Equitable Energy Transition

The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is an opportunity to build a more equitable, resilient, and community-driven energy system. Energy solutions - such as renewable energy generation, battery storage, efficiency upgrades, electrification of heating/cooling systems and transportation, and technologies that help balance the electrical grid - can all be planned and implemented in ways that prioritize local communities and build equity, resilience, and empowerment.

Click on the links below to learn more about our work in the following areas:

At ACTT, we prioritize the following in energy planning and implementation:

  • Distributed energy resources, such as smaller scale solar, wind, battery storage, and demand management technology. These resources are more likely to be planned, sited, and owned by communities and often significant contributions to the energy grid in terms of strengthening underserved distribution grids to increase reliability and building local hubs of resilience to accelerated extreme weather events associated with climate change;

  • Prioritization of energy efficiency as an essential component of shifting off fossil fuels while electrifying everything;

  • Equity as a guiding principle for energy solutions, addressing existing inequity by shifting ownership-associated equity to underserved populations and building reliability and resilience through clean energy solutions in vulnerable communities;

  • Community-driven planning processes, guided by local priorities, challenges, and opportunities that simultaneously build local energy literacy, leadership, and empowerment;

  • Community ownership of energy resources, building local equity through said ownership;

  • Community-driven, responsible siting of renewable energy resources, prioritizing rooftops and disturbed land and integrating resources in comprehensive land use planning and ecological respect;

  • Wherever possible, community control of resources such as battery storage and demand management technology.