Here Comes the Sun - A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization

“Here Comes the Sun - A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization” is environmental activist, prolific columnist and award-winning author Bill McKibben’s latest book.  Ironically, it’s his most optimistic.  After delivering countless well-researched and poignant works describing the causes and consequences of climate change - painting dire forecasts unless decisive action is taken - “Here Comes the Sun” offers rays of hope signs of progress.  He draws upon the overwhelming evidence that photovoltaics (solar electricity) has become the lowest cost form of electricity generation on the planet. Its adoption across the globe continues unabated, despite wild swings in US policy towards it.  China and southeast Asia’s widespread embrace of solar is playing a meaningful role in tempering their demand for fossil fuels amidst the war in Iran and the Middle East – thereby diminishing their prospective contribution to tensions and escalation of the conflict.  McKibben envisions a fundamental paradigm shift in our deeply ingrained energy systems from “burning” a limited resource, accessible through only the wealthiest of entities to electrifying them with an abundant resource available to all.   This dramatic shift in our energy supply chain represents profound societal changes where communities across the globe gain much greater agency over their energy resources and receive a greater share of the benefits.  Wealth can be more equitably distributed, de-fueling conflict while significantly reducing Greenhouse gases, setting the stage for a much cooler planet, literally and metaphorically.

“Here Comes the Sun” could be the manifesto for Beacon Climate (BCI’s) and the legions of other firms and institutions dedicated firms dedicated to the energy transition.  It shows that, with the rapid scaling of solar power, modern civilization has, remarkably, not yet missed a critical fork in the road.  One path is the continuing addiction on a grand scale to fossil fuels and the compounding environmental and societal ills it brings.  The other is a path of increasing renewable sources, energy storage and the intelligent use of energy in a reimagined, reinvented society focused on community.  McKibben is masterful in painting the background, describing the destination and detailing the amazing, yet often unheralded – even maligned, progress modern civilization has made toward the latter path.   It’s the type of clarion call that inspires and fuels BCI and the ecosystem in which we belong.

Despite all the progress made, there is still a hill to climb before the latter path becomes the one of least resistance and greatest gain.  There are numerous barriers to overcome but taken in the proper light they represent unprecedented opportunities for broad-based economic development and planetary revival. This is precisely the motivation for thriving climate-tech incubators like Greentown Labs where BCI is based.  BCI sees its role as helping to develop tools and resources that support communities building the necessary “muscle” to engage more deeply in the energy transition and gain greater agency over their local energy resources.  This endeavor is admittedly complicated by modern society’s 150-year addiction to fossil fuels.

Modern society’s understanding of energy remains diminutive.  Most take their convenient access to the benefits of energy for granted – their knowledge limited to tasks like flipping on the light switch and the filling the gas tank.  As a result, community-level energy engagement and planning muscles have long atrophied – leaving the controls and the benefits in the hands of a relative few. The good news is this same society has paradoxically created all the tools and the technology that, if reoriented towards the latter path, can overcome the barriers in our way.   While these tools include renewable energy and smart devices, they also encompass best practices for conquering addiction, “getting in shape”, data collection/analysis, facilitating inclusion and constructive community engagement... and yes, this also will involve the judicious use of social media and AI. The even better news is that there is rapidly growing acknowledgement of the problem, its causes and the need for decisive change.  Admittedly this heightened awareness is driven by soaring energy costs, threats to conventional energy infrastructure and disasters of increasing frequency/ferocity.  Still, it represents some of the first steps in overcoming addiction.

Whether it’s breaking a bad habit or adopting a healthy one, establishing agency is the key to success.  Gaining agency starts with knowledge and understanding.  From there one can build an optimal roadmap, assemble the resources, develop a framework and routine, track progress and act.  This process applies whether it is for an individual or community.  BCI believes every community: urban-rural, rich-poor, liberal-conservative - has an integral role to play and meaningful benefits to gain from the energy transition.  This belief creates a backdrop for our CEERUM community energy planning tool and the ecosystem that it nurtures.  For cities and towns with energy managers, advocates and/or consultants, we see CEERUM as a "force-multiplier" to engage more deeply with their constituents and reach well beyond municipal buildings and assets (less than 10% of municipalities’ energy profile).  The result is a dynamic, high-level planning resource that reduces community friction in its energy transition, uncovering opportunities to support local economic development, energy affordability, community resilience and decarbonization.  For towns without those positions, we see the platform as a low cost, low risk means for creating compelling conditions to create them.    

Bill McKibben and other thought leaders like authors Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson make compelling arguments that widespread and affordable access to abundant sources (which includes energy we don't need to use) of energy and energy management have arrived.  No longer does the Strait of Hormuz need to have a choke hold over the cost of getting from Oshkosh to Milwaukee.  We have not yet passed the fork in the road and the choice of which path to take remains at hand.  Beacon Climate and the vibrant climate-tech ecosystem in which we belong are dedicated to finding practical ways for communities across the country and social spectra to wean their dependency on fossil fuels and choose the path of agency and enduring benefits -local and planetary - for generations to come.

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Moneer Azzam

Principal, Beacon Climate Innovations