Local Energy Rules

Utilities use transmission lines to move electricity, balance supply and demand, and maintain their hold on the market. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Ari Peskoe, Director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School (Environmental and Energy Law program). Peskoe’s recent paper “Is the Utility Transmission Syndicate Forever?” summar...

Since 2013, Minnesota’s long-running regulatory docket has carried a long-running debate: how can we calculate the value of solar energy to individuals, communities, and society? For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Gabriel Chan, associate professor at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs in Science, Technology, and Environmen...

In the state of Washington, advocates hope that the third time’s the charm for passing community solar legislation. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Mason Rolph, President of Olympia Community Solar. In the absence of supportive state policy, Rolph has found a way to develop community solar gardens that reward subscribers. Farrell and Rolph discuss...

Electric utility monopolies, once a necessary evil, are time and again failing to meet the challenges of the current moment. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, a rebroadcast from the Building Local Power Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Chris Villarreal, President of Plugged In Strategies and an Associate Fellow with the R Street Institute. They discuss the electricity marke...

To preserve its unique natural environment and the regional economy, Moab and other Utah cities have created a pathway to procure 100 percent renewable power by 2030. For this episode of our Voices of 100% series of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell talks with Moab Sustainability Director Mila Dunbar-Irwin and City Council Member Kalen Jones. Moab is an anchor community for the Com...

Ithaca, N.Y. is making headlines for its plan to decarbonize all local buildings. What’s unique about Ithaca is not its ambitious goal, which many cities share, but the fact that it is truly advancing toward it. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Ithaca Sustainability Director Luis Aguirre-Torres, who in the eight months of his tenure, has set in moti...

Rural areas are sometimes isolated, disconnected from modern conveniences and the latest technologies. The digital divide is real, but one cooperative in New Mexico is proving to be an exception as it connects customers to affordable solar energy and reliable Internet service. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Luis Reyes, General Manager of the Kit C...

Though it’s insulated from sea level rise, the state of Iowa faces many dangerous climate change impacts — which in turn threaten the nation’s food supply. Fortunately, the state is rich in renewable energy potential and eager advocates who hope to harness it. For this episode of our Voices of 100% series of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell talks with Kari Carney and Josh Mandelba...

Maintaining healthy, comfortable buildings can be expensive in Minnesota — especially during polar vortex events. Warren, a small city in Northern Minnesota, is offering an innovative public service: images that reveal building heat loss, captured by drones. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with City Administrator Shannon Mortenson of Warren, Minnesota....

Electric customers in Maine, who are fed up with lousy utility service, can use a ballot initiative to take back their power. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, a rebroadcast from the Building Local Power Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Maine State Representative Seth Berry. Berry was the Maine House sponsor of LD 1708, a bill to establish a consumer-owned utility, and serv...

After moving to Colorado, Joe Smyth found he was barred from participating in his generation and transmission cooperative — despite a Colorado law promoting co-op transparency. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Joe Smyth, Researcher at the Energy and Policy Institute and author of CleanCooperative.com. Farrell and Smyth discuss barriers to democratic...

Residents of Puerto Rico are ready for energy democracy. Specifically, a resilient, renewable electricity system with equitably shared benefits. Is this vision possible for the island, whose democratic power is limited to begin with? For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with guest Ingrid Vila, environmental engineer and founder of non-profit Cambio. After Pu...

For this episode of our Voices of 100% series of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell talks with Helena Sustainability Coordinator Patrick Judge and Citizens Conservation Commission Member Mark Juedeman. Judge and Juedeman supported Helena as the city committed to 100% renewable energy. In making its commitment, Helena has joined Missoula and Bozeman, building a commanding coalition i...

For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, a rebroadcast of episode 127 of the Building Local Power Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with guest Jean Su. Su, an attorney and Director of the Energy Justice program at the Center for Biological Diversity, represented the Center in an antitrust suit against Arizona utility Salt River Project. Farrell and Su discuss how legal advocacy for ener...

Electricity customers are lining up to generate their own clean, affordable solar energy, but to get it to them, solar developers must navigate the impediments of a congested and outdated electricity grid. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Yochi Zakai, attorney with Shute, Mahaly, and Weinberger representing Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC)...

For this Voices of 100% episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell and guests Kate Beaton and Ned Noel examine Eau Claire’s clean energy goal, the citizen participation that has supported its work, and the strategies the City is using to advance renewable energy. How will a Midwestern city secure its sustainable energy future? Implementing community solar gardens.  For this episo...

Utility companies may seem out of reach, and some decisions are made behind closed doors, but everyone has the right to be heard by their electric provider. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Eric Williams, Vice Chair of the Omaha Public Power District’s Board of Directors. Williams ran for a seat on the utility’s Board of Directors in 2017 out of con...

What happens when unstoppable, innovative clean energy entrepreneurs meet immovable, power-hungry fossil fuel incumbents? For this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Danny Kennedy, Co-founder of Sungevity and Chief Energy Officer of New Energy Nexus. Kennedy, who Farrell describes as a “distributed solar prophet,” is a staunch advocate for solar and supports r...

Portland, Ore. may have been the first city in the United States to adopt a carbon reduction strategy, but in January 2020, its smaller neighbor Milwaukie became the first city in Oregon to declare a climate emergency. For this episode of our Voices of 100% series of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Mayor Mark Gamba and Climate Action and Sustainability Coordinator Nat...

In competitive markets, companies do good things to win over new customers. Your monopoly electric utility, on the other hand, needs more motivation to provide what customers want. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Isaac Moriwake, managing attorney of the EarthJustice MidPacific/Hawaii office. Moriwake has been an intervener and advocate for Hawaii’s...

Can a utility company be carbon neutral by 2050 if it builds a gas plant now? Maybe if it shuts off the gas plant well before its 40 years of useful life are complete, leaving electric customers to pay off millions in debt. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell speaks with John Romankiewicz, Senior Analyst for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. Romankiewicz and...

St. Louis Park, a Minneapolis suburb of 48 thousand residents, has a clean energy goal rivaling that of its larger neighbor. Will the city’s smaller size help, or hinder, its efforts? For this episode of our Voices of 100% series of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with St. Louis Park Council Member Larry Kraft and Sustainability Manager Emily Ziring. St. Louis Park, Minn....

The electricity market is not built for community-focused, small-scale solar developers. To overcome the many barriers they face, cooperative solar developers are banding together in the People’s Solar Energy Fund. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Timothy DenHerder-Thomas, General Manager of Cooperative Energy Futures. The two discuss cooperatively-...

As our technology gets smarter, will our strategies for electric grid management keep up? For this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Cisco DeVries, CEO of OhmConnect. OhmConnect tracks its California customers’ energy use and rewards them for saving energy when the electric grid is under stress. Farrell and DeVries discuss OhmConnect’s innovative approach to...

Hosting an in-person community gathering may be unthinkable these days, but that is exactly how Hanover, N.H. endorsed its 100 percent renewable energy goal back in 2017: a show of hands in the high school gymnasium. For this episode of our Voices of 100% series of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Hanover, N.H. Sustainability Director April Salas. They discuss the impo...