A new campaign for renewables in the US focuses on something too often overlooked in the debate there: community ownership. Craig Morris is pleased to see the campaign’s work, but he nonetheless has some things to critique. As my regular readers know, labor unions in Germany are a main driver of the Energiewende, and close ties between labor and nuclear in France are one reason why the French are not transitioning faster. Now, a labor study from the US has launched campaign complete with a video, a study and a website. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccey48qQAPc[/youtube] The Global Labor Institute at Cornell University put together the study with a title I love: “Resist, Reclaim, Restructure: Unions and the Struggle for Energy Democracy” (PDF). The authors state outright that “an energy transition is not happening”; coal remains king in the US, and oil is not dying down as explorations expand into increasingly desperate territory (such as tar sands and shale gas). But the paper goes further – renewables alone are not enough: “energy democracy is needed.” It’s not just about … Continue reading US labor unions call for energy democracy