In our second episode of Whatcha Workin’ On? Lisa Gonzalez interviews John Farrell, Director of the Democratic Energy Program at ILSR. John describes the program and gives us an update on current and future projects, including some ground breaking proposals that can transform the way local communities can obtain or create the energy they need. John … Read More
Hawai’an solar advocates are celebrating this week after the island state’s largest utility, Hawai’ian Electric (HECO) filed a plan with the public utility commission to take a “proactive approach” to adding more distributed solar to their grid system. Utilities across the country typically use “conservative blanket limits” on the amount of renewable energy allowed on local … Read More
John Farrell spoke to the Stone Arch discussion forum of the local DFL Education Foundation on January 12, 2013, about the Minneapolis Energy Options campaign to let the people of Minneapolis take charge of their energy future. The grassroots campaign is challenging the energy monopoly of Xcel and Centerpoint Energy and hopes to give the city’s … Read More
In this edition of Local Energy Rules, John Farrell and Wade Underwood speak with Bill Moyer of the Backbone Campaign about a nascent community solar project in Vashon, WA. We ask Bill about his involvement with the project as a community organizer—delving into the frustrating regulatory barriers that have kept the project from coming to fruition, … Read More
Solar company Renvu created a delightful whiteboard animation of the results from our Rooftop Revolution research, which automatically makes them cooler than the average solar company. Check it out below or on Youtube.
It can build a political movement for climate change by giving average folks some skin in the renewable energy game, and it’s boosting local economies in unexpected places and unexpected ways across America. That’s why Local Energy Rules. A project of the Energy Democracy initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Local Energy Rules is a twice … Read More
What began as a group of neighbors hoping to reduce their impact on global warming has since become a major force for solar advocacy in Washington, DC. The Mount Pleasant Solar Cooperative was started by two teenage boys who wanted to make solar power convenient and affordable through a bulk-purchase program… Read More
Following up on his “Solar for All” piece in the current issue of Sierra Magazine, Paul Rauber interviews his “solar guru,” ILSR Senior Researcher John Farrell, on the future of community solar. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQcIX3bGTBo]
A 5-minute video explaining CLEAN Contracts (a.k.a. feed-in tariffs) in simple terms. It’d be great if it used a name for the policy that’s in common circulation, but since I was guilty of using Renewable Energy Payments, too, I shouldn’t complain. [vimeo 11553961 w=500 h=281] How Renewable Energy Payments (REPs) Work. from Chris Neidl on Vimeo.
