Local Energy Rules

For this episode of Local Energy Rules, we head to the archive, replaying our interview with South Miami mayor Philip Stoddard. In this conversation from April 2018, we discussed South Miami’s fight for renewable energy against a resistant monopoly utility and Stoddard’s own drive to lead by example with solar.

Since the episode aired, Mayor Stoddard made the news by doing exactly as he set out to do years ago: taking himself off the grid and proving that solar works in Florida. Using his rooftop solar, electric car, and two Tesla Powerwall batteries, Stoddard went off the grid for a week in March of 2019. Stoddard is walking the walk, not only for the economic benefits of energy independence, but also for the security it provides during hurricane season.

https://ilsr.org/articles/south-miami-a-bright-spot-for-solar-in-sunshine-state-episode-53-of-local-energy-rules-podcast/

Show page available: https://ilsr.org/south-miami-a-bright-spot-for-solar-in-sunshine-state-episode-53-of-local-energy-rules-podcast

What can a small city do to advance clean energy locally, if its state commissioners and legislators are not willing to take their jobs regulating monopoly electric utilities seriously? In the latest podcast from Local Energy Rules, John Farrell, Director of the Energy Democracy Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, interviews Philip Stoddard, a pioneering, fourth-term mayor of South Miami, Florida, who has been sticking up to the state’s incumbent utility, in order to make the state live up to its billing as the Sunshine State.

Listen to all of our Local Energy Rules podcast episodes at our site, https://ilsr.org/local-energy-rules-podcast-homepage. Don't forget to subscribe, share with your friends, leave a recommendation on our podcast feeds, and join the conversation online using the #EnergyRules hashtag!

More than 50 U.S. cities have made commitments to reach 100 percent renewable electricity, many inspired by Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 campaign and the cost-effectiveness of solar and wind power. But how do communities build the political will to adopt such goals, and how do they plan to meet them?

In San Diego, the answer to both is the exercise of local authority. In particular, the city is taking advantage of the state’s community choice energy law to take over selecting where the city’s residents and businesses get their electricity.

Nicole Capretz is the executive director of the Climate Action Campaign and former staffer to the San Diego mayor during the creation of the city’s climate action plan. Capretz recently spoke with ILSR’s director of Energy Democracy, John Farrell, about the city’s adoption of a 100% renewable electricity goal, and the struggle against the incumbent electric utility company for control of the journey toward that goal.

https://ilsr.org/articles/getting-san-diego-ready-for-100-renewable-energy-episode-52-of-local-energy-rules-podcast/

More than 50 U.S. Cities have made commitments to reach 100 percent renewable electricity, but how do communities build the political will to adopt such goals, and how do they plan to meet them? John Farrell interviews Nicole Capretz of the Climate Action Campaign to learn how San Diego's community choice program will move them toward 100 percent renewable electricity.

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In October 2017, John Farrell gave a keynote address to the annual meeting and expo of AERO, a Montana organization with a similar mission of empowering communities to promote a sustainable economy. He addressed the widespread opportunity for clean energy in Montana, the shared desire of communities to capture that growing economic opportunity, and three ways communities can get started.

https://ilsr.org/articles/video-how-communities-use-clean-energy-to-build-local-power-alternative-energy-resources-expo/

It’s no secret that electric vehicles have gone mainstream. From quarter to quarter, U.S. sales numbers consistently hover near or above record levels. Cities are trading in their gas-powered fleet vehicles and buses. And major auto manufacturers are planning for an electrified future.

But the shift toward electric vehicles means more than cleaner, greener transportation. It offers an opportunity to build out new infrastructure in a way that supports local economies and a pathway to bolstering local renewable energy, all while generating meaningful cost savings for drivers nationwide.

https://ilsr.org/articles/local-energy-benefits-electric-vehicles-episode-51-of-local-energy-rules-podcast/

It’s no secret that electric vehicles have gone mainstream. From quarter to quarter, U.S. sales numbers consistently hover near or above record levels. Cities are trading in their gas-powered fleet vehicles and buses. And major auto manufacturers are planning for an electrified future. This is a republication of an episode of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's Building Local Power podcast, check out that feed and all of the Local Energy Rules podcast episodes here: https://ilsr.org/local-energy-rules-podcast-homepage

A citizen-led effort to establish in a city-run electric utility in the small northeast Iowa community of Decorah is picking up steam, with advocates — including some local officials — forecasting significant local economic growth powered by the transition.

Decorah, with about 8,000 residents, is tucked in the northwest corner of Iowa just south of the Minnesota border. It’s best known as home to Luther College, but as in the rest of the region, the agriculture industry is also significant. Decorah also has a rich tradition of self-reliance, including when it comes to the energy economy.

Decorah Power, the group behind the municipalization push, estimates that as much as $100 million in countywide energy spending funnels out of the community each year to the existing investor-owned utility, located some 150 miles away in Madison, WI. A locally run utility would ensure those resources instead remain in the local economy, while also providing a path to a more dynamic clean energy future.

https://ilsr.org/articles/in-small-town-iowa-a-movement-to-own-the-future-episode-50-of-local-energy-rules-podcast/

A utility municipalization push in Decorah, IA, is gaining momentum. There’s still plenty of ground to cover, but the citizen-led advocacy group behind the effort is rallying the community around an energy future that favors the local economy rather than a monopoly utility 150 miles away. Find all Local Energy Rules podcast episodes here: https://ilsr.org/local-energy-rules-podcast-homepage/.

The combination of falling prices and rising interest put rooftop solar on a strong trajectory. But even as solar goes mainstream, it’s tough for consumers to tell which installer, which panels, and which financing is right for them.

There has been little transparency in solar pricing, and consumers without technical expertise have a tough time shopping around. It’s a barrier to widespread solar adoption that gnaws at Vikram Aggarwal, and one he’s trying to fix through his online solar-shopping platform, EnergySage.

https://ilsr.org/articles/declare-energy-independence-with-solar-just-shop-around-first-episode-49-of-local-energy-rules-podcast/