Local Energy Rules

In early 2014, John Farrell, director of ILSR’s Energy Democracy initiative, hosted a conversation with Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy, about how the city of Santa Fe’s incumbent and monopoly electric utility Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) was failing to take advantage of the city’s abundant local, solar resources, while residents pushed the city and utility to...

Why are garbage incinerators such a bad deal for communities? In this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, 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 burning trash to generate electricity. The three spoke for a recent episode of the Institute’s Building Local Power podcast, reprod...

How can a community close a coal plant and produce clean electricity, respect the needs of its community members, and provide a just transition for power plant workers? A successful, multi-year campaign by community members in Holyoke, Mass., to address air pollution and related public health impacts from the coal-fired Mount Tom Power Station and push for clean energy provides a powerful model. A...

Clean energy policy is sweeping the states in 2019, with numerous bills setting targets of 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050. While these climate-friendly policy proposals have many advocates excited, some utility companies also see them as a golden opportunity. With advocates laser-focused on climate instead of how renewable energy is deployed and by whom, utility shareholders can win r...

The city of Boulder, Colo., is one of more than 100 cities across the country that has adopted an ambitious goal to transition to one hundred percent renewable energy. A small city on the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Boulder has long been a national leader in the pursuit of clean and renewable energy and made a community-wide commitment in 2016 to supply all of its electricity from renewable...

In the face of gridlock and inaction at state and federal levels, what tools do cities have to take the lead on local, renewable energy? In this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, John Farrell, director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Energy Democracy Initiative, is joined by Minneapolis City Councilmember Jeremy Schroeder, who has been a vocal leader in city hall on local energ...

What does it take to build a community solar project (with battery storage) in a small town in northern Minnesota when the monopoly wholesale energy company tells your small city-owned utility to “lawyer up”? Bill Schnell is the lead volunteer with the Itasca Clean Energy Team, a small group of active citizens in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, working to secure a community solar project for the town. He...

The city of Madison, capital of Wisconsin and sustainability leader in the Midwest, is one of more than 100 cities across the country committing to shift to 100 percent renewable power. But with a hometown utility––investor-owned electric company Madison Gas & Electric––that produces three-quarters of its electricity from coal, it’s path is steeper than most. Local leader Raj Shukla, chair of...

Co-director of ILSR and Energy Democracy initiative director John Farrell and research associate Marie Donahue sat down before the winter break to reflect on what they are describing as the “Year of 100” — a landmark year for 100 percent renewable energy commitments in 2018. In this special year-end episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, Farrell and Donahue recap the many ambitious renewable e...

Rural communities formed rural electric cooperatives as a way to get energy where no one else would provide it. In the 21st century, some cooperatives have found an additional economic benefit in pursuing local renewable energy. In the cases of Farmers Electric Cooperative in Iowa and Kit Carson Electric Cooperative in New Mexico, it’s a desire that’s risen from the member-owners up to the leaders...

Nearly 100 U.S. cities have formally adopted ambitious commitments to power their communities with 100 percent renewable energy by deadlines set in the 2030s or beyond. Among those communities, many large cities have made high-profile commitments and garnered significant media attention. Fewer small communities are well-known for setting these goals. Abita Springs, however, has claimed the title o...

How does a growing, national nonprofit organization help homeowners complete the circle between clean energy ownership and policy advocacy? ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative director John Farrell talks with Anya Schoolman of Solar United Neighbors in this October 2018 recording about two major clean energy policies before the Washington, D.C., city council. Support for the policies comes from the...

More than 80 U.S. cities have now made commitments to reach 100 percent renewable energy with deadlines set in the 2030s or beyond. Of these, few have secured ambitious policies and funding sources that will help them reach these goals and center equity in the decision-making process, however. A unique campaign in Portland, Oregon, illustrates a new tool for cities considering a transition to 100...

Over 80 U.S. cities have now made commitments to reach 100 percent renewable energy with deadlines set in the 2030s or beyond. Though not all have considered which implementation strategies, including both policies and programs, will help them reach these goals. With a population of close to 500,000 people, Atlanta is the economic center of one of the country’s largest metropolitan areas and the l...

Over 70 cities have made commitments to reach 100 percent renewable energy, but only a few have made substantial progress toward achieving these goals that often have deadlines set in the 2030’s or beyond. With a population of just over 1.4 million people, San Diego, the country’s eighth largest city and the second largest in California, is also one of the largest to make a pledge to transition to...

As a growing number of U.S. cities make commitments to reach 100 percent renewable electricity, how are cities making plans to achieve these goals? In our second episode of Voices of 100%, a multi-part series of Local Energy Rules, John Farrell interviews city council member Larry Atencio from Pueblo, Colo., about the ambitious goal the city has made to shift to 100 percent renewable power.

What if your savings account could enable clean energy investments from insulation to solar to electric vehicles? Starting this summer it can. Blake Jones is the Volunteer Board Chair of the newly launched Clean Energy Credit Union. The brainchild of Amicus Solar, an installer cooperative, the online-only Clean Energy Credit Union is dedicated to financing the clean energy future. It provides loan...

Across the country, more than 50 cities of all sizes have adopted goals to generate 100% of their electricity from renewable resources. While the growing number of these commitments is an encouraging sign, few cities have created a clear pathway to achieve their goals. To learn more, we started asking folks why these commitments matter and how cities will follow through on their promise to transfo...

Shiloh Temple, a church two miles from downtown Minneapolis, serves more than just the spiritual needs of the community. After a recent update to its roof, this church in North Minneapolis now serves some of the community’s energy needs, as well. The church roof is covered with solar panels that Cooperative Energy Futures, an energy efficiency and community-owned clean energy cooperative, designed...

As consumers, we all want choice: the freedom to decide our own best interests and where our dollars go. In the energy sector, however, there are not always options to choose from. Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) frees communities to collectively choose their energy supplier. In Ohio, one city is stretching its freedom to choose even further. Residents of Athens, Ohio, just passed a carbon fee...

In 2013, we hosted an inaugural conversation with Anya Schoolman about her neighborhood solar project then called the Mount Pleasant Solar Cooperative, and the early stages of her journey fighting for local climate solutions and distributed solar. Back then, the cooperative Schoolman helped organize was already known nationwide for helping dozens of homeowners work together to go solar in their Wa...

In 30 states, communities and individuals have no choice for their electricity provider. Instead, states have granted monopolies to electric companies in exchange for sometimes inadequate oversight of public regulatory commissions. As a final accountability check, however, cities have often retained the power to take over the utility and run it as a public service. Andy Johnson and Joel Zook with...

For this episode of Local Energy Rules, we head to the archive, replaying our interview with South Miami mayor Philip Stoddard. In this conversation from April 2018, we discussed South Miami’s fight for renewable energy against a resistant monopoly utility and Stoddard’s own drive to lead by example with solar. Since the episode aired, Mayor Stoddard made the news by doing exactly as he set out to...

More than 50 U.S. cities have made commitments to reach 100 percent renewable electricity, many inspired by Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 campaign and the cost-effectiveness of solar and wind power. But how do communities build the political will to adopt such goals, and how do they plan to meet them? In San Diego, the answer to both is the exercise of local authority. In particular, the city is tak...

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. https://i...