FOR RELEASE: May 5, 2015
Contacts: Shelly Baron, 501-537-0190 or shelly@arkansasadvancedenergyfoundation.org
Steve Patterson, 501-537-0190 or steve@arkansasadvancedenergyfoundation.org
Adam Browning to Examine Why Solar Energy Boom has Bypassed Arkansas
Little Rock, AR – Adam Browning, Co-Founder of Vote Solar, is the next guest speaker hosted by the Arkansas Advanced Energy Foundation (AAEF) in its series to promote innovations and developments regarding advanced energy technologies, the organization announced today.
The luncheon event is scheduled Thursday, June 4 at the Heifer Village Conference Room, 1 World Avenue, Little Rock, from 11:30am – 1:00pm. There is no fee and lunch will be provided. However, seating is limited and advance RSVP is required by May 29.
Incredible price reduction and business innovation have led to rapid growth of the solar industry nationwide creating more than 31,000 jobs in 2014 and millions of dollars in sales. However, in terms of growth in residential and commercial renewable energy systems, this economic development has largely bypassed Arkansas. AAEF Invited Browning to address how more Arkansas consumers can experience the freedom to generate their own energy.
Since Browning helped form Vote Solar in 2001, the non-profit advocacy group has engaged in state, local and federal campaigns to remove regulatory barriers and implement key policies needed to bring solar to scale. Arkansas has some policies in place to facilitate small-scale renewable energy, yet many barriers remain and only about 320 renewable energy facilities are installed to date across the state.
“Solar photovoltaic power may well be the present and the future of electricity generation because it has no moving parts, requires no fuel and is 100% carbon free,” said Steve Patterson, Executive Director of AAEF. “Adam is a national leader in moving solar power into the mainstream and we are privileged to bring him before the state’s energy community to share the economic good news story that has accompanied solar development.”
A recent report by David Roberts of Vox.com published in the AAEA Newsletter on May 1 predicted that if energy keeps evolving roughly along the paths that are visible now, the unique properties of solar PV will eventually propel it to dominance in the global market. “We will find that in energy, as in so many other human systems, distributed power works better, to more people’s advantage, than the concentrated kind,” Roberts said.
Adam Browning has become an inspirational figure in the global effort to switch to clean, renewable energy sources like the sun. Following college, Browning served two years in the Peace Corps working on the west coast of Africa, and then worked eight years for the Environmental Protection Agency where he won the Agency’s top award for pollution prevention. He co-founded Vote Solar after a successful effort to pass a clean energy revenue bond in San Francisco. Vote Solar played an important role in many of the early programs that catalyzed solar market growth in the US, and now has 15 staff in offices around the country.
AAEF is the educational affiliate of the Arkansas Advanced Energy Association (AAEA). The Foundation promotes greater public understanding of advanced energy in Arkansas through research, public education programs and economic and workforce development. AAEA is the business voice of advanced energy in Arkansas and is dedicated to growing Arkansas’s economy through the increased development, manufacture, and utilization of advanced energy technologies.
Members of the media are encouraged to attend: Please contact Shelly Baron at (501) 537-0190, (501) 655-2243 or shelly@arkansasadvancedenergyfoundation.org.
Why Not Here? Can Arkansas Join the Solar Energy Boom?
June 4, 2015
11:30 am – 1 pm
Heifer Village Conference Room
1 World Avenue, Little Rock
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Arkansas Advanced Energy Association is a business group dedicated to growing Arkansas’s economy by expanding our energy workforce and manufacturing base through the increased development, manufacture, and utilization of advanced energy technologies. www.arkansasadvancedenergy.com
The Arkansas Advanced Energy Foundation is the educational affiliate of the AAEA. The Foundation promotes greater public understanding of advanced energy in Arkansas through research, public education programs and economic and workforce development. The Foundation is dedicated to informing the energy policy debate with well-researched, fact-based data on the advanced energy economy in Arkansas and by providing a public forum where state leaders can address Arkansas’s energy challenges for the future. www.arkansasadvancedenergyfoundation.org
Report Shows Economic Impacts of Advanced Energy in Arkansas
A report released in January 2015 by the Arkansas Advanced Energy Foundation (AAEF) shows that 25,000 Arkansans are working in the state’s advanced energy sector, with a total impact on the Arkansas economy of $2.8 billion in output. “The Economic Impact of Advanced Energy in Arkansas: A Survey of Business Activity in 2014” can be viewed or downloaded at www.arkansasadvancedenergyfoundation.org
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