Tim Hade, Microgrids, Colorado
Tim Hade is chief operating officer of Scale Microgrid Solutions. He lives in Denver, Colorado, and he’s been in the industry for 11 years.
Why is clean energy important to you? Climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity. I want my kids to have the opportunity to have a better life than I had. Clean energy is the most important solution to climate change, so that's what I do.
What’s your proudest accomplishment in clean energy? Not quitting. It's a ridiculously hard job, and we get very little support from society, yet we persevere.
What did you do before entering clean energy? I served in the Air Force.
How did you first get introduced to clean energy? I first got interested in climate through my work in the Department of Defense. DoD has identified climate change as a major threat to national security for decades.
How does clean energy impact your community? Many many ways. In addition to generating a ton of high quality/high paying jobs that people can feel good about doing, the clean energy movement is giving us cleaner air/water, and cheaper/more reliable energy. More broadly, clean energy positions the U.S. to compete in the 21st century global economy.
What is something you wish more people knew about your job? The primary barrier to accelerating clean energy deployment is political. People assume there is a lot of technical and financial risk on the projects we build. That is incorrect. Almost all of the technologies we use are very well established. Our political institutions and their inability to keep up are preventing us from solving the problem. In addition to putting a roof over our heads and food on the table, my entire family has made tremendous sacrifices to enable me to take the risks I needed to take in order to try and help solve this problem.
Why should Congress invest in clean energy jobs, not fossil fuel jobs? First, because they have a moral responsibility to do so. Members swear an oath to protect the American people and for decades they've failed to live up to that oath with respect to climate change. Second, because it's an economic imperative. We will not continue to be the world's leading economic power if we whiff on the greatest economic opportunity of all time.