Thoughts on Solar by Run on Sun's Founder & CEO, Jim Jenal

Regular readers of this blog know that the solar industry has had a PR problem for a long time.  Indeed, part of the reason why we write this blog is to help counter some of those negative images and misinformation.  But now the Solar Energy Industry Association - SEIA - is urging the solar industry as a whole to fight back.  It’s about time.

SEIA has just released a new, two-and-a-half minute video ad highlighting the extent of the fossil fuel industry attack on renewables and calling on the industry, and our allies, to fight back. Here’s the video, check it out:

We have been SEIA members for a long time and fully support their efforts to rally the troops.  Let’s be serious - we are in an existential fight against forces that have vastly greater resources to bring to bear than we do.  What we have had on our side - and why the attack is so vitriolic and unrelenting - is the support of a huge majority of Americans.  But negative advertising works and we are being buried in a flood of negative ads.  If the industry doesn’t push back, in every way possible, we will be rolled - and our progress toward a more sustainable future will be rolled back, as well.

So, if you are in the industry, join SEIA.  Contribute to their PAC.  Add your story to their Solar Works for America campaign.   If you don’t have one already, start a blog.  Speak out on the issues important to this industry.  When you see a posting online that you know is false, reply and counter the falsehood.  If you see an article in the paper spewing the same misinformation yet again, write a letter to the editor (or do it online).  Be a vocal presence for this industry and defend it, every day.

And to our friends out there - clients and would-like-to-be clients - we need your help as well.  After all, for those of us in the industry it is true that our livelihoods are at stake, but none of us got into this business to become rich.  We did it because we thought we could make a living while working on something that would make the world better, one roof at a time.  Now we need you to raise your voices as well: when you hear people say solar isn’t real, or it isn’t affordable, or that there are no “green jobs” - you know better, and your enthusiastic contribution to the discussion carries great weight.

Without you, we cannot win.  Together, we cannot lose.

Let’s get in the game.