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About CE

CE – Clean Energy. Bright Futures. is working with educator leaders, industry partners, and powerfully engaged youth to bolster an equitable clean energy transition driven by local genius and solutions.

Through its leadership development, educator training, and career-connected learning engagements, CE is committed to catalyzing nationwide efforts to meet historic workforce demands while prioritizing collaborative approaches that emphasize local voice and equitable participation.

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Amplifying Local Leadership

Self-sustained impact on regional talent development is achieved through a centering of local expertise and genius. With its national network of Clean Energy Fellows, CE co-designs local career-connected STEM experiences with educator leaders that target at least a 10-year lifespan, ensuring all students have the opportunity to participate in, benefit from, and lead in a clean energy future.

Impact Through Partnership

Once-in-a-lifetime demands in education and talent development cannot be met by working in isolation. CE facilitates multidirectional partnerships between education and industry, bolstering teacher and student access to career-connected resources and providing vital insights to the energy sector about the emerging workforce.

Challenge and Opportunity

We are in the midst of historic investment and rapid innovation in climate solutions, and this necessitates the immediate building of a highly skilled and localized climate-smart workforce of solutions-oriented experts. With educator leaders and partners, CE is building place-based STEM engagements for young people to see themselves as the architects of community resilience with access to clear pathways into real, local careers.

Equity in Climate Solutions

The history of energy development in BIPOC and low-income communities is one of systematic, intentional oppression and exclusion, often positioning them to take the brunt of negative environmental impacts. CE is committed to centering topics of energy justice throughout its programming, collaborating with community-based leaders to ensure students participate in building a more equitable future using their unique local knowledge and cultural assets.

CE Theory of Change

Powered by a clean energy economy, our communities and environment are thriving and resilient – in one generation.

This image is an infographic containing three segments along a timeline. The three segments are listed in order as Educational Experts, Program Ownership, and Clean Energy for All. The corresponding text underneath the Educational Experts section reads, "CE program activities build expert local leadership and support equitable partnerships between education, workforce development, and industry." Under the Program Ownership section, the text reads, "Communities and partner networks develop ownership in program design and broad alignment behind clean energy and climate solutions targets." Under the Clean Energy for All section, the text reads, "An equitable transition to clean energy is reinforced by expert local teacher and student leadership, a transformed workforce, and equitable participation across communities.

Meet the CE Team

Learn more about the multidisciplinary team at CE and find out who is the best contact person to address your inquiry.

Impact Case Studies

Read about the impact of CE’s work by visiting our Stories section. Please edit this narrative to say whatever you would like here.

Meet the Teacher Leaders

Get to know the unique projects developed by CE’s Clean Energy Fellows and learn how to become part of these dynamic cohorts.

