Let’s invest in “Local Energy”
There is a path through and solution to today’s economic, environmental, and budgetary challenges. After all the bubbles burst, we wanted to save our money – which is a good start, but collectively we cannot SAVE our way out of a recession. Instead, we need to collectively INVEST our way out of recession. A terrific investment that addresses all of the issues listed above is “Local Energy.”
Local Energy has a double meaning. In a human sense, it means enthusiasm and action for a local purpose. In a more literal sense, it refers to energy that is either generated or saved on site near where it is used. It is an interesting convergence, because it requires Local Energy to create Local Energy!
Creating Local Energy is a great investment. Encouraging and empowering people to take local actions (whether it is buying locally, volunteering, or other things) binds together the local fabric of a community. Putting systems into place that either reduce on-site energy usage or generate power on site generally require hiring a local contractor or purchasing a piece of equipment. This means dollars circulating in the local economy. Investments in Local Energy do not need to be the lowest cost – instead they need to have the greatest economic, social and environmental benefits per dollar invested. To move out of this recession, we can invest our human Local Energy and some funds in Local Energy projects that support local businesses and build local economies. Local Energy empowers communities to work together to make effective investments, leveraging the support and incentives offered by utilities and the state and federal governments.
Here are some examples of high-return investments in Local Energy:
Energy Evaluation and Guidance Services: On-site surveys conducted by expert technicians to identify Local Energy investment opportunities, with follow up assistance in project scoping and hiring contractors
Weatherization: Contractors (or Do-It-Yourselfers) seal leaks in buildings’ walls, windows and insulation
Energy Efficiency Upgrades: Installation of systems like lights, control systems and appliances that give better performance and use less energy
Heat Pumps: Devices that heat or cool indoor environments by concentrating and moving the heat out of or into the ground or the outside air
Individual Solar: Equipment or strategies in individual buildings that use the sun’s energy to create electricity, heat water, or warm indoor air
Community Solar: Multiple community members pool their resources to invest in a single solar system to provide electricity on a municipal site.
These are only a few examples. All of these examples require the human kind of Local Energy to accomplish, because they require some effort and focus by individuals and community members. All of these involve investing some funds in supplies, equipment, and installation labor. All of these can be supplied locally within communities, and will have multiplier effects within local economies, as the money circulates. All of these pay positive dividends to the owners of the systems over time in the form of reduced utility energy bills. All of these contribute to national energy security and reduced dependence on foreign oil. All of these reduce emissions. All of these are part of larger solutions.
Efforts to promote Local Energy within communities and across states, regions and nations should have several common themes and values (thank you Jeremy Rifkin and McKinstry). They are:
Distributed: Energy savings and on-site generation are distributed or spread across many locations, creating benefits for each site. Likewise, human Local Energy is spread throughout communities.
Open: Anyone and everyone is able to create Local Energy, work with or for others to do so, and reap the benefits.
Transparent: The purposes behind Local Energy are clear, and strategies, successes, and lessons learned are shared for everyone else’s benefits.
Collaborative: There is no monopoly or competition for Local Energy – it is an abundant, renewable resource that can be created everywhere and therefore community partners can work together.
Efficient: Energy not purchased is money saved and Local Energy created.
Smart: Creative, effective, appropriate solutions reign in Local Energy, and ever-faster advances in IT systems are empowering automatic and user-based control systems to boost efficiency.
Clean: Lower fossil energy usage, better equipment and higher usage of renewable energy strategies mean lower emissions.
We can use the notion and framework of “Local Energy” as a foundation for economic recovery, local community revitalization and sustainability all at the same time. At its core, investments in Local Energy pay off immediately to society in terms of economic development, and pay off over time to their owners in terms of energy savings. Local Energy builds resilience in local communities as they use less energy overall, and a higher percentage of energy comes from local sources. When we use our human Local Energy to pull together, work together, and do business together, we rebuild our own communities, and are empowered to take responsibility for our future. Local Energy can be created anywhere, and is completely customizable to fit local resources and local needs. Outside investments from states, the federal government, utilities, private foundations and private investors can match the local investment of individuals, municipalities, non-profits and local businesses to create Local Energy.
