COMMUNITY-BASED ENERGY AND THE REVITALIZATION OF CIVIC CULTURE

Steven M. Hoffman, Ph.D.University of St. ThomasSt. Paul, Minnesota USA

Institute of Energy and Sustainable DevelopmentDe Montfort UniversityLeicester, England

June 30, 2004

Acknowledgements

Dr. Patrick Devine-Wright

the staff and students of the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development

America’s Associational Life

– organizations offered social and political life beyond immediate locale

– followed a federalist model, i.e., a national office with local membership

– served as a training ground for democratic citizenship

– explicitly political in their activities

Contemporary Civic Organizations

– based on a management ethic

– do things for people rather than doing things with people

– ask people and members for money to build an expert staff capable of countering the arguments and policy papers offered by an opposing set of experts

Exceptions to the Rule

the Christian Coalition, with its supporting think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute

mega-churches popular in the mushrooming communities of suburban America

self-help organizations modeled along the lines of Alcoholics Anonymous

some organizations in the environmental movement, particularly those that come out of the environmental justice movement

Reviving Civic Culture

Social capital, i.e., networks of civic and social relationships

Strong democracy or ‘politics in the participatory mode’

Public spaces, i.e., deliberative polling and citizens juries

What’s Wrong with Polls and Juries?

temporary and episodic, in existence only long enough to study a problem in a fairly shallow way

no sustained, on-going engagement in identifying or implementing community preferences

largely monastic process

not intended to create on-going connections with community institutions after the process is completed

What Do THE PEOPLE Want?

Sustained engagement, robust deliberative possibilities, and the clear ability to affect policy outcomes;

or

“stealth” democracy, an as-if citizenship, and non-deliberative deliberation?

DISTRIBUTED GENERATION

small, modular power-generating technologies

generally using renewable fuels

potentially eliminates the transmission system by linking local generation with local consumption

would allow the grid to serve as a source of back-up power or as a purchaser of net-metered small-scale generators

Locally-owned or operated CBE systems

more democratic

located closer to customer-citizen

therefore are more responsive to their values

is synonymous with a more sustainable energy system since they are based on DG technologies power by green fuels

CASE STUDIES

the origins of each of the selected initiatives

a chronology of the relevant events

the objectives of the initiative as understood by the principal partners

the challenges facing the project’s organizers

an overview of an initiative’s main activities

a technological profile

a detailed financial accounting of the project to date

the relationship of the initiative to the existing electrical system

The Variety of CBE Initiatives

objectives, i.e., technology-based programs such as wind, solar, biomass; energy-efficiency programs; educational programming; energy-efficiency or weatherization programs; community development

institutional options, i.e., volunteer-based, local utility, IOU-run, local government, NGOs or LLC

governance and the nature of citizen participation

ownership (which may or may not be the same as the institutional option)

scale and purpose, i.e., utility-scale, district-based, individual buildings, net-metered

geographic location (i.e., rural, small-town or urban center

CONTENT ANALYSIS

examination of rhetoric and language to understand values, beliefs and core ideas animating each initiative

review of content that is internally generated and externally directed, i.e., newsletters, pamphlets, material on the website, speeches

review of content that is externally generated and externally directed, i.e., local print media coverage

PARTICIPANT QUESTIONNAIRE

the relationship among stakeholder roles

the understanding that participants have about basic terms such as distributed generation, renewable energy, community, etc.

their understanding of the initiative and its effectiveness personal priorities

why participants might join, remain with, or exit an initiative

MINNESOTA: Land of 10,000 Lakes

RENew

Northfield

PCEC

CERTs--statewide

CERTs: Clean Energy Resource Teams

a collaborative of the Minnesota Department of Commerce, the University of Minnesota’s Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships program, Rural Minnesota Energy Task Force, the Metro County Energy Task Force, and the Minnesota Project

teams include many stakeholders including farmers and other landowners, industry and utility reps, colleges, universities and local governments

the outcome of the project will be a strategic vision and a renewable and energy conservation energy plan for each region, reflecting a mix of energy sources, including biomass, wind, solar, and hydrogen

participant surveys particularly useful in this case

CERTs PROJECT AREAS

initaitive started with a “letter to the editor” in local newspaper

strategic plan states that the organization is guided by the values of environment, community, and social justice

clear emphasis on community participation

hosted a community wind conference to provide residents of |Northfield technical information

emphasis on process and technological shift to renewable sources of energy

has created an LLC to provide economic benefits to local family and for grid sales

• located in a large metropolitan area

• community is a low-income, minority population

• a cooperative whose professional staff:

-- delivers energy-efficiency services

-- is developing a waste wood-fired CHP facility

-- proposing a rooftop solar program for peak- shaving purposes

Other CBE Projects

Clean Energy Now (CEN) Midway Biomass Combined Heat and Power Project

Moorhead Public Service’s Capture the Wind

farmer-owned wind LLC projects: MINWIND I and II, Community Wind North and Community Wind South, and

the TRIMONT project

City of Bovey

Why Theory Matters

how citizens are brought into the process

the kind of work that is required of them

the incentives they are given to remain

the reasons for their loyalty and or exit