It’s mental: Why remote resorts are resisting renewable energy

I wrote this blog post on the psychological tendencies that affect decision-making towards Renewable Energy microgrid adoption. Thanks to David Gillbanks at the "Good Tourism" Blog for publishing.

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Daniel Rye develops renewable energy microgrids for remote applications, including at hotels and resorts. In this “GT” Insight, Daniel discusses the psychology behind common objections decision makers have against an increasingly efficient and economical energy option.

Renewable energy is here. By empirical metrics this is undeniable. For example, 2015 was the first year that saw renewables account for the majority of incremental global power generation capacity — 134 GW, making up 53.6% of the total. And that doesn’t even include hydro power.

In the seven years that I’ve spent developing renewable energy (RE) projects in Asia, a lot has changed. RE used to be a ‘nice to have’ where the early adopters chose to ignore the shaky business case — and the opportunist solution providers — in exchange for doing the right thing. Today it’s an entirely different landscape where the business case is almost always a ‘no-brainer’ and the technology and solutions are mature and well understood.

With my current work at Canopy Power in Singapore, I help develop and implement renewable energy microgrids for businesses and communities located in remote locations across Southeast Asia. These places traditionally rely on diesel generation or a poor-quality grid for their electricity.

A microgrid is an autonomous power system that integrates multiple renewable energy (RE) sources with batteries and traditional power sources.

Continue reading the full article on the "Good Tourism" blog