Local Energy, Local Power « It’s Getting Hot In Here

A great piece by Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of Honor the Earth, about localizing our power systems and how different tribes across the U.S. are leading the way. As major power companies make a last ditch push to build new coal and nuke plants during this fossil-friendly administration, we need to counter with a different vision:

Distributed power production, matched with efficiency, is the key. According to the Department of Energy, we squander up to two-thirds of our present fossil-fuel electricity as waste; we lose immense amounts in inefficient production, heating, and transportation systems.

We must reduce our consumption, then create distributed energy systems, where local households and businesses can produce power and sell extra into the grid. Relatively small-scale and dispersed wind, solar, or even biomass generation provides the possibility for production at the tribal or local level without involving big money and big corporations. That, in turn, allows for a large measure of local accountability and control—pretty much the definition of democracy—and an appreciation for where we are and where we need to go.

Click here to read the full article at Yes Magazine.

About Billy

Billy Parish is Co-Founder and Coordinator of the Energy Action Coalition. Billy has taken four years off from Yale, where he was co-chair of the Yale Student Environmental Coalition and was majoring in Ethics, Politics & Economics. Billy was a 2004 Brower Youth Award Winner, 2005 Rolling Stone magazine "Climate Hero," Mother Jones magazine's 2006 "Student Activist of the Year," and was recently named a "Fellow" by Ashoka, the global association of the world's leading social entrepreneurs. A co-author of the report "New Energy for Campuses," a guide for colleges and universities on how to cost-effectively cut their greenhouse gas emissions, Billy works to train students and equip them with the tools they need to implement local climate solutions. A native of New York City, Billy now works out of the Washington D.C. office of the Energy Action Coalition.

It’s Getting Hot In Here