The Persistent Journey: Don't Ever Lose Hope

Dec. 18, 2023
Take the recent COP28 environmental summit. Some expressed happiness at enhanced goals for decarbonization in dramatic fashion, while many others were dismayed at the engagement of oil and gas firms present in the host United Arab Emirates.

It’s easy to get discouraged sometimes. Progress and success don’t always move in linear fashion.

Take the recent COP28 environmental summit. Some expressed happiness at enhanced goals for decarbonization in dramatic fashion, while many others were dismayed at the engagement of oil and gas firms present in the host United Arab Emirates.

Either way, this energy transition will take a long time to change the course of global energy emissions. But hopefully think of it as a persistent journey rather than a Titanic unable to shift course in time to miss the iceberg. Our goal is to actually save more icebergs, after all.

Discouragement can move in fast and take hold hard. Ukraine is locked in an existential battle with the invaders from neighboring Russia and, despite much success, the outcome is far from certain. Lisa Cohn details work on solar generators for the microgrids helping Ukraine maintain some energy security. Incredible work.

Also this week, I have a conversation with PXiSE Energy Solutions about the role of microgrids in green hydrogen success, while we note the global report that puts microgrid friendly University of Toronto at the top of rankings for the most sustainable campuses.

Picking the destination is easy, but when charting and navigating the new route there are bound to be setbacks and recalculations. Don’t ever lose hope. Whether it’s a nation fighting for survival or a university researching future gains for decarbonization, the world has a better outcome as long as we are willing to keep striving for it.

About the Author

Rod Walton, Managing Editor | Managing Editor

For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023. 

I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future. 

Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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