Green Giants – Episode 69

Meghan Milo (02:48)

Teaching was my last stop before my entry into â renewable energy, but actually, there was even a more winding path before that. Even before teaching, I worked for an engineering firm. So, throughout my career, there have been some common threads of environment, energy, and education. But when I first graduated from college, I studied economics with an emphasis in environmental economics. I ended up working for an engineering firm that specialized in green design for schools and energy efficiency, which involved things like utility bill analysis and even education for building occupants on how to interact with their green building design. And then I went into teaching.

So, what led me into teaching is really, like I said, that kind of common thread of environment community engagement, and I really was interested, I’d always been interested in education and serving my community. And what drew me to education was the direct impact and feedback you can have on a daily basis. And I really view that as an ultimate public service. So, I taught for almost six years and then a lot of things in the world changed in 2020 between COVID and a personal life change of having twins in the midst of a pandemic.

I was beginning to just think about what the next step was. And I was looking at opportunities both in continuing with teaching and then opportunities beyond the classroom. And that’s where I really got lucky in finding a kind of being in the right place at the right time and finding a solar company located here in Virginia, where I’m based, that was specializing in schools and wanting to deliver on its promises not only to put solar panels on roofs, but also to use those panels and those projects as a way to connect students with those educational opportunities. So, it really was kind of a perfect combination of all of my previous work that I never would have dreamed of 10 years ago, but it has been a really neat journey.

Wes Ashworth (05:01)

Yeah, that’s incredible. Just seeing the story and I it’s amazing getting to watch so many careers over the years and things like that. How much is just right place, right time and the universe just kind of puts you there where you’re needed and all this experience that you’ve had before that. It’s all helping you today and this perfect marriage between kind of all your experiences that you can really make a difference. And so that’s it’s incredible.

And I think education is one of the most important topics in the industry and renewable energy, the clean tech industry as a whole. So having more folks like yourself, is really important to the industry. Thinking about those years in the classroom, what did that teach you about systems, leadership or impact that you now carry into your work with schools and solar and doing the work you’re doing now?

Meghan Milo (05:56)

Well, I am continually surprised and grateful for what training as a teacher has given me in an industry and corporate environment. I wear two hats. I do curriculum engagement and then I also work with schools to understand the value of solar from a technological and procurement perspective.

Teaching is about forming a relationship with your students and with your audience, communicating that information in a way that engages people and makes connections that interest them. And so, every day in a classroom, you’re always practicing that. Why should this matter to you? And how do I make it interesting? And how do I get you to understand the thing that I want you to understand? And that’s origination. That’s sales.

So, coming at it from that perspective of what does my audience care about and how does what I have to tell them matter to them is a direct translation that I got a lot of practice with in teaching and have really enjoyed applying in my new role. There’s another really clear connection here, which is the curriculum engagement portion.

So, I think having been a teacher, designing tools for teachers really can go a long way. So, I have been there. I’ve been in a classroom when the roof is being replaced and I’ve seen the distraction of students. I have also struggled to find time with all of the demands of the different standards to really do innovative and hands-on projects.

So, being able to have that perspective and making sure that everything that we develop in terms of these classroom connections is aligned with existing curriculum and is not giving teachers one more thing to do, but is actually giving them something that will help them teach the concept that they need to teach and make it memorable for students and form those important connections is really a perspective that I could only arrive at if I had been in the classroom prior to this role.

Wes Ashworth (08:08)

Yeah, absolutely. And really your story of moving from the classroom into solar, you’re still connected to the classroom, which is incredible, but it sets the stage perfectly. And I want to look at how that experience translates into real world impact for schools as they decide whether or not to embrace solar and how to do that as well too. So, when you sit down with a school district that really has never explored solar, not on the radar, how do you make the case and what do want them to understand right away?

Meghan Milo (08:40)

The biggest thing to understand when you’re a school, in particular with business model that we work within called the power purchase agreement typically, is that there really is real benefit here and there’s not necessarily a catch. And so, I think a lot of what we fight against is like this idea that it’s too good to be true. And there are just, there’s three main benefits that schools can take advantage of through solar. And this is not exclusive to schools, but these are the ones that really serve schools through our offering.

