Power for the People 3/27/26: A Climate to Thrive

Producer/Host: Steve Kahl Power for the People: Energy education and solutions for Mainers and Maine communities This month: Update on MDI’s A Climate to Thrive. Guest/s: Johannah Blackman, Executive Director. Wilson Haims, Manager of COmmunity Engagement and Resilience. FMI: www.aclimatetothrive.org/ About the host: Steve Kahl developed and has hosted Power for the People since 2015. He retired after 9 years as Professor of Environmental Science at Thomas College in 2024, where he taught environmental and energy courses and advised the student sustainability club. He is a member of the Friends of Quarry Road Trails board of directors in Waterville where he is the main advocate for a net-zero energy welcome center. Steve advised the board of WERU-FM on making the station studios 100% solar powered and worked with Sundog Solar in Searsport to make it happen back in 2020. Steve is a career lake researcher in addition to roles in energy and sustainability, and was a founding member of the Lake Stewards of Maine in the 1990s and is currently back on their board. He is past board President of Maine Lakes, the NH Lake Association, and the Lake Winnipesaukee Association. Prior to moving home to Maine in 2004, he was a member of the Energy Commission in Plymouth NH where he obtained Dept of Energy funding for the renovation of a town office building to net-zero energy as well as the installation of 160 KW of solar PV panels on town properties, including a major PV array at the sewage treatment plant that offsets 40% of its electrical costs. Steve’s past positions include Sustainability Director at Unity College where he developed a plan for the college to become 100% solar powered and earned the college the prestigious STARS Gold sustainability ranking with the American Association of Sustainability in Higher Education. Before that, he was Director of Environmental and Energy Strategies for the James Sewall Company of Old Town where he led a Maine Technology Institute research project that found that the Maine electric grid could be 100% solar powered if all suitably-oriented rooftops had solar PV panels. His lake research was done while serving as founding director of the Senator George Mitchell Center for Environmental Research at the University of Maine. His own 1940s-era home is 100% electric, where he has installed two air-source heat pumps to eliminate heating oil, a hybrid hot water heater to reduce his water heating costs by 70%, and insulated the basement and attic to reduce the ‘stack effect’ of cold air coming in the basement and forcing heat out of the attic. He has solar panels on his summer place at the lake and hasn’t paid for any electricity there since 2011. In 2025, he added 6 KW of solar PV on his main home, with the goal to be net zero energy on an annual basis. Steve has a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of Maine. The post Power for the People 3/27/26: A Climate to Thrive first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.