John Farrell directs the Energy Self-Reliant States and Communities program at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and he focuses on energy policy developments that best expand the benefits of local ownership and dispersed generation of renewable energy. More
John Bailey on Al Gore’s Nobel Prize and Other Climate Change Issues – broadcast on the Don Shelby radio show, WCCO.
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A survey in northern California reveals a wide range of fees assessed to homeowners that install on-site solar power systems. The Sierra Club’s Loma Prieta, S.F. Bay and Redwood chapters compared the charges and fees in 131 municipalities. The report recommends on that a $300 fee is an appropriate ceiling level that would comply with state law.
Wind and Ethanol Economies and Diseconomies of Scale – John Farrell discusses a new report
and the benefits that smaller scale, locally owned renewable energy
projects bring to farmers and communities, broadcast on WCCO Radio.
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This column by ILSR’s John Farrell argues that in their desire to expand renewable-energy production, activists and policymakers focus almost entirely on “more,” rather than “better.” Twenty-seven states have renewable-energy standards, requiring utilities to produce or sell 10, 20, even 30 percent of electricity from renewable sources in the next two decades. The U.S. Continue reading
On renewable energy, go local A focus on output in gallons and megawatts leads to large-scale ethanol plants and wind farms. Such facilities aren’t the most beneficial, nor even the most efficient. By John Farrell, originally published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, August 15, 2007 In the past two years, renewable energy has catapulted to… Continue reading
Through and attractive pricing arrangement, the Woodruff Electric Cooperative has enticed nearly 85 percent of area farmers to allow their irrigation systems to be shut off when electricity demand is high. The program certainly benefits the participating farmers but the other member owners also save since the cooperative can reduce its need to purchase expensive peak power during critical times of the year.
Wind and Ethanol Economies and Diseconomies of Scale – John Farrell discusses a new report
and the benefits that smaller scale, locally owned renewable energy
projects bring to farmers and communities, broadcast on TreeHugger
Radio.
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Wind and Ethanol Economies and Diseconomies of Scale – John Farrell discusses a new report
and the benefits that smaller scale, locally owned renewable energy
projects bring to farmers and communities, broadcast on KPFK Radio.
Continue reading
Congress and most state legislatures have or are developing renewable energy policies with a single objective: get more renewables. Our new study, Wind and Ethanol: Economies and Diseconomies of Scale, finds that this single minded focus ignores the potential economic benefits from locally owned and more modestly scaled facilities. The focus should on better renewable energy projects not simply more.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 6, 2007 Contact: John Farrell, 612-276-3456 x210 – jfarrell [@] ilsr.org LOCALLY OWNED WIND AND ETHANOL—BETTER, NOT BIGGER Wind and Ethanol: Economies and Diseconomies of Scale This August 2007 report finds that there are indeed small cost reductions from very large scale, absentee owned renewable energy facilities. But that these… Continue reading
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