Locavolts Unite
The world around us is changing quickly. Climate change, COVID-19, wildfires and protests in the streets. The failures of our institutions, governments and large corporations in ensuring our safety -- including reliable electricity so vital to modern life and public health -- are in jeopardy, especially here in California’s San Francisco Bay Area.
Yet there is also good news. More individuals and entire communities are implementing solutions to the challenge of clean, affordable and resilient energy right in our own backyards. Let’s call these pioneers “locavolts,” a play on the term “locavores” which refers to folks who prefer to eat from local organic and healthy sources. Locavolts generate their own electricity locally from clean and abundant and free resources such as the sun. Augmented with other technologies, such as batteries, to continue to have power when the larger utility grid goes down, these locavolts are transforming our centralized energy system one home and building at a time.
The term “locavolt” first appeared in an article I wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle in 2008. Entitled “Think Globally, But Power Up Locally” the article described the benefits of generating one’s power on site instead of being fully dependent upon the larger grid.
What we’ve learned after the past 3 years of wildfires and utility “public safety power shutoffs” (PSPS) is that these clean energy systems also go dark when the larger grid goes down – unless they are retrofitted with new technologies. The purpose of this Locavolt section is to share lessons learned, exchange information about qualified vendors and note the success stories throughout Marin, Sonoma and San Francisco counties – as well as around the world.
What exactly then is a locavolt? Here’s a proposed definition:
An individual or community building or community that generates as much of its own energy as possible from clean renewable energy with the capability of sustaining vital services when the larger grid that surrounds them goes down.
Locavolts may be totally independent, especially on remote rural areas, or they may remain connected to their neighbors via the existing grid. In either case, locavolts are popping up left and right. Take Marin County. A microgrid – the term used for an entity that can create its own island of power during a grid outage – has been operating at the Dance Palace community center in Point Reyes Station with solar and a battery bank for over a decade. Similar systems are in the planning and implementation stage in Stinson Beach, Bolinas, Tomales, Fairfax and Sausalito. Want to learn more? Check out the rest of this website – and take that big step forward toward becoming a locavolt!
In My Backyard
The initial focus of this Locavolt movement were key community institutions, such as community centers. Now fire stations and water districts and other local government sites are being explored. Yet with COVID-19, the ability to gather at common community hubs as occurred in 2019 with the first year of PSPS events may no longer be viable due to public health concerns. Therefore, the fresh focus of the next wave of locavolts are individuals themselves. What can you do in your own backyard or home?
