By Jasmine Graham
When people hear “energy transition,” they usually think solar panels, heat pumps, electric cars. But if you ask the folks doing the work on the ground — installing those panels, upgrading those homes, sitting at kitchen tables explaining it all — the story sounds a little different. It looks like this:
- An 80-year-old homeowner heating their house with the oven because the boiler broke and there’s no money to fix it.
- A single mom whose deadbolt froze over during a cold snap in the winter because she was using space heaters that couldn’t keep up with the freezing temperatures.
- A renter who’s scared to tell their landlord the stove is broken because they’re worried the “fix” will come with a rent increase.
- A working mom who can’t believe, after everything, that someone is actually offering her a new heat pump water heater for free.
We’ve been out here doing the work. And if there’s one thing I can tell you, it’s this: The transition isn’t technical. It’s personal.
Here’s some of what we’re learning, and re-learning, every day:
1. Repair is the real work.
You can’t electrify a home if the roof leaks, if the wiring’s shot, or if the foundation’s cracked. We can’t skip the basics. If we don’t fund repairs, we’re locking people out. Period. Here in New York, advocates have been pushing for the GAP Fund for exactly this reason: to make sure basic health and safety issues don’t become invisible barriers to clean energy upgrades.
2. Trust is everything.
People are tired. They’ve been promised help before. They’ve seen programs start and stop. The most important thing we do isn’t installing anything. It’s showing up, over and over, until people believe it’s real. No amount of technology can replace the work of rebuilding trust.
3. Free isn’t enough.
It doesn’t matter if it’s free if it’s too complicated to sign up, if the paperwork feels like a trap, or if people are afraid it will get them evicted. Affordability matters. But accessibility decides whether people can actually participate.
None of this is new.
Frontline communities have been saying it for a long time. But if we are serious about an energy transition that works for everybody, we have to meet people where they are, not where we wish they were.
That means funding basic repairs alongside clean energy upgrades. It means designing programs that are simple, clear, and protective of tenants and vulnerable homeowners. It means centering trust and relationships, not just transactions.
These aren’t side issues. They are the core of whether the transition reaches the people it’s supposed to serve.
At Mid-Hudson Energy Transition, we are learning these lessons every day by working directly with families, tenants, and homeowners. And we’re seeing clearly how much of the clean energy future depends not just on what we build, but how we build it — and who we build it with.
The work is slower, harder, and more complicated than a lot of headlines make it seem. But staying focused on people, not just on projects, is the only way this transition will be real.
That’s the work in front of us. And that’s the work we’re committed to doing.
Learn more about me at www.jasminecgraham.com.