| At events, and through letters, phone calls, e-mails, and class notes, we learn of unusual experiences and proud achievements of au alumni. We created class notables so you too can catch up with people you knew at AU. |
| • Brian Keane, SPA ’89 |
• Karen Zider, SOC ’04 |
Brian Keane, SPA ’89 It’s as strong, as reliable, and as available as coal and oil,” says Brian Keane, vice president of AU’s Alumni Board. He’s talking about clean energy, and he wants you to call your utility company and ask for it. Keane’s brainchild, SmartPower (smartpower.org), is a nonprofit organization with an innovative nationwide marketing campaign designed to promote clean and renewable energy. He likens his organization to the “Got Milk?” campaign, only for wind and solar energy. Keane spends his time on a quest to convince Americans they can actually buy clean energy that works. His goal is for 20 percent of the nation’s power grid to be composed of clean energy by 2010. Since 95 percent of Americans already know the benefits of clean energy, what he must “sell” to consumers is the understanding that solar energy still works when it’s not sunny, and wind power still works when there’s no breeze. In many ways, that translates to one household at a time. To accomplish this goal, Keane and his colleagues enter regional markets one at a time, with a several-pronged approach. They make media buys on radio and television, and in newspapers, but while “TV and radio helps convince people that clean energy works, they [also] need to be sold door-to-door.” For that he relies on college students to canvas neighborhoods on behalf of SmartPower. Funding from foundations, such as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the John Merck Fund, and the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, enables SmartPower to leverage funds on behalf of clean energy marketing campaigns. For example, Keane says, “We went to Pennsylvania and said, ‘If you give us $300,000, we’ll put in $100,000 of our money,’ then we run a marketing campaign on clean energy.” This collaborative marketing approach enables Keane and SmartPower to work closely on the ground with local nonprofits to get the “it’s real, it’s here, and it’s working” message out. They team up with states that have public benefit funds, such as Connecticut’s Clean Energy Fund and Pennsylvania’s Sustainable Development Fund, to help firms that produce clean energy spread the word to the public that clean energy works and is more attainable than the average consumer thinks. To track a campaign’s effectiveness in a market, Keane watches for increased SmartPower Web traffic, monitors increases in clean energy (gigawatt hours) being bought or sold, and tracks polls for a spike in clean energy usage. SmartPower has already established its message, and seen results, in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. In January, they entered the Midwest and the South, and this spring the campaign moves to Ohio, Wisconsin, Arizona, and California. With big customers buying and using clean energy, including Staples Superstore, Kinkos, Whole Foods, and the cities of New Haven, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island, Keane is optimistic. “If enough businesses, colleges, and universities began buying just a portion from clean, renewable energy sources,” he says, “it would become truly sustainable in the marketplace.” —MELISSA REICHLEY continued next page top |
