Rational Cause for Optimism

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 blog 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.

by Co-Founder Phil Coupe
 

To provoke our deepest ambition in pursuit of a better future, my co-founders and I launched ReVision Energy in 2003 with a mission to “transition northern New England from a fossil fuel-based economy to a sustainable, renewable-energy based economy.” The enormity of this task felt almost delusional at the time, but we reminded ourselves that prior to the late 1800s, humanity had expanded globally for thousands of years without the energy dense coal, oil, and gas that has powered (and polluted) the world for the past 150 years.

A ReVision solar hot water system from the early 2000s.The naysayers were mostly right 22 years ago about the plausibility of a clean energy transition - at the time, photovoltaic (solar electric) systems were inefficient and exorbitantly expensive, heat pumps did not work in cold weather climates, and electric vehicles were almost nonexistent. Solar hot water was the only cost-effective solution available in those early days, empowering us to shut down oil boilers, which were completely inefficient during the non-heating season. It was just a drop in the ocean of fossil fuel consumption, but better than nothing. 

Thanks to accelerating technological progress, gradually increasing government incentives, and early adopters who were willing to invest in early-stage clean energy technologies, the tools necessary to abandon fossil fuels have reached the point where societal decarbonization is possible. Over the past two decades, solar electricity has become the cheapest form of power in history, heat pumps have become effective to –15 degrees, and there are now more than 590 EV models on the market worldwide. 

In New England, the impact of 20+ years of solar deployment is cutting daytime electricity demand at the regional utility grid scale: there were more than 100 days in 2024 when customers used more electricity from the grid at night than during the day. Prior to 2018, this had never occurred during a single day in any year. 

I’ve mentioned this before, but it deserves repeating: in 2024, California powered 100% of its electricity grid with wind, solar, hydro, and batteries for a portion of the day for 132 days, reducing gas consumption by 25% compared to 2023. 

National installations of solar electric systems last year reached nearly 220 gigawatts of capacity, which is enough to power more than 37 million households. 

Co-Founders Bill Behrens and Phil Coupe in the early ReVision days.These clean energy milestones were literally unimaginable when we started tinkering with solar hot water in a Midcoast Maine garage so many moons ago, inspiring us to evolve our business and our mission as times and technology have drastically changed. 

In response to the myriad problems caused by 8 billion people trying to get by in this rapidly changing world, we updated our mission to: “Make Life Better by Building Our Just and Equitable Electric Future.” With so many people facing injustice, inequity, hunger, and poverty, we see a vast need to change the systems that are holding so many down. This is why ReVision Energy became a Certified B Corp in 2015, and a 100% employee-owned company in 2017. 

Despite the monumental societal challenges before us, we think it’s rational cause for optimism that the clean energy transition continues to gain momentum. In 2003 we installed 12 solar hot water systems in Maine, total, with a team of four employees. In 2024 we installed 2,028 clean energy systems (solar electric, heat pumps, battery storage, EV chargers) in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire with a team of 470 employee-owners. Our 2024 installations alone will offset more than 28 million pounds of carbon pollution — meaningful and measurable progress toward our goal of making life better by improving air quality and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. In the energy realm, lowest cost and highest efficiency are the strongest forces driving innovation and adoption; thankfully the laws of physics dictate that renewable energy combined with hyper-efficient electric appliances will always be cheaper and cleaner than coal, oil, and gas.