So what now? PLEASE COMMENT on this post! Do you agree or disagree? How are you tapping into Local Energy in your community? We can drive Local Energy in our own homes, our own businesses and our own communities. We can use human Local Energy to ask the state and the feds to match our efforts! This is open, transparent collaboration … so please share your ideas!
I couldn’t agree more Ramsey. I particularly like your point that our individual impulses to save our way through a recession can be damaging to the larger economy, but the opportunity to save on energy bills is a great way to respond to that impulse while creating a significant stimulus effect. In Whatcom County the Community Energy Challenge has completed close to 300 residential retrofits and is working with more than 100 small businesses to cut energy costs. This is supporting over 80 jobs in the community.
One complicating factor in this is that these efforts are hard to scale. Different utilities, local governments and small contractors make doing this work enough different in each location that I think small organizations based in each community will continue to be the most successful. While that is great for engaging human Local Energy, it also means that lessons learned in one community are difficult to extrapolate to another community.
Yes Ramsey! I also agree. I am grateful for your comprehensive outlook regarding “Local Energy.” I appreciate the multiple definitions you have for it! It truly is our enthusiasm & ability to take action for a local purpose that creates our community to be what it is.
I see a great deal of vision for creating a more sustainable community from what you bring up!
~More efficient, clean, renewable energy – Yes!
~Energy that we can purchase & invest in – as a neighborhood & community!
~Investing dollars now, boosting the economy, then saving in energy costs.
It all makes a lot of sense to me. I think of….
~Collaboration with Neighborhood Associations within City of Olympia, Lacey & Tumwater to see about Neighborhood energy projects!!
~Looking into a “take it with you” design for renters of a small # of solar panels in a easily disassemble box
~Posting a list of rebates available to residents & businesses for equipment purchases
Great work! I look forward to determining some sort of community work plan!
Dear Ramsey: Marie forwarded your blog post. I think this is an excellent statement on the merits of local energy investment. I like the emphasis also on building social capital as a means to create strong local economies, substituting cooperation and sharing for consumption. An additional way in to this topic is imagine our economy with oil at $150, $200 or higher per bbl. The themes of resilience, and substituting local energy for imported energy are very important. I am working on a report for RAP (Regulatory Assistance Project) on EE finance best practices and will share this when it is complete. Take care, John MacLean
I agree. All healthy economies are built upon people getting together and working together locally. We have suffered the inevitable disparity created by a global economy. This doesn’t mean a global economy is bad, it means that a healthy global economy REQUIRES the health of local economies to work together to keep the heartbeat of the world community strong. The macro is the micro in this case. Working locally to educate, as well as keep a local economy vibrant by buying and selling locally is going to do more to bring us out of recession and recreate a greater economy for all of us than any single bailout or loan of any kind. the more we do to remember who our neighbors are and care for them the more we help ourselves.
Its a mentality that takes time to convert, even within ourselves. The big power and energy companies were built the same way. keep the faith, because the more you do the more the right people will ally themselves to build a better community. What better motivation than to get folks aware of the bottom line. That hits home every time!
Really? You mean that by my spending 3500 dollars now, I can save over 6000 over the next three years? and after I’ve recouped my investment I will save even more? Well try telling that to Johnny Fivebucks, who can’t scrape two dimes together to pay his $250 a month electric bill in his home that’s heated by those outdated in-wall 2500watt blower heaters!
Let’s start new and fresh. Johnny didn’t know he had a choice when he moved into that home. He was ignorant of the choices that were available to him. But through working locally and educating everyone, those choices became more accessible to more and more people, and eventually the already antiquated ideas and systems that still persist now (and do nothing for the local community but only line the pockets of the few who don’t live here anyway), will become a figment of the past. and there will be fewer and fewer Johnny Fivebucks’ to post gripes about their plight…
Big Power’s bottom line will always work against you. keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Many of those people haven’t seen the bigger picture and the very real benefits that we all, including them, reap from this sort of promotion. Many of us have lost our way. Keep the light shining in the dark, we will find ourselves in a greater place soon enough!
Thank you for helping us along the way.
If there is anything I can do to help I am here, Stephen Hicks