> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.cleantechwriting.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Interview with Ron Kamen of EarthKind Energy Consulting - URL: https://www.cleantechwriting.com/interview-with-ron-kamen-of-earthkind-energy-consulting/ - Published: 2026-10-28T14:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-28T14:00:00.000Z - Author: Lakis Polycarpou *This month I'm very pleased to share a recent conversation with Ron Kamen of EarthKind Energy Consulting.* *Ron is a force of nature in the world of clean energy in New York City and Westchester County. Over the years, his consulting and advocacy work has spanned a wide range of initiatives, touching almost every aspect of energy transition in the region.* *As President of the New York Solar Energy Industries Association Ron led a campaign that culminated in the $1 billion New York Sun program. He is the co-founder of the Business Council of Westchester's Clean Energy Action Coalition, and has recently been working with Ravi Bhalla, the former mayor of Hoboken, to develop a resilient infrastructure financing program for Dundon Advisors.* *In our conversation, we discussed the ways in which the clean energy landscape has changed over the years, how the business community in Westchester County is working to meet rising demand with clean energy solutions, and how he is working to combat misinformation about the safety of battery storage systems.* *The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.* **Can you talk a little bit about what brought you into the world of clean energy and climate change work, and how it's led to where you are today?** When I came out of college, undergraduate and graduate work, I wanted to do something that had an impact on people. I got a job as a community organizer, and a big issue at that point was energy. Utility prices were going up, much as they are now, 15 percent, 25 percent a year. I started working with folks who were on fixed incomes who were literally shutting down parts of their homes because they couldn't afford to heat and eat. **I help innovators craft narratives that educate,* **inform, build authority, and shape the broader conversation.* **Ready to tell your story?* [Get in Touch ](https://tally.so/r/2jj1kj?ref=cleantechwriting.com) The more I dug into it, the more I found that energy and the environment were very closely connected. Energy is key to everything we do. I realized that's what I wanted my life to be about — energy and the environment. So that's how I started. I discovered that a major reason for the rate increases was the nuclear power plants that were coming online with massive cost overruns. What was supposed to be a $300 million plant went to $1 billion, and then $2\. At $4.2 billion, we got a cost cap put on it. At $7 billion, nuclear almost bankrupted every utility in the state. On Long Island, the Long Island Lighting Company nearly went bankrupt, and the state had to take it over. So there went my interest in and support of nuclear power. In 1998, I actually[ had a tornado come down my hill](https://www.weather.gov/bgm/pastSevereMay311998?ref=cleantechwriting.com), split in two, go around my house, and do $50,000 worth of damage. It went between my kids and me, who were on the way back from a lake. Thankfully everybody was okay, but, let's just say that it was awfully close, and I started realizing that the impacts on the climate were very personal and real and happening here in New York as well as across the planet. ![](https://www.cleantechwriting.com/content/images/2026/10/tornado-house-1.png) **Tornadoes are supposed to be unusual in New York.** They were. Not so much anymore. Now we're getting them multiple times a year. ![](https://www.cleantechwriting.com/content/images/2026/10/tornadobeforeafter-1.png) Before and after the 1998 tornado at Ron's house in Binghamton, New York. **How would you say that the clean energy and climate landscape has changed? Has anything surprised you?** There are a lot of different pieces, I think. On the one hand, a lot of folks have recognized that, look, there are 8 billion of us on this planet and we're actually impacting the planet’s atmosphere, our life support system. And we've gotta deal with that. I think more and more folks have come to that conclusion. The good part is that we have the technology now. Solar and wind and battery storage are now the most cost-effective new sources of electric generation on the planet. The sad thing to me is that while we recognize the problem, we haven't done enough about it. We have certain people who are still in massive denial and/or are actively working to undermine the efforts that could actually save our kids and grandkids. And that's really disturbing because I have both kids and grandkids, and I'm concerned about their future. **Can you tell me a little bit about your energy consulting business, who your clients are, and what's motivating them?** I have a consulting business that I started in 2000\. I tend to cycle through three kinds of activity: policy, programs, and projects. I'm always keeping an eye on policy. I was the president of the [New York Solar Industries Association](https://www.nyseia.org/?ref=cleantechwriting.com). I sit on the New York Geothermal board. I'm part of an [Electrify New York](https://electrifyny.org/?ref=cleantechwriting.com) campaign to deal with the transportation system. So policy is always key and I'm always involved in it. Sometimes I'm hired by various clients to help impact policy, but my clients generally are either in the program piece or in the project piece. On programs, I'm often hired by people who want to roll out various different clean energy programs. In the early 2000s I was hired to set up voluntary wind energy marketing programs in the state. I've since done that with geothermal, solar, electric vehicle charging stations, et cetera. I currently have two major clients working on programs. I'm also hired to do projects where I'm hired by owners who want to figure out how these technologies can save them money, can reduce their carbon footprints, and what are the right technologies for their particular situation. What incentives they can get, what's the return on investment, what are the financing sources, what does it impact? How do they develop public-private partnerships if they're a government or non-profit, and then how to make sure that the projects get done right? So I get hired by folks who want to figure this stuff out, and need a subject matter expert on clean energy who can help them work through their particular unique situation, because everybody has a different portfolio, different issues, different challenges, and different financial situation. We help them figure out the right solution. **You are also the co-founder of the** [**Business Council of Westchester's Clean Energy Action Coalition**](https://thebcw.org/advocacy/ceac/?ref=cleantechwriting.com)**. Can you talk about how that started and what it does?