Why Solar Makes Sense for Millennials

Posted by gosun on January 20th, 2020

Millennials are the emergent leaders in every industry, with baby boomers retiring en-masse and only set to accelerate in the 2020s. By default, they are also becoming the largest consumers of energy. Previous generations may have been indifferent to where their energy came from; whether it was generated in a coal plant or hydroelectric dam didn't matter as much as the utility bill.

But this is changing. The trajectory is different for Millenials because of their different values.

 Millennials desire to have meaning in their work, their products, and even the type of energy they consume. Those are the findings in the new book The Purpose Revolution: How Leaders Create Engagement and Competitive Advantage in an Age of Social Good. It notes that 60 percent of millennials said "a sense of purpose" is part of the reason they choose to work for their company or consume the products they do.

 In 2016, approximately 76 percent of millennials said they would prefer to take a pay cut than work for a company with unethical business practices. According to Deloitte’s 2015 Millennial Survey, respondents said there is an “impact gap” between millennials and organizations because they are “underperforming on social advancement, helping employees, etc,” illustrating a gap between the social good that millennials want from companies and what’s actually delivered.

 So how does this relate to solar?

 While fossil fuel-based generation has traditionally been the dominant global source of electricity, the benefits of solar energy are numerous. As noted at New Energy Solar, it has become one of the fastest-growing and cost-competitive energy resources in the world. We have the ability to harness and distribute this clean energy source more cheaply and more efficiently than ever before.

 The positive social and environmental impacts are considerable. Compared to fossil fuel power generation, solar energy uses less water, produce less noise and waste. Also, global warming emissions associated with renewable energy are minimal, producing little to no carbon emissions during the life-cycle of a renewable energy plant.

 But the growth possibilities for Millenials are also considerable. Solar is among the most rapidly growing renewable energy sector and increasingly able to generate electricity with limited environmental impact in the most cost-effective means possible.

 How GoSun Wants to Promote Solar

 Although GoSun is still a small entrepreneurial business, we believe we should all do what we can, when we can. Since our inception, we've worked with dozens of nonprofit organizations to provide discounted solar cookers and other solar products to those that need them most.

 GoSun offers a full ecosystem of solar products In 2017, GoSun has provided funding to support the efforts of The Houston Food Bank, Global Giving, and Operation BBQ Relief. In 2018, we made donations to The American Red Cross and World Central Kitchen to assist in Hurricane Florence relief efforts.And we made a donation to the California Community Wildfire Relief Fund to aid in the the camp fire relief efforts. We provided 1500 solar cookers to the American Red Cross to assist with relief efforts due to Typhoon Yutu. We also donate money each year to Trees for the Future. So far, we've helped plant over 40,000 trees. Learn why trees are important here. 

 GoSun is working tirelessly to lay the foundation for a green tech future of renewable energy cooking in both the developed and the developing world. It has the capability to address many of the shortcomings of these varied types of sustainable cooking.

 •A Solar Stove That is Globally Accessible: No matter where in the world you may be, GoSun requires no infrastructure to cook your food. There’s no need for gas lines, electrical lines or even forests. It is functional freedom to cook your food in any scenario. As long as you have daylight (which we are working on changing), you are free to cook your food.

 •A Solar Stove That Provides Free Time: Most of us don’t realize how important free time is until we don’t have it. Modern advances freed us up, especially women, from performing the daily time consuming tasks, whether it was harvesting food, cooking and clean up or laundry. These technologies freed us up, especially women to focus on more important tasks like education, building more time freeing solutions and potentially relaxation. These are fundamental benefits and important qualities of the cooking methods beyond wood. They are fundamental for moving a culture from 'developing' into 'developed' status

 •A Solar Stove That Yields Net Yield Energy Production: The GoSun solar stove is unique in that it is designed to generate its own energy. It is a rare “Net Yield” product similar to solar panels or wind turbines. However, unlike these energy sources, it requires no transfer of energy to turn its power into something that we can use. It is ready for use once you put your food into it and place it in the sun. This would take hundreds if not thousands of watts of electricity in a conventional oven, toaster oven or toaster to achieve the same temperatures the GoSun solar stove achieves by simply sitting in the sun. To power those types of appliances with solar or wind-generated electricity it would take a fairly large system to power them.

 The GoSun solar stove truly revolutionizes cooking into a post-fossil fuel 21st century. It relieves stress on ecosystems, allowing them to regenerate and sequester more carbon. It also empowers us to have a lower overall embodied energy in the infrastructure to achieve the relatively simple goal of cooking. It also frees us up to have more time to do other important tasks for the day, which will allow us to build a more educated human family that can build our sustainable future.

 Patrick Sherwin is the author of this Article.To know more about Solar Tiny House and net zero tiny housePlease visit our website.