Innovative venture for community-owned Renewable Energy

Greetings fellow activists and mindful citizens;

I wish to share news of an exciting development unfolding in the Appalachian mountains of western North Carolina. The Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy (AIRE) is preparing to launch a cooperative business venture for community-owned renewable energy. We’ve been working for the past 18 months to develop and tweak a model of collaborative financing that makes purchasing PV solar considerably cost effective; with a potentially significant return on investment within 5 or 6 years. Currently we are organizing demonstration projects here in western North Carolina, while drafting our strategic and business plans for expansion.

We are a nonprofit organization. However, we are pioneering a “hybrid” development model, in which we seek to establish a network of community-owned Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) comprised of small businesses, congregations of faith, individual homeowners and other community constituencies; to pool their finances and invest in renewable energy. These locally owned LLCs will take advantage of state and federal tax incentives, which are generally written to benefit wealthy investors and large corporations. By forging these innovative partnerships we seek to build the capacity of communities to generate their own electricity using clean, renewable resources … while creating sustainable economic opportunities for local interests, and reducing dependence on the monopolized power grid.

AIRE was recently awarded funding from a progressive private foundation to write an in-depth business plan, upon the completion of which we will potentially be given a “transformational grant” … which would enable us to launch our vision for community-owned renewable energy far and wide. One step in the process of finalizing our business plan involves gathering public interest data on community-owned renewable energy and other related issues. Please, consider taking our quick survey … it will be of great assistance in our efforts to restructure the modern energy economy to be more clean, sustainable, and democratic!

<<< http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/aire-nc >>>

About Rio

Rio is currently serving as the Education and Outreach Director for the Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy (AIRE), a position which he helped create by applying for federal stimulus money. AIRE is a nonprofit which is developing and implementing collaborative financing mechanisms for community owned renewable energy. Rio is a recent graduate of Appalachian State University, where completed an Interdisciplinary Studies degree in Sustainable Development and Political Science. Rio made his first venture into activism his senior year of high school, when he and two friends secured grant funding to build a biodiesel processor. Upon completion the project was donated to Chapel Hill High School as the Senior Class gift of 2006. After attending PowerShift 2007 in Washington DC, Rio decided he wanted to become further involved in the youth climate movement, and that he wanted to become politically engaged. After participating in the inaugural Summer of Solutions program in St. Paul, Minnesota, Rio went on to lead the 2008 Power Vote campaign back at his campus in Boone, NC. After recruiting for and attending PowerShift 2009, Rio decided he wanted to work as an intern on Capitol Hill, where he spent the summer of 2009. Rio has lobbied in the United States House of Representatives, Senate, and White House. At Appalachian State University Rio was a part of several environmental and social activism groups, including the Renewable Energy Initiative, which is a student led committee charged with the use of a green fund used for renewable energy projects on campus. In his final semester as a student Rio served as the Chair of the committee. While on the REI the committee installed what is currently the largest wind turbine in North Carolina (100kW). Upon his graduation Rio worked as an intern with Environmental Defense Fund, where he was part of a State legislative initiative to pass a bill that allows public universities (there are 17 in NC) to keep savings generated from energy efficiency upgrades. The bill was successfully passed in the summer of 2010. Rio was then contracted to make a promotional video for an EDF initiative that partners with Historically Black Colleges and Universities to codevelop campus sustainability plans. In addition to his present role at AIRE, Rio currently has a part time contract with EDF making fundraising videos.

It's Getting Hot In Here