** The Business Council of Westchester is the largest business organization actively engaged in promoting the economy and businesses throughout Westchester. Westchester, for those who don't know, is a million people who live a little bit north of New York City. The Business Council has been around for years and they've done a lot of great work. Several years ago, when they brought in their current vice president, one of the first things he did was look at the energy landscape. At that point, Westchester was very heavily dependent on the Indian Point nuclear power plant for energy, which could produce 2,000 megawatts of power. There were some safety concerns. Indian Point is pretty close to Manhattan. One of the planes that that hit the World Trade Center tower actually went right over Indian Point. And at one point, apparently, the terrorists actually discussed flying the plane into it. If we thought 9/11 was a wild situation, can you imagine if there were radioactive waste spewed across the landscape — what that would've done to the economy and people that live in that area, and in New York City and everywhere else? ![](https://www.cleantechwriting.com/content/images/2026/10/Indian_Point.jpg) Now closed, the Indian Point nuclear power plant sits 36 miles north of Midtown Manhattan So there was a really good reason to shut down Indian Point, and that happened a few years ago. Unfortunately, we did not have a good enough plan to replace that power. So now Westchester is facing increased costs as well as reliability and resiliency issues. The Business Council started talking about those issues a few years ago, and I was involved with some of the conversations. They were holding annual energy conferences talking about New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), and what the impacts would be. And the Business Council basically said, "Look, we support the goals. We think the goals are great. But we don't think the timeline is accurate. And we don't see the cost analysis showing that the costs are going to work out." So they raised these questions for a number of years. At one point then, I and a couple of others, sat down with the leadership at the BCW and we said, "Look, it's great to raise the questions. Absolutely. There are questions here. There's no doubt about that. But what's your solution? You know, you’ve got a lot of members working in this space who could have a tremendous impact, and we should bring them together." And that's how we formed the Business Council's Clean Energy Action Coalition two years ago now. We have over 130 different members actively engaged. This includes businesses involved in efficiency and demand response, solar and other sources of generation, heat pumps, electric vehicles and transportation, and clean fuels. And then there are some large energy users who are also in the coalition that are actively engaged and helping to promote all the different technologies and solutions. The three parts of our program are demand response, solar and storage, and renewable fuels as a drop-in solution to the transportation issue in the short run. Let’s start with demand response and demand management. The cheapest source of electricity is what we don't use, and it's a way of supporting the grid. When you take a look at Westchester and the region, we're short about 3,000 megawatts worth of power. So that's 2,000 megawatts of Indian Point, plus another 1,000+ megawatts of power, because we've been using more power. Over the past two years, around 100,000 people in ConEd territory — residents, larger commercial and industrial customers, schools, nonprofits — participated in reducing their demand just a little bit during peak times. And that was around 1,000 megawatts worth of reduction, and that kept us going throughout some of the tightest periods of generation. Everyone should be participating in these demand response programs. It's only a little bit of time. It's only a little bit of adjustment. If you're a resident, it means that during the hottest days, maybe you don't have your thermostat set at 70, you let it be 72\. If you're a business, maybe you shut off some lights, or you change your manufacturing processes, or you improve your efficiency. Second, we need new generation. The fastest, most affordable and most reliable way of doing that in Westchester and elsewhere, across the planet really, is solar and solar with battery storage. The sun shines everywhere. ![](https://www.cleantechwriting.com/content/images/2026/10/Screenshot-2026-10-27-at-9.52.00---PM.png) Installed utility solar in Westchester County, New York as of 2026\. Source: NYSERDA. The thing about renewables is they take a lot of upfront capital. But once you build that infrastructure and you maintain it and you own it, nature supplies the fuel, right? Currently, the cheapest source of electricity in New York State is last century's renewable energy, water power. With hydropower, the water flows. Solar power, the sun shines. Wind power, the wind blows. And then there's geothermal heating and cooling with the heat beneath our feet. Instead of having to burn something that has to come through the Strait of Hormuz or wherever else to get to you, nature provides the fuel. And if you build in battery storage, you have that energy 24/7 when you need it. If you have a local solar and battery storage generating facility on your site, you're able to stay up when the grid goes down. You have long-term fixed price power that’s reliable, it's affordable, it's sustainable. It's a good thing all the way around. The third piece of our three-legged stool in Westchester is fuels. We totally support the electrification of transportation. Electric vehicles save money and they have only 20 moving parts instead of 2,000, so your maintenance costs are less. But we also have to recognize that it's going to take decades to electrify the heavy duty sector — the trucks and the buses and all the heavy duty equipment — both because of the cost up front and the cost of providing