A Just Energy Transition is Underway
On this episode of The Joy Report, we’re discussing what energy justice is + why energy ownership must be re-imagined to overcome the current priority of profit over maintenance, affordability, and human health. A true just transition will create opportunities for people who have been excluded from the start of the renewable energy movement to become recipients of intentional investments, benefactors of job training in the renewable energy sector, and key thought leaders in this space.
Episode Transcript
Welcome to The Joy Report, a podcast dedicated to sharing stories about climate solutions and environmental justice grounded in intersectionality and optimism. Tune in to hear updates on all things climate, social, and environmental justice explained in a succinct and accessible way by me, Arielle King, an environmental justice advocate and attorney passionate about environmental education. This podcast aims to give you the tools you need to stay informed and take action to protect the planet.
Episode Agenda
In this episode, we’re discussing energy justice + working towards more decentralized energy systems.
Topic Background
It shouldn’t be a shock to anyone that our current energy system is in need of a major overhaul. Our current, fossil fuel-dependent grid is owned by a small sliver of the population who have prioritized profit over people, and caused significant harm to people and the planet. But before we dive into this concept, let’s take a step back and explain what the grid is:
[SOURCE] “All electricity starts at a generator, which can be powered by wind, water, coal, or even nuclear fission. After it is generated, the electricity travels from the power plant to transmission substations, which convert it to a very high voltage so that it can travel long distances. From there, the electricity travels along power lines to another transformer, which again converts the power, this time to a lower voltage, before it goes into our homes and businesses.
‘Often, people think of the power grid as “the grid”. It’s really not. It’s a quilt made up of 3,000 or so power companies that are owned by investor-owned utilities.’”
To sum it up, electric system, which includes electricity generation, transmission, and distribution, is owned by a mix of entities, including private, public, and government. Currently, about 72% of U.S. electricity customers get their energy from less than 200 companies. About 3/4 of utility consumers get their electricity from investor-owned utilities. This ownership model issues stocks owned by shareholders, and accounts for nearly 40% of energy generation, 80% of transmission, and 50% of the distribution. Unsurprisingly energy disparities arise since investor-owned utilities are always looking for opportunities to increase profits.
The current grid creates inequities in the amount people pay for their electricity, who can access cleaner, more renewable energy sources, and who experiences the health risks associated with garnering electricity from fossil fuels. The environmental impacts of electricity generation, extraction, production, and transportation can contribute to large-scale regional environmental concerns, as well as localized concerns that affect the area directly surrounding the source.
Disparities within the current grid give rise to sacrifice zones, which are areas where a small segment of the population disproportionately bears the burden of living near an industry. Although everyone benefits from these industries, mostly low-income and BIPOC communities experience the environmental consequences
One example is the 85-mile corridor in Louisiana called Cancer Alley, where nearly 150 refineries, plastic plants, and chemical facilities heavily pollute the air and harm those who live there. In fact, yet another plastic factory that is set to be built in Cancer Alley which will discharge toxic chemicals into the already heavily polluted air and water. This is part of the fossil fuel industry’s push to turn an oversupply of fracked natural gas into more plastic, causing further harm to the people living in this area and the planet.
In the energy context, as Michele Morrone and Geoffery L. Buckley’s book titled Mountains of Injustice explains, sacrifice zones are characterized as “an unfortunate product of high demand for energy coupled with the lack of comprehensive energy policy designed to protect areas that generate the energy sources modern society takes for granted.”
In the United States, 68% of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, compared to 56% of the country’s white population. Living near these types of facilities increases death rates at earlier ages, risks of respiratory diseases, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and other health problems. For the preservation of our planet and all its inhabitants, we cannot continue on like this.
That’s why we need energy justice and a just transition to clean, renewable, affordable energy. Here’s what Dr. Tony Reames has to say about energy justice:
[SOURCE]: “So what is this topic of energy justice? While we ask about energy being a basic human right, while it’s not codified in our US Constitution, the United Nations does consider energy a basic right. In their sustainable development goals, goal number seven is to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. My colleague Diana Hernandez at Columbia University says, ‘If energy is a basic right, then what are the rights that we should be ensuring?’ and she came up with four basic rights in her call for energy justice. The right to healthy, sustainable energy production; the right to the best available energy infrastructure; the right to energy that’s affordable; and the right to energy that is uninterrupted, so no more shutoffs and always having energy access.”
Dr. Reames is the Deputy Director for Energy Justice at the U.S. Department of Energy.
[SOURCE] “Some scholars say that a just energy system is one that fairly disseminates both the benefits and cost of energy services, and it’s also representative and impartial in energy decision making. So a key component of energy justice is not just the benefits and cost of energy but also how do we engage in what some people are calling energy democracy where we are part of the energy decision-making process.”
