At Gen180, we’ve been reading, hearing, and receiving more questions about ways electric vehicles (EVs) can serve as back up electricity generation for a home or community. We spoke with two people using their EVs for this purpose.

I’m an Energy Specialist who helps my school district save money and energy. I was pleased to be representing my school and work by showing up to the conference in an EV.

Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee is growing the clean energy workforce in the Southeast, including Nashville and Atlanta

Kent Wimmer is on a journey to reduce his Florida home’s dependency on gas. Most recently, he added a heat pump clothes dryer and a home charger for his family’s new EV, in addition to previous upgrades to a heat pump HVAC and a heat pump water heater.

In Charleston, South Carolina, renewable energy developer Solar United National empowers communities through clean energy projects and workforce training, providing underprivileged communities with solar industry skills, economic opportunities, and disaster resiliency hubs.

Trinity Episcopal Church and Unitarian Universalist Church have dreamed of solar power for years. The Inflation Reduction Act and Georgia BRIGHT made their dreams a reality.

The small town of Hot Springs, NC, was hit hard by the catastrophic flooding and destruction of Hurricane Helene last September. The town of about 600 is still recovering, but thanks to a group of citizens who had collaborated with Duke Energy to install a nearby solar microgrid, what could have been a multi-week power outage after the storm was shortened to just a few days.

Two years ago, just before Christmas, Maggie Shober’s family received terrifying news during a cold front that would turn into Winter Storm Elliott: their gas furnace had been leaking fumes into their home, polluting the air they breathed daily. The wake-up call prompted the family's switch to a safer, more reliable heat pump to keep warm in future winters – and stay cool in the summers!

With help from a DOE grant, the Central Pines Regional Council in North Carolina is building a network of resilience hubs to strengthen the community's ability to withstand and recover from natural disasters, power outages, or public health crises.

For Olivia Amyette, solar power should be for everyone, and she doesn’t just mean access to owning and using solar panels. She's also growing a diverse solar workforce with paid local training programs by creating Georgia’s first and only registered solar apprenticeship program.