Feb 15, 2021
Quantum Quote: “The good you do today, may be forgotten soon, but do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it'll never be enough. But give your best anyway. Life is never easy. ” – Mother Theresa
Do you have old landfills in your town and think how ugly they are and want to have something useful instead?
Are you interested in using solar and wind energy to help save the environment - and save money at the same time?
There are over 50,000 landfills in the United States, and there’s a big need for solar and wind energy. Converting landfills into renewable energy power centers is a great match.
Paul Curran and BQ Energy convert brownfields and landfills into solar and wind energy power centers. Paul explains that those properties should not be used for parks or for people's homes.
Paul got interested in clean energy in the late 1970’s when he heard the president of the United States say that getting energy independence in the country was the moral equivalent of war. Sadly, neither the technology nor the politics were ready. But 20 years after that, the world said we needed clean energy, the technology had advanced, the policies were ready, and the economics made it possible.
In this episode, Paul talks about why BQ only works on brownfield and landfills. He also shares how he was doing Steel Winds years ago, and how the project changed the logo of the City of Lackawanna.
SuperNova #1. “So we took a timeout, and about 20 years after that, things started to catch up to where now, this is not only the right thing to do, it's a very easy thing to do. It's the right thing to do from a societal and an economic point of view..” – Paul Curran
SuperNova #2. “Lackawanna is a great story of how you can transform a brownfield into a wind and solar power plant in what was a steel company town. When you do the right things, great things happen for everybody. There were no losers on that project.”
SuperNova #3. “It's an awesome responsibility, frankly, on people like us to be put in a position to impact people's lives for generations. Turning a landfill into a clean energy center fulfills a need to turn around a bad situation.. That type of return is not dollars and cents - it's measured in how well we do the job.”
Worst Clean Energy Moment: “Most of my down moments have to do with how am I going to pay the bills? How are we going to keep this thing going. And most of them relate to government tax and utility structures that vary from state to state and change over time.”
Aha Moment: When a management trainee’s research said that putting a wind farm on an oil refinery was a bad idea.
Best Advice He’s Ever Received: Keep your head head straight, keep your eye on the prize and do what you should be doing.
Most Energized about Today: That the use of solar energy is very much common and normal now.
Personal Habits that Contribute to Success: Understanding people - figuring out what they like doing and what they are great at doing.
Internet Resource: For data about energy statistics - BQEnergy.com
Book Recommendation: “The Century Trilogy” by Ken Follett.
Magic Wand: “Take away the subsidies from the coal mine operations, take away the subsidies from the nuclear industry, take away the subsidies from the oil industry, natural gas depletion allowances, and all this kind of stuff - and take it away from solar and wind. Then we’d see the real economics and solar and wind would grow even faster”.
WTF or F: Lake Erie was frozen on May 7 of 1963. It will never be frozen in May again. The climate has changed.
Parting Advice: “We're doing the right things here. The world has caught up with it, which is a scary thing to think. But I think it is the right path to be going on. I think that's being proven more and more every day.”
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