History & Mission

Adapted from “Mission Possible: A Locally Owned and Led Energy Transition in All 3,000 U.S. Counties,” the first of a four-part series published by CEDI executive director Andy Johnson and M.J. Smith, director of affiliate foundations, Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, at GivingCompass.org.

The Clean Energy District model originated with Winneshiek Energy District, in northeast Iowa in 2010, and the network now encompasses rural and urban counties across eastern Iowa. Today, the Clean Energy Districts (CED) are known as grassroots organizations championed by ordinary citizens, each passionate about energy efficiency planning, helping underserved neighbors save money, and/or committed to climate stewardship. Both red and blue-leaning volunteers who lead the 10 districts already created in Iowa have seen solar installation accelerate x 10, tens of millions dollars saved through energy planning, and hundreds of jobs created. They are the local implementers of the clean energy transition.

Clean Energy Districts are organized by county as nonprofits. They are the “last-mile” implementers of the clean energy transition, and as described in Geography of Change, a few key principles guide them:

• Local leadership exists everywhere. Energy Districts create independent, “universal-local” institutions led by citizens passionate for clean energy and driving change.
• Energy is complicated, and Energy Districts lead by doing. Quality technical assistance (energy planning) for energy users, paired with active market transformation, leads to adoption of energy efficiency, customer-owned solar, electrification, storage, and builds a flywheel of momentum.
• When Green Meets Green, communities unite and thrive. Locally-owned energy efficiency and renewables create jobs, retain wealth, and build energy prosperity (one Green), and simultaneously advance climate stewardship (another Green).
• Energy Districts are geographically and socio-economically inclusive, and universal replication is fully possible. We all do better when we all do better, and the clean energy future will happen of, by, and for the people.

Clean Energy Districts are modeled after a vital, rural movement from the first half of the 20th century – Soil and Water Conservation Districts. The 1930s brought the greatest of perfect storms to Middle America: The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Local conservation farming champions needed structure and resources, and federal agencies needed local partners to help put boots on the ground and unify communities.

Soil and Water Conservation Districts became the “universal local” solution in nearly every county in the country within a decade. This model from our past is a solution for our present, and it’s working.

In rural Winneshiek Energy District, more than $20 million has been invested in locally owned energy efficiency and renewable energy, with more than $35 million in wealth created and retained during project lifespans, along with more than 200 jobs. More than 1,000 low-income households have been provided free energy efficiency assessments, combustion safety testing, and lighting installation. The roughly 8 megawatts of locally owned, distributed solar represents nearly 400 watts/person, a level 10x higher than the rest of Iowa and much of the Midwest, and 3-4x the levels of distributed solar-leading states such as New York and Maryland.

Clearly, well-organized local leadership and institutions, providing quality technical assistance and market transformation, accelerates an inclusive locally-owned clean energy transition. The design of the CED model, with its grounding in a historical parallel, and the current growth of the CEDI network suggest the model’s broader implementation potential is qualified only by the obvious question of resources.