By Carey L. Biron for Context.
Broadcast version by Edwin J. Viera for Virginia News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration

To hear Emil King tell it, the benefits of the 8,000-odd solar panels shimmering before him on an industrial lot in Washington D.C. go far beyond helping the U.S. capital city fight climate change.

The city-administered solar park was built on polluted land that had become an eyesore, and the power it produces has been used to halve the electricity bills of about 700 low-income local families, said King, a city environmental official.

"The community saw that they'd be getting money off their bills, but that it was also going to be about a vacant property getting some attention and getting cleaned up," he said.

Solar projects like the Oxon Run Community Solar Farm reflect part of a growing push by cities across the United States to include lower-income communities that are increasingly seen as vital to achieving emissions goals.

In Washington's case, that means reaching 100% renewable energy by 2032.

Part of that target involves supplying solar power to 100,000 low-income households from city-subsidized community projects, using the new electricity source to reduce their energy bills.

Unlike traditional rooftop units meant for a single household or business, community solar broadly refers to installations in which none of the electricity is used onsite, instead being fed into the grid but often earmarked for "subscribed" users.

That arrangement sets them apart from utility-scale solar projects, while community projects are also typically far smaller, able to fit into a variety of sites.

"Community solar is the keystone element," said King, a program analyst with the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment.

"We do a lot of rooftop (units), but this is the most efficient way to get a lot of capacity built fairly quickly," he said, standing amid the ground-mounted solar modules that make up the city's largest community project to date - even as new ones are regularly brought online.

Democratizing electricity

Across the country, similar projects are seen as a key way to expand access to solar energy for lower-income residents or those for whom traditional installations do not make sense such as renters, people who do not own their roofs, and those with roofs unsuitable for solar installations.

"Community solar becomes this democratizing element for electric customers," said Jeff Cramer, chief executive of the trade group Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA), "especially those that have been most left out by the clean-energy revolution and the grid of the past."

As cities set ambitious renewable energy targets and with an unprecedented wave of federal funding set to start arriving this year, the initiative is picking up so much momentum in places like Washington that officials are grappling to find new sites.

"We're running out of space," King said.

Earlier this year, the federal government, which has a goal of increasing community solar output by 700% from 2020 to 2025, hosted a summit stating that it was community solar's "time to shine."

"We went from a handful of projects in 2015-16 to thousands around the country," Cramer said, amounting to nearly 5 gigawatts (GW) today.

The sector is currently growing by about 1 GW a year, equivalent to about 200,000 customers annually, and he expects that rate to jump in the coming years.

In January, the CCSA set a new target of providing community solar access to 10 million Americans by the end of the decade, or about 30 GW.

Community solar has no set definition, said Nate Hausman, who manages the clean energy markets program at the World Resources Institute, a think-tank.

"Unlike with rooftop solar, where it's clear what you're getting, subscriptions can be structured in different ways," he said.

Payments can come upfront or over time. Some projects are offered at a premium as a way to support clean energy, while others aim to provide savings to low-income customers.

Whatever the approach, they are likely to become increasingly important to satisfy cities and states' new sustainability goals.

"To reach the level of market penetration (cities) aim for, they're going to have to involve the low- and moderate-income markets. It will involve reaching beyond the standard customer base," Hausman said.

As in Washington, that is prompting local officials to look widely for potential sites, whether on roofs, parking lot canopies or on contaminated or other low-value land.

Federal legislation passed last year will create new tax credits for community solar projects, including money earmarked for installations on affordable housing complexes and in former fossil fuel communities, Hausman said.

Twenty-two states have some kind of program to incentivize or facilitate community solar programs, according to the CCSA, including a California law adopted in September.

States that have not passed these laws will find it hard to tap the new federal funding, while those with such laws could experience a potentially chaotic gold rush, Hausman warned.

Neighborhood cooperatives

Community solar is not the only way to expand solar energy's customer base: neighbors are also increasingly banding together to reduce prices by buying in bulk and sharing the often complex research and preparations required.

Such neighborhood cooperatives tend to be focused on single-family homes and occasionally small businesses, said Ben Delman, communications director for Solar United Neighbors, which helps communities set up such groups in a dozen states.

The group also works on community solar, and recently launched what Delman says is a first-of-its-kind platform to help people find and join such projects in their areas.

The priority for both approaches is stabilizing residents.

"Energy burden is a huge challenge for low-income homeowners," Delman said. "They might own a home but not have much income coming in, so by cutting their energy bills, this is a way we can keep families in their homes."

For more than 30 years, Carmela Thomas has lived in the single-family home that she inherited from her father in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In 2020, she participated in a solar cooperative and a city program for low-income residents, and had solar panels installed on her detached garage - a step she took "primarily to save money".

The setup saved her more than $550 on electricity bills last year alone, she said.

