Making Renewable Energy More Popular

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The following is an editorial published in our second edition of The Beam, shipping soon. Order The Beam now.

Written by Anne-Sophie Garrigou (main author) and Zachary Shahan (with the seed idea coming from “We’ll Get What We Deserve“)

Political participation goes hand in hand with public knowledge. Making good decisions requires having correct and useful information. Being well informed, and being objective about the information we receive every day is important, especially today, when we have access to thousands of, more or less, reliable sources. An informed society can and will make the first steps towards implementing useful change.

I became a partner of The Beam because one of its major aims is to bring renewable energy to a much larger segment of the public – or, in other words, to make it popular. Without knowledge, we cannot make collective decisions, and in order to confront the large challenges we face, we need to make collective changes.

The Beam makes renewable energy public by selecting stories and conducting interviews that bring relevant global information to the public. Stories like “The Shift” and “Chile Investment Guide,” as well as interviews with Hans-Josef Fell, Cédric Philibert, and Steve Sawyer, are deeply insightful and interesting for readers. The Beam supports all the initiatives that promote and popularize energy issues. As the renewable energy market continues to grow and evolve at unprecedented speeds, we must keep alongside it and create a public, open, and informative sphere.

The right of access to public information is essential for the democratic functioning of our society and for the wellbeing of each citizen. The power of information should be available to everyone in order to allow for conscious decision-making. This is especially true in relation to sustainable development, renewable energy, and the future of our planet.

Of course, sometimes, so much information can blur the facts, leaving us in a fog of information. But it’s important to make relevant choices that make changes to our daily lives. The energy transition requires clear ideas and clarifying information in order to help people make decisions, to shift from consumerist habits to a more ecological way of life. CleanTechnica and The Beam work together to cut through the fog, to provide this clear path, and to present ideas and stories that provide better understanding to the public.

Absorbing so much renewable energy news on a daily basis, I’ve come to see that, while public interest in renewable energy and climate change has absolutely jumped leaps and bounds in the last few years compared to two decades ago, many people are still unaware of the opportunities from renewable energy, such as the decreasing cost of photovoltaic solar, the future opportunities that renewables can bring to our students, and how electric vehicles are transforming cities across the world. As Mike Thornhill mentions in “The Shift,” an article he wrote for The Beam, “we need to make people fully aware of the fact that climate change is not fictional. It’s happening now. And it’s difficult, once you are aware, to ignore it.”

We must continue to disseminate information, because only once citizens are fully aware do they take action. Global warming, the economy, clean energy, electric transport, foreign policy – whatever the subject you might be interested in, keep yourself well informed, participate in political or environmental actions, and make decisions that move us toward a more optimistic future.