So, the first is economic. It’s actually very economically advantageous in many cases for a school to go solar. The second is the environment, so of course, solar energy is a clean and renewable energy source. So, schools that have goals of sustainability plans that they’re trying to meet, renewable energy goals, stewardship, leadership goals can take advantage of solar in that way. And then the last is education, which I think we’re going to get into a little bit more in this conversation, but is really through that leadership, not only having a technology available at the school, but using that as a launching point for education enhancement and workforce development. And what’s really beautiful for schools and why I think sometimes people are taken aback and they say, but where is the catch is that you really just don’t have to sacrifice one of those benefits for the other.

So, you we have some schools that come to us and say, you know, our highest priority, this is in line with our sustainability plan and our goals for reaching net zero at 20 by 2050 or whatever it may be. And then they can still leverage those economic benefits. They can still get on-site, predictable rates of solar energy and save millions of dollars for their district. And they can still get the educational benefits.

And then we have some schools and they say, you know what, we don’t have a sustainability plan. We don’t want to talk about a sustainability plan, but we are struggling to meet our budgets. We are struggling with our infrastructure. We’re struggling to pay our teachers and we are looking for every solution possible to save money and be able to direct our resources less to our buildings and more to our teachers and students. And, that is another really compelling reason why we help our clients.

Wes Ashworth (11:22)

Yeah, it’s phenomenal. It’s good stuff and such important work. And I think you’ve covered several things just that initial pushback and you’re right. Most of its sort of the it’s too good to be true. And when you’re able to really explain that and walk through that, it’s incredible to kind of see the other side of that.

And then thinking about the work you do with schools, you you’ve you shared with me that some of the schools have used their solar savings to hire teachers or invest in new programs, which is incredible. Can you share one of those stories and what it meant for that specific community?

Meghan Milo (11:52)

Sure, I can share two stories if that’s okay. Both of these are stories in Virginia, but kind of very different context to which they came to solar and arrived at the benefits of it. So, the first one was in Northern Virginia, a very large school district. They were growing so rapidly. They were adding, I mean, a couple schools a year. So, they were really struggling to keep up with their population. They’re building new schools, they’re trying to figure out how with this new infrastructure do we make good choices, both financial, environmental.

And so, we ended up doing a pilot project with them at Stafford County Public Schools. It actually was a huge high school, ended up being the largest rooftop school array in the state and is going to save them $2.8 million over the length of the contract. Not only that, it really ended up being something that the community got really excited about, both from an education perspective.

We worked through our solar-empowered schools’ program. We engaged with everything from elementary school doing actually partnering with an art teacher, to middle school. This was really neat. The energy manager graduated from this district, and he went through their career and technical education program. He’s a licensed electrician, so he and I partnered on a career awareness month presentation together, which is a really neat full-circle moment.

And then at the high school level, we did some solar circuit building, some dashboard analysis. So, really kind of got teachers and students engaged in ways that are repeatable year after year from the K through 12. So that was really exciting. And that was an approach where the school said; we want to do one big project first. And then we want to use this as a foundation to build upon. And kind of on the other side of the state, we had a school district that was maybe not growing as quickly, had different challenges. And their challenges were really centered around reducing operational costs and funding infrastructure improvements, finding the money for the roof replacement, and finding the money for the site maintenance.

And so, they had to go seek voter approval for a sales tax increase to help fund their school’s budget. And then they came to solar, and they realized that they could demonstrate financial leadership and show taxpayers that we’re exploring, I don’t know if I would call it innovative because they, we’re now getting to a point where schools are, the secrets out. But we’re exploring creative or not status quo solutions to reducing our energy budget. And so, they started with a first wave of schools. We are now in wave four, where we’ve now completed up to 15 schools and we’ll save them $9 million over the course of each contract. So, yeah.

Wes Ashworth (14:48)

Wow, it’s incredible. Two incredible stories. And different too. I love that the needs were different, but the solution worked and just those savings and everything else that’s involved, absolutely incredible. And of course, I love the career development and we are gonna need a lot of electricians in the future, among many other positions, but that one in particular. And AI can’t replace that one, need lots of those. So, that’s incredible.

