Word of the month: Energy democracy
Similar to last month’s word of the month, “Just Transition,” energy democracy is more of a framework than a definitive term. It has evolved from a slogan used by activists demanding a meaningful voice in energy-related decision-making to a term used in policy documents and scholarly literature. Energy democracy shifts power, literally and figuratively, and is part of a worldwide movement led by working people, low-income communities, and communities of color aiming to take control of energy resources from the corporate energy establishment and use those resources to empower their communities.
For example, The Energy Democracy Project is a “collaboration of more than 30 diverse, local, frontline organizations across the U.S. to strengthen their collective efforts to democratize energy and advance the emerging energy democracy movement in the United States.” It provides critical resources like the People’s Utility Justice Playbook to aid advocates to expose tactics from utilities, especially investor owned, undermining community’s efforts toward economic, environmental, and climate justice.
“The question is whether we will build [the new energy] system on a foundation of justice and equity or whether we will build that system using the very same tools that landed us in this disaster in the first place,” writes Shalanda Baker, deputy director for energy justice and secretarial advisor on equity at the U.S. Department of Energy, and author of Revolutionary Power: An Activist’s Guide to Energy Transition. Her book highlights Hawaiʻi’s renewable energy policy as a cautionary tale of setting ambitious renewable goals without clear language for equity as potential for leaving indigenous and working class communities of color behind.
Baker and other energy democracy advocates align with the climate justice movement’s opposition to fossil-fuel capitalism as key to transforming our economic system more deeply. They build upon the legacy of the environmental justice movement which for thirty years has sought to combat the disproportionate harm dirty energy development has placed on low-income communities, especially communities of color.
What does energy democracy look like in Hawaiʻi? For starters it looks like a Molokaʻi community’s passion to end energy oppression by taking the reins of Community-Based Renewable Energy design to produce locally owned energy systems rooted in resilience, cultural stewardship, workforce development, and a “for-people” economic structure that reinvests in community.
It also looks like the Public Utilities Commissioners, our state’s only utility regulatory body, holding a listening session with West Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island residents to take input on how to improve the Request for Proposal process.
That is just the beginning. All in all, I hope this helped you envision Energy Democracy” as much more than a buzzword. It is a process, an outcome, and the goal for Hawaiʻi’s transition to support localized economies, climate resilience, and self-determination.