Energy efficiency and renewables represent the most promising pathway to lower energy costs for individual consumers and utilities. But limited access hinders progress. Utilities can...
New technology, particularly in the hands of electric customers, is creating an unprecedented opportunity to tap the many other sources of controllable electricity demand in...
North Carolina’s digital divide between urban and rural communities is increasing dangerously in a time when high quality Internet access is more important than ever....
Conventional wisdom suggests the biggest wind and solar power plants will be cheapest, but where they deliver power, and who will own them, matters more.…...
Small businesses have been in steep decline. In this report, we argue that anticompetitive behavior by large, dominant corporations is largely to blame and present...
A growing number of US cities have broken up monopoly control of the Internet marketplace locally. They’re promoting entrepreneurship, and giving residents and businesses real choice...
Minneapolis, MN —In its first two years of implementation, the Minnesota Border-to-Border program distributed $30 million to 31 rural Minnesota communities. But the state has not...
This report explores the opportunity of community renewable energy to enable energy democracy, examining the benefits and barriers, barrier-busting policies, powerful examples, and how cities...
As the cost of leasing commercial space soars in many U.S. cities, this report examines what’s behind the skyrocketing rents and explores six broad policy...
Electric cooperatives have been the backbone of the nation’s rural electrical system for more than 80 years. Their mission and business model now face more challenges...
Communities all over the country are finding ways to break the macro barriers to microgrids. As we flip from a top-down to bottom-up grid management...
ILSR’s forward-thinking, bottom-up solutions have never been more needed. Please help us expand our impact in 2016 by making an online tax-deductible donation to ILSR....
Many of the most beautiful communities in the United States are in remote areas where incumbent cable and telephone companies have decided not to offer...
On the one hand: Sky-high electricity prices. A 20th century electricity system burning fuel oil and controlled by large monopoly electric utilities. A proposed utility...
Gig.U, a collaboration of more than 30 universities across the country has just released The Next Generation Network Connectivity Handbook: A guide for Community Leaders...