Meghan Milo (15:36)

In fact, AI is going to create a need for a lot more of them, I think.

Wes Ashworth (15:48)

Agreed, a lot more electricians, without a doubt. Just thinking about another topic and just going with the public schools, we’ve talked a little bit about in previous conversation that the idea of price certainty really matters a lot for the public schools in particular. Can you explain that a little bit and sort of the whys behind that?

Meghan Milo (15:55)

Price certainty of course for anybody, especially public institutions is really important because of course schools are funded by taxpayers. They have a certain budget and it is hard to adapt in that environment to unforeseen costs. And it’s very hard to predict what those costs will be when you don’t know what your energy rate is going to be.

I mean, I don’t know of any energy manager. We can forecast all day long, but even if you think about your own residential bill, can you tell me what your rate that you pay per kilowatt hour will be in six months, or in three years, or in 20 years? And of course, nobody can predict that. And we can forecast, but we don’t know how lumpy it’s going to be.

So, a couple summers ago, we were having conversations with local school districts and they were saying, we saw a 25 % spike in our energy bill last month and we don’t know how we’re gonna handle that. And so, maybe this is a good time to talk about the structure of a power purchase agreement, but the way that a power purchase agreement works is that you are connected to a utility, which all schools are, of course, they pay an electricity bill. And most of that bill has a structure where they pay a certain rate per kilowatt hour.

And so, the way that a power purchase agreement works is that somebody like a solar developer owner operator like Madison would come in and develop the system. We build the system and we own the system. And the agreement is just for the school to pay for the energy that is produced by that system on-site and that serves the school. So, it’s a per-kilowatt-hour charge that’s agreed upon. And what’s beautiful about this in terms of creating price certainty is we say, here’s the rate. Sometimes there is an annual escalator between zero and 3%, which is relatively low compared to average utility escalation rates.

And this is exactly what you’re going to pay per kilowatt hour for the next 20 to 25 to 30 years, depending on the length of the contract. So, in many cases when we work with schools, we can provide a lower rate than what they are currently paying, which results in savings. It costs them zero dollars upfront. We take care of all of the operations and maintenance for those decades to come, so they don’t have to dedicate any additional staff time. And it creates this certainty where the school can look at how much electricity they use in an average year and create some budget line items and predictions that they can rely upon year to year in their forecasting and budgeting.

Wes Ashworth (18:46)

Yeah, no, it’s incredible. Thank you for breaking that down. And it does just make so much sense when you look at it for these schools. Another thing I thought was really interesting. some of the schools you’ve worked with didn’t even realize they were already powered by solar, which is probably a win. But what does that say about how solar is blending into the fabric of daily life?

Meghan Milo (19:04)

Sure, yeah, and I sometimes, I mean, I think it is possible. That particular example that I shared was from a teacher workshop where people who were and were not our solar partners were invited. And so, I’m hesitant to say that our customers didn’t know that there was solar because it’s a lot of my job to kind of work on that engagement.

But what I will say is that I have been in schools where I have seen that from the beginning to the end of the designs and installation, and you walk into those schools and you don’t notice any difference. A lot of times, when these schools have a flat roof, you can barely see the solar panels. They don’t make any noise. They don’t move. They require very little maintenance, which is beautiful, right? I mean, I think one of the challenges that we all face when it comes to making sustainable energy decisions is that we are not able to not think about where our energy comes from because it just works. But also, what’s beautiful about it is that it just works. And solar is one of those situations.

I think it really has the potential to blend into daily life. And it’s our challenge as a partner to find those pockets where we can point it out in beneficial and enhancing and amplifying ways while making sure that people aren’t noticing it for the wrong reason.

Wes Ashworth (20:33)

Yeah, right. Yeah, I think to me it’s a win to say that it can be a situation where maybe some maybe a small portion doesn’t even know that there is solar, it’s like, yeah, that’s great. It’s business as usual. Things are working as they should. It’s not a big eyesore or anything like that. So that that’s phenomenal to me. And kind of you pinpointed here, like the savings and sustainability benefits are clear, you know, especially when it comes to these schools and then to me, what really distinguishes your work is how those panels on the roof then come alive inside the classroom. And in talking about building the future as well too, and I think this is where the story of solar shifts from infrastructure to inspiration.

