Local Energy Rules

Although locally-owned, renewable energy builds community power, it can sometimes be inaccessible to those who stand to benefit the most. Can we build a distributed energy system that shares its many benefits equally? One cooperatively-owned community solar developer in Minnesota, which is in fact the only one in Minnesota, approaches community solar with a “justice lens.” In the latest episode of Local Energy Rules, director of the Energy Democracy initiative John Farrell interviews Timothy DenHerder-Thomas, the general manager of Cooperative Energy Futures. The two talk on the roof of Shiloh Temple in North Minneapolis, where a community solar garden has just been completed. Farrell asks DenHerder-Thomas about the final stages of the project, the justice perspective that makes it unique, and what Cooperative Energy Futures has in store for the future. Don't forget to subscribe, share with your friends, leave a recommendation on our podcast feeds, and join the conversation online using the #LocalEnergyRules hashtag! Listen to all Local Energy Rules podcast episodes at our site: https://ilsr.org/local-energy-rules-podcast-homepage

Listen to all of our Local Energy Rules podcast episodes at our site: https://ilsr.org/local-energy-rules-podcast-homepage If residents of a city believe that strengthening local control, promoting the local economy, and investing in renewable energy are important, what can they do to make these things happen? One city in Ohio, already having a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) system in place, recently passed a carbon fee ballot initiative that will add 0.2 cents per kilowatt hour to electricity costs for CCA members. In the latest episode of Local Energy Rules, Director of the Energy Democracy Initiative John Farrell speaks with UpGrade Ohio’s information and outreach director Mathew Roberts. As part of the group that designed the carbon fee initiative, Roberts was eager to talk about this and other community-led energy initiatives in Athens. Don't forget to subscribe, share with your friends, leave a recommendation on our podcast feeds, and join the conversation online using the #LocalEnergyRules hashtag!

Show page available: http://www.ilsr.org/from-the-archive-anya-schoolman-executive-director-of-solar-united-neighbors-episode-55-of-local-energy-rules-podcast | How did one group of neighbors from Washington, D.C., band together to advance clean energy locally and then build a larger movement replicating their model elsewhere? In the latest episode from the Local Energy Rules podcast archive, John Farrell, Director of ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative, revisits a 2013 interview with Anya Schoolman, the major force behind a unique, grassroots solar cooperative model that has since grown into Solar United Neighbors, now a national leader in distributed, cooperative solar. The two discuss effective ways to invest in solar energy and advocate for local policies to support distributed energy from the ground up—strategies as relevant in 2013 as they are today. | Listen to all of our Local Energy Rules podcast episodes at our site: https://ilsr.org/local-energy-rules-podcast-homepage | Don't forget to subscribe, share with your friends, leave a recommendation on our podcast feeds, and join the conversation online using the #LocalEnergyRules hashtag!

Show page available: http://www.ilsr.org/ballot-initiative-shapes-iowa-towns-fight-for-local-power-episode-54-of-local-energy-rules-podcast. What can a town do to advance clean energy locally if it is fed up with its incumbent, investor-owned monopoly utility? John Farrell, Director of the Energy Democracy Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, interviews Andy Johnson and Joel Zook, community members and local energy leaders from Decorah Power, about an important, upcoming ballot initiative in Decorah, Iowa, and the culmination of an organized, grassroots effort by residents to take back local control of their electric utility and energy future. Listen to all of our Local Energy Rules podcast episodes at our site: https://ilsr.org/local-energy-rules-podcast-homepage Don't forget to subscribe, share with your friends, leave a recommendation on our podcast feeds, and join the conversation online using the #LocalEnergyRules hashtag!

Show page available: https://ilsr.org/south-miami-a-bright-spot-for-solar-in-sunshine-state-episode-53-of-local-energy-rules-podcast What can a small city do to advance clean energy locally, if its state commissioners and legislators are not willing to take their jobs regulating monopoly electric utilities seriously? In the latest podcast from Local Energy Rules, John Farrell, Director of the Energy Democracy Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, interviews Philip Stoddard, a pioneering, fourth-term mayor of South Miami, Florida, who has been sticking up to the state’s incumbent utility, in order to make the state live up to its billing as the Sunshine State. Listen to all of our Local Energy Rules podcast episodes at our site, https://ilsr.org/local-energy-rules-podcast-homepage. Don't forget to subscribe, share with your friends, leave a recommendation on our podcast feeds, and join the conversation online using the #EnergyRules hashtag!

More than 50 U.S. Cities have made commitments to reach 100 percent renewable electricity, but how do communities build the political will to adopt such goals, and how do they plan to meet them? John Farrell interviews Nicole Capretz of the Climate Action Campaign to learn how San Diego's community choice program will move them toward 100 percent renewable electricity. … Read More

In October 2017, John Farrell gave a keynote address to the annual meeting and expo of AERO, a Montana organization with a similar mission of empowering communities to promote a sustainable economy. He addressed the widespread opportunity for clean energy in Montana, the shared desire of communities to capture that growing economic opportunity, and three ways communities can get started.… Read More

It’s no secret that electric vehicles have gone mainstream. From quarter to quarter, U.S. sales numbers consistently hover near or above record levels. Cities are trading in their gas-powered fleet vehicles and buses. And major auto manufacturers are planning for an electrified future. This is a republication of an episode of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's Building Local Power podcast, check out that feed and all of the Local Energy Rules podcast episodes here: https://ilsr.org/local-energy-rules-podcast-homepage

A utility municipalization push in Decorah, IA, is gaining momentum. There’s still plenty of ground to cover, but the citizen-led advocacy group behind the effort is rallying the community around an energy future that favors the local economy rather than a monopoly utility 150 miles away. Find all Local Energy Rules podcast episodes here: https://ilsr.org/local-energy-rules-podcast-homepage/.

Even as solar goes mainstream, it’s tough for consumers to tell which installer, which panels, and which financing are right for them. It’s a gap that Vikram Aggarwal says could hold back steep growth potential for rooftop solar. And it’s one he’s trying to fix through his online solar shopping platform, EnergySage.

Amid an onslaught of innovation that is lowering the cost of electric vehicles and propelling self-driving technology forward, the City of Austin is charting a transportation future that factors in electrification, autonomous vehicles, and the sharing economy. We explore how the city’s municipal utility is helping to lead the charge.

Boulder County, CO accounts for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the U.S. population, yet it’s home to a surprisingly high proportion of U.S. electric vehicle sales. We explore how this community catalyzed its clean energy economy.

Author Tony Seba speaks with host John Farrell and explains why the U.S. energy system could be drastically different — with all new energy generated by renewables and all new mass-market cars running on electricity — by 2030.

Fast-improving technology and growing consumer interest continue to put momentum behind the clean energy transition. Unlike utilities and other industry players that have largely ignored growth opportunities as market dynamics shift, a coalition of independent solar companies is harnessing its … Read More

New Hampshire, home to some of the highest utility costs in the nation, could be fertile ground for community energy projects that promote lower-cost, renewable generation -- especially after investors in one shared solar array pioneered a strategy to promote greater local ownership. Regulatory and legal roadblocks forced solar advocates in Keene to develop a comprehensive framework for adding a 43-kilowatt rooftop array to Monadnock Food Co-op, whose focus on sustainability and downtown location made it a natural partner. Still, when the group began exploring its options in 2013, community shared renewables represented unfamiliar territory in the Granite State. Without a blueprint from other local projects, the group -- led by community members -- got to work. Peter Hansel, an investor in the project and part of its steering committee who helped develop its model, recently spoke with ILSR’s John Farrell about how it all came togethe