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From our bird’s-eye view of the renewable energy industry, we often see positive developments for humanity before they become common knowledge. The purpose of this column is to highlight the clean energy innovations and sustainability actions that are legitimate cause for optimism despite the very real threats to people and the environment posed by climate damage.
‘Energy dominance’ has been a buzz phrase of the current U.S. administration, but energy chaos is the reality as costs for gasoline, oil, natural gas, and electricity lurch upward due to the Iran war, closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
‘The New Joule Order‘ is a more accurate phrase recently coined by Jeff Currie to describe how nations are accelerating renewable energy and electrotech investments to bolster national security and stabilize energy prices in the face of vulnerable fossil fuel supply chains, and extreme energy price shocks. (A ‘joule‘ is a unit of energy)
New England states are uniquely exposed to tectonic energy shifts because we import 100% of our oil and gasoline. We are forced to pay some of the highest prices in the U.S. as we have zero control over the supplies and global market forces that impact costs. The more we continue to over-rely on energy imports, the more exposed we are to volatility and supply disruptions (like the Strait of Hormuz), robbing us of energy security, independence, and resilience. Local, cost-effective renewables and electrotech (EV’s, heat pumps, battery storage) are gaining traction as the most powerful solutions to this problem.
“It’s a great feeling knowing you don’t have to worry anymore about energy issues around the world. I have enough going on in my life. Not having to worry about energy and gas prices is an amazing feeling.”— Tim G., ReVision Energy Solar Champion
Geography matters when it comes to the viability of renewable resources to supplant fossil fuels. Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts are fortunate to be at a relatively sunny latitude (same as Monaco on the French Riviera) and our region has been described as the ‘Saudi Arabia’ of wind due to strong offshore and mountaintop breezes.
At scale, electricity generated by wind and solar have become the cheapest form of power, and they can be deployed faster than any other source of new generation. These two facts enable local communities to derive a strong economic return from solar and wind investments while increasing local energy independence, security, and cost control.
In the New Joule Order, solar and wind are not just intermittent hedges against utility rates and liquid fuels; they are increasingly efficient generation assets that can be paired with electrotech to deliver systemic resilience and stability.
As Chief Strategy Officer of Energy Pathways at global investment firm Carlyle, Currie notes in his New Joule Order investment thesis that energy security has overtaken climate concerns as the primary force driving the renewable energy transition. Nations around the world are hastening the adoption of renewable energy and electric technologies as the most effective strategy to protect themselves from the price volatility and supply instability of fossil fuels. Confirming Currie’s perspective is the fact that in 2025 global investors put $2.3 trillion into clean energy and $1.1 trillion into fossil fuels.
Through its relentless attacks on renewable energy, vociferous support for fossil fuels, and climate disinformation, the Trump administration has pushed environmental concerns off the stage. Simultaneously, the administration has dramatically increased demand for renewable energy and electrotech, both domestically and abroad, by inflicting global energy price shocks and supply disruptions through the Iran war.
“We are so grateful to be retiring with a budget that does not include any gas, oil, or electricity, and no contribution to the wars we fight over oil supply. The only contributions we want to make are the ones that slow the changes in our climate.”— Beth M., ReVision Solar Champion
We see cautious, rational cause for optimism in the truth that local renewable energy paired with hyper-efficient electrotech has become the most cost-effective and resilient antidote to the fundamental weaknesses of fossil fuels. Oil and gas are finite and depend on increasingly fragile supply chains in a destabilizing world; they are extremely hard and energy intensive to forage and transport; on a vast scale they are gravely damaging the environment we all depend upon for survival. We would never choose murderous geopolitical conflicts as the pathway to an energy transition, but we are secure in the knowledge that the future belongs to energy systems that are local, renewable, financeable, and fast to deploy. Welcome to the New Joule Order powered by an unstoppable Electrotech Revolution.
“Sunshine doesn’t have to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.”— Vermont-based climate activist Bill McKibben
