I’m currently working on publishing a print magazine for my business. In the age of social media and digital publishing it’s a curious project to embark on, but I think the death of traditional publishing has been oversold. Rather than dying, I think it’s just changing. It’s not about actually delivering news, it’s more like a big, huge Christmas card / love letter we’re writing to anyone who cares enough to pay attention to us. It’s been a great excuse to connect with the people who are important to me and think about what the company values. Most of all, it has been fun.

The bigger lesson? Some really great stuff gets lost if we exist solely in the virtual world. Besides print magazines, here are the two low-tech vehicles for building quality relationships in 2011:

1. Hand-written letters. When was the last time you got, or wrote, a really good letter? It can be unforgettable.
2. Face-to-face events. Cleantech Kingpins was a genius idea and I’m hopeful that Chris will get that going again in 2011. I met new people and built on existing relationships in a way that you need eye-contact for.

Writing this post will probably get me kicked out of the GLD Insiders for being too old. But I’m not advocating that you give up social media or blogging. It’s just that sometimes the only way to stand out is to put on a turtleneck. I encourage you to give it a try in 2011.

I’d love to hear from anyone with print magazine publishing advice, or other low-tech ideas for standing out.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

None of the principals had a business background, so Cambridge Alternative Power Company operated unprofitably for years, running on cash from investors and a growing top line.  Sales peaked in 1985 when a 60% federal tax credit for solar hot water systems made the investment a no-brainer for most homeowners.  They were selling truckloads of solar panels through a well-coordinated direct sales channel.

Then the tax credits went away and Capco’s sales of solar modules went from $2M to zero overnight.  The loss of revenue forced the owners to confront the harsh reality that they had been losing money all along.  It took the insight from a key mentor and some real courage for the principals to face the facts, and it was this humbling process that ultimately led the company to a better place.

Today Capco Energy Supply is a profitable, well respected plumbing supply house in Woburn, MA.  Their customers are some of the most trusted contractors in the plumbing and heating industry.  They work with manufacturers who sell cutting edge, high-efficiency products that the right customers can get excited about.  That success might not have been possible without learning those early lessons.

I loved this interview with Tim, and think it’s a timely message for a few reasons:

1. The upcoming elections have huge implications for energy policy and this story sounds eerily familiar.  Lots of investors have taken stakes in clean energy companies and ‘green jobs’ and ‘new energy economy’ are phrases that get thrown around a lot.  Tim’s sober message seems obvious when you listen to it, but I think it’s a good reminder for us all to get back to basics.
2. It’s ultimately a message of hope.  I think a lot of business owners can relate to the hard times, but it’s good to remember that you can rebound from failure.  Tim did that with Capco, and I hope his story inspires others who face significant challenges to do the same.
3. There are great business lessons embedded in the story.  If all business owners can learn these fundamentals and apply them, our industry is going to thrive.

Thanks again to Tim Malarkey for sharing his story.  I hope a few people find it as interesting as I do.

This story was originally posted on HeatSpring’s Blog

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This past week I asked that question to a lot of smart people on my trip to Connecticut.  I attended three events in three days: 1) a Solar Connecticut member meeting, 2) a Solar PV certification training, and 3) a Geothermal heat pump certification course.  Here’s what I heard:

• Last year a comprehensive energy bill passed the state house and senate, only to be vetoed by Governor Jody Rell because her advisers told her it would cost too much.  The bill would have been a huge win for the solar industry, so the group is watching to see who the new Governor is.  The group resolved to pass something in the coming year.

• Senator John Fonfara, the biggest supporter of solar in the CT State Senate, said, “contrary to popular belief, not everybody’s supportive of progressive energy policy.  A lot of people think it will cost too much.  We need to be thinking differently about where we put our resources and how we communicate the importance of the bill in the coming session.”
• Lobbyist Michael Dugan, a key figure in getting a solar energy bill through the House and Senate last year, gave the Solar CT members this advice, “Stay positive in all your communication.  Somebody who doesn’t agree with you now may come to your side down the road, but won’t if you’ve treated them badly.”  I thought that was good advice for life, too.
• The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund has only spent 20% of the money they allocated for solar thermal projects.  Soon they will increase the incentive by 70% to ‘sweeten the pot’ because they’re on the hook to spend the money fast.
• Northeast Utilities geothermal program is gaining popularity.  “The majority of new homes in Connecticut are putting geothermal in” according to a representative from Connecticut Light & Power.
• The growth of the PV industry has slowed a bit, which has caused some big, national installers to exit the market temporarily.  Local contractors say projects are still happening, but the market has tightened as rebates have stepped down.

The trend I kept stumbling over was the fact that all the energy and debate are going into government and politics.  I’m someone who’s always avoided getting involved in policy, but it feels like you really can’t do that and stay relevant these days.  Any career changers I talk to lately, I’m urging them to look for policy and government positions that will put them in powerful positions as this phase of economic recovery plays out.

Interesting enough to warrant future trips to Connecticut, or should I try to stay more focused on Boston for GLD?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Inspired by the eloquent presenters at the GLD Cleantech Kingpins event on July 22nd, I decided to implement some much-needed energy efficiency measures on my own house.   First I invited my neighbor, a BPI certified auditor, to come over with his blower door and duct blaster to find the issues.  We discovered my house has a decent envelope but leaky ducts.  So air sealing and insulating the ductwork was job #1.  Seemed simple enough.

