In this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Sustainable Westchester’s Nina Orville and Dan Welsh. The three discuss the benefits of the organization’s many efforts in New York, which include a community choice aggregation program, a sustainable heating initiative, and community solar projects.… Read More
Sixteen states have policies allowing some form of community renewable energy development. This quarterly update (2019 Q3) shows the capacity built in states with active programs: Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York. It focuses on programs in investor-owned utility service territory.… Read More
In this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Subin DeVar of the Sustainable Economies Law Center about the nation’s first residential rooftop community solar project. In addition to directing SELC’s community renewable energy program, DeVar is on the board of the People Power Solar Cooperative, which developed the novel project.… Read More
I am loathe to engage in lists, but year-end is a good time for reflection on big changes in the energy world. Plus, this beats the alternative of showing photos of cats in Christmas outfits, trying to co-opt a meme of baby Yoda, or just posting links to ILSR’s top 10 energy things. Here are three things we saw as big stories in 2019 and implications for 2020.… Read More
3 gigawatts of new power generation capacity came online in the third quarter of 2019 — 31 percent of which from small-scale solar installations — in the latest update from ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative.… Read More
In this episode of our Voices of 100% series from Local Energy Rules, host John Farrell speaks with Providence Director of Sustainability Leah Bamberger. The two talk about how energy democracy runs through the city’s new climate justice plan, which centers frontline communities in Providence.… Read More
Adopted by the legislature in 2016, it’s been a long wait for Oregon’s community solar program to launch. Technically, it hasn’t yet, but the program rules are final enough to show that this program scores well on the four principles for community renewable energy.… Read More
For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with David Bissell, CEO of Kauai Island Utility Cooperative. The two talk about the utility’s renewable energy achievement, the challenges of operating a utility on an island, and how Kauai provides a “postcard from the future” for other U.S. utilities.… Read More
In this special episode of Local Energy Rules, host John Farrell speaks with ILSR Co-founder David Morris and ILSR Research Associate Maria McCoy. The two tell local energy stories sharing a Thanksgiving theme: the failure of a turkey litter-fueled power plant in Minnesota and the ban of gas hookups in Berkeley, Calif.… Read More
