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Brian Keane
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Twice named “Connecticut’s Environmental Hero,” Brian F. Keane is president of SmartPower, a Washington, DC-based non-profit marketing organization dedicated to promoting clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency. SmartPower’s award-winning marketing campaigns have engaged hundreds of thousands of people across the country, prompting them to buy clean energy and reduce their carbon footprints.

With coast-to-coast operations, SmartPower has become the clean energy industry’s leading marketing organization. For their efforts, Keane and SmartPower have been recognized with numerous awards, including a 2010 Clean Air Excellence Award from the Environmental Protection Agency, recognizing SmartPower’s “America’s Greenest Campus” energy efficiency campaign. Other accolades include the coveted Green Power Pilot Award presented by the EPA and the US Department of Energy; four Gold Awards from the Service Industry Advertising Awards (SIAA); and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Circle Award. In 2005 Keane was recognized as one of Connecticut’s “Outstanding Forty Under 40.” In 2009, he was offered a senior-level presidential appointment to the US Department of Energy, an opportunity he turned down in order to stay at SmartPower.

A former advisor to the late Senator Paul Tsongas (D-MA) and congressional aide to Representative Les Aspin (D-WI), Keane has an extensive background in nonprofit management, political organizing and communications. He has used this experience to create organizations that challenge conventional wisdom and help to set the national agenda. Keane was one of the architects of The Concord Coalition, a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating the federal budget deficit. He was also the founding executive director of Economic Security 2000 (ES 2000), the nation's first nonpartisan, grass-roots organization dedicated to saving and reforming Social Security. Keane’s testimony before the U.S. Congress helped make ES 2000 a recognized national leader in the debate on Social Security reform. Former presidents Clinton and Bush both recognized ES 2000 as a valuable resource in the discussion on Social Security.

At SmartPower, Keane combines his passion for the environment with a marketer’s commitment to creating compelling messages that resonate with the general public, not just the converted. As such, Keane is a much sought-after interview and presenter on clean energy and energy efficiency. He has spoken extensively across the nation, internationally and with local and national media.

Keane is a 1989 graduate of The American University in Washington, DC, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism and Political Science. The tenth in a family of eleven children, Keane served as the chairman of his eldest brother’s successful campaign for the Boston City Council and his brother’s subsequent race for the U.S. Congress in Massachusetts’ eighth congressional district in 1998. Keane was briefly a candidate for the Massachusetts State Senate in 2002.

Keane serves as the president of the American University Alumni Association and sits on the board of directors of the Vermont-based Clean Energy Group. He is also a member of the Solar Foundation’s board of directors.

Keane and his wife, Kate Sawyer Keane, live in Arlington, VA, with their four children.

Blog Entries by Brian Keane

Super Bowl XLVI: A Super Renewable Opportunity

2 Comments | Posted January 31, 2012 | 1/31/12

Can a sporting event as massive as the Super Bowl be considered even remotely green?

Yes -- although we'll disregard the fact that Indianapolis's Lucas Oil Stadium is hosting this year's game.

The Super Bowl expends an enormous amount of energy. But that doesn't mean it should go to...

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Obama's Solar Story Shows Success, Not Failure

13 Comments | Posted January 19, 2012 | 1/19/12

As the election season shifts into high gear, we're bracing ourselves for more stories about Solyndra and other so-called "scandals" of the Obama administration.

But let's not kid ourselves -- Solyndra is a sideshow to the real, incredibly exciting story of solar power over the course of this administration.

Here's...

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Top 10 Green Energy Tips for the Holidays

1 Comments | Posted December 16, 2011 | 12/16/11

Don't tell me the coal industry doesn't have a lock on the holidays! After all, what does Santa leave in the stockings of bad little boys and girls? (Hint: Not solar panels.)

Here are my top 10 tips for a happy and sustainable holiday season, from LED Christmas...

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Energy Department's Top Efficiency Programs Save Money and Create Jobs

Posted December 6, 2011 | 12/6/11

If there's one item on the energy agenda that's managed to remain free of controversy, it's energy efficiency. There's no doubt about it -- wasting energy is bad. And indeed, saving energy is not only good for the environment, and our national security. It's also good for our wallets. Remember...

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Poll Finds Large, Bipartisan Majority of Americans Support Solar

Posted November 22, 2011 | 11/22/11

The headlines recently on solar power seem to portend the end of the gravy train for the clean energy industry. From Solyndra to EverGreen, the conventional wisdom seems to be saying that the glory days of solar power are dwindling.

But the conventional wisdom couldn't be more wrong.

Americans overwhelmingly...

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For Clean Energy, Politics Is Bad Business

Posted November 16, 2011 | 11/16/11

Juliet Eilperin's and Jon Cohen's Nov. 10 Washington Post story about the growing gulf between Democrats' and Republicans' views on renewable energy paints a grim picture of our country's stalled clean energy future. As it says, "support for putting federal funds into alternative energy sources such as wind,...

