While I am known for my books, articles, and photos of wind turbines, I have worked with most renewable resources throughout my career. When I moved to Toronto in 2004 to implement a feed-in tariff program for wind energy, I insisted that there be feed in tariffs for solar photovoltaics, biomass, and hydro–and there was. We launched the most progressive renewable energy program in North American since the 1980s. There’s a lot of solar in Ontario, Canada that wouldn’t be there otherwise. As a consequence I’ve followed the solar industry for some time.

When we went to install solar on our home in California, I insisted that we use SilFab panels made outside Toronto, a factory that owes its existence to the work we did. As I like to explain, I know the robots who made our panels personally. Not surprisingly, there was no cost penalty.