Changing our grid may seem like an impossible task since it’s been this way forever, right? Before the grid existed, humans hunted whales and used their oil for candles. Around the same time that whale populations began to decline from this practice, petroleum was discovered in Pennsylvania in 1852. Soon after, other fossil fuels became a more popular and reliable source of energy. By 1935, the energy grid evolved into the one we’re essentially still using today. In other words, change is possible even when it seems insurmountable. In less than 150 years we have transitioned from using whale oil to light homes to harnessing the earth’s naturally replenishing resources to provide energy to whole communities.
A better way to produce energy already exists in ways that benefit people and planet. Environmental justice advocates and scholars have been talking about the “just transition” for years now. This movement away from fossil fuel dependence is defined by the Climate Justice Alliance as a “vison-led, unifying, and place-based set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.” The transition must be just and equitable— it must redress past harms and create new relationships of power for the future through reparations.
Now is the time to reimagine energy ownership. A just energy transition must be built to create economic justice and equitable access to reliable, clean, affordable energy. We must find ways to overcome the energy sector’s current priority of profit over adequate maintenance of infrastructure as well as impacts to human and planetary health.
We need energy democracy, which is defined by Shalanda Baker as a means of opposing energy corporations on a large scale by replacing investor-owned utilities with publicly owned, democratically run alternatives. It also means creating opportunities for economic justice. This includes ensuring equal access to high-paying jobs and training in the renewable energy sector for those who have worked within the fossil fuel industry. It requires creating opportunities for equal access to energy resources and education so people can make informed decisions about what happens in their homes. Energy democracy also looks like distributed ownership of new energy production, like community solar farms.
Featured Story
Like many other industries, there has been a relatively small, homogenous group of individuals who have been benefitting from advancements in the energy sector, with a 2019 study from the Solar Energy Industries Association on diversity in the solar industry finding that 85% of senior executives in the solar sector are white and 80% are men. A true just transition will create opportunities for people who have been excluded from the start of the renewable energy movement to become recipients of intentional investments, benefactors of job training in the renewable energy sector, and key thought leaders in this space.
Fortunately, we are already beginning to see shifts toward this equitable, inclusive, just energy transition, and Black women are at the forefront.
IE’s founder, Leah Thomas recently sat down with Shalanda Baker on IG live to discuss energy justice.
[SOURCE] “I’m Shalanda Baker, and I’m the Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity at the Department of Energy. I’m also the Secretarial Advisor on Equity, and my portfolio is incredibly exciting. I get to lead a historic Justice40 Initiative, which is the President’s promise that at least 40% of the benefits of our climate and clean energy spending will go to frontline environmental justice communities. I also lead our DEIA work, have experts that are really at the forefront of that at our agency. So it’s really just an exciting time to be at the Department of Energy, an exciting time to be in climate doing EJ work, and I admire you Leah…”
The Justice 40 initiative that Shalanda mentioned is President Biden’s commitment to ensuring that at least 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. And here’s what she had to say about getting involved and leading the charge for this initiative:
[SOURCE] “Let me start by saying that I joined this administration for this moment, I joined for Justice40. I joined because when the President was a candidate on the campaign trail he said he cared about three things: racial justice and remedying structural racism, he cared about climate justice and making sure that we avert catastrophic climate change, and that we actually engage in economic development in this country. All three of those pieces are central to the Justice40 mission and initiative, so I left academia in particular to be a part of this moment. I was here on day 1, I think that speaks to the President’s commitment to Justice40, I think it speaks to the Secretary of Energy’s commitment to achieving these goals, and for the past 20 months, I have been in the trenches building a team, building support across the Department of Energy to make this real. On July 25th, which was just a couple weeks ago, we released 144 programs at the Department of Energy that count under the Justice40 Initiative. This is billions and billions of dollars in DOE program funds. Some programs people are gonna be familiar with like Weatherization Assistance Program, other programs are programs people don’t know anything about, they’re brand new, that were supported under the bipartisan infrastructure law like battery manufacturing and recycling, advanced energy manufacturing grant program — all of those programs are climate and clean energy programs. We’re gonna create new jobs, we’re gonna supercharge communities with economic development, and also protect communities from the most hazardous impacts of development.”
This unprecedented amount of attention to equity and justice issues can be seen not only in the federal government but also within the private sector. Updating infrastructure and ensuring that intentional investments are made in communities that have been historically overlooked for this type of aid and environmental protection is exactly what environmental and energy justice is all about.
Kristal Hansley: “So to me, community solar really creates that link to local communities that feel left out, but it’s like we start with the community. WeSolar business model is, we don’t just go building solar farms without inviting the community and saying, ‘What do you think about this project? What do you think about the other institutions around us helping us get this off the ground? Bringing in other local leaders in church, representatives to help spread the word?’ That’s the just transition because they’re part of the transition to renewables, they’re part of the conversation not when the thing is up and built and all the capital and equity’s already carved out. WeSolar is 100% community owned, local, we are the community. And to bring that business model to communities in Baltimore, MD where we’re based, that’s now people who did not have a clue as far as what solar meant, or even understand what some of the technical terms associated with community solar, can now say ‘Oh I know what virtual net metering is, I have a community solar subscription.’ That’s the just transition.”
