Association of Energy Engineers

21 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 still carbon-based, has fewer emissions than coal. “So, is it natural gas? Is it nuclear? Is it green hydrogen, which certainly has tremendous potential and is getting lots of development and we’re making great progress? But it’s still very expensive at this current time,” Kent says. “So our challenge is not are we going to get to a clean energy future, but during the transition [to using that energy], but how do we have some baseline baseload to ensure that we have a reliable supply?” One solution is energy storage. Kent uses batteries as an example to store solar and wind energy but adds that it’s currently not cost-effective on such a large scale. “So how do we get from where we are to 100 percent renewable and ensure that we have a reliable baseload?” he posits. “I think that is a big challenge we are all faced with. Having good targets and mandates is great, but we need to have a good transition because I would submit that whether it’s a factory or a building, a school or an individual home, what people want most is to keep the power on. No one wants to lose power.” AEE’s goal is for our members to engage with policymakers and funding agencies to ensure we all work together to help develop a good transition plan toward a clean and sustainable future. Kent states that AEE can help by sharing best practices and capacity building. He also hopes to see more workforce development in these critical areas. “As we continue to focus on a clean future, we need a strong workforce, and it needs to be a competent workforce trained in energy efficiency and renewables and grids,” Kent says. A key challenge area of focus for equity is bringing clean energy solutions to underserved and disadvantaged communities. So that’s our challenge and one of our focuses, in addition to just continuing to make a maximum impact from the energy efficiency work that our members do,” Kent concludes.