{"id":4180,"date":"2018-03-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gridalt.wpenginepowered.com\/the-current\/from-the-heart-of-coal-country-to-solar-spring-break\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T12:04:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:04:39","slug":"from-the-heart-of-coal-country-to-solar-spring-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/the-current\/from-the-heart-of-coal-country-to-solar-spring-break\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Heart of Coal Country to Solar Spring Break"},"content":{"rendered":"

The state of Wyoming supplies around 40% of America\u2019s coal, with Campbell County<\/a> alone mining over 300 million tons a year. Roughly 10% of Campbell County\u2019s 50,000 or so inhabitants work in the coal industry and many of them live in the small town of Gillette, referred to locally as the \u2018Energy Capital of the Nation\u2019.<\/p>\n

Gillette is also the hometown of David Bowersox, a 21 year old Arizona State University student currently studying Solar Energy Engineering & Commercialization. Bowersox has travelled out to San Diego County in California to install solar for families on the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians reservation as part of GRID Alternatives\u2019 Solar Spring Break Program<\/a>. He\u2019s used to people asking him about his conflicting roots.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to convince someone on the benefits of solar when renewable energy is viewed simply as a war on coal,\u201d says Bowersox.<\/p>\n

Bowersox is convinced though, he\u2019s fallen in love with renewable energy and sees anti-solar sentiments in Campbell County as more of an emotional reaction to a difficult situation than anything to do with the technology. \u201cI don\u2019t have these conversations that much when I go home, but when I\u2019ve presented facts and figures to friends and family, they\u2019ve been open to the idea,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can understand how it feels like an attack, but coal just can\u2019t be competitive, it just can\u2019t. Solar technology is moving on so fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowersox briefly considered taking over the family business, certifying scale systems for the local mines, but after a summer internship shadowing his father (himself an electrical engineer) he decided it wasn\u2019t where his interests lay. \u201cI just didn\u2019t enjoy the line of work, so I began looking for engineering degree options, and that\u2019s when I stumbled upon solar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The solar engineering program at Arizona State University caught his eye for a few reasons. \u201cI knew I wanted to study engineering, but before I started researching this program, I hadn\u2019t fully appreciated that I could be one of the people actually working to make a change in the energy sector,” says Bowersox.<\/p>\n

“My Solar Spring Break experience has without a doubt changed my future career plans,” explains Bowersox. “It was absolutely transformative to be able to meet the families and communities whom GRID is connecting with and making a real difference in. I now plan to focus on working with GRID or other nonprofit enterprises to be able to make a direct impact in these communities.”<\/p>\n

Bowersox isn\u2019t sure how things will change in Gillette over the next decade, but he knows a lot of people will have to find other sources of income, or possibly move away. He does have one parting thought though. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of open space in Wyoming,\u201d he muses. \u201cMaybe we could get some solar farms going out there.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Bowersox hails from the heart of coal country, but spent his Spring Break installing solar in sunny San Diego.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"audience":[],"content-type":[12],"focus-area":[],"region":[],"series":[],"content-author":[],"class_list":["post-4180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workforce-education","content-type-news"],"acf":{"hero_media_type":"image","hero_media_image":null,"hero_media_url":"","hero_media_poster":null,"hero_video_play":"inline","related_stories":null,"pattern_override":null,"story_callouts":null,"media":null,"featured_blog_post":null,"featured_event":null,"pdf_download":null,"blockquote":null,"author":null,"notice":null,"social_embed":null,"contact_card":null,"meta_details":null,"faq":null,"table":null},"yoast_head":"\nFrom the Heart of Coal Country to Solar Spring Break - 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