 |
The Energy OptimistAuthor: The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC)
Welcome to The Energy Optimist, a monthly podcast brought to you by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Each episode, we tackle a thorny energy policy challenge in bite-sized interviews with leading experts. We start with the bad news and end with what increasingly feels like a radical idea: that there are reasons for optimism. If you're new to how we regulate the energy system, we'll demystify it for you. If you're a seasoned practitioner, we'll hopefully leave you with renewed optimism to keep doing the work to improve our energy system. Language: en Genres: Science, Social Sciences, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
Listen Now...
Episode 08: In Our Lifetime: Tribal Energy Sovereignty and Equity
Episode 8
Wednesday, 19 February, 2025
Clean energy projects offer a crucial path for Native American tribes to achieve energy sovereignty (control over their energy resources) and address a long history of energy inequity. Energy inequity for Tribes takes a variety of forms including higher utility rates, older grid infrastructure, more frequent outages, and, still today, 14% of Native Americans living on tribal lands lacking electricity altogether. Our guest, Chéri Smith, is the founder, President, and CEO of the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, which supports the self-determined efforts of Tribes to develop clean energy. Chéri joins us in conversation about the energy inequities facing Native American communities and systemic barriers that currently impede Tribal development and ownership of clean energy projects. These include access to federal funding, interconnection process requirements that create undue burdens for Tribes, and more. Chéri shares how the Alliance is addressing these challenges by helping Tribes develop clean energy projects that can enable them to participate in wholesale energy markets (earn revenue), lower energy costs, and achieve energy resilience and sovereignty. For show notes and transcript, visit: https://irecusa.org/blog/energy-optimist-podcast/the-energy-optimist-episode-8-in-our-lifetime-tribal-energy-sovereignty-and-equity/
