I regularly hear from friends and others about the apparent contradictions and cost barriers to renewable energy, electric cars and net-zero energy buildings. Many say that an all-electric car is not truly zero emissions when the charge comes from a coal-fired electricity plant. True. Some will tell me that it is nearly impossible to make a hospital located in the Deep South net zero. Maybe. Others still like to give me a hard time about the inability of so many to financially justify adding renewable energy production to their home or building. Ok, I hear you.

The problem is that we still tend to be thinking of each of these opportunities as independent from the others. The truth is that these are all very closely linked — if not aspects of the same energy solution. All must change, develop and improve together. There is no silver bullet. An all-electric car can at least be truly zero emissions, but more of our energy supply sources need to be from renewable forms of generation, including distributed generation at our homes and offices. A large commercial building can be net zero if a truly integrated and holistic design approach is leveraged from the very beginning, including the generation of onsite renewable energy.

All across the country and around the world students, professionals, engineers, entrepreneurs and many more are working tirelessly to overcome the barriers that still face our economy regarding each of these “energy solutions.” Instead of focusing on the shortcomings of each individual piece, we should be looking at how each of these helps overcome barriers in other areas. I’m sure at the end of the day we’ll find that the whole of these solutions is far greater than the sum of its parts.