{"id":6490,"date":"2017-10-19T11:12:47","date_gmt":"2017-10-19T18:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=6490"},"modified":"2017-10-19T11:12:47","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T18:12:47","slug":"will-public-banking-bring-clean-energy-programs-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2017\/10\/19\/will-public-banking-bring-clean-energy-programs-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Public Banking Bring More Clean Energy Programs to California?"},"content":{"rendered":"<header>\n<h1><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"font-size: 12px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shareable.net\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/blog-header-large\/public\/blog\/top-image\/josh-bean-348474.jpg?itok=WISwxstQ\" alt=\"\" \/><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n<footer class=\"node__submitted\">\n<div class=\"user-picture\"><a title=\"View user profile.\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shareable.net\/users\/nithin-coca\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Nithin Coca's picture\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shareable.net\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/thumbnail\/public\/profiles\/images\/picture-38254-1474590893.jpg?itok=Cv53hhQT\" alt=\"Nithin Coca's picture\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"news-author\">By\u00a0<a class=\"username\" title=\"View user profile.\" xml:lang=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shareable.net\/users\/nithin-coca\">Nithin Coca<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"news-date moment-processed\">September 28, 2017 (shareable.net)<\/p>\n<\/footer>\n<div class=\"node__content\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden youtube-processed\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\">At a recent forum at Oakland City Hall, experts\u00a0from the public banking and community energy sectors explored how the creation of a public bank could help communities transition to clean energy while creating economic opportunities.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;We need to build a more sustainable world, we need to be using energy that is positive for the environment and community, and we need to do it a way that support local jobs,&#8221;\u00a0says Oakland City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan who is leading the public bank creation efforts.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The forum took place in Oakland, California,\u00a0just days after the approval of a resolution to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ebcitizen.com\/2017\/09\/oaklands-public-bank-feasibility-study.html\">fund a feasibility study<\/a>by the City Council, with support from neighboring cities.\u00a0The first and only public bank in the U.S.\u00a0is the Bank of North Dakota.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;A public bank can really create community wealth in ways other institutions are not capable off,&#8221;\u00a0said Gregory Rosen, the founder of High Noon Advisors, a local consulting firm with experience in clean energy investing. &#8220;It can help people of different backgrounds and income levels come together, for the good of the community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">A representative from Germany&#8217;s\u00a0public banking sector, Wolfram Morales, explained how public banks played a central role in the country&#8217;s energy sector. Germany&#8217;s energy transition from centralized fossil fuel energy to diverse renewables has been successful and gets between 38-41 percent of its electricity from renewable resources, according to figures provided by the East German Savings Bank Association. &#8220;The government says about us, that the Sparkassen finance group is one of the largest financiers of the energy transition,&#8221; said Morales, who is the head of the Office of the Executive President at Sparkasse, an association of public banks in Germany.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In 2016, 73 percent of investment in renewable energy \u2014 a total of 10.3 billion euros \u2014 came from Germany public bank sector, which offers far lower interest rates and has specific programs for lending to projects focused on environment, energy, and efficiency, according to Morales. Germany\u2019s energy transition would not have been possible without investments from public banks.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The panelists at the forum said they see an opportunity for a regional public bank to work alongside new Community Choice Energy programs, which are already common in California, with entities like\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2017\/02\/24\/community-choice-energy-coming-to-silicon-valley-in-april\/\">Silicon Valley Clean Energy<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.lancasterchoiceenergy.com\/\">Lancaster Choice Energy<\/a>\u00a0providing customers with an alternative to the investor-owned utilities like Pacific Gas &amp; Electric (PG&amp;E) that currently control much of the state&#8217;s electricity generation and distribution market.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Community Choice Energy aggregators allows cities and counties in California to group individual customers&#8217;\u00a0purchasing power within a defined jurisdiction to buy energy. They provide a locally-run, democratic alternative to investor-owned utilities.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;When we pay PG&amp;E for our electricity, that money is out the door, to investors \u2026 when you pay to community energy, that money circulates locally,&#8221;\u00a0said Jessica Tovar, an organizer with the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.localcleanenergy.org\/\">Local Clean Energy Alliance of the Bay Area<\/a>. &#8220;We want to see that money in our community and people who eat, pray, and play here benefit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Community Choice Aggregators provide more renewable energy options to customers at a similar price point, while also allowing for the creation of community-tailored energy procurement options, according to a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/innovation.luskin.ucla.edu\/content\/promises-and-challenges-community-choice-aggregation-california\">University of California, Los Angeles<\/a>, report.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Community Choice is coming to the the Bay Area.\u00a0East Bay Community Energy aims to launch next year, and provide many Alameda County customers with a fully 100 percent renewable energy option.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;Community Energy is an opportunity for us to help promote cleaner energy locally for all ratepayers throughout the country, and it&#8217;s\u00a0happening not just in Alameda County, but throughout the state,&#8221;\u00a0said Dan Kalb, an Oakland City Councilmember and Vice Chair of East Bay Community Energy Joint Powers Authority.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Together, a public bank and the East Bay Community Energy could show a new way forward towards a more democratic, sustainable, and local energy future for communities across California.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Header image by\u00a0Photo by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/Gecsh_1GOz4?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Josh Bean<\/a>\u00a0via\u00a0Uns<\/em><em>plash<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Nithin Coca September 28, 2017 (shareable.net) At a recent forum at Oakland City Hall, experts\u00a0from the public banking and community energy sectors explored how the creation of a public bank could help communities transition to clean energy while creating economic opportunities. &#8220;We need to build a more sustainable world, we&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2017\/10\/19\/will-public-banking-bring-clean-energy-programs-california\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6490"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6491,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6490\/revisions\/6491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}