Eight hours later, after losing 15 pounds in the hot attic, I had developed a cough from inhaling fiberglass and had created a mess in the upstairs bedroom below the attic hatch.  My wife was completely unimpressed with the ‘huge improvements’ that could be neither seen nor felt.

I’m tremendously proud of the work we did, but worry about how appealing it is for contractors.  How can they demonstrate their tremendous value if the homeowner doesn’t care to hear about mastic duct sealant or UL 181 rated tape?  When people say ‘energy efficiency isn’t sexy’ they’re not just saying that.  It’s the truth.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

‘The Company We Keep’ is part business book, part manifesto, part love story.  John sent me the book a couple weeks before I was to drive out to Martha’s Vineyard for an interview with South Mountain Company.  I was graduating from the MBA program at Babson College, knew I wanted to be part of the sustainability movement, and sensed there was some magic in this small building company.  I didn’t put the book down for the next week.  John is a talented writer, and in the book he challenges the ‘gospel of growth’, outlines the benefits of employee ownership, celebrates craftsmanship, and articulates the importance of place.  He made me want to be a better person and a more thoughtful professional.

Ultimately I decided to start a business rather than take a job so I didn’t go to work for South Mountain Company, but that brief interaction with the company changed the course of my professional life.  Have you ever had a brief experience like that, or an influential teacher, or an internship during a formative time that you’ll never forget?  I’d love to hear comments with those stories.

I’m also writing this post because John is part of a group of established professionals that have 30 years of experience from which to teach the younger, Green Light Distrikt crowd.  These are active guys in the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) with an unbelievable wealth of knowledge and perspective that might be helpful to some of us starting out.  Here’s John’s blog, which might be another useful source of information as we all triangulate toward the truth.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Once we get over that fact, we can move on to the good news: companies are hiring and there are more opportunities in renewables and energy efficiency than ever.  The Great Recession that we’re either emerging from or still buried in has caused an subtle paradigm shift in employment in the construction industry that is not that complicated to understand once you see it.  Consumer preferences are changing but companies are risk adverse, so there’s more contract work, lots of temporary positions, and entrepreneurship is a necessary option sometimes.  The opportunities are there, they just aren’t packaged with a corner office and a pension.

I know many people who have gotten green jobs and there will be many, many more in the months and years ahead.  So lets not let the inevitable Green Jobs backlash distract us from the exciting changes that are slowly but surely taking place.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Most of my friends have never heard of Mass SAVE, but my good friend Tom signed up for a Mass SAVE energy audit.  The auditor spent half an hour in his place, promised big rebates, and Tom agreed to have weatherization and insulation work done.  Four weeks later (two days before the scheduled work), Tom got a call from a customer service representative informing him that he no longer qualified for the rebate and would have to spend an extra $1700 out-of-pocket.  “Never mind.”  Said Tom.

Let’s assume the end goal is an enormous wave of energy efficiency retrofits.  Looking at that end goal from an entrepreneur’s perspective, regardless of your political views, isn’t the current setup in Massachusetts almost comically bad?  And MA has one of the best programs in the country.

I think there’s a fear of spending the money too fast and administering a huge program like that is clumsy.  There’s always a balance between wanting to spend the money and fear of spending it badly.  I think fear is winning.  We need to find alternate routes around these programs and not rely on them to fix everything.

Here’s a thought exercise: How might Walmart make energy efficiency easy and affordable for homeowners?  I know Walmart is evil, but what might they get right that we’re currently getting wrong?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

What is demand response?  In this case, CL&P will begin offering rebates for customers to install special meters and switches in their homes that allows the utility to shut off certain appliances when the grid is being pushed, by pushed I mean the demand for electricity is almost more than supply.  The obvious example of this is on a hot summer day when everyone is running their air conditioner.  In exchange for a lower electricity rate, customers that opt in will allow the utility to shut off their equipment during these peak times.  Companies like EnerNoc do this on a commercial and industrial scale.

How much of a discount will customers get?  How often will appliances be shut down?  When will the program roll out?  None of those answers were available to me, but I was encouraged to see this kind of program happening on a residential level.  It’s bound to open up new business opportunities and I’m happy to see some tangible evidence of the much-hyped smart grid.  Way to go Northeast Utilities!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

With huge money flowing through ‘Cash for Caulkers’ (or HomeStar), Massachusetts DOER, and the utility companies to promote building efficiency, we should have a huge reduction in energy consumption and lots of new jobs soon, right?  Right?

Maybe.

Phil Giudice, Commissioner of MA DOER said that policy makers on the state and federal level are worried about the scalability of this massive national effort.  As he put it, “there is a tremendous amount of building science that goes into basic weatherization projects.”  It takes years to develop the craftsmanship and skill it takes to become a great building performance contractor.  There are a finite number of people qualified to do this work, and right now that number isn’t big enough.

But it’s not just the contractors.  Homeowners and building owners need to be motivated to participate.  The early adopters have already raised their hands – now we’re trying to convert the masses and it’s going to take a herculean effort to educate this enormous group.

So here are the two questions everyone is dying to answer:

1. How do we motivate building owners (both residential & commercial) to invest their time and energy into making their building more efficient?
2. How can we make sure the money we spend on building efficiency pays off?

I’d love to hear thoughtful responses to these questions…

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

So What?

Policy conversations about climate change, energy independence, and job creation are all converging on this single initiative.  The pieces are in place for a huge amount of money to flow through the building efficiency value chain and there are still plenty of holes to be filled.  Somebody has to execute and make all of this happen.  If you have an interest in building efficiency there may never be a better time to get actively involved.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.