Dear Friends of Emergent,

As we close the books on our second year in operation, we wanted to take the time to thank everyone who we’ve had the pleasure of working with, from the schools to the municipalities to the individuals throughout the Northeast and across the globe. Together we’ve made great strides towards our vision of an Energy Democracy where communities utilize on-site renewable energy systems to drive local economic growth and regain control of their energy future.

While the world continues to quibble over a comprehensive plan to reverse our growing impact on the environment, we can be thankful that states and communities across the northeast are taking a proactive stance. Massachusetts alone has seen implementation of many new forward thinking policies that will drive community energy projects forward. Take, for instance, the new Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC) program slated to begin in January 2010. With SRECs, implementing a solar system is not only socially beneficial, it is an incredible business opportunity.

Even amid the harsh economic recession, 2009 was the year that Emergent planted its name on the map. In October, the five founding partners of Emergent were named the Top Young Entrepreneurs in 2009 by the editors and readers of BusinessWeek. In November, Chris presented at the world finals for the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards hosted by Entrepreneur Organization. In December, Jesse and Jayson were invited to the White House to attend the Youth Clean Energy Forum with 150 other young leaders from across the country. Through these incredible events, we were fortunate enough to learn from other young entrepreneurs doing great things, and get advice on how to improve and grow our business.

In 2009 we had a few changes to the Emergent Family. Sadly, this Fall we waved goodbye to Jared Rodriguez and Greg Hering as they left the company to pursue their academic interests. We want to wish them the best of luck with their continued studies!

This spring, we were fortunate enough to welcome Pat Schaufelberger onto the Emergent Team. After graduating from Tufts with a B.S. in Quantitative Economics and International Relations, Pat joined us to build our new solar development branch. He’s done a fantastic job, and is currently putting together a 1 MW solar project in New Jersey.

Thanks again to all of you for your support through this past year. Happy Holidays, and keep in touch!

- Jesse, Jayson, Chris, and Pat