But what started out as a way to reduce her spending now brings her wider satisfaction.

"As I gained more information, I realized that I'm doing my part to conserve energy and try to reverse global warming," she said.

Carey L. Biron wrote this article for Context.


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Ohioans are raising questions about the future of fracking and its environmental and community impacts, following the ARCH2 hydrogen hub open house held Thursday in Canton.

Advocates and residents voiced concerns about the potential risks of expanding fracking infrastructure.

"No community should be saddled with more environmental burdens and less environmental benefits," said Ashtabula resident Julie Boetger, who co-chairs the board of directors for the Buckeye Environmental Network.

Boetger noted that such areas as Ashtabula, already heavily industrialized, could face additional challenges from the hydrogen hub, including increased environmental risks and infrastructure demands such as new pipelines and transportation concerns.

Proponents argue that hydrogen hubs offer opportunities for cleaner energy solutions and economic development.

Southeast Ohio residents have expressed similar apprehensions about the potential health and environmental consequences. With fracking already prevalent in counties such as Harrison, some residents say the hydrogen hub would only deepen the region's reliance on fossil fuels.

"We don't want to see more fracking because we know, from peer-reviewed studies, that this means health effects, environmental effects, water withdrawals, radioactive brine," said Harrison County resident Randi Pokladnik. "It's a false promise of green energy."

The ARCH-2 project, which primarily relies on blue hydrogen, has sparked debates about its potential benefits versus its environmental tradeoffs. Pokladnik said that with concerns about transparency and public engagement, Ohioans will keep pushing for more clarity on how these developments might shape their communities and ecosystems.

With a thud, the tranquil sounds of nature are shattered as a bird crashes into a glass window. It's an all-too-common, deadly occurrence that students at one Florida university are working to minimize.

The reflective surfaces of buildings trick birds into thinking they're flying toward the open sky or trees, only to meet a fatal impact. These strikes are responsible for millions of bird deaths every year, and at Florida Gulf Coast University, students and faculty are taking creative steps to tackle this silent crisis.

FGCU ornithology professor Oscar Johnson said bird-window strikes are a major threat to wild bird populations.

"Some studies estimate as many as 1 billion birds die every single year, just in the United States, due to collisions with windows," he said."It's a major problem - obviously is a global problem, it's a national problem, it really happens anywhere. So, anywhere that you live, I guarantee that this is something that needs to be worked on."

So, the school's Ornithology Club teamed up with campus art galleries to create an art installation that deters birds from flying into reflective glass. The design uses repeated patterns of dots or lines to break up reflections, which prevent birds from mistaking the glass for an open sky. The project combines science and art to reduce fatal collisions.

The installation covers a large window at the campus art gallery entrance and features line drawings of local bird species. Johnson said the project aims to expand across campus and beyond, with plans to make the designs publicly available for homeowners and businesses.

"The drawings that we did, we're going to be producing them and depositing them on the FGCU website, where they'll be downloadable," he said. "You just print them out on a piece of paper, put them up against the glass, and you can trace the drawing on the outside of the glass. It is important to have something on the exterior, in order to break up the reflection."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also recommends similar tips to curb the problem. Johnson encouraged communities to take proactive steps to protect birds from these avoidable incidents.

The U.S. Forest Service has given the go-ahead for a gold-mining project in central Idaho.

If it receives state permits, the Stibnite Gold Project will be located in the Payette National Forest and become one of the largest gold mines in the country.

John Robison, public lands and wildlife director for the Idaho Conservation League, said it's especially concerning for the East Fork South Fork Salmon River watershed, where the mine will be located, and because of downstream effects from the mine.

"We're really concerned about the Forest Service's decision that disregarded some recommended protections for the area and some additional sideboards on this mine project," he said, "and both short-term and long-term impacts to public health and clean water in the area."

The Nez Perce Tribe also criticized the decision, saying the mine violates its treaty rights and that the Forest Service noted in its final report that the mine will harm fish habitat.

The company behind the mine, Perpetua Resources, applauded the decision. In a joint statement, Idaho's congressional delegation also celebrated it, saying the mine would increase the nation's supply of critical minerals, reducing reliance on China.

The delegation said the mine will increase the country's supply of antimony, which can be used to make ammunition and batteries. However, Robison said they're overestimating the mine's importance. He said there's only a three-year supply of antimony at the site, and that gold accounts for 96% of the project's profits.

"It really is a gold mine, and the vast majority of gold is used for jewelry or for hoarding wealth," he said. "So, it really isn't a material that society needs."

Robison added that mining of critical minerals is necessary, but should be done in the least harmful way.

"One of the things that we've learned is that we have to do so more responsibly than we've done in the past," he said, "and we're concerned we're going to get the same result from this mine project, which is contaminated landscape that will persist for decades, if not centuries."

The mine project still needs state permits to advance.


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