Renewable energy for schools
haver...@gmail.com
After reading about how high tech companies used open source or crowdsource networking through GitHub or its equivalents to tap into the “group mind” to provide creative input into software programs, etc. in order to rapidly improve “the product”, I’ve been thinking about whether this same approach is being used, or could be used, in the social/political change arena to get many minds working to enhance ideas and proposals and move more effectively towards implementation.
As an example, some years ago I had the idea that government should support a program to put “solar on schools” (or other forms of renewable energy and energy conservation measures). The introduction to the proposal was this:
“Schools are the embodiment of hope for a better future. What better place to show a national commitment to address one of the defining and most critical issues of our time: climate change, with its profound implications for the future and the environment, while improving one of the foundations of our society, the education system.
Let us make a commitment to the use of renewable energy and energy conservation measures in our schools. We went to the moon in ten years. In that same length of time – one decade – we can provide every public school in the United States with the opportunity to switch to renewable energy as their primary source for electricity and implement energy conservation measures.“
The basic proposal was that the federal government would provide a matching grant/loan program to schools using an annual appropriation for each of ten years to fund energy conservation measures and installation of photovoltaic or other renewable energy systems, with a non-federal match to be provided by any combination of funds from individual schools or school districts; local or state government; foundation, non-profit organization, or other private funds; and utility sponsored programs. The data I had to support the proposal was limited, taken from web-searches and my experience with installing a PV system on my roof; and when it came to how to get the proposal implemented, all I could think of was sending copies of it to Congress, the White House, the PTA, teachers’ organizations, and some solar non-profit organizations. I received not a single response.