ABSTRACT

Many communities fail to meet their conventional energy reduction/climate change goals (Bailey, 2007) because they focus on short-term, incremental approaches instead of tackling the more challenging task of guiding the deeper transition to a ‘renewable energy community’. As a result, even in many of the most engaged communities, growth in energy use is increasing at a faster rate than their savings in energy. Closing this ‘planning gap’ soon through greater use of renewable energy is critically important to move to significantly more energy efficient communities that are on target to meet climate change goals, and imperative for those leading edge communities with the goal of meeting all their direct energy needs. 1