CHERP Solar: The Promise and Potential of Locally Grown Power

EcoJustice Radio

Solar. Wind. Renewable energy. The Biden administration issued a plan that envisions the US generating 45% of its electricity from solar panels by 2050. Climate change, justice, and equity are increasingly on the hearts and minds of millions of people globally as we continue to witness imbalance upon the planet; the manifestations are glaringly obvious. Forbes magazine noted the world will likely quadruple the number of solar panels in the world over the next decade. But despite public wishes for clean green, equitable & safe renewable energy, there are caveats and dark sides to all of it. Conventional solar comes with liabilities around: safety, hazardous heavy metal waste & a lack of circularity around recycling, ecosystem disruption and devastation, as well as solar panels being discarded in landfills where they could potentially leach. The Harvard Business Review created statistical models that predict solar panels “might produce 50 times more waste in just four years than anticipated by the International Renewable Energy Agency.” And while the cost of solar panels has decreased, due to the dominance of Chinese production, the cost of producing reliable grid electricity with solar panels has risen, since panels are weather-dependent. But these critiques belong to conventional solar. Enter CHERP Solar Works [http://www.cherpsolar.org] with new designs on solar, both on how it is deployed AND manufactured. CHERP, using a nonprofit model, aims to deliver on the promise of solar as a safe, renewable energy by empowering and uplifting local communities and making solar accessible in underserved communities. Megan Anderson joins us to tell how CHERP intends to address environmental justice and economic inequity by manufacturing solar where we live. For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/posts/on-locally-grown-80046078 Megan Anderson, Vice President of Admin & Workforce Development Program Manager for CHERP Solar Works, has been working in nonprofits since she was 16 -- starting at her public library. She has a background in mathematics, theology, and psychology. CHERP has created a replicable, non-profit, solar panel assembly factory that is uniting physicists, economists, City Hall, local businesses, and hundreds of local volunteers, to bring back middle-class manufacturing jobs and cut green-house gasses on a massive scale. Carry Kim, Co-Host of EcoJustice Radio. An advocate for ecosystem restoration, indigenous lifeways, and a new humanity born of connection and compassion, she is a long-time volunteer for SoCal350, member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and a co-founder of the Soil Sponge Collective, a grassroots community organization dedicated to big and small scale regeneration of Mother Earth. MORE INFO National Story of Hope Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efqurolf-e0&t=6s CHERP Overview Presentation: https://youtu.be/5_q9zmHaLIk?list=PLjTJXw1eoh_yeMBRxGPdvcRScdMHcTxND Pomona Factory Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocECiCHiJQc CHERP Talking Points: https://www.cherpsolar.org/_files/ugd/a5b4d7_746325cd370d4f8b900924046d2c7a3c.pdf IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics Paper on the Technology: https://www.cherpsolar.org/_files/ugd/a5b4d7_6669bf0617d74ed48d20662e9a4eaef2.pdf Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/ Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/ Support the Podcast: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url Executive Producer: Jack Eidt Hosted by Carry Kim Intro By: Jessica Aldridge Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats Episode 168