We post our news and reflections on energy, and we also like to repost pieces that we find relevant to community-owned renewable energy. Topics touch on policy, finance, energy politics, case studies, breakthroughs, trends, electric vehicles, as well as the broader social, economic, and maybe even metaphysical dimensions of energy.


Poor Handmaids, Sister Mary and the Radical Leadership of Love


As I’ve posted numerous times previously, we’re constantly inspired by what this group, the Poor Handmaids, are doing at the Center at Donaldson. The major renewable energy projects they’ve undertaken in a short period are impressive enough to stand on their own, but I’ve been interested in what makes it all work in a time


Don’t believe Duke Energy when it says it wants to set the record straight on SB559 (Take 2)


(This piece is as submitted to the Raleigh News & Observer and unpublished by it. This is a second version of an AIRE blog piece, with this one offering some numbers to go along with the rhetorical critique offered in the first version.) ————————————– By Steve Owen, Ph.D. and Nancy LaPlaca, J.D. A recent News


A beautiful sign of progress: Phase 2 solar panels arrive at Poor Handmaids


Just a week after breaking ground, a half megawatt of solar panels arrived on site today for installation on the Poor Handmaids Center at Donaldson Phase 2 solar project. Hat’s off to the Center’s provincial and laystaff for this great work. Green Alternatives, Inc. of Kokomo, Indiana, the installer in cooperation with its industry partners


Don’t believe Duke Energy when it says it wants to set the record straight on SB559


Over this past rainy weekend, an opinion piece in the Raleigh News & Observer caught my eye because its title contained the words Duke Energy and SB559. Its author, Mr. Stephen de May, president of Duke Energy North Carolina, used some language and made some claims which chiefly amount to “hey, we’re Duke Energy and


On the EV road: all plugged in and … “network error” (another tale from the EV trail)


I’ve said in previous posts that traveling in an EV can be framed as an intentional adventure, uneventful and successful trip one charge from home, and in some cases “back side of the moon.”I throw in the nightmare stories just because there’s one thing at AIRE we’ve never been shy about and that’s telling the


Energy, Cooperation, and Possibilities: Nathan Schneider’s take on the pope’s climate encyclical


I’ve just read a chapter from a forthcoming book that I think recommends itself as necessary reading for AIRE’s project partners and anyone working toward democratic energy, sustainable communities, and humanity’s common future. I don’t intend this to be a chapter review. Instead, I want to highlight some of the key ideas in it and