And so, you’ve led an initiative called Solar Empowered Schools. How does this program move beyond the panels on the roof and into the minds of students?

Meghan Milo (21:23)

Yeah, solar empowered schools is a broad term for our initiative. And really the goal is to our mission is to help students shine through solar energy education. And it was born out of really just listening to our partners. So, when we were first serving our school partners, we were approaching projects, like most energy suppliers or construction companies would, which is like here’s the project that we’re gonna do, we’re gonna build it, and then we’re gonna make sure it works. And the more we talk to schools, they were coming back to us and saying, how can we connect this to the students? What can we bring into the classroom? How can we tell our middle schoolers, high schoolers about the jobs that they can prepare for in these industries?

And so, this was really born out of listening to a customer need. And we also really noticed that this is where schools become proud of their solar projects, right? It powers their schools, the lights turn on, but it’s also a chance for communities to really celebrate their leadership. And so, that’s what we aim for with solar-powered schools.

So, we have a mix of materials, curriculum, all aimed to help either give teachers resources to share with their students, kind of a train-the-trainer model, or to help students engage directly with the solar panels. So, a couple of examples are that we have a curriculum library that has a mix of both digital tools that are available on demand. All of our tools are designed to be plug-and-play for teachers while being adaptable.

So, when I was a teacher, I couldn’t help but want to change one little thing in the lesson, to change it to my curriculum or make it more relevant to the standard, or to provide an accommodation to a student that I had. And so, we have everything from a virtual solar tour to a lesson that not only takes the dashboard so that the real-time solar energy dashboard, but is a framework for students to engage with it, interpret it, and then make predictions based on their understanding.

In addition to that, when we partner with schools, we also provide some hands-on activities, which I think provide, you know, the most aha moments and the most squeals of excitement.

Wes Ashworth (23:53)

Right. It’s such an important and valuable work that you’re doing. And I think bringing it into the classroom, so it’s a part of what you’re learning and getting excited about. And I think back, like, we didn’t talk about solar when I was in school. It wasn’t even a topic; it never came up. And so, it’s incredible to see even that evolution and it happening and part of the important work that you’re doing, obviously, and helping to bring that.

You told me too about teaching a lesson using some real-time solar data and a specific example. I’d love to hear that and put that out there for the audience. What happened in that room, and how did the students respond?

Meghan Milo (24:36)

Sure, yeah. It’s really interesting what one graph can tell you about an energy source, patterns, and what’s beautiful about the solar energy production curve is that, in kindergarten, we learn about weather. We learn about patterns, all the way up to high school physics, where we’re learning about the difference between renewable and non-renewable, the difference between energy sources, and the difference between a kilowatt and a kilowatt hour.

So, there is so much that we can learn from a three-day curve of real-time energy. And I will also say that the dashboard is really important in terms of engagement. I was teaching a workshop to educators once and I flashed up the school’s dashboard. And at the end of the workshop, I asked for some feedback, and the primary feedback that this teacher gave me was that she said, as soon as I saw that dashboard, I was totally invested because it was solar at my school. And somehow that connection between, no, this is not just a dashboard somewhere across the country. I can see a cloud going overhead and I can match that to the data that I’m seeing right now on this screen. And that really goes a long way.

So, one of the things that we do in our dashboard lesson is we just start with a historical energy curve. has three or four days. Some of the curves are choppy. Some of the curves are smooth, depending on the day. And I just say, what do you notice and what do you wonder? And you’d be surprised at how much you can get just from those two questions. But it really forces students to stop and think about, oh wait, why aren’t we getting energy at night? What does that tell me about the energy source? What does happen on a day that it snows? And so, it really is a great discussion starter.

What we do at the end of the lesson is we take a look at the weather for the next three days. And we have students draw a curve to predict what the curve will look like. And then, you know, we go back in three days and see how close they were. And we do have an example from that school with the largest solar array in Virginia, that I told you about, where one student got like amazingly close. So, it was really, it keeps them coming back. It makes it more than just like a screen that they walk by every day.