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The Real Meaning of "Smart Power"

Posted November 9, 2011 | 11/9/11

When I picked up my copy of this week's Time magazine, I was momentarily stopped in my tracks by Massimo Calabresi's cover story: "Hillary Clinton and the Rise of Smart Power."

It was a great read -- but I couldn't help but think that, in discussing the...

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Garden State? More Like Sunshine State

Posted October 13, 2011 | 10/13/11

Last week I watched New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie turn his 15 minutes of fame into an hour-long press conference. As far as I'm concerned, Christie -- and the national media -- missed the real story coming out of New Jersey.

A new Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) report confirms...

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At Solar Decathlon, College Eco-Stars Reveal True Future of Solar

Posted September 30, 2011 | 9/30/11

Our SmartPower staff recently ventured across the National Mall to visit the 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, a sustainable building competition among teams of college students from across the country. We went to the Decathlon expecting to see some pretty cool houses powered by rooftop solar...

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D.C. vs. the Green Apple: In Efficiency, We're Closer Than You Think

Posted September 29, 2011 | 9/29/11

Kudos to Scientific American for putting out a special issue on "Better, greener, smarter cities."

The issue is chock-full of interesting data, ranging from the technological to the anthropological. But what I liked most about the edition was its emphasis on green building as the future of urban...

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New Job Growth Numbers Tell the Larger Story of Solar

Posted September 20, 2011 | 9/20/11

Let's face it: Solyndra wasn't a winner. But it was the company's inability to keep up with rapidly declining solar panel costs -- not its focus on clean energy technology -- that led to its demise.

Nevertheless, the associated job losses and pique of political scandal have overshadowed the...

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Beyond Solyndra: DOE Invests Big Time in Next Generation of Eco-Stars

Posted September 15, 2011 | 9/15/11

We're all reading some uncomfortable reports in the news today about Solyndra, the solar company that declared bankruptcy last month and is now the target of a House investigation. It's tough to see good people and good intentions dragged before a Congressional Committee all to score some political...

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America's Next Eco-Star: The Cross-Campus Search Begins

Posted September 8, 2011 | 9/8/11

I recently wrote an op-ed in Politico about the remarkable work college students are doing across the country to drive clean energy and energy efficiency improvements on their campuses. As those students head back to school, it's time to showcase their efforts -- which is why I'm announcing...

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How the GOP Nominees Rank on Energy and Environment

Posted August 22, 2011 | 8/22/11

Brian Keane is the President of SmartPower, a non-profit marketing organization funded by private foundations to help build the clean energy marketplace by helping the American public become smarter about their energy use.

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The Debt Ceiling Talks Remind Me of High School

Posted July 25, 2011 | 7/25/11

It's hard to keep ahead of the he-said, she-said nature of the debt ceiling talks that transpired over the weekend. But one thing is clear: on Friday, House Speaker John Boehner once again walked away from the negotiating table.

All I could think when I heard the...

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From Intern to Solar Champion

Posted July 21, 2011 | 7/21/11

It's intern season here in Washington. The sweltering city is filled with dynamic, ready-to-impress young people working in the powerful halls of Congress and the humble offices of SmartPower.

Each year our intern team gets better than the last. This year, Chandler Clay, Mark Ellis and Sarah Kiner are raising...

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How Does a Dust Storm Affect Solar Panels?

Posted July 7, 2011 | 7/7/11

On the evening of July 5, an incredible dust storm -- or "haboob" -- raged through Phoenix, Ariz.:

[The dust cloud] was around 5,000 feet when it arrived in Phoenix, but radar data reveals that it reached heights anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 feet high prior. The storm...
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Utility Executives: Unlikely Allies in Climate Fight

Posted June 28, 2011 | 6/28/11

President Barack Obama announced last month that clean energy specialist John Bryson will head the Commerce Department, further expunging the ill affection toward "bad guy" utility companies and suggesting that we have entered a new phase of climate consciousness.

Bryson will bring both private sector and environmental...

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Al Gore Is Wrong. Here's Why.

Posted June 22, 2011 | 6/22/11

Former Vice President Al Gore dipped into today's news cycle to trash President Obama's approach toward global warming. "[Obama's] election was accompanied by intense hope that many things in need of change would change," Gore writes in an upcoming essay for Rolling Stone. "Some things have, but others...

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Slovakia's Energy Concerns Not Far From Our Own

Posted June 14, 2011 | 6/14/11

I'm not one for travelogues, but my recent trip to Bratislava, Slovakia, opened my eyes to the energy challenges -- and opportunities -- in this nascent country.

For those of us who may have missed geography class that day, Slovakia became a country just 18 years ago....

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