John Farrell, Author at CleanTechnica

John Farrell

John directs the Democratic Energy program at ILSR and he focuses on energy policy developments that best expand the benefits of local ownership and dispersed generation of renewable energy. His seminal paper, Democratizing the Electricity System, describes how to blast the roadblocks to distributed renewable energy generation, and how such small-scale renewable energy projects are the key to the biggest strides in renewable energy development. Farrell also authored the landmark report Energy Self-Reliant States, which serves as the definitive energy atlas for the United States, detailing the state-by-state renewable electricity generation potential. Farrell regularly provides discussion and analysis of distributed renewable energy policy on his blog, Energy Self-Reliant States (energyselfreliantstates.org), and articles are regularly syndicated on Grist and Renewable Energy World. John Farrell can also be found on Twitter @johnffarrell, or at jfarrell@ilsr.org.

Clean Power

The State(s) of Distributed Solar — 2018 Update

Renewable energy continued to expand across the country in 2018. This expansion in renewable energy complements a growing number of states, utilities, and cities...

John FarrellMarch 25, 2019

Clean Power

Why Garbage Incinerators Are A Bad Deal For Communities

Host John Farrell speaks with Marie Donahue, ILSR researcher, and Neil Seldman, Director of ILSR’s Waste to Wealth Initiative, about the harmful impacts of...

John FarrellMarch 25, 2019

Clean Power

Don’t-Miss Opportunity For Local Choice In Landmark Carbon-Free Bills

Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy in New Mexico, joined ILSR’s Director of Energy Democracy, John Farrell, in March 2019, for a...

John FarrellMarch 12, 2019

Clean Power

Why ILSR’s 2019 Community Power Scorecard Matters

Last week’s release of the 2019 Community Power Scorecard illustrates which states help and which hurt local renewable energy. Assessing state policy is especially...

John FarrellMarch 4, 2019

Clean Power

The 2019 Community Power Scorecard

In the 2019 Community Power Scorecard, four states excelled, 11 states and the District of Columbia saw above average scores, 15 were mediocre, and...

John FarrellFebruary 25, 2019

Clean Power

Why Minnesota’s Community Solar Program Is The Best

I’ve been asked a lot of questions about Minnesota’s community solar program over the past couple years and it’s time to make one thing...

John FarrellFebruary 19, 2019

Clean Power

Electric Utilities Must Stop Illegally Concealing Public Cost Data

Utilities in many states have undercut competition by playing “hide the peanut.” Instead of sharing their avoided cost publicly, as required by Congress and...

John FarrellFebruary 11, 2019

Clean Transport

Minnesota Utility Tees Up Programs To Support An Electric Vehicle Future

In a filing late last year, Xcel Energy’s Minnesota division put forward two new electric vehicle charging pilots. One targets fleet vehicle users and...

John FarrellFebruary 4, 2019

Clean Power

Good Public Policy Key To Building A Renewable-Friendly Utility

So how do we get climate-friendly utilities? @xcelenergy is a leader among industry peers, but it was the visionary citizens and legislators in its...

John FarrellJanuary 28, 2019

Clean Power

Of New Power Generation, How Much Is On The Roof? Quarterly Update — 2018 Q3

The third quarter of 2018 saw notable reductions in the growth and total capacity of new natural gas and utility-scale solar nationwide, but continued...

John FarrellJanuary 22, 2019

Clean Power

Two Rural Electric Cooperatives Overcome Barriers To Clean, Local Energy

Originally published at ilsr.org. Rural communities formed rural electric cooperatives as a way to get energy where no one else would provide it. In the 21st...

John FarrellJanuary 14, 2019