the tumultuous world of energy, companies pivot all the time.On this week's episode of The Interchange, we celebrate the pivot.We'll look back throughout history and choose the most successful and unsuccessful pivots of all time. What do they tell us about how to succeed in this market?This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.Recommended reading:Forbes: 14 Famous Business PivotsWall Street Journal: How a Florida Utility Became the Global King of Green PowerLA Times: How SunEdison Went From Wall Street Star to BankruptcyVestas: The History of Vestas Wind TurbinesGTM: Hard Lessons From the Algae Biofuel BubbleSubscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The politics of energy independence are both deeply bipartisan and deeply partisan.Every president since Richard Nixon has declared a goal of eliminating America’s dependence on foreign sources of energy. But each President approaches independence from a very different political lens. Jimmy Carter was the first to make renewable energy a centerpiece. Ronald Reagan dismantled that strategy and instead focused on lifting price controls on oil and gas.Later, George W. Bush focused on domestic oil production, but also put in place some foundational policies to support domestic renewables. Barack Obama, of course, put renewables front and center.Today, we have Donald Trump, who has made coal-powered "energy dominance" the centerpiece of his energy policy. What does that mean exactly?And after nearly 50 years of talk about energy independence, how are we doing?Joining us this week is Sarah Ladislaw, a senior vice president and director of energy and national security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She'll help us America's energy import-export balance in a historic, geopolitical context.This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.Recommended reading:Foreign Policy: A Short History of Energy IndependenceSarah Ladislaw testimony: Geopolitics of U.S. Oil and Gas CompetitivenessWall Street Journal: Is the U.S. On Track for Energy Independence?Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week's Interchange podcast, we saddle up to some adult beverages in a back room at GTM's grid edge conference to discuss the biggest topics in the industry.First, to artificial intelligence and machine learning: What do we exactly mean by "distributed intelligence?" We'll examine some clear use cases.Then to utility innovation: How do power incumbents grapple with the technologies that could break open their business models? We'll give a candid take how they're doing.Finally to GE, Siemens and other industrial giants: Have power generation leaders — even those heavily invested in clean energy — completely underestimated renewables?Stephen and Shayle are joined by David Groarke, the managing director at Indigo Advisory Group.This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.Have a question for us? Record some audio on your phone or computer and send it to podcasts@greentechmedia.com.Recommended reading/watching from the Grid Edge Innovation Summit:What You Missed at the Grid Edge Summit: Blockchain, Data Cleansing and Distributed IntelligenceDistributed Energy Poised for ‘Explosive Growth’ on the US GridWhat Will It Take to Build the Market for Virtual Power Plants?A Reckoning for Power Giants: Siemens May Sell Its Gas Turbine BusinessSubscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Coal has taken center stage publicly within the Trump Administration. But solar is the real innovation star behind the scenes. This week, we're talking with Charlie Gay, the director of DOE's solar technologies office, about all the activity happening in the agency.We'll discuss the solar power plants of the future: advances in power electronics; the normalization of energy storage; new ways to value and distribute solar electrons; and integration with the internet of things. We'll also discuss the winning politics of PV in Washington.This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.Have a question for us? Record some audio on your phone or computer and send it to podcasts@greentechmedia.com.Recommended reading and watching:GTM: DOE Announces $105 Million in New Funding for Solar R&DGTM: To Become Truly Mainstream, Solar Will Need to Cost 25 Cents per Watt by 2050YouTube: A Brief History of Photovoltaics With Charlie GaySubscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.