Name: Adam Browning

Occupation: Co-Founder and Executive Director, Vote Solar

Location: San Francisco, California

His Solar Story: Founded a non-profit advocacy group to bring solar energy into the mainstream

His Bright Hope: To bring down the cost of going solar by implementing policies at the state government level.

Adam’s biography speaks to his close connection with the earth—as a kid, he grew up spending his summers working on the family farm in Wisconsin. After college, he joined the Peace Corps and spent two years growing rice in Guinea-Bissau, on the west coast of Africa. He then went on to work for the Environmental Protection Agency, where he spent 8 years and ran the Toxics Release Inventory program. Adam became keenly aware of the energy challenges facing our planet, and he focused his efforts on finding a solution.

Vote Solar believes that the energy problems faced by the U.S. “will only be solved by a national transition to renewable energy.” To that end, and prior to forming the organization, Adam and his colleagues banded together in a grassroots effort to get solar panels on city buildings in San Francisco, California. They succeeded. In 2001 they passed a ballot initiative for a $100 million revenue bond, which paid for solar panels, energy efficiency and wind turbines for public buildings. San Francisco voters overwhelmingly supported the measure, which cost taxpayers nothing, and paved the way for the city’s transition to renewable energy.

The first project to launch was the installation of a 675 kW solar array on the roof of the Moscone Center, which is San Francisco’s premier conference facility. At the time of its installation, this was the largest project of its kind in the state of California. The energy produced from the solar panels saves about 5 million kilowatt hours of utility electricity per year, and saves about $750,000 on the utility bill. The project was successful because in addition to generating electricity with solar panels, it incorporated significant energy efficiency upgrades throughout the Moscone Center. The solar array on the rooftop caught the attention of the public, which helped bring more awareness to the cause of transitioning to renewable energy and bringing solar to scale.

Adam Browning is an inspirational figure in the global effort to switch to clean, renewable energy sources like the sun. He encourages students to get involved and help their schools conduct an energy analysis to find out how they can use energy more efficiently. By helping change government policy, Adam is opening doors to more large-scale and less expensive solar projects, which will eventually make solar a reality for many more individuals and cities like San Francisco.