Word of the month: Energy sovereignty
Energy sovereignty is the right of conscious individuals, communities and indigenous peoples to make their own decisions on energy generation, distribution and consumption. It looks like enabling Indigenous communities to own and operate our own energy systems; to use renewable and locally available energy sources like wind and solar; and to stop burning fossil fuels and stop relying on corporations for energy. These kinds of democratic energy systems are aligned with Indigenous cultures, knowledge, and land rights, and they increase the resiliency of Indigenous communities that have been negatively impacted by colonialism and capitalist resource extraction.
Energy sovereignty requires a deep commitment to energy democracy, (last month’s word so hopefully you’re already familiar with it). These concepts are becoming practical international efforts, some are making them a municipal priority like Barcelona city. The Municipalist Manifesto proposes a profound change to the current energy model. It covers the following energy-related thematic areas for actions:
Energy poverty:
Enable provisional contracting of electricity supply for individuals or families living in unoccupied buildings who are at risk of being made homeless.
Participation:
Include social and environmental clauses in public procurement contracts, at the selection, assessment and implementation stages, with the ultimate aim being to include social and environmental considerations throughout the energy procurement cycle. Launch processes to switch municipal electricity contracts to social, democratic and renewable energy enterprises that are publicly or cooperatively owned.
Energy training, culture, and empowerment plan. These should contain training resources designed for different audiences and social groups, and municipalities should make a particular effort to reach out to those groups who tend to be the worst affected by the current energy (and socio-economic) model but the least likely to participate in oversight of or discussions about it.
Transport:
Draw up plans for shared electric vehicle use to enable municipal electric vehicles to be used not only by local government employees during working hours, but by residents during evenings and weekends, paying particular attention to low-income groups.
Eco-feminism:
Ensure an eco-social and eco-feminism lens of energy uses and planning of public events to make information more accessible for families. Carry out or further develop a municipal-level energy assessment, so that assessments are participatory.
Generation and distribution:
Facilitate medium-scale projects by analyzing available local government sites, such as municipal buildings and municipal land, where local renewable energy generation projects could be undertaken, and consider offering these sites to citizens’ groups who wish to take forward local renewable energy generation projects, under conditions to be agreed by both parties.
Seek advice to explore the potential for reaching a Public Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with citizen funding and fair conditions that minimise future risks and benefit the public interest.
Retailing and data ownership:
Promote the setting up of a publicly owned electricity retailer guaranteed to use renewable energy sources, with public-community participation in its governance process.
Launch a local campaign and advocate for the ownership of data from energy meters, which is currently solely and poorly controlled by private distribution companies. Energy meters can provide instantaneous and hourly data, enabling the municipality to provide a demand aggregation service grid stability and balancing renewable energy production and demand. This would also reduce the unnecessary cost of having additional monitoring systems at public supply points.
This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a good start to get us thinking about policy actions that can take place in our quest for energy justice in Hawaiʻi, at the local and state level.