the electricity for that. In the interim, [renewable fuels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable%5Ffuels?ref=cleantechwriting.com) can play a key role. Renewable diesel is a drop-in fuel that now supplies 70 percent of California's diesel market. Switching to renewable diesel not only gets you off of fossil fuels, it also reduces your carbon and particulate emissions by somewhere between 40 to 70 percent, depending upon the source of the fuel. So it's a way to immediately reduce particulates. It's a way to immediately have an impact on carbon. We don't want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and as we continue to make the transformation to electrifying our transportation system, let's just drop in renewable diesel and reduce emissions right away. **Can you talk a little bit about the challenges of energy storage in Westchester and other places? People have been concerned about safety, and some places have instituted bans. I know that’s something you’ve been addressing.** Yeah, so, there’s a lot of misinformation out there, and a lot of fear-mongering. Look, there were a couple of battery storage fires. But when you take a look across the country, there's actually been no deaths from the battery storage fires, which is interesting because there are natural gas fires every day. There's a whole range of other types of fires. So it's kind of strange that we're focusing on this. I understand that people are scared of new technology. I get it. I understand it. You want to wrap your hands around it. But look, we've all got phone batteries in our pockets, next to our skin, right? In our houses. We've got key fobs, we've got remote controls, laptops. We have batteries all around us. It's the same technology. You take the same technology, you put it into a module, put the module into a rack, you put the rack into a battery energy storage system, and there you have it. Yes, there needs to be some controls. The technology's evolved. The state in New York actually has done a really great job of looking at the fires that were out there and identifying ways of making the impacts less volatile. One of the things people are concerned about is that you have a lithium ion battery fire, you're supposed to just let it burn, right? Because pouring water on it causes problems. People don't like the idea of letting it burn, and I get that. But the thing is, if you let batteries burn in the confined containers that they've actually built now to contain them, the fire stays contained. The New York State fire code incorporates all these standards. If you do it right, you really have really, really limited the potential for problems. Compare that to the natural gas lines that are under many people's homes, or that sit outside our homes. These lines are now over 100 years old, and they're deteriorating. We’ve seen explosions around the country and in New York as well, where many people have died from natural gas. So we have to recognize that there is no perfect solution, but battery energy storage has 99 percent fewer problems than when it started a few years back. There’ve been no deaths compared to other sources of energy generation. A lot of municipalities, though, are not familiar with the technology, and they're hearing a lot of misinformation. They have residents who get up in arms, who get all this misinformation off the web. So we're actively engaged in overcoming that fear and providing real fact-based solutions and knowledge that can help municipalities overcome that. That's part of our campaign. What people have to recognize is, look, we need energy, right? You can't survive these days without electricity. You can't do anything without energy. Where is it going to come from? What's it going to cost? This year, the cost of oil heating in people's homes and businesses is going up 72 percent. There are going to be so many people who are struggling just to keep the heat on or pay for that heat. With renewables, once you build the infrastructure, if you own it and maintain it, you get affordable energy over the long term. **You have recently joined Dundon Advisors’ resilience and infrastructure team. Why is resilience so important now? How does your expertise in clean energy intersect with resilience finance?** [Dundon Advisors](https://www.dundon.com/?ref=cleantechwriting.com) is an excellent, outstanding organization. Matt Dundon is a genius, really. His wife, Sylvia, introduced me to the firm. At the beginning of this year they hired Ravi Bhalla, who had been the mayor of Hoboken. Ravi had a really interesting story. After Hurricane Sandy, Hoboken was 80 percent underwater. They were consistently being inundated every time there was an extreme weather event. In addition to flooding, what happens in most communities when you have extreme amounts of water, is that the water overloads the sewage system, and you have raw sewage everywhere, which is disgusting, unhealthy, unsanitary – not good. When people get flooded, they lose property. So Hoboken set up a resilient infrastructure financing program, with Ravi heading it up. Ravi's been out there talking to municipalities about the things they did in Hoboken that virtually eliminated flooding with things like resiliency parks. So Ravi and his team have developed ways of approaching the resilient water piece, and my role is to help them bring that technology out to communities in New York and to help with the energy resiliency piece as well, because when people get flooded, often they don't have power either. So I'm the resilience energy guy. Ravi is the resilience water guy. Between the two of us, we're a team that now can help municipalities in any community. Let me give you a sense of the market. New York alone had $500 billion worth of resilience infrastructure needs. That's half a trillion dollars in New York alone. Multi-trillions across the country. Communities throughout the country are dealing with water issues and extreme weather. We're really excited about the Dundon investment in this, and we think it's going to make a big difference to a lot of communities. --- **Thanks for reading! If you’re working on energy policy or the clean energy transition, I’d love to hear your perspective. If you found this conversation valuable, please consider sharing it with others working on energy policy and the clean energy transition.* ## Sign up for Cleantech Writing Industry news and perspectives on the energy transition Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.