ANALYSIS
5 REASONS WHY THE 100% CAMPAIGN FOR CLEAN ENERGY WILL FIND The Solutions Project is a social enterprise whose goal is to make clean energy more accessible and affordable for all SUCCESS IN 2014, IT launched the 100% Campaign, a public awareness, consumer choice and social good campaign that started in New York and is rolling out across the US. The purpose of this campaign is to hold activities, events and calls to action that drive demand
The Solutions Project has concrete targets
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For any organisation to be successful, its members need to be pulling in the same direction. To achieve this, the Solutions Project has been very specific about what its goals are and how it defines clean energy – definitions that are at the heart of the 100% Campaign’s actions. First and foremost, the Solutions Project’s goal is to see the world transition to 100 per cent clean, renewable energy by 2050 for all purposes. Defining clean energy as wind, water and sun, the organisation is adamant that it is entirely possible to meet the world’s energy needs using these three renewable resources. “Our definition is explicit about keeping oil in the ground and instead we advocate for tapping into those natural, renewable, hyper local sources of energy that don’t cause any pollution, don’t endanger our air and water and the land that we call home,” says Sarah Shanley Hope, Executive Director of the Solutions Project.
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INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION
and accelerate the growth of clean, efficient energy. After researching qualities that make campaigns successful, Rosemary Peters sums up why she thinks both the campaign and the Solutions Project will meet their goals.
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The organisation is rooted in strong scientific evidence Another aspect of successful campaigns is credibility. The 100% Campaign – and the wider Solutions Project itself – is credible because its goals are based in science. The roots of the organisation grow out of research that Professor Mark Jacobson from Stanford University did in 2009. With collaborators from University of California, Davis and Cornell University, Jacobson co-authored a plan to power the world for all purposes with renewable energies. The evidence from this research (which is supported by 12 other independent, peer-reviewed studies) shows exactly how humanity can transition to using 100 per cent clean, renewable energy for all purposes by 2050. These are facts that the organisation is happy to share through its two interactive maps. The first is a map that breaks down how energy should be distributed in 139 countries across the globe given their local renewable resources and using modern-day technological advancements. The second does the same, providing detailed plans for each of the 50 US states.
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The 100% Campaign appeals to people
It uses storytelling
from different groups of society
to make its points
When an organisation launches a campaign, the campaign needs to have a strong rallying cry – something that brings all the participants together. The 100% Campaign achieves this by making renewable energy inclusive, taking actions that cut across race, gender and nationality.
People are really bad at remembering facts and figures. However, one thing that we are really good at is remembering stories. Successful campaigns seize on this fact.
Hope stresses this fact: “That’s the first step to getting to 100 per cent clean energy – including everyone. Therefore, we are building cultural bridges, trying to find ways to engage people that don’t consider themselves environmentalists or activists in this energy transition. The bottom line is that the technology is available today, so are the solutions and actions that anybody could take.
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The 100% Campaign shows people why the cause benefits them personally Generally, campaigns that do well focus on motivating their audiences. This is because campaigns that focus on motivation also exude a sense of warmth, happiness and excitement, drawing people to them like moths to a flame. A major way that the 100% Campaign is motivating people is by showing them the personal benefits that clean, renewable energies can offer, both economically and socially. For example, the campaign often talks about how clean, renewable energy is helping individuals become independent from power companies through distributed power sources.
The 100% Campaign keeps storytelling at the centre of all that it does, spreading its message not by giving people numbers and statistics, but by sharing the stories of real people. For example, leading up to the final Hunger Games film, the campaign partnered with an organisation called the Harry Potter Alliance, which has helped hundreds of thousands of young people who are inspired by the young leaders in films like The Hunger Games to lead social change and action. “We’ve told the stories of real clean energy leaders making change happen not only in their own lives and in their own communities, but also at a systems level,” says Hope. Take the story of Krystal, for example. Krystal is a crew leader for an organisation called Grid Alternative, which brings solar and energy efficiency to low income families across a number of states in the US. In addition to enabling access to affordable clean energy to working families, they also employ people from the neighbourhood. “This piece tells a story where she’s the hero, and clean energy technology is just the tool that helps her win. That’s really a line with The Hunger Games theme: we’re not just telling Krystal’s story through that [trope], but the stories of young, clean energy warriors,” says Hope. “That is what is novel about the campaign; it’s how we – through culture – tell stories, celebrate the change that’s happening in the energy sector and build bridges so that a 100 per cent clean energy future is available to as many communities across the country as possible.”
It also talks about how renewable energies are helping communities thrive by creating jobs. “I grew up in Buffalo, New York – a post-industrial city,” shares Hope. “Manufacturing is returning to this city in the form of solar panels. A plant is going to be opening in Buffalo in the spring, offering up to 4,000 jobs. It is bringing manufacturing jobs back to a region that has been in economic decline for decades.
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