The Virtual Citizen Power Plant is a small army of like-minded neighbors in the Black Forest region of Germany who are leading the revolution of energy sharing.
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Growing Green Energy in the Backyard
Communities around the world are finding innovative ways to produce and distribute clean energy while maintaining tradition. Solar-powered spinning wheels and wind turbine farms are the result.
Finnish researchers have installed the world's first fully working "sand battery" which can store green power for months at a time. Can the technology be scaled up to really make a difference - and will the developers be able to use it to get electricity out as well as heat?
An ancient art gets a modern twist: Indian women are getting solar-powered spinning wheels. The project in the rural state of Uttar Pradesh followed a separate nationwide 2018 scheme, 'Mission Solar Charkha', with the aim of providing the wheels to create jobs for up to 100,000 people - from spinners to stitchers - in 50 areas or 'clusters' across India.
The Bronzeville Community Microgrid in Chicago combines rooftop solar, natural gas-fired generators and batteries to produce and store energy at a local level. Once fully operational, it will render the entire neighborhood “energy independent,” giving it the ability to disconnect from and reconnect to Chicago’s citywide grid at will.
Iowa has a lot of land, and a lot of wind. So farmers, energy companies — aided by federal tax credits — are joining up to "plant" wind turbines. The result is thousands of megawatts of green energy, reliable income streams to offset bad harvests, and substantial private sector profits.
