How can I promote a clean energy future?

I read a lot of articles about clean energy. I'm sure if you're reading this, you probably do too. Every day my head is swirling with new advancements here, and new initiatives there, so I thought I would take a few minutes and lay out my thoughts on what I personally can do to help the world reach 100% clean energy, and what you can do too if you want to attain the same goal.

Admit we have a problem!!!

If we all just carry on blindly with our lives not making any changes, then nothing will happen. Sure we need big corporations and governments to buy in to the fact that things have to change, but we must remember, big companies make what their consumers are asking for and Governments get voted out if they are not doing what the voting public asks for. So really it starts with you and me!

Here we go then, I'm Dave Smith, and I believe we have a problem with fossil fuels we need to do something about.

Shout it from the rooftops

Not everyone has the chance to be involved in the clean energy industry and not everyone gets the chance to read the articles that we (my LinkedIn network) get to read telling us about recent developments. In fact, I would say we are among the few who do get to keep abreast of developments.

I think therefore, it is up to us to spread the news to everyone we know. Sharing what needs to happen for us to get where we need to get to, and what actions we can all take to drive the change.

I personally spend a decent amount of time trying to push this message on LinkedIn, but I am now just realising that I am promoting this message to people like you who already have a vested interest in this industry, and probably have decent access to all the same information I consume daily. I should be utilizing my other personal (non-professional) social media platforms to forward the same message, and perhaps so could you?

Let's all take an action to share some of this knowledge with our loved ones, family, friends and acquaintances. Future clean energy affects them as much as it does us, so we should share the knowledge we gain from our industry and encourage them to take action too.

Practice what you preach...

Like I said in above, big companies and governments aren't going to change unless we tell them to. So how do we tell them we want them to change?

One simple way is to VOTE. If you are not happy with a government that constantly rolls back environmental rules or does things that promotes dirty fuels instead of clean energy, then vote for a different government.

Another simple action we can take is to make choices about what we buy. The energy Star program is incredibly well known now, but there are other choices. Most of us probably have the choice to pay for clean electricity from our power provider. If enough of us do this, power companies will see their consumers desire clean energy. Or maybe go one step further and put solar panels on the roof of your home if you can?

We also have the choice to buy and drive an electric car. Car manufacturers and big oil companies will not see how much we want clean energy and start developing the technology and infrastructure (charging stations or alternative fueling stations) to get us there unless we show them this is what we want. We do that with consumer power. We buy the cleanest things we can with the currently available technology, they then make more of the clean stuff and less of the bad stuff, and the journey continues.

Support the drivers of change

There are thousands of organisations working on clean energy projects. From non-profit organisations to governments to for-profit companies. I would say, unless you have a job in the field working for a government or a for-profit company, the best way to get involved is to support a non-profit organisation.

These non-profits require funding, often from thousands of small money donors like you and I. So donating is always an option, but it doesn't have to be the only one. There are other ways we can all get involved, from donating laptops or other equipment, joining a community, signing petitions, to just spreading the word on social media. These organisations are always looking for help.

One good place to find a list of organisations is on the EPA website, however a quick google search will bring up hundreds of organisations for you to choose from.

https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/green-power-partnership-related-programs-organizations

What next?

Well for me, I'm going to start using my personal social media to spread the word about clean energy, but I'm also going to choose green energy from my power provider. The next car I buy will either be a hybrid, or better yet an electric car, and I am going to look at the potential of putting solar panels on my roof.

From a career side of things, I am going to do everything I can to get involved in the green energy initiatives my company (Wartsila) is working on (alternative fuels, fuel cells, hybrid ships, Power To X etc.)

What about you? What will be your first step? I look forward to hearing what you're doing, so join my network and send me a message!