I’m a former math teacher, so anytime we can look at a graph and interpret a graph, I find it very valuable, especially if it’s something that’s relevant and local, and meaningful to students.

Wes Ashworth (27:17)

I absolutely love this and some of these examples and just the power of it. And that kids got a future in the industry, right?

Meghan Milo (27:22)

Yeah, or fortune telling, one or the other.

Wes Ashworth (27:28)

You’re right. Yeah, yeah. Showing some promise. You also told me about, outside of just graphs, knowing some people are just kind of hands-on and seeing it is really powerful. So, a moment when a fifth grader saw a mini solar panel spin a motor and then realized that my school runs on the same technology. Can you tell a little bit about that story and then what it revealed to you?

Meghan Milo (27:50)

Sure, yeah, and I think this is just a great illustration of how it doesn’t take years and years of, I mean, we would love to, I would love to see solar education implemented at every grade level every week, all day long, but all it takes is like one real moment to make a connection for a student. And so, this was a school district that had just finished solarizing about 20 schools and municipal buildings, a real leader here in Virginia. And yeah, I partnered with a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) teacher in a fifth-grade class. And we put together with her students very simple solar circuits.

So, picture a mini solar panel, smaller than the palm of your hand, connected to a motor that was connected to a spinning disc and it’s called a Whirly Gig. It was adapted from a lesson developed by Solar Schoolhouse, which is somebody who we partner with sometimes. And it was cold; it was a winter day. We built all of these circuits inside and then we walked outside into the courtyard and luckily, this school had a pitched roof so you could see the solar panels really clearly. We walked into the courtyard. She went from the shade into the sunlight and she raised the whirligig up and it started to spin, and her face just lit up. And here she is like raising her mini solar panel to the sun. You can see the solar panels in the background.

And you realize it’s the same exact technology. Seeing her make that connection and have that aha moment was certainly memorable to me, and I’m confident that it was memorable to her.

Wes Ashworth (29:34)

Yeah, what an incredible story and just seeing that happen. It’s got to be so fulfilling to see the aha, that light bulb moment, where it really is a connection happening. And these student stories really just highlight the power of early exposure to me, and again, why your work is so important. They also point to something bigger, and I think it’s how today’s classroom experiences are shaping the energy workforce of tomorrow

So you’ve said before, and I love this statement, something I’ve said as well too, is electrons are electrons. I guess, what do you mean by that from your perspective, and how does that mindset shape how we train the next generation of energy workers?

Meghan Milo (30:17)

Sure, yeah, I love that statement for some reasons. And then I also have my own counter to that statement. So, I’ll explain both sides. Electrons are electrons. And what I mean by that is that when you plug in your cell phone to the charger, your cell phone does not care whether those electrons came from natural gas, whether they came from hydro, whether they came from the sun. Those electrons have the same properties no matter what energy source they came from. And quite frankly, I think we need all of them to power our lives.

So, in that way, when we are talking about the addition of solar energy, whether it’s for a school or whether it’s for a larger solar farm or whatever it may be, we’re talking about adding electricity to power our lives. Sometimes we get so caught up in like, this new or non-majority energy source. But really, at the end of the day, it’s like, we are building our energy supply and solar is a rapidly deployable, affordable, tried and true technology to do that with. And so that’s where the electrons are electrons come from.

In terms of the energy workforce, it’s actually a great thing that those electrons follow the same properties of electricity as anything else, because that means we don’t have to reinvent the wheel with every workforce development program. We can continue training electricians and we can add when it makes sense, the additional unit or two units, or safety factors that are specific to solar energy, but it doesn’t have to be like we need to train an entirely new workforce. And I think that’s true for many other things, whether it’s data analysis or even like construction. The tools that we use to install a solar array are the same ones that we would use elsewhere for other types of construction projects.

So, when I get overwhelmed about the workforce demand that we’re going to have in the future for these renewable energy technologies. It’s really helpful to come back and say, hey, wait a second, Ohm’s law still applies. It’s still electricity and we have the tools. We just need to add in, you know, very strategically, those additions and specializations that can get us able to hit the ground running and, from a school’s perspective, differentiate their students in the workforce, from the competition when they apply for their first job.

