Ideas for Stealing: Solar Panel Heroes

My grandfather worked in a coal mine. For parts of his life, my father did too.

It’s heavy, dirty work. It’s brutal on the body, as much as it is brutal on the environment. I learned that early – not only because my grandfather was sent into retirement at forty (!!!), but also because my mother never got tired of reminding me that our town protested relentlessly against a coalmine on its outskirts and won. Even though it’s built, it never went into production. (Thank goodness).

And yet, as far as I remember coal mining was celebrated. People saw miners as heroes. There was pride in it. Being a coal miner was its own identity.

I thought about that when I saw the public tender for Solar City Berlin, a project aiming to cover 25% of the city’s electricity demand with solar.

We never got invited to submit our comms concept (sadly). But maybe someone else will run with this because to me, a project as ambitious as Solar City Berlin is the perfect opportunity to finally highlight the people climbing rooftops and wiring panels. I believe it’s time to position those people as the ones standing on the frontlines of fighting climate change; A narrative that could be used by municipalities, solar companies, or installers themselves.

Let’s learn from the coalminers pride and reputation

Fossil fuel companies spent decades (!!!) promoting coalminers heroic narrative. They made it about pride and community. Energy wasn’t the main focus of their storytelling.  Meanwhile, when I think of renewables I never think of people installing panels. I think of the technology, well, as technology.

That’s a missed opportunity I believe. People don’t connect with systems they can’t see or understand fully. But they definitely connect with stories of people – especially those who are out there solving real problems: those that are putting solar panels on roofs of schools. Those that are saving household’s money. Most of all it’s those people that are making communities more self-sufficient.

It’s time to stop framing solar as “innovative technology” and instead start focusing on the people that do a job that’s rooted in deep conviction - because they’re the heroes of our times. I’m sure, my grandfather would more than approve of this narrative.