A simmering fight to keep renewables out of Florida’s energy mix is approaching a boiling point in November, underscoring the need for smarter energy policies and easier solar access offered by Florida Solar United Neighborhoods.
The ways in which municipal and cooperative utilities procure power undermine the ethic of community service and self-reliance.
placeholderIn March of 2016, we published a report on the state of rural electric cooperatives in the current electricity market: Re-Member-ing the Electric Cooperative. Below you will find our newly developed presentation based on this report. Forward and share widely.
Originally published on ilsr.org. When it comes to ownership, there are few better structures for keeping a community’s wealth local than a cooperative. So why is it that America’s rural electric cooperatives are tethered to dirty, old coal-fired power plants instead of local-wealth generating renewable power? There are a lot … [continued]
“We have a perfect storm for renewables,” says Jan TenBruggencate, second-term board member of the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative. The Hawaiian utility, made into a local cooperative when the investor-owned utility left the business a decade ago, is surging toward 40% renewable energy in the next year, with a third … [continued]
Community renewable energy has significant political and economic benefits, but is often hindered by five major barriers. Read on for a summary of the five barriers, watch them in a 17-minute presentation, or check out the vividly illustrated slideshow. Barrier one is tradition. Utilities are simply used to operating a … [continued]
Iowa ranks third in installed wind power capacity in the US. It’s 5,500 megawatts are behind only Texas and California (and it has much more wind power per capita). But, like many windy places, the turbines sprouting from the Iowa prairie are often owned by multinational corporations, taking advantage of … [continued]
Researchers from the University of Southampton in the UK have created a method for forming virtual power plants that would effectively bring renewable energy from smaller generators into the grid. The formation of such “cooperative virtual power plants” (CVPPs) would use intelligent and multi-agent software systems and include a … [continued]
You’re an earth-friendly person and want to go solar, but a large tree shades your house; or you’re a renter; or you don’t have $20,000 to drop on a solar power system. Or maybe you just want to get more than 0.5% interest on your savings account while getting a piece of the clean energy economy.
