Introduction:
The world needs swift action on climate change, and the missing piece of the puzzle lies with clean, renewable energy. Much progress has been made thus far, from solar and wind energy farms delivering electricity to the power grid on a large scale to a dazzling variety of clean energy technology coming to market. But one sector of society offers the sort of emissions cuts necessary to make a serious impact on the climate change problem: the communities for whom clean energy can serve instead of coal, gas, or oil for their power and heating needs. These are the top stories of this incipient trend in community energy.
The Rise of Community-Powered Energy
- Momentum is building around the world for community energy—something that might be defined as “local power for local people.” And it’s driven by a range of desires for greater democratic power, environmental impacts, and economic benefits. Of the 166 projects (in 15 countries) that a team of Stanford PhD ers and other auxiliary researchers working at a community energy knowledge capture outfit could find, most had the power to impact all three of those [my emphasis added] “things.” Also, most were using or had on the tap 100 percent or near-to 100 percent non-poisonous renewable energy. (See map, next page.)
Inspiring Examples of Community-Powered Eco-Friendly Generators
The Orkney Islands, Scotland, are a world pioneer in community-owned green energy. Covered in wind turbines and almost 2,000 kilometers (about 1,243 miles) of cable, the 16 inhabited islands can easily power the 10,000 people who call them home and still generate a surplus to sell back to the mainland grid. There are 25 wind turbines on the right-of-way along the highway, and 25 on the right-of-way along an access road on the Big Island called the Akosombo Dam Road. There is something almost magical about the way the close-knit community of 2,200 people not only harnesses the power of renewable energy but reaps the fruits of their success in power and, literally, in trees.
Benefits of Community-Powered Eco-Friendly Generators
- Impact on the Environment: Producing clean energy significantly reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution compared to what’s typical with our current mix of energy from fossil fuels and nuclear power plants. In the U.S., wind and solar power plants have the biggest impact of all in terms of the sheer amount of energy they can produce for a light-to-no-carbon footprint.
- Energy Resilience: Citizens have gone through a restructuring of their energy economy that won’t soon be undone. Denominations are being paid in the here and now for an energy delivery model that (mostly) won’t deliver this energy in the here and now, and they’re doing it for a reason.
Challenges and Considerations
- Although led by communities, and despite offering a broad range of benefits, large eco-friendly generator projects confront significant challenges in two areas: development and operation.
- As we know from many forms of experience, any community-led project, if it is going to work, needs effective and reliable financing. Despite the increasing use of a range of innovative financing models, such as crowdfunding and community bonds, many eco-projects still have a tough time raising sufficient funds to ensure their completion. And even when they do raise sufficient funds for development, they often run into yet more problems finding the operating funds necessary for carrying the work forward.
- We also know, from many decades of experience, that community-sponsored projects usually require navigation through a complex regulatory process. Successful project developers must be or become capable permittees and good project operators. They must move through a forest of regulations while holding onto the federal, state, or local permits necessary to carry the work forward.
Conclusion:
The electric power paradigm has shifted. No longer does one producer in one corner of the world generate the massive amounts of power that fill entire populations of homes and run huge factories. That model—of monopolies and oligopolies pumping out seemingly endless amounts of power—no longer squares with a world rightly concerned with the potential for climatic disaster posed by the pumping of more and more carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. This is true globally, but it is also true in North America.
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