History of the Program

Solar 4R Schools logo. In light blue "solar" with a green dotted arch over a blue school graphic with green doors one that reads 4 and one that reads R in white. The arch has a green sun on the right side before meeting the light blue word schools.
2002
BEF launches the Solar 4R Schools program, using the development of demonstration-scale (~1kW) solar arrays at schools across the country to inspire student and teacher engagement around place-based clean energy education. Projects generated real-time data for teachers to integrate into classroom learning and project sites often housed physical kiosks for public engagement with the project.
Solar panels mounted next to an awning at the entrance of a building.
2009
Corporate sponsorship helps to expand the program nationally to deliver 30 or more projects per year, each paired with educator training. This program model would develop over 200 photovoltaic projects in 18 states throughout its implementation, with S4RS winning its first Green Power Leadership in Education Award by the Center for Resource Solutions and EPA in 2009.
A woman draws on an easel pad. In the upper left corner is a dam, a coal plant, nuclear silo, 2 wind turbines, a river, and 4 solar panels. it is labeled Generation in purple. Her hand is in the middle of the paper and working on a section that has a red arrow pointing down and away on either side.
2012
As the cost of solar decreases, S4RS project sizes grow, ranging from 5 to 20+ kW. S4RS programming heavily emphasizes the integration of data monitoring into teacher training and classroom instruction. The program also launches its first teacher leadership program called the Activity Development Program, generating teacher-developed lesson plans to be housed in an open-source format on the S4RS website.
4 people sit at a metal table outside int eh sun. they each have a book they are referencing to create a solar circuit which uses a solar module and a motor with a fan. The are working in pairs.
2014
With an increased emphasis on Next Generation Science standards throughout the STEM landscape, capacity-building partnerships and a shift in program leadership catalyzes a shift in program focus away from solar project management to teacher education and professional development. Impact increases exponentially, with the program reaching a 100,000 student impact milestone.
Center for Resource Solutions Green Power Leadership Award Winner 2015 Graphic
2015
After securing its first signature partnership, the program expands its capacity to deliver standards-aligned, accredited teacher trainings and reaches ten new states through educator engagements. With a newly developed Theory of Change and logic model built around regional education delivery, CE wins its second Green Power Leadership Award for Leadership in Green Power Education.
2 men sit at a blue table with a power grid model. The man on the left holds a motor with yellow fan that is spinning. It is connected by alligator clips to a model power line. From front to back there are models of wind power, with three KidWind fireflies, a nuclear reactor, a solar farm with 3 solar modules, a transfer station, a coal plant, a residential area, and an industrial area.
2016
Moving away from its emphasis on solar, CE’s educational model develops a systems-based focus on clean energy resources across the entire power grid. The program works with its continuous cohorts of educator leaders to identify cutting-edge cleantech topics to focus their curriculum development process on.
CE - Clean Energy. Bright Futures logo. Blue half circle with three orange lines coming from the center and coming out the open right side. the letters ce in blue. Below the letters "CLEAN ENERGY. BRIGHT FUTURES" is written in grey.
2018
The program is rebranded to its current form: CE – Clean Energy. Bright Futures. A new curriculum resource library is launched to house the rapidly expanding array of lesson topics from what is then called the Renewable Energy Leadership Lab.
4 adults work around a table connecting alligator clips to a model power line to power lights and fans they have connected to paperboard model houses.
2019
CE’s educator leadership model is rebranded as its Clean Energy Fellows, developing strategies to support teacher experts in the development of customized regional projects built within an “action plan” format. Additionally, CE surpasses the milestone of delivering over $1million in science kit materials to nationwide schools.
A screenshot of a man with headphones holding up a glass with blue liquid. In the background is a zoom call with a slideset and at least 3 attendees on the right side.
2020
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitates critical program pivots, with CE and its network of incredible partners taking the lead in building virtual and hybrid learning engagements and strategically identifying methods to deliver educators and their students the appropriate tools for these new learning environments. This kicks off a growth in the program’s visibility and leadership in national education networks like the Clean Energy Education and Workforce Alliance.
Center for Resource Solutions Green Power Leadership Award Winner 2021 Graphic
2021
CE’s commitment to curricular innovation and equitable STEM education during the pandemic is again recognized by the CRS and EPA, and the program wins its third Green Power Leadership in Education award. The program also launches a new partnership around water power workforce projects with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies office and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
A man kneels on the ground behind a model of a solar car using two solar modules.
2022
CE celebrates its 20-year anniversary as program activities begin to move from virtual to hybrid and in-person events. The Clean Energy Fellows implementation develops further modularly, with cohorts developed to take on technology-specific focuses. Topic-focused leaders have participated in Renewable Gas, Clean Transportation, Water Power, and Offshore Wind cohorts.
Image of 3 young men and one mentor looking into a white plastic case on top of a solar panel.
2023
CE’s presence and capacity within regional and national workforce development initiatives grows and the program engages in its first partnerships funded through the National Science Foundation with a deepened focus on student leadership and citizen science.
Image of adults in a classroom sitting at laptops scene out of focus through a door. Next to the open doorway is a door sign seen clearly stating UW2-205 CLASSROOM, with braille.
2024
CE updates its Theory of Change to incorporate elements and learnings from the centering of educator leaders and community partners. Its new website was launched in the same year, reflecting the program’s emphasis on educator genius and local expertise.