Clean Energy Equity Showcase
GreenBiz is committed to supporting organizations that put clean energy access and equity at the center of their mission. These organizations are making sure the clean economy works for everyone while addressing social and environmental inequity. After all, you can’t get to 100 percent clean energy without the 100 percent.
The Clean Energy Equity Showcase is designed to honor ten organizations across the country using creative collaborations, innovative models and grassroots organizing to make a difference in their community and beyond.
Meet this year’s Clean Energy Equity Changers, and join us at VERGE 19 to connect with their staff and learn more about their important work.
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Status: Nonprofit
Size: 25 employees
Year Founded: 1993
Headquarters: Oakland, California
Why our work matters:
We are the first and only organization that focuses on environmental issues facing Asian-American immigrant and refugee communities.
Who we serve:
We serve Asian-American immigrant and refugee communities in Richmond and Oakland Chinatown.
Read more
BoxPower
Solar Minigrids Innovator
Status: For-Profit
Size: 10 employees
Year Founded: 2017
Headquarters: Grass Valley, California
Why our work matters:
Rural energy consumers have limited and expensive options for energy. Consequently, there are 1 billion people around the world without access to reliable electricity.
Who we serve:
Indigenous communities in Alaska, disaster victims in Puerto Rico and those left behind by traditional energy infrastructure around the world
Projects in Alaska, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and California
Read more
Energy Peace Partners
Promoting Renewable Energy as a Building Block for Peace
Status: Nonprofit
Size: 5 people
Year Founded: 2017
Headquarters: Sausalito, California
Visit the Energy Peace Partners website
Why our work matters:
Many regions vulnerable to climate change and conflict include some of the least electrified countries in the world. We aim to enable renewable energy that can serve as the building blocks for peace.
Who we serve:
Our work supports communities in fragile countries facing the overlapping threats of conflict, climate change and energy poverty.
We serve the 27 countries, home to 850 million people.
Read more
Grid Alternatives
Building a Solar Workforce
Status: Nonprofit
Size: 415 employees
Year Founded: 2001
Headquarters: Oakland, California
Visit the Grid Alternatives website
Why our work matters:
Renewable energy can drive economic growth and environmental benefits in communities most impacted by underemployment, pollution and climate change.
Who we serve:
GRID develops and implements renewable energy projects that exclusively serve low-income communities in the United States, including tribal communities, and in Mexico, Nepal and Nicaragua.
Read more
Groundswell
Community Solar Developer
Status: Nonprofit
Size: $3 million in annual revenue
Year Founded: 2009
Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
Why our work matters:
We believe that clean energy is a necessity, not a luxury. We’re all in this together, and we can’t afford to leave our neighbors behind.
Who we serve:
We serve low-income communities and households in six states: the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland and New York.
Read more
New Energy Nexus, eXplorer in Residence (XIR)
Empowering Underrepresented Entrepreneurs
Status: Nonprofit
Size: 20 people
Year Founded: 2004
Headquarters: Oakland, California
Visit the New Energy Nexus Residency website
Why our work matters:
New Energy Nexus' XIR program enables individuals in underrepresented groups to engage in the clean energy economy, conduct projects that provide clean energy benefits to frontline communities, and potentially replicate and build on the projects moving forward.
Who we serve:
We seek opportunities to broaden the range of communities served by the clean economy to include unhoused individuals, returning citizens, LGBTQIA, communities of color, refugees, veterans and women.
XIR has a presence in the United States and we seek to replicate it in China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.
Read more
The CLEO Institute
Educators and Advocates of Clean Energy
Status: Nonprofit
Size: 9 employees
Year Founded: 2010
Headquarters: Miami, Florida
Visit the Cleo Institute website
Why our work matters:
We give low-income communities a voice and a seat at the table at the county and municipality levels in Miami to ensure all communities become more climate-resilient.
Who we serve:
We serve all members of the community in South Florida, with a focus on low- and middle-income communities in Miami-Dade County, particularly African-American and Latinx.
Read more
Roanoke Economic Development, Inc. (a.k.a. The Roanoke Center)
Non-Profit Subsidiary of Rural Electric Utility
Status: Nonprofit
Size: ~$40 million in annual revenue; 65 employees
Year Founded: 1999
Headquarters: Ahoskie, North Carolina
Visit the Roanoake Center website
Why our work matters:
We strive to ensure that all citizens, including low-income renters, are able to participate in the clean energy economy.
Who we serve:
Five persistently poverty-stricken counties in northeastern North Carolina, where 30-40% of people live below the poverty level
We operate in Ahoskie, North Carolina and northeastern North Carolina
Read more
Winneshiek Energy District
Accelerating locally-owned, inclusive, clean energy
Status: Nonprofit
Size: 3-5 employees; 5 AmeriCorps volunteers
Year Founded: 2010
Headquarters: Winneshiek County, Iowa
Visit the Winneshiek Energy District website
Why our work matters:
Energy Districts create "universal local" institutions that implement the clean energy transition, include everyone and cross ideological boundaries to build a universal clean energy identity.
Who we serve:
We serve all energy users, with a focus on equity (low-income, disadvantaged groups) and on full inclusion (farms, nonprofits, businesses, institutions) in order to bring everyone forward together and create a shared clean energy prosperity.
We serve all energy users in Winneshiek County, Iowa, and have created a growing network of seven fully inclusive, county-level energy districts in eastern Iowa.
Read more
Uprose
Working for a Just Energy Transition
Status: Nonprofit
Size: 5 full-time employees; 3 part-time employees
Year Founded: 1966
Headquarters: Brooklyn, New York
Why our work matters:
Frontline communities experience the brunt of climate change. We work at the local, regional and national scales to achieve a Just Transition.
Who we serve:
Our work supports Sunset Park in Brooklyn, a predominantly immigrant, low-income community of color with an industrial working waterfront bordering the East River. Sunset Park is an environmental justice community with New York City’s largest Significant Maritime and Industrial Area (SMIA).