Welcome to our very first Fat Spaniel Technologies blog. This post is being written as I travel by train through Southern Germany. As nice as that sounds, I’m not on vacation; I’ll explain in a moment.
Six years ago, on January 30, 2003, I founded Fat Spaniel. The original idea was to help increase awareness of Renewable Energy and enable customers of solar electric systems to track and improve their performance. It was about showing a skeptical world that Renewable Energy is a viable source of energy and providing tools to help ensure these systems worked as promised. Our very first tagline was: “Visualize Renewable Energy”. This was both to describe the function of our product as well as indicate our desire to actively participate in helping the industry grow and succeed.
Today, through technological improvements, cost savings, public investment and innovative business models, the Renewable Energy industry has been transformed into a global, multi-billion dollar powerhouse. As one of the few bright spots in difficult economic times, our industry has landed at the intersection of some of the key issues of our time: climate change, energy independence and economic recovery.
In September of last year, I relocated to Munich, Germany, to personally launch the European Business Unit of Fat Spaniel. As I write this, travelling from our new European office, solar energy systems are visible everywhere. Farms, factories, and homes are sporting large arrays almost everywhere you look. Some estimated 14% of Germany’s grid power now comes from Renewable Energy which inspires my optimism about the future of our industry in the USA and beyond. It’s a great start, but we’ve barely scratched the surface of a massive potential market.
In early 2009, the Fat Spaniel team decided to formalize the passion and purpose that has been driving us since the beginning; to create a mission that would motivate and challenge us for many years into the future. Our vision is to enable and promote *Responsible Energy*, by making energy information easily available and ubiquitous.
An important way to move our mission forward is to share it and discuss it widely; hence the creation of this blog. Several members of the Fat Spaniel team will be posting here to share their perspective and expertise. We invite you to participate in the conversation and join our quest to accelerate the adoption of Responsible Energy.
I hope to talk with you again soon.
Sincerely,
Christiaan Beekhuis, President & Chief Technical Officer
Fat Spaniel Technologies, Inc.
Tags: Energy Education, green jobs, Responsible Energy, stimulus plan