Beacon Climate Innovations’ Post

Beacon Climate Innovations is honored to have received the ACT | The Alliance for Climate Transition (formerly NECEC) Green Futures Community Impact Award at its 2024 Green Futures Gala last week. It was a privilege just to be in a cohort of equally deserving nominees that include Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC), Action for Boston Community Development, Inc., NY Green Bank and Building Audacity Inc on the shared mission of supporting equitable climate action at the community level. A big shout out to Joe Curtatone, the ACT's visionary leader and his awesome staff for orchestrating a joyous evening perfectly synchronized with the roll out of its rebranding initiative - led by Natasha Perez, PMP. The inspiring event reflected the diversity, energy and optimism of the climate transition ecosystem in countless ways. It was especially heartwarming to celebrate with so many of the partners working on projects that BCI is supporting. These folks included Tanya J. Lobo, Misha Thomas, Ted Butler, Kristen Stelljes, Shonté Davidson, Barry Reaves, Eliza Wilson, Ed.D.. JocCole "JC" Burton and several others. Most importantly, I am proud to share this award, the experience of the evening and the firm's journey with my colleagues at BCI Rohit Nayak, Vanessa Fox and Tejas Farkase. Now it's back to the business of equitably accelerating the energy transition. Reiterating the common theme from the evening's speakers - there's much work to be done in an increasingly short amount of time.

We are thrilled to announce that Makara Le, a Master of Science in Business Analytics graduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Isenberg School of Management will be joining BCI as our fall intern working on the ALIGN program. Makara is taking the baton from Julia Barton - one of our amazing summer interns who did incredible work for BCI during her tenure with us. We welcome Makara with open arms as we express our gratitude to Julia and wish her our very best in the next phase of her journey. #workforce #communityresilience #climatejustice #climatetech #climatechange, #energytransition

Beacon Climate enjoyed a productive summer and is preparing for a dynamic fall. Including a summit with the MBTA and our nomination for the Green Futures Community Impact Award*. It's "summerized" in our most recent newsletter. Please check it out https://lnkd.in/eF_5ygsG. *Last day to vote for all 6 categories is today August 16th. https://lnkd.in/eHbh5qcZ

Communities are the key to winning the battle with climate change and making the energy transition equitable. Every day, Beacon Climate Innovations empowers local communities with greater agency over their energy and climate destiny by developing innovative tools and connecting them with the climate-tech and wrap-around resources to do just that. We are nurturing a network of inclusive clean energy community resilience hubs (CCRHs) across the Commonwealth and the Northeast in a way that paves the way for others to join the movement. BCI is honored to be amongst other exceptional partners in this mission nominated for the NECEC’s Community Impact Award.   You can vote for the nominees in this and other award categories by visiting https://lnkd.in/eHbh5qcZ.   [The Community Impact Award is fifth category down]. Naturally, we are grateful for any vote that goes to Beacon Climate, but all the nominees are most deserving. A big shout out to the NECEC for hosting these awards and bringing attention to this vital aspect of impactful climate action. #communityimpact, #climateresilience, #communityempowerment, #climateaction, #energytransition, #environmentaljustice, #climatetech

We are privileged and excited to welcome to Beacon Climate Innovations as interns for the summer of 2024: Julia Barton, from Lawrence, Kansas, is a rising senior at the College of the Holy Cross pursuing majors in both Environmental Studies and Philosophy. During her upcoming senior year, she looks forward to completing her undergraduate thesis evaluating the metaphysics and metaethics of the environment within political dialogue. Professionally, she is passionate about using data visualization, mapping, and communication techniques to make climate data more accessible. Beyond her academic and professional interests, Julia enjoys running, cycling, teaching women’s boxing classes, and training dressage horses. Lia Yamamoto Schwartz is a rising senior at Tufts University majoring in Biology and Innovative Climate Solutions. She has worked in “wet” labs studying climate-related marine biology and computational genomics and has recently transitioned into an urban planning research lab. She has accepted an offer to join the Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) department at Tufts to earn an MS in Environmental Policy and Planning during her fifth year. Lia was raised in three languages and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Japanese. Outside of academics Lia is an avid ultimate frisbee player and reader. We are excited about all that Lia and Julia bring to BCI’s mission and how they will grow from the experience.  

In the throws pursuing a start-up's mission, it can be easy to overlook the many other talents and pursuits that the people behind that mission bring to so many other vital aspects of life and ways to make it better. "Music" is just one example. To that end a big shout out to our spring intern, Sarah Kam for her magnificent cello recital at Smith College. Bravo Sarah! #music #interns #communityresilience #communityengagement

It was a great honor and inspiration to attend the Boston Community Solar Cooperative kickoff event in Field's Corner last Saturday. This initiative is a wonderful example of how a community can come together to assume a level of agency and pride in their energy resources - with creativity and cooperation. BCSC innovative ownership model has all the earmarks of a social breakthrough for equitably decarbonizing our economy, building wealth in underserved areas, supercharging local workforce, and adapting to climate change. Senator Edward Markey recognized the endeavor and its vast potential with his trademark enthusiasm. Thanks to Greg King and colleagues for inviting me. I am looking forward to finding ways to support this effort and exchanging info, lessons, and ideas with other cities and towns striving to achieve similar goals.