Northeast Iowa’s Winneshiek Energy District Shows How Communities Can Capture Local Energy Dollars – Episode 35 of Local Energy Rules Podcast
Andy Johnson works with the soil. When younger, he served in Peace Corps in Central America for three years, working on conservation practices. Then he...
Report: Beyond Sharing – How Communities Can Take Ownership of Renewable Power
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...
Instead of Lobbying, Top 25 Utilities Could Have Doubled U.S. Solar Capacity
The Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute just released a report analyzing the top 25 U.S. investor-owned electric utilities, and one of the highlights is that...
Rhode Island established its Community Renewables Program in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 through a net metering tariff. This post summarizes the policy and...
Sunshine and Ownership: A Cooperative Solar Garden Blooms in North Minneapolis – Episode 34 of Local Energy Rules Podcast
One such model is offered by Cooperative Energy Futures. It launched in Minneapolis in 2009 under the leadership of Timothy DenHerder-Thomas (pictured, left), offering members...
Sharply Higher Rooftop Solar Potential Increases Opportunity for Energy Self-Reliance
Earlier this year, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory released a new estimate of rooftop solar potential, an update to 2008 figures we used in our...
Freeing Electric Cooperatives from Fossil Fuel Serfdom? – Episode 33 of Local Energy Rules Podcast
This week Ed Marston, former board member of the Delta-Montrose Electric Association in western Colorado, joins John Farrell on Local Energy Rules to talk about...
A Kansas Electric Cooperative Offers Energy Savings with $0 Down – Episode 32 of Local Energy Rules Podcast
On-bill financing is not new. The Tennessee Valley Authority has offered it for years. More recently, numerous municipal utilities and electric cooperatives have created programs....
Members Reviving Atlanta Electric Co-op After CEO Takes Millions – Episode 31 of Local Energy Rules Podcast
Cobb EMC serves around 175,000 member-owners just outside of Atlanta, Ga., and is one of 900 member-owned electric cooperatives in the United States. Mark Hackett,...
Watch: John Farrell Presentation – Does Utility 2.0 Get Us to Energy Democracy?
ILSR’s John Farrell led a seminar on energy democracy at the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association’s 2016 annual conference in Boston, MA. The conference was held...
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...
On Tuesday, March 15th, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance hosted a webinar titled “Breaking the Macro-Barriers to Microgrids.” The webinar was led by John Farrell,...
How can a state modernize its electric system when it’s in the hands of vertically integrated monopolies? We offer some thoughts via its comments on...
Listen: John Farrell Gives Plenary Presentation at NESEA – Local Energy Rules Podcast Extra
ILSR’s John Farrell was a plenary speaker at the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association’s 2016 annual conference in Boston, MA. The conference was held from March 8th through...
ILSR’s Distributed Solar Capacity Quarterly Update (2015 Q4)
It was the biggest quarter ever for solar, which supplied one-third of over 7.3 gigawatts of new power plant capacity added to the grid. Distributed...
