Energy Justice for All

Comstock’s Magazine

Typically, marginalized communities aren’t valued as centers of economic output and growth, and they’re often overlooked when it comes to investing resources. Their neighborhoods are the sites of power plants that disproportionately pollute them. Members of these communities are often low-income and people of color, pay a higher-than-average percentage of their income for energy, and live in homes that lack weatherproofing and energy-saving appliances. They may be financially burdened with poor indoor and outdoor air quality, decreased overall health, and limited or no access to equitable improvements.

“People are calling for a more community-owned system, a democratic system where people weigh in and make decisions about the energy that they’re producing,” Sutterman says. The community choice aggregation energy model is taking hold in California. This model is still connected to and delivered through the grid, but is governed by local elected officials who determine the source of their constituents’ energy.

Read more here: Energy Justice for All | Comstock’s magazine (comstocksmag.com)