Brian F. Keane is the president of SmartPower, a nationwide nonprofit marketing organization dedicated to promoting clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Keane has built a name for himself managing nonprofit organizations that address a wide range of important national issues. His organizations have consistently challenged conventional wisdom on topics including budget deficits, Social Security reform and clean, renewable energy.

Keane began his career in the political realm, where he gained valuable experience as an organizer and communications professional. Keane worked as both an advisor to the late Senator Paul Tsongas (D-MA) and as a Congressional aide to Representative Les Aspin (D-WI).

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’s 8th Congressional District in 1998. Brian F. Keane was himself, briefly, a candidate for the Massachusetts State Senate in 2002.

Keane’s extensive background in nonprofit management and communications includes his role as one of the architects of The Concord Coalition, a nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating the federal budget deficit. Keane was also the founding Executive Director of Economic Security 2000 (ES 2000), the nation's first nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to saving and reforming Social Security. Keane’s testimony before the U.S. Congress helped distinguish ES 2000 as a national leader in the debate on Social Security reform. Presidents Clinton and Bush both recognized ES 2000 as a valuable resource in the discussion on Social Security.

Today Keane serves on the Board of Directors of the Vermont-based Clean Energy Group (CEG). He also serves as the President of the American University Alumni Association. Keane graduated from The American University in Washington, DC with a B.A. in broadcast journalism and political science. Keane and his wife, Kate Sawyer Keane, live in Arlington, VA with their two children, Karenna and Jack.

Blog Entries by Brian Keane

There's a New Sheriff in Town...

Posted November 13, 2009 | 10:28 AM (EST)


It's fair to say that environmentalists have just about always considered America's utility companies the bad guys. While utilities create and deliver the energy we rely on everyday to power our homes and our lifestyles, they also typically fight most environmental regulations and clean energy expansion.

However, these days...

Read Post

Americans Want To Save Energy; We're Going To Help Them Make It Happen

Posted September 30, 2009 | 03:38 PM (EST)


Not to get too personal, but I haven't exactly been counting calories this summer.

So I decided to dust off my online South Beach Diet account. I enter in the website that I want to lose 20 pounds this winter, and it tells me how to craft my diet to...

Read Post

The Climate Bill: Ready, Fire, Aim

7 Comments | Posted August 6, 2009 | 01:24 PM (EST)


Hot from the successful passage of the historic climate legislation, the Obama administration has kept at its plug and chug motif, working hard to revise the initial house legislation to bring America back into the climate change race. And while the speed and intensity from the congressional factory is both...

Read Post

The Flat Thinking of Tom Friedman

Posted April 17, 2009 | 01:42 PM (EST)


Recently, New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman offered readers of Newsweek a surprisingly peculiar suggestion about how Americans should fight climate change. "My motto is change your leaders, not your light bulbs," said Friedman. Really? Is one of the most recognized thought leaders on energy and the environment actually...

Read Post

Obama Girl Joins Climate Culture to Green Campuses!

Posted April 2, 2009 | 04:45 PM (EST)


When Obama Girl is behind your cause, you know you're on to something.

In partnership with ClimateCulture.com, SmartPower is proud to officially roll out the America's Greenest Campus contest. Here's how it...

Read Post

College Students Heed Warning on Climate Change, Engage in 'America's Greenest Campus' Competition

Posted March 31, 2009 | 02:16 PM (EST)


There's certainly been much talk about colleges going green in recent years. In today's world, schools know they need to be committed to environmental sustainability in order to attract the best students and fulfill their mission to improve the world. Now there is a way for ordinary students, faculty and...

Read Post

Something to Chu On

Posted January 15, 2009 | 10:22 AM (EST)


On Tuesday, the US Senate began confirmation hearings on Secretary of Energy Designate Steven Chu. And to be sure, the nomination of Chu -- like almost all of the Obama appointments -- represents a striking and hopeful departure from the approach we've seen under President Bush.

There's real opportunity for...

Read Post

A Message to Congress: Energy Smart Programs Will Save the Economy

Posted January 9, 2009 | 04:47 PM (EST)


Despite Friday's piece in the Times, there seems to be a growing consensus around Washington that the road to our nation's economic salvation will be laid in large part by a comprehensive, long term domestic energy initiative.

For starters, President-elect Obama has called for the doubling of our...

Read Post

Each Of Us Must Help Make America Energy Smart

Posted December 8, 2008 | 10:32 AM (EST)


This election may have been the most exciting one in our lifetimes, especially for those engaged in the energy debate. Energy policy was one of the most important issues of the presidential campaign, and the fact that the election is over does not mean the campaign to get our nation...

Read Post

Facebook and You Tube Helped Obama and Can Help Clean Energy, Too

Posted November 7, 2008 | 01:19 PM (EST)


Those of us who work to spread the message of clean energy and energy efficiency need to learn from Barack Obama's presidential campaign and its unprecedented success at mobilizing young Americans.

Sure, the clean energy and efficiency industries may lack the hundreds of millions of dollars in donations...

Read Post

Clean Energy Stories to Be Told

Posted September 10, 2008 | 04:25 PM (EST)


The New York Times published a feature piece earlier this month on Ainsworth, Nebraska, a town that has been generating clean energy from a state of the art wind farm for the past two years. According to the article, the 36 windmills at the facility have now added...

Read Post

Beijing's Eco-lympics

Posted August 10, 2008 | 08:54 AM (EST)


Much has been said and written about environmental and pollution concerns in Beijing and across China in advance of the Olympics this month. To be sure, there is room for improvement in the air quality in Beijing, but before attacking China, take a moment to consider the U.S. and China's...

Read Post

Not Yet to the Tipping Point on Renewable Energy

Posted July 30, 2008 | 11:12 PM (EST)


Going green is all the rage these days--we see it practically everywhere. I recently received a flyer in the mail offering me a lawn service that uses "100% renewable energy" to mow my lawn. I was skeptical of the claim, but upon further inspection, it seems true -- the company's...

Read Post

Consumer Demand is the Answer

Posted June 24, 2008 | 12:00 PM (EST)


The U.S. Senate is currently stalled on approving renewals for clean energy production tax credits. These tax incentives have promoted investment in the clean and renewable energy industry for the last fifteen years. In years that the credits have been in place, the clean energy industry has grown at an...

Read Post

Tilting at Windmills

Posted August 21, 2006 | 12:21 PM (EST)


Writing about the environment on the Huffington Post may not be much of a surprise to its avid readers. Progressives everywhere are worried about America's alarming and disproportionate dependence on fossil-fuels and their effect on our ecological well-being and national security.

The problem for progressives is strategic. Americans...

Read Post