Wes Ashworth (32:51)

Yeah, absolutely. When you look at that, sort of that emerging solar workforce or the workforce of the future, we’ve hit on a couple of things, but any other skills that students need that schools aren’t yet fully teaching, and there are a lot of transferable skills. I see that all the time in recruiting. We, of course, pull within industry, but a lot of times we pull from adjacent industries. The skills are connected. But anything you feel like we need to maybe prepare and start teaching some additional skills, or building on those?

Meghan Milo (33:22)

I think that an energy supply and demand class is something that is rare, but really helpful in terms of getting a context and foundation for understanding everything that goes into managing our energy and what jobs are applicable to that. So, I would say that it is emerging that some schools are leading the way in doing that. I know that several states have developed curriculum and standards related to an energy supply and demand class. So that is kind of a specific class.

I think just the more we can think about our energy and the more we can notice it and understand how it works and how many people need to be involved, what pieces of the puzzle need to be connected for us to get to the energy future we want to see, I think it is important, especially in the K through 12 environments. And then beyond that, certainly think it would be great if we had specialized solar installers, solar technician programs in particular.

But to be honest with you, the core foundational skills of problem solving, of critical thinking, of teamwork, curiosity, agency, and innovation are the most important things. That’s what I look for when I recruit. A lot of this stuff can be learned and everything is evolving so quickly that your kind of, I couldn’t even tell you what a solar training program should look like in 10 years. Because there’s just so, it’s so dynamic. And of course, some things will remain true, but I also just think that the ability to adapt, to be curious, to learn, to know that you don’t know, but know how to do the first step, and keep going to the next step, is the most important thing.

So, in some ways, schools are teaching that and, in some ways, it’s easy to get caught up in the, you have to know this procedure or this standard, but the more that schools can encourage students to really independently make connections and solve problems, the more prepared they’re going to be for this rapidly changing and exciting and turbulent sometimes industry.

The last thing I would say is that professionalism goes a long way. With any class, it may be hard to dedicate resources and time that’s so limited to, like, here’s how you write a professional email. Here’s when you should pick up the phone, and here’s when you should. It should just be a Slack message. For the entry-level workforce, that really does go a long way in terms of whether you’re gonna be successful and how you can continue to learn and grow.

Wes Ashworth (36:00)

Yeah, absolutely. Great, great points there overall. And I think it’s I’ve said it before, the overall just kind of greater renewable industry, it’s one of the most innovative, forward-thinking, just cutting-edge technology there. Anything that you are interested in, there’s a career in it. If it’s AI great, got that drones, got it, finance, accounting, communications, you name it, like the industry is embracing all of those things and moving at a very quick pace. And I think sometimes not as stuck in, you’ve got some really old industries that just take forever to change and to evolve and bring in some new things. But this one is it’s an exciting one, a great career for anybody.

So, we’ve covered a lot of ground, from economics to education to the evolving workforce. I want to pull back the lens a little bit and reflect on the bigger picture and what lies ahead. So, if every listener could walk away just seeing energy in a new light, what would you want that insight to be?

Meghan Milo (37:19)

Three things. One, we need energy to power our world. Right? We need it. We can’t just say, sorry, we don’t want this anymore. We need it. And we have choices in which types of energy we choose and the impact that has. And there’s no one solution, right? And then the third is that we all have a part to play. So, whether we want to become professionals in this industry and contribute directly, there are so many adjacent ways that we can influence the composition and structure of the future of our energy landscape, whether it’s voting with our dollars, voting on policy as citizens, or contributing.

I mean, there are just so many careers that I never even dreamed of would be so influential. Law is one of them. Nothing happens if we don’t have rules and money for any of this stuff. So even knowing that if you know you want to be a lawyer, know that there’s a place for you in solar. If you know that you want to work in manufacturing, know that there’s a place for you in solar. So, in terms of insight, I would say the bottom line is do what you can and keep your eyes and ears open for ways that you can influence our energy choices.

