Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy
Pioneering community-owned renewable energy
I’m sitting in a parking lot on a cold, gray January morning waiting for my daughter to come out of a doctors appointment. I couldn’t go into the waiting room thanks to coronavirus rules. So here I sit scanning the scene for the vibe. As I tune in, I see a dialysis center straight ahead
It’s “…our garden. I’m just the maintenance man, I just keep it up,” insists DeWayne Barton, the humble visionary behind the Burton Street Community Peace Gardens in West Asheville. The first wave of solar at the peace gardens went up back in August. Two hundred donors came together to fund the project. AIRE developed, coordinated
Note: I heard Dahr Jamail on a podcast back in the summer saying he– a brilliant, award-winning journalist and author– can’t even write in the present moment. This is a guy who went independently to Iraq to cover war up close and in the streets. Now, instead of writing, he’s immersed in grassroots mutual support
I’ve posted many times on the effort of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ at the Center at Donaldson to live their beliefs in integral ecology. Their renewable energy development agenda the past couple years is an institutional model that demonstrates how significant progress can be made with committed leadership (and here) all coordinated by
Our favorite critical food politics voice, and Maverick Farmer, Tom Philpott will be discussing his new book tonight at 7.30 pm Eastern. Go to https://facebook.com/BloomsburyUSA/ to join the live conversation. In our view, food and energy have much in common in terms of sustainability, sovereignty, and actions we organize in our communities. For example, the
The solar installation was completed on Monday, August 10th. Now we await only Duke Energy to connect the system to the grid. The advocacy community uses the term “slow walking” to describe how long that may take. Only Duke knows, but hopefully soon. The garden is producing healthy food, ideas, healing vibes, and is ready
This guiding question borrows from the title of a collection of essays, “WHAT ARE people FOR” by agrarian writer, Wendell Berry. It is provocative because it calls our values into question and challenges assumptions. Our conversations and activities at AIRE have recently asked a similar question out of the same vein– What is solar for?
• We now have all of the system components on hand (e.g. solar panels, inverters, racking, etc.). • Required filings have been completed at North Carolina Utilities Commission. • System interconnection request has been filed with Duke Energy Progress. • Installation is scheduled to be July 27th, maybe sooner. Looking back at the crowdfunding campaign
One of our most inspiring solar projects just happens to have a great teaching component. It’s especially relevant today, the SUMMER SOLSTICE, as a way to remind us all that we’re all part of a dynamic constant– our relationship to the sun. That’s FREE FUEL that doesn’t have to be mined, transported, fought over, used
Everyone by now has seen commentary on the “looting” that has taken place amidst the smoke in Minneapolis and other cities. It’s true that lots of looting occurs in the United States. The problem is that the word “looting” is being used dog whistle style, mostly by politicians and others to deflect attention away from