How far we’ve come. 

Thirty years of struggling, dreaming and shouting to be heard culminated in celebration this week in the nation’s capital, as young and old alike gathered to rejoice at the prospect of a progressive new era for our country. 

I’m not talking about race, by the way. I’m talking about the Green Inaugural Ball hosted by Al Gore which I attended on Monday evening, January 19th. 

Though there were two ‘green’ balls in DC over the weekend,‘mine’ was the one that should have been named the ‘green energy’ ball, because most of the folks there were in some way or other associated with renewables.Well over a generation after the first energy crisis, the Capital of the Free World finally threw a prom for the people who’ve been working to bring logic to the way America powers itself.   

Held in the enclosed central courtyard of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the Green Inaugural Ball saw 2200 people come out to celebrate green energy. Major sponsors included AWEA (the American Wind Energy Association), SEIA (the Solar Energy Industries Association), and the SierraClub. (See the full list of sponsors at the event’s website:greenball2009.org). The ball had everything you’d expect: tasteful tuxedos, busty ball gowns and lavish troughs of food and drink (the food was really quite good). Revelers were treated to an overhead screen projecting green-themed videos and information (the standard ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ kind of thing). Famous speakers included comedian Paul Reiser (of TV’s Mad About You, and whose hilarious New York style on stage gave the occasion a much need ‘don’t take yourself too seriously’ grounding) and, of course, Al Gore. Musical guests included Melissa Etheridge, Maroon 5, Will.I. Am, and John Legend. 

In short, the food was fantastic, the drinks were free and the music was great. Everyone was happy, hopeful and excited for the future.But there was much, much more. First, the negative: 

One:  Anyone who went through the wrong door to go to the bathroom had to wait in a line to get back in.  I’m told it took up to 45 minutes. At $250 per ticket, many folks became quite cross. (We managed to find the alternate route that allowed for multiple visits to the WC without need of a border crossing). Two: The front of the venue was cordoned off, keeping abou t85% of the attendees away from the stage and beyond the good amplification.Most speakers went unheard by those people behind the rope line. Who were the lucky few who made it to thefront of the stage? We never did find out. But the consensus among those of us in steerage was that they were probably employees of the sponsoring companies. 

That sucks. What’s with the whole creation of classes at an event to celebrate our industry’s coming of age? 

I stood next to a solar industry veteran with 30 years under his belt. He’s built solar systems around the world for everyone from the World Bank to foreign relief organizations. He’s forgotten more about solar power and the history of the industry than I’ll ever learn. (He’s a dear man who would never want his name used in a rant, so I won’t). The idea that young buck twenty-somethings could get closer to the stage than this solar soldier, just because they work for the right company, kind of rubbed me the wrong way. This guy can’t hear Al Gore speak, but junior gets to bounce to Maroon 5? Kind of lame. 

Anyhoo…now, the gossip: 

There was the Europe-based VC who told me about how BP is experiencing a brain drain in its clean energy area as it continues to dial down its activity in clean tech. He suspects BP may even be out of the PVbusiness quite soon. According to him, even with Lord Brown at the helm, therewere few internal champions willing to stake their careers at the company onrenewable energy. Now, there’s even fewer. 

(Anybody remember Shell Solar?) 

There was the private equity guy from New York, telling me about how few deals there really are out there. In his words, the big deals have low upside potential, the small deals are guys at the idea stage (or ‘science’,as he put it) and are mostly coming from guys in their bathrobes working out oftheir basements, and the middle deals just aren’t around. He had great insightabout his world, saying, “I invest money for rich people and organizations thatjust want a return. I’m under pressure to do more than live off my 2%...I needto make the deals happen, and we’re not seeing much. My investors don’tunderstand why we’re not doing more. We’ve got the cash, but there just isn’tmuch out there”. His feeling is that many of the folks who would normally besending him business plans are sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see how2009 will go. The most interesting part? His fund used to only invest in $100m+deals. Then two years ago (TWO years ago), deals got harder to find and theystarted a $20m to $99m category. Now they’ve opened a below $10m practice. Themore he drank, the more plaintive he got. “If you see any good B-plans outthere, keep me in mind,” he said, as he downed his last drink and made for the exit. 

There were the entrepreneurs, huddled together to discuss strategies going into 2009. We compared notes and talked shop, trading war stories about the 2008 fall selling season that wasn’t. “Green has got to be safer than general market right now,” said the owner of a new online green products store, seemingly to convince himself as much as us. 

There were the lawyers and ‘service providers’ (accounting firm folks, software providers, etc.) trolling with their business cards out, looking to get business with new companies in a new industry seen as a port in the storm. Lots and lots of lawyers. Can’t tell you how many lawyers there were. (Will someone please tell the law schools to shut down the assembly line for a while. We’re full). 

There was the environmental non-profit think tank staffer,excited about being called by an Obama staffer who was looking to learn moreabout an issue and get this person’s opinion. (“That’s never happened before!”she said). 

There was the green advocacy non-profit staffer, hoping against hope that nuclear doesn’t make its way into the mainstream of energy choices. (“Let’s spend the money it takes to build one nuclear plant and spendit putting  solar and small wind on everypublic school in the country.”) 

There was business being done between all sorts of folks.There were discussions about the stimulus package and what it means forrenewable energy. (Wanna know how much a particular lobbying firm tied to theClinton administration is charging to get companies tied to the stimuluspackage? $15 grand a month for three months—no guarantees but they will helpwith PR along with the PA. I was told they haven’t had as many takers as theywere expecting and may be putting together a ‘budget’ package). 

There was the  college student who was adamant about the need to rebrand renewable energy to distance it from interests using the phrase ‘clean tech’. (“Dude…people think coal and solar are the same thing!”). Goodpoint, dude. 

There were folks wondering if they can still get jobs withthe new administration—excited by the prospect of a new day in energy, butfreaked by the economy. Excited, but scared. 

I would have liked to have heard from or seen a shout out to industry veterans like Peter Varadi (who founded Solarex and sold it to BP), orAndy Kruse (founder of Southwest Windpower), or Scott Sklar (consultant to thestars and a man who knows more about renewable energy than anyone ever has orever will), or maybe Stan Ovshinsky at Unisolar or Mike Eckhart, who has built ACOREinto a force. Or how about  Jigar Shah(founder of SunEdison), Craig O’Connor (of the U.S. Export Import bank. He foundedthe renewable energy practice there and has helped U.S. Companies survive by helpingthem open export markets around the world), Terry Tamminen (former Secretary ofCalifornia’s EPA and the man who helped Arnold go green) or Andy Revkin, theNew York Times reporter who has written about global warming since the late1980s, and who has highlighted the renewable energy industry along the way. 

But this is DC, so you take what you can. 

Hey, we were all happy to party for the planet and be a part of the celebration. There was just so much excitement!  There was a fantastic sense of opportunity. People were happy. They were excited to beworking with, for or in an industry that means positive things for this countryand the world. And they feel momentum in this country for the idea of truly clean energy…renewable energy. 

How far we’ve come.