Wes Ashworth (38:42)

Yeah, I love that. Very well said. What gives you the most hope when you look at what school students and communities are doing with solar?

Meghan Milo (38:48)

If I were to boil it down, I would say the hope is the power of one. So, I shared that one student, the aha moment. I don’t know if she’s going to go into solar, but I do know that that experience influenced her in some way. I’ve also had many examples of, whether it’s student advocacy groups or one facilities manager advocating for multiple county organizations that have been able to make a transformation, or even one teacher too. They have been able to transform their community to solar energy in a way that has been really positive. So, my hope is that I think it can be overwhelming to think about how to get to the perfect solution. But if we think about what we can do when we wake up every day to make things the way that we want to be, that gives me hope.

Wes Ashworth (39:43)

Yeah, love it. And thinking about just maybe a school district leader that’s listening right now and feeling curious, but overwhelmed, as you mentioned there. What would you say to help them take the first step?

Meghan Milo (39:52)

So, I think the first step is to find a trusted partner and to understand the potential of solar energy to benefit your community and according to your goals. Whether that’s energy savings, whether that’s sustainability, or the education piece, like I said, it doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive, so first would be defining your goals and then understanding the potential. And we have a couple of links up on our solar-empowered schools’ website that are just kind of high-level guides to “Is solar good for my school? What are the major things to consider to know if there’s good potential here or not?”

And the next is to find a trusted partner, whether it’s consulting with somebody who provides clean energy solutions like Madison, or finding a third party. So, for example, there’s a nonprofit organization called Generation 180 that has a school leaders’ network. They have nearly a hundred members from every state who have been through the solar process and are there to share their insights. So those are people, everything from facilities directors to school board members to superintendents, everybody who has a role to play in getting solar on schools, they have people that you can talk to, tell you about their experience and their advice for your school.

So, if you’re looking for like a trusted third party, that’s a great place to start. And of course, you’re welcome to reach out to us or any other developer to get the process started. I think it all begins with interest and a question. And to open your mind to it, I would approach it with curiosity instead of suspicion. I am the first to admit that my first reaction is really like, what are you trying to get from me? But in this particular case, we just celebrated our 150th school turning on. And, like I said, there are many examples that this is still an act of leadership, but not, you don’t have to be a pioneer anymore.

Wes Ashworth (42:04)

Yeah, yes.

Meghan Milo (42:06)

You can be a leader, but you don’t have to be the first one.

Wes Ashworth (42:09)

Right, absolutely. Now that’s great stuff there. And I will link some of that in the show notes as well, so listeners can go and check that out. Final question, any other kind of parting words of advice, words of hope, anything else you didn’t get to share that you’d like to, I’ll give you the floor and let you take it for a minute or so.

Meghan Milo (42:26)

No, Wes, I really appreciate you having me on. I loved this conversation. And I think the lens of workforce development and just how we’re going to build these renewable energy solutions together is so important. And the last thing I’d leave you with is really that there’s a place for everyone in renewable energy. I mean, whether you want to work straight out of high school or whether you have a PhD, whether you like to work in the field or whether you want to be in an office, and whether you want to be kind of on the policy end, like reading law policy or you want to be turning wrenches, you want to be thinking technically.

There’s everything in between, and we just don’t know how it’s going to change. And I think that’s really exciting. I think things are going to continue to change and evolve. I think we’re going to see a lot of improvements and I’m feeling positive. But it takes keeping an open mind and curiosity toward those opportunities and figuring out how you fit in.

Wes Ashworth (43:32)

Yeah, I love all of that. And this has been such a fun and enjoyable conversation, and incredibly insightful. And I know to me, it made a big difference in just how you think about it and thinking about the future and just that hope as well, too. So huge thanks to you for coming on and showing us what’s possible when schools think bigger, not just about savings on the utility bills, but about solar to shape culture, curriculum and community.

To our listeners out there, if you enjoyed this conversation, share it with a friend or colleague who cares about the future of schools and the future of energy. And if you’re new here, be sure to subscribe to Green Giants, Titans of Renewable Energy, wherever you listen to podcasts, so you never miss an episode. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you next time.