AREDAY 2012: Renewable Energy Access for All

AREDAY is now a project of the newly formed not-for-profit, American Renewable Energy Institute, Inc. (AREI). The development of the Institute moves the AREDAY Summit beyond a yearly conference.  According to Chip Comins Founder & CEO, “AREI now provides an umbrella under which we can continue the active interchange we initiate at the yearly AREDAY Summits.The Institute gives us the ability to showcase innovative solutions and visions as well as to assist in creating action plans that will move society rapidly into implementing a clean energy future.”

Moving forward on the heels of the successful 2011 Summit, AREDAY will take to the road with events at both the Republican National Convention this coming August in Tampa and then on to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC in September. Comins is determined to open a non-partisan dialogue with both parties about the critical importance and opportunities available for job creation in the emerging new energy economy, while at the same time encouraging conservation and respect for the environment.

These concepts were reinforced at the 2011 Summit by change agents who are leading implementation of these principals in the US. According to Tom Steyer, AREDAY speaker and Founder of San Francisco-based hedge fund Farallon Capital Management, “What I learned in working against the potentially devastating Proposition 23 in California is that people care about the environment and want to be employed.We can accomplish both ends. We are the new economy – we are the new jobs – we are the jobs of the future.”

Tony Malkin, owner of the Empire State Building completed a green retrofit of one of the most iconic buildings in the world with the help of Rocky Mountain Institute Founder, Amory Lovins. Both were on a 2011 AREDAY panel. Lovins said of Malkin, “Tony is not just in this to make money on building but to improve the whole industry, the country and the planet. He is capable of going up to a competitor in this very aggressive New York City setting and saying,” I made more money than you did last year with energy efficiency and integrative design. I would like to help you do it. I have made my whole process transparent and available.”  While Malkin insists, “energy retrofit jobs are local and typically with benefits.” 

In addition to bringing together front line change agents, thought leaders and social architects, the AREDAY Summits have made their mark by initiating collaborative and dynamic working groups which turn dialogues into actionable outcomes on the world stage.As a founding partner of the World Climate Summit with Richard Branson’s Carbon War Room, Comins and Sally Ranney, President of the Board, brought Ted Turner in to assist in kicking off this platform where public/private partnerships were encouraged to work together for climate change solutions. AREDAYwas also instrumental in introducing the Gigaton Prize, known as the ‘Oscars’ of sustainable business practices, at the 2010 World Climate Summit.

AREI is in the process of developing a road map with many more of the recommendations that came out of the 2011 AREDAY Summit. The formation of AREI will help launch the existing American Climate and Energy Literacy Initiative (ACELI) into a larger arena. A collaborative partnership with the Climate Literacy Network,it brings together educators, media personalities and filmmakers to inform communities about climate change. the ACELI program and the on -going speaker series and working toward the implementation of the ACTMarket (American Clean Technology Market).

AREI is also a supporter of the Climb for Conservation Initiative with AREDAY VP and Green Girl Minute, Ginna Kelly. http://climbforconservation.org/.  Highlighting women leaders in the environmental and climate change movements, several high profile women, including Mariel Hemmingway, NASCAR driver and "Carbon-free Girl, Leilani Munter and Julienne Stroeve, PhD and ice research scientist, NSIDC, and mountaineer will climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to raise money for conservation efforts and bring attention to the devastating effects climate change is having on the tallest mountain in the world.