Energy policy is at a crossroads. Attempts to meet targets for carbon emissions, energy security and affordable energy for vulnerable households are all on a trajectory to failure. Aggressive ambitions to roll out huge off-shore wind, nuclear and clean coal plants are proposed, but without any clear plans on how funds will be mobilized, or transmission and distribution infrastructure developed. In this book Prashant Vaze and Stephen Tindale ask politicians and regulators to consider a different path. Using abundant examples of small scale local solutions Repowering Communities examines how cities, communities and local authorities from across Europe and North America have driven reductions in energy use and rolled out small scale, community level solutions. Among the issues examined are the drivers behind behavioural change, the methods used to secure necessary investment and what government and civil society can do to foster such action on a wide scale. Based on extensive first-hand research and drawing on the latest global energy data the authors provide essential information and inspiration for readers who wish to drive the policies that encourage community-level energy development.

Humboldt County has abundant wind, solar, and biomass resources, but has made limited progress towards the state’s 2045 requirement of 100% clean electricity. A recently rejected onshore wind project showed that technically and economically viable projects can fall to social and political challenges, emphasizing the need for social considerations in renewable transitions. I therefore integrated community members’ preferences into modeling of RPS-consistent renewable energy scenarios in Humboldt County. My model suggests that offshore wind, utility-scale solar, distributed solar, and biomass power are technically and economically viable sources of significant local generation at varying costs. In interviews with energy-engaged residents, I observed divergent normative conceptions of Humboldt County’s energy future despite climate change mitigation through renewables growth being unanimously desired. Some envisaged a future of minimally intrusive distributed solar, while others support projects at a scale that would transform Humboldt County into “the Silicon Valley of wind energy.” These opinions frequently overlaid conceptions of appropriateness and efficiency, for example, preferring offshore wind over cheaper utility-scale solar because Humboldt County’s wind resource abstractly overshadows its solar resource. Participants prioritized projects which best use Humboldt’s resources. Because some support exclusively distributed solar while others believe it to be technically infeasible, a thorough study of distributed resource potential could help create the shared understanding necessary for productive discourse and concerted political effort against climate change. Continuous discussions among stakeholders could create a permission space for energy infrastructure and avoid wasting time and money on projects inconsistent with social and political desires.