Community-led renewable energy can contribute to decarbonising our energy system, but also decarbonising our political system. The more that neighborhood associations, cooperatives, schools, municipalities, or other community groups take control of the energy system, the more we collectively shift power from the fossil fuel industry’s polluting influence on our politics and make it clear that to politicians that they need to be accountable to their citizens in planning our energy future.
Shared solar is the most common form of community-led renewable energy generation, but community-led renewable energy can include wind, geothermal, or small-scale hydro power.
Environmental Benefits
- Lifts the environmental burdens placed on communities by the traditional fossil fuel based industry
- Helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and related climate change impacts
- Increases energy efficiency and minimizes loss of electricity through long-distance transmission
- Increases community awareness of energy use and its localized impacts
- Greater conservation and sustainable energy behavior
- Reduces impacts of extractive energy industry, by decreasing or eliminating fossil fuel energy use.
Economic Benefits
- Price certainty and stability, since renewable energy like wind and solar are zero-cost fuels
- Economies of scale; community-scale renewables are less costly per Watt of capacity than individual arrays
- Helps keep money invested in the local economy
- Job creation in the host community
- Adds new technical skills to the community skill base
- Reduces local economic dependence on dirty energy sources.
Social Benefits
- Gives community members the opportunity to take control of the planning, development, and maintenance of energy
- Ensures that energy systems are designed to maximize public and community benefit
- Improves community resiliency and gives the community control over their own energy production and distribution
- Increases energy accessibility
- Advances community self-determination and allows community members to advocate on their own behalf
- Increased democracy by shifting revenue from fossil fuel companies that have used profits to suppress civil rights, into the hands and control of communities.
With credit to NAACP Toolkit: Just Energy: Reducing Pollution, Creating Jobs Toolkit