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

11/02/21 • 47 min

1 Listener

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.

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!

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."

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.

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!

Previous Episode

Episode 1.09 On Empowering Energy Champions with Katherine Lucey

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!

Next Episode

Episode 1.11 On Resilient Microgrids and the Courage to Implement with Daniel Wiggins Jr.

After a historic flooding event in 2016, which left the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa without power and critical infrastructure, the tribe committed themselves to installing microgrids to ensure clean, resilient power on tribal lands. In May 2021, the tribe commissioned three building level microgrids, incorporating more than 520 kW of solar and over 1MWh of battery storage, the largest battery system to date in the state of Wisconsin. The project is named Ishkonige Nawadide, which means "it catches fire" in Anishinaabemowin.
Dan Wiggins is the visionary who led the team to implement these projects. He's been working for the tribe for over 10 years as a tribal energy manager and air quality technician, with expertise from utility scale infrastructure to residential energy efficiency, and now three tremendously successful microgrids.
It's been my great pleasure to work with Dan on his energy team to plan, design, and realize his vision for resilient tribal energy and energy sovereignty. This conversation is an extension of our professional partnership, and our friendship: fiery, passionate, fun, and very committed to doing projects when they are the right thing to do.

Referenced in this episode:

Episode 1.06 with Liana Cassar on Energy Policy
Episode 1.09 with Katherine Lucey on Air Quality

Quotables

"We all answer to somebody, whether it's leadership, whether it's our children, or whether it's the community we reside in. Really listening to all of those resources is the right thing to do."

"The way I approach renewable energy is that you have do first do it because it's the right thing to do. That has to be the #1 goal for any renewable energy project."

"Strategic planning is the fun part of project development. You get to take everybody's ideas, throw them in a blender, and hope something magic comes out."

This week’s guest

Daniel Wiggins Jr is a Bad River Tribal Member and the Mashkiiziibii (Bad River) Natural Resource Department’s Air Quality Technician (AQT). He has worked for the Tribe for nearly 10 years as the AQT and has had oversight of the Tribe’s Renewable Energy Activities since 2017.

He was recently tasked as Project Lead for the Ishkonige Nawadide Solar Microgrid Project, which installed over 500 kilowatts of solar and 1,000 kilowatt hours of batteries at three tribal facilities.

The Tribe’s energy projects are planned and executed on the Tribe’s ability to exercise energy sovereignty, and eventually reach the Tribe’s energy vision, “to empower and enable the community to move towards energy independence.”

Resources:

Connect with the Mashkiiziibii Natural Resource Departmen on Facebook.

Check out Bad River’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.

Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!