Episode 1.09 On Empowering Energy Champions with Katherine Lucey

10/26/21 • 51 min

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Energy access affects health, safety, and education. Seventy-five percent of Africa’s population live without access to modern energy, and women are affected the most.

Our guest this week is Katherine Lucey, who is bringing the light to communities in Africa – literally. Her non-profit organization, Solar Sister, recruits women in sub-Saharan Africa and trains them in business skills. This provides women opportunities to distribute clean energy in underserved, off grid communities and to generate income for themselves and their families.

When people can access clean, renewable energy, families are healthier, children can study longer, and communities are more stable.

I’m a huge fan of entrepreneurship and using business as a force for good - not only to support the planet and see more clean energy fueling our world, but to support actual humans with the revenues coming in from the business...and this is the ultimate holistic solution.
Quotables

“Going green is not just a luxury. In this case, going green is beneficial for economics, for health, for safety.”

“These women are transforming the lives of their communities. People who were lighting their homes with candles or kerosene now have clean energy, solar powered lights, home systems, clean cookstoves that they can use in their homes...The two big impacts are access to energy for the community, and the economic opportunity for women entrepreneurs.”

“From an equity point of view, it's women and children who bear the brunt of the negative impacts of climate change.”

“I think the inertia caused by our privilege is one of our biggest challenges.”

All above quotes by Katherine Lucey

This week’s guest

Katherine Lucey is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Solar Sister. Katherine is a Schwab Foundation Entrepreneur of the Year, an Ashoka Fellow, and a Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Entrepreneur. She has received recognition and awards for her work with Solar Sister including Forbes “50 Over 50 Women of Impact”, Clinton Global Initiative, Social Venture Network, C3E, and International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) Champion of Change Award.

She holds an M.B.A. from Georgia State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Georgia. Prior to becoming a social entrepreneur, Katherine spent over 20 years as an investment banker on Wall Street providing structured finance solutions to the energy sector.
Resources:

Book discussed: Donut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist by Kate Rayorth

Connect with Solar Sister on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Check out Solar Sister’s website.

If you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok.

Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!

Energy access affects health, safety, and education. Seventy-five percent of Africa’s population live without access to modern energy, and women are affected the most.

When people can access clean, renewable energy, families are healthier, children can study longer, and communities are more stable.

“Going green is not just a luxury. In this case, going green is beneficial for economics, for health, for safety.”

“From an equity point of view, it's women and children who bear the brunt of the negative impacts of climate change.”

“I think the inertia caused by our privilege is one of our biggest challenges.”

All above quotes by Katherine Lucey

This week’s guest

Book discussed: Donut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist by Kate Rayorth

Connect with Solar Sister on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Check out Solar Sister’s website.

If you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok.

Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!

Previous Episode

Episode 1.08 On Weaving a Narrative of Hope with Una Nowling

The path to a clean energy future is likely not a straightforward one, strewn with complexities. Luckily, engineers love unpacking complexity.

Our guest this week is Una Nowling, a study in paradox. Una is a fuels engineer who knows so much about coal, she has been nicknamed by colleagues and clients "The Coal Goddess." Even so, Una is relentlessly committed to decarbonization. She takes a refreshingly balanced approach to decarbonization and the clean energy transition, bringing the practical wisdom of over 30 years of experience in the energy industry.

During our conversation, we consider the complexity that we'll need to hold in order to make the transition -- reliability, new technology blending with old technology, grid stability, and the need for more evolution than revolution.

Note: Episode 1.04 is referenced often- Episode 1.04: On EV Infrastructure and Green Workforce Development with Kameale Terry

Quotables

"Take some hope, combine it with passion, and apply our skills to come together and tackle these technical challenges."

"Think about all the challenges we overcame, all the first of a kind work we did, all everyone coming together, and we made it work. This, my friend, is engineering. This is the heart, the soul, the spirit of what engineering is all about."

"Try not to make the same mistake more than twice."

All the above are by Una Nowling

“Hope is the key. And to channel passion behind that hope. That’s the motivating, driving force behind all of it.” – Amy Simpkins

This week’s guest

Ms. Una Nowling is a Project Manager and the Technology Leader for Fuels, Risk, and Reliability at Black & Veatch. She assists utilities and energy companies with decarbonization and efficiency improvement studies; fossil fuel to renewable energy conversion projects, environmental compliance and pollution reduction, research and development for the Electric Power Research Institute, National Energy Technology Laboratories, and others; and conducts technical and scientific training on various topics, as well as human resources training on gender equity and LGBTQIA+ equity in STEMM.

Ms. Nowling has managed more than 200 projects in her 28-year career at Black & Veatch, and is also an Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) campus.

Ms. Nowling is a frequent technical author and a radio producer of two weekly social justice programs on Kansas City Public Radio.

Resources:

Listen to Ms. Nowling at KKFI 90.1FM and check out the Black & Veach website.

If you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out our awesome merch! And hey, we’re new, so you can even apply to be a sponsor or a guest.

You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok.

Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!

Next Episode

Episode 1.10 On Solar Recycling and the Joy-Innovation Positive Feedback Loop with Janette Freeman

1 Recommendations

We all know the green benefits of installing renewable energy generation like solar PV, but what happens at the system's end of life? If the panels end up in a landfill, we aren't doing our planet any favors.

Janette Freeman at FabTech is on a mission to keep panels out of landfills by either reusing or recycling them. In this episode, we talk about what the different paths to reuse and recycling look like and how to shift mindset to prepare for project end-of-life during earlier project phases to create an even greener clean energy future.
Janette is also a deep thinker and sees the connections, as I do, between personal development, business development, and innovation. We talk about the positive feedback loop created by joy and innovation and dream of a future where creativity spurs us on to a brighter future.

Referenced Often: Episode 1.05 with Leslie Glustrom on how to engage with policymakers

Quotables

"More joy brings more solutions."

"For most decomissions, those panels are fine and they are an asset."

"When we keep working on ourselves and keep listening to our intuition, our creativity, our innovation, and let our inside matter, the outside solutions become more evident to us."
-all above quotes by Janette Freeman

This week’s guest

Janette Freeman is passionate about saving the landfill from the millions of solar panels which will be coming to end-of-life in the years ahead.

She is the Director of Business Development for FabTech Solar Solutions, which does solar panel refurbishing and recycling, giving panels a second life or a proper cremation. Prior to working in renewables, she worked in personal development training and coaching. She is the author of three books and has a Doctorate of Consciousness Studies.

Resources:
Books:

Saving Us by Katharine Hayhoe

Spiral: A Catalyst for Innovation and Expansion by Amy Simpkins

Connect with Janette on LinkedIn.

Check out Fab Tech’s website.

You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok.

Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!