Jason Caudle, city manager with the City of Lancaster, talked with John Farrell in April 2015 about his city’s solar boom. With more than 118 MW of solar, both private and public, operating within city limits, Lancaster is well on its way to producing or procuring 530 MW of clean energy by 2020. Hitting that target … Read More
Arnie Arnesen interviewed ILSR’s Director of Democratic Energy John Farrell on WNHN’s The Attitude last week, seeking an answer to this question: can we expect electric utilities to embrace the energy sources of the future, like solar? Electric Utilities Play by the (Old) Rules Arnie and John discussed the hesitance of utilities to embrace innovation and … Read More
Santa Fe, NM, is battling with its electric utility, PNM, over the utility’s continued heavy reliance on large-scale fossil fuel power plants in a state with some of the best sun and wind resources in the country. Director of Democratic Energy John Farrell joined Santa Fe City Councilor Patti Bushee to discuss options for Santa Fe’s … Read More
In 1995, David Morris spoke at the Riverside Church about localism and globalism. In his 15-minute speech David maintains that globalization and gigantism and absentee ownership were not inevitable but the result of public policies. We make the rules, and the rules make us. And the rules we’ve made, especially over the last 50 years, have enabled and encouraged an economic and political system where those who make the rules are separated from those who feel the impact of those rules. … Read More
Ever since the last time I spoke with Blair Levin on Episode 37, I have wanted to have him back for a friendly discussion about public or private ownership of next generation networks. Though Blair and I entirely agree that local governments should be free to decide locally whether a community broadband network investment is a … Read More
“The FCC should be extremely wary of any arguments that claim paid prioritization or other discriminatory practices are necessary to increase investment in next-generation networks.” — ILSR, July 18, 2014 For months the FCC has considered comments from the public as it examines network neutrality. There have been more than 3 million submissions; a vast majority … Read More
A month ago I wrote about the potential for a comeback for solar ownership (instead of leasing) as the economics and options for ownership continue to improve. Yesterday I discussed this trend in depth on “The Attitude” with Arnie Arnesen on WNHN. Subscribe to the podcast here, or listen by clicking the player below:
In this 2014 episode of Local Energy Rules, ILSR Energy Democracy initiative director John Farrell talks with Lane Sharman, co-founder and chair of the San Diego Energy District Foundation about the energy and economic potential of a city-run community choice energy program.… Read More
“Utility regulation and rates is a contact sport,” says Karl Rabago, and that makes the implementation of a new “value of solar” policy complex. Will distributed solar grow better with a transparent, value-based contract price? How does it differ from net metering? Is Minnesota’s law a precedent to follow? Prepare yourself for a deep dive in … Read More
