Local Energy Rules

In early 2014, John Farrell, director of ILSR’s Energy Democracy initiative, hosted a conversation with Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy, about how the city of Santa Fe’s incumbent and monopoly electric utility Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) was failing to take advantage of the city’s abundant local, solar resources, while residents pushed the city and utility to implement more local climate solutions and distributed solar.

Today, New Energy Economy and residents of Santa Fe continue to push for local, clean energy and greater control over the city’s energy future. Still, their earlier efforts outlined in this episode reveal important strategies communities can take organize a campaign for public ownership.

Listen to this episode, and explore more highlights and resources, below — including a transcript of the conversation and more updates about what has happened in Santa Fe between then and now.

https://ilsr.org/articles/archive-rerelease-mariel-nanasi-sante-fe-solar-episode-75-local-energy-rules-podcast/

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 bene...

Why are garbage incinerators such a bad deal for communities?

In this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell speaks with Marie Donahue, ILSR researcher, and Neil Seldman, Director of ILSR’s Waste to Wealth Initiative, about the harmful impacts of burning trash to generate electricity. The three spoke for a recent episode of the Institute’s Building Local Power podcast, reproduced here.

The conversation dives into ILSR’s late-2018 report Waste Incineration: A Dirty Secret in How States Define Renewable Energy, highlights the harmful impacts of burning trash to generate electricity, and outlines what steps cities like Baltimore are taking to shut down these dirty facilities and build a healthier, local clean energy future.

https://ilsr.org/articles/garbage-incinerators-episode-74-local-energy-rules-podcast/

In this episode of Local Energy Rules, Energy Democracy Initiative director John Farrell speaks with colleagues Marie Donahue and Neil Seldman about the harmful impacts of burning trash to generate electricity.

How can a community close a coal plant and produce clean electricity, respect the needs of its community members, and provide a just transition for power plant workers?

A successful, multi-year campaign by community members in Holyoke, Mass., to address air pollution and related public health impacts from the coal-fired Mount Tom Power Station and push for clean energy provides a powerful model.

As a new video about this campaign by the Toxics Action Center shows, community efforts were instrumental in closing the nearby plant. The campaign didn’t stop there, however. It pushed for initiatives to help plant workers transition into new careers or retirement and to develop a new solar and energy storage facility to replace the plant.

In this episode of Local Energy Rules, ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative director John Farrell digs into this story with Lena Entin, deputy director of the Toxics Action Center and board member (as well as former community organizer) of the grassroots, Latinx-led economic justice organization Neighbor to Neighbor. Working in close partnership, Neighbor to Neighbor members and the Toxics Action Center built and supported this community-driven campaign that provides important lessons and inspiration to other communities fighting to transform the energy system.

Listen to the episode, read a summary, and explore resources including a transcript of the conversation, below.

https://ilsr.org/articles/community-vision-transition-coal-sol-holyoke-mass-lena-entin-ler-73/

In this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, John Farrell interviews Lena Entin about an inspiring and successful community-driven campaign in Holyoke, Mass., to shut down an aging coal plant operated by one of the world’s largest multinational e...

Clean energy policy is sweeping the states in 2019, with numerous bills setting targets of 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050. While these climate-friendly policy proposals have many advocates excited, some utility companies also see them as a golden opportunity.

With advocates laser-focused on climate instead of how renewable energy is deployed and by whom, utility shareholders can win rich rewards by locking in ownership of billions of dollars of new clean energy infrastructure at a hefty price premium to customers.

Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy in New Mexico, joined ILSR’s Director of Energy Democracy, John Farrell, in March 2019, for a new episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, to discuss the state’s proposed Energy Transition Act and its big giveaways to one of New Mexico’s incumbent monopoly utilities, PNM. The two also discussed the pitfalls of state policy that ignores how rooftop solar and other distributed energy offer huge opportunities to share the wealth of a climate-friendly energy system.

Listen to the episode, and explore highlights and resources including a transcript of the conversation, below.

https://ilsr.org/articles/local-choice-carbon-free-bills-mariel-nanasi-ler-72/

In New Mexico, proposed climate legislation would give one of the state’s monopoly utilities a huge handout, leaving customers holding the bag. In a new episode of Local Energy Rules, Mariel Nanasi of the New Energy Economy speaks with John Farrell abo...

The city of Boulder, Colo., is one of more than 100 cities across the country that has adopted an ambitious goal to transition to one hundred percent renewable energy.

A small city on the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Boulder has long been a national leader in the pursuit of clean and renewable energy and made a community-wide commitment in 2016 to supply all of its electricity from renewable sources by the year 2030.

For this episode of our Voices of 100% series of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell spoke with Jonathan Koehn, Boulder’s Regional Sustainability Director, in September 2018 to learn more about what has motivated the city’s commitment to renewable energy and what strategies it is pursuing to ensure a vibrant, local, and resilient clean energy future.

https://ilsr.org/articles/boulder-colo-voices-of-100-podcast/

Over 100 U.S. cities have now set goals to transition to 100 percent renewable energy. In a new episode of our Voices of 100% series from Local Energy Rules, we feature the city of Boulder, Colo., and the strategies it is using to make its ambitious lo...