Hey #cleantechers, this week we’re back with part two of our conversation with Soluna Computing CEO John Belizaire. John’s current company is building modular green data centers that run on renewable energy. And though he just turned 50, John has already sold two companies.

We can’t say it enough: the Inflation Reduction Act is a landmark moment for our climate, and the clean economy and homeowners stand to benefit. When the bill was first passed, Tigercomm’s whiz researcher Jamie Meckley compiled a list of explainers for us to read. We know we’re still trying to make sense of the way these funds will be allocated, so we’re sharing that list with you in case it’s useful in your own research.

I had the pleasure recently of talking with Joseph Batir, host of the Energy Transition Solutions podcast.

Joe and I talked about:

- Why I’ve found that working in the private sector is easier than working in politics or the nonprofit world via more rationalized client motives (4:25).

- It’s also more satisfying from a client-impact standpoint, because “You cannot sit at an environmental group and regulate the coal industry into sustainability. Some industries simply have to go. They cannot be kept around. Some industries like cement making can be made much more sustainable.” (13:00)"

- How few clean economy sectors are new industries because they’re not directly disrupting incumbents (13:59) and how disrupted incumbents push back hard through our form of legalized corruption known as campaign contributions. They do that instead of just handing over market share and going willingly out of business (15:19) “The disrupted are constantly reacting to the disruptors and the disruptors must manage that with fewer resources than the disrupted have.”

- Why B2B companies’ default reliance on jargony content hurts their sales and violates the Richard Branson rule of narrative simplicity “Any fool can complicate something. It takes a master to simplify it.” (27:10) and why your marketing collateral should be able to pass the “supermarket checkout test” (29:50) because it accommodates the reality that humans make emotional decisions first in order to make a rationale decision (31:27).

Episode 10: Active Listening and Grit with John Belizaire (Part 1)

Hey #cleantechers, ever hear about someone and feel at least a little bit awed by what they have accomplished in their lives? Well, we’ve got one of those folks featured in this episode of Scaling Clean.

We finally have the full-length video of our quarterly roundtable of cleantech journalists, which was held from the stage at RE+. Thanks to our friends at the trade show.

In the weeks ahead, we’ll produce a few excerpt videos. Each one will focus on a particular part of this discussion.

Thanks to our panelists:

We've got another great roundtable on the books. Below are our big three takeaways of the conversation.

1. The perception of green hydrogen as a climate solution is rapidly shifting towards positive.
2. While we wait for a national-level transmission buildout, the US would do well to consider alternatives like microgrids and community solar, home systems, and investing in R&D for potential new solutions.
3. Will the momentum of the IRA and record attendance at RE+ carry us through the next 5 years? Our participants had varying opinions, but we see a promising trend of clean energy turning into a business issue rather than a culture war issue.

Thank you again to our great roundtable guests:
Marie Burgquist of the Watts Up Podcast
Bill Nussey of Tech Square Ventures
Tim Montague of Clean Power Hour
Joshua Porter of Solarcoaster.co
Julia Pyper of GoodLeap
Gil Jenkins of Hannon Armstrong

I look forward to hearing your coverage as our post-IRA world unfolds and hope to see you again for our 7th podcasters cleantech roundtable.

I got to talk with Renewable Energy World’s John Engel about our recent paper, “We’re the People We’re Waiting For,” along with SOLV Energy CEO George Hershman. I loved what George said, and I encourage you to listen to at least his half of the episode. 

Tigercomm talks a lot about improving social media strategies for cleantech companies to compete with incumbent fossil fuel interests. We’ve worked with a strategic SEO agency, Rampiq, for the past few years on our own site and are continuously impressed with the results. We’ve asked Rampiq to write a guest article explaining how clean economy companies can use SEO to boost brand recognition, sales, and the visibility of their products.