The Roosevelt Institution
This project would focus on proposing feasible, economic alternatives to fossil fuel use in impoverished rural communities. Since renewable sources of energy have become less costly and more widespread, this idea is getting progressively easier to implement. It was inspired by a small town of 60 in the middle of Alaska whose hot springs powers the entire town, except for cars, the cost of which is expected to be recovered in only five years.
The most obvious need for this project is a world-wide need for alternative sources of energy in the face of diminishing oil and gas supplies and a global warming trend that is only worsened by the use of fossil fuels. Because of the increasing scarcity and demand for oil and gas, those places around the world which happen to have fossil fuels are corrupted—prospecting companies come in, take the natural resources to be shipped to wealthy countries, and leave local communities without their natural resources. Very rarely do communities benefit from this.
Renewable energy sources, however, cannot be exported too easily. Energy from these sources is put into the energy grid to serve the people on the grid. It cannot be prospected and shipped. Rural communities who do not have access to oil and gas, or for whom these things are very expensive, still need energy for some very basic things. Without energy, for example, there is no hope that a hospital can provide some elements of healthcare to its patients.
It has seemed, of late, that the worldwide demand for energy has only increased. At the same time, however, this summer has been a time during which many countries have declared their intentions to go carbon neutral. Many of these pledges of neutrality will be achieved only by offsetting carbon emissions, which involves, to some extent, paying for renewable energy elsewhere. If industrialized countries (including the United States) who are trying to cut their carbon emissions could get credit for investing in these rural projects, these countries would have a significant incentive to invest in rural, renewable energy options that are sustainable, and which are economically feasible.
Group members:
Rebecca S Levenson
Jurist Tan
John Cheng
Maureen Gaj
Vi Hoang
Benjamin D Jacobs
Donghyuk Kim
Tess E Lerner-Byars
Fernanda Lopez
Justin Petrillo
Daniel Siegel
Jenna Spinks
Alice Walton
Mimi Wang
mathew andrews