After attending a Black Women in Energy brunch hosted by Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy a few weeks back, I had the opportunity to sit in downtown DC on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon with Kristal Hansley, the founder and CEO of WeSolar.
Kristal: “My name is Kristal Hansley, and I’m the Founder and CEO fo WeSolar. WeSolar is a community solar farm based out of Baltimore, Maryland. I launched Juneteenth 2020, becoming the first Black woman CEO in the community solar space.”
Of all the different types and sources of renewable energy available, why solar? Why community solar? Here’s what Kristal had to say in response to this question:
Kristal: “My very first introduction into this space answers that question, I was with another Maryland startup in the solar space called Neighborhood Sun, and my background prior to joining Neighborhood Sun was spending about 10 years on Capitol Hill. I worked in the Senate, I also worked in the House of Representatives for DC, we’re in DC, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton in her District Office. And at the time, Maryland was passing a sweeping package of community solar legislation and just like a lot of climate legislation. And I thought it was really cool to jump into the space at the time because I was like, hold on: people can just have solar without putting panels on their roof? How cool is that? And essentially that’s what my business model is we allow families, disadvantaged communities to tap into our solar farms and they get a subscription to those solar farms, and those solar farms act as if they actually put panels on their roof. So now people don’t technically have to own a home to have solar. You can tap into WeSolar community solar subscription is like you’ve had a home and you have panels on your roof and it’s acting on your behalf and now you have discounted energy for the next 20, 25 years.”
It’s about access, it’s about equity.
Kristal: “That’s economic resilience and benefits that my community can now be a part of whereas before then, they had to go through traditional barriers of having a home and only 20% of American households actually have access to rooftop solar. So now WeSolar opens the market by 80%.”
It’s about options, economic resilience, and creating opportunities for communities to regain control. It’s about energy democracy:
Kristal: “Energy democracy to me is pretty much where you get to choose where your energy comes from. You get to choose to now say ‘Hey, I want to support local green jobs and my community. I want to clean up my grid and also benefit from that. I choose that!’ whereas in other places of the country without clean, environmental energy justice legislation, they don’t have that choice. So I’m literally talking to other states and NAACPs in Indiana, I’m on the calls in Detroit, trying to still advocate for community solar legislation because that’s energy democracy. We want to have that choice where the other half of the country doesn’t have energy democracy, and community solar fits what that means to the T as well as environmental justice. Being able to leverage policy, technology, as well as community.”
Calls To Action
So what can you do to support energy justice in your community?
First, educate yourself on renewable energy sources, the just transition, and energy usage structures around you.
Clean Choice Energy is a great resource for learning about renewable energy options near you by zip code.
Solar energy international has a free online course where you can learn more about renewable energy.
If you’re in the US, the environmental protection agency has a tool which tells you what sources generate electricity in your area and compares emissions to the national average level. You can find the link in the show notes or by googling “EPA power profiler”
Demand your school, employer, or city end their investments in fossil fuels. You can find resources online to help you get started at go fossil free dot org (gofossilfree.org)
Support local political candidate who do not accept campaign funds from fossil fuel companies, and who are committed to reducing your city or county’s fossil fuel consumption and investments.
And as Kristal would tell you:
“You have to mobilize!”
Does your state or municipality allow community solar? If not, support organizations working to make that change.
While switching your energy source may feel impossible, especially if you don’t own your home, see if there’s a community solar farm near you.
If you live in New York state, Wildgrid will be able to help you make the switch.
In Texas, Go Solar Texas would be a great resource.
If you’re anywhere else in the country, Solstice should be able to help connect you with a community solar project near you.
Positive News Stories
Here’s some positive climate news you should also know about:
In May, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Lab broke the world record for solar cell efficiency by creating a solar cell that reaches nearly 40% efficiency in real-world conditions.
After 5 years, a case brought by youth climate activists in Portugal against 32 European countries for their inaction on climate change will finally be heard in front of 17 judges at the European Court of Human Rights.
The permanently closed Tegel airport in Berlin, Germany is set to be transformed into a sustainable 10,000-person residential community and research hub.
The UK government committed to spending 44 million pounds on tree planting in 13 existing community forests across England.
IE + Community Updates
And in the world of Intersectional Environmentalist:
We have an Earth Sessions show happening during NYC Climate Week on September 23rd in Brooklyn. Be on the lookout for the announcement about tickets.
Make sure you’re following our new events page at (@earthsessions.ie) to stay up to date on our in-person events.
This episode was created in collaboration with Wildgrid, a BIPOC, female, queer-owned, New York-based company on a mission to cut through the confusion and make it simple for anyone to find the best solar option for them.
Outro
As always, remember, fighting the climate crisis is a marathon, not a sprint. We need everyone to get involved in a way that feels right for them, now more than ever.
Tune in next episode where we’ll discuss ecosystem restoration
I’m your host, Arielle King, and thank you for listening to this episode of The Joy Report.
