Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy
Pioneering community-owned renewable energy
Jeff Deal and I had the great pleasure to speak to a group of Ancilla College faculty and students, members of the Poor Handmaids for Jesus Christ community, and to community members at large on September 24, 2019. Our Lapen Lecture topic was energy, given that this community had worked a miracle of sorts by
John Farrell, whom we consider to be one of the leading thinkers on community solar, wrote this 2010 report,, which we think is worth reposting for benchmarking and reflection. Participation and ownership were the key things we wanted to experiment with in our project described in the report. This was at a time (wow, 8
AIRE’s interest in community-owned renewable energy is grounded in the idea of rights and justice in the most basic sense. That is, we ought to have the right to choose clean, green, renewable energy, and further we ought to have the right to choose how and by whom it’s generated. Similarly, and on a more
After several months of intensive planning, the Sisters and lay staff of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, walked their talk and made the first of several solar installments on the Center at Donaldson’s 150 acre campus near South Bend, Indiana. They dedicated the first phase of their solar initiative on the 1st day of
AIRE’s work with Elon Community Church and First Congregational UCC was recently featured in an article on the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) website. Please enjoy the below sample before reading this fine article in it entirety at their site HERE. If imitation is the best form of flattery, then the members of First
Smart Local Investors Do Well and Do Good Read the original article in the Salisbury Post HERE. I love it when I find examples of places where one can do well while doing good. This phrase describes situations where you can invest money or talent, earn a handsome rate of return or a decent living
AIRE was one of the “mover-and-shakers” recently mentioned in PV Magazine’s article Community Solar Niche Poised for Growth. Some of the interesting solar trends the story discusses include: virtual net metering, which allows a ratepayer to credit solar production from one meter (say their community solar meter) to another electric meter (perhaps the one at
For several years now, AIRE has been developing innovative approaches for rapidly financing and developing renewable energy, specifically solar energy, here in the Southeast. Apparently, some of the Folks over at Think Progress have been pondering this as well – in fact they’ve shared it with the entire Internet HERE. In the meantime, here’s a
There’s just something fitting about North Carolina renewable energy advocates getting up ahead of the sun – and this is exactly what they did on Tuesday June 12th as they rolled out of bed for the 7:00 AM convening of the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association’s (NCSEA) “Clean Energy Lobby Day.” Why such an early
The City of Carrboro’s Board of Aldermen passed a resolution Tuesday to move forward with an AIRE feasibility study exploring how the town might create solar electricity at their farmers market. The township currently spends $15,000 – $18,000 per month on electricity for municipal operations. In an effort to cut energy costs and flatten the