Why Minnesota’s Community Solar Program is the Best
Minnesota’s community solar program reached 848 megawatts in December 2022, enough to power more than 100,000 homes each year or about as much capacity as a typical nuclear power plant!… Read More
San Antonio Report (Opinion): How we’re making San Antonio hotter — and how we can help cool it down
Bill Barker cites Institute for Local Self-Reliance research on the potential usefulness of water pipes as a replacement for dirty energy utilities among the creative solutions available to mitigate the harms modern comforts introduce to a heating planet.… Read More
Report: Could Existing Water Pipes Replace Dirty Energy Utilities?
This report explores water main geothermal: a novel, affordable way to decarbonize home heating and air conditioning using existing city water mains.… Read More
Why it’s Short-Sighted to do Centralized Planning in a Decentralizing Electricity Grid
With financial rewards tied to building big, utilities overlook distributed energy resources like rooftop solar. This essay, written to advise utility regulators in Michigan, has implications for utility resource planning nationwide.… Read More
Spreading Like Wildfire: An Interest in Making Electric Power Public
Despite the time and money required for a public takeover, many cities are taking steps toward municipalizing their electric utility. This post compiles some stories behind these battles in San Francisco, Santa Fe, Boulder, and more.… Read More
Island Utility Aims for Two-Thirds Renewable Energy by 2020 — Episode 92 of Local Energy Rules Podcast
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
From the Archive: A David and Goliath Fight to Tap World Class Solar — Episode 75 of Local Energy Rules
In this episode of Local Energy Rules, we revisit an earlier episode from our archives in which ILSR’s Director of Energy Democracy, John Farrell speaks with Mariel Nanasi of New Mexico’s New Energy Economy about how the citizens of Santa Fe could benefit from the economic and environmental benefits of switching to a city-owned utility. … Read More
Planning for Local Energy and Climate Action in Minneapolis — Episode 70 of Local Energy Rules Podcast
In this episode of Local Energy Rules, Energy Democracy Initiative director John Farrell speaks with Minneapolis City Councilmember Jeremy Schroeder about the city’s unique partnership with its incumbent utility companies and other tools the city can use to address climate change locally.… Read More
Colorado Town Leaders Decide to Move Forward on Publicly Owned Network Project
Until November 6th, community leaders in Loveland, Colorado, vacillated between whether or not to hold a referendum for final voter approval on a muni project. Asking voters to make the final call can remove political uncertainty, but there are times when elected officials have to make the call themselves. When the city opted out of Colorado’s restrictive SB 152 three years ago, 82 percent of voters supported the measure. On November 6th, Loveland City Council vacated a previous order to put the issue on the ballot and decided that it’s time to move ahead on establishing a broadband utility.… Read More
