Green Neighbor: A community for home energy advocates and enthusiasts
An introduction. A grounding. A call to adventure!
Neighbors are defined by their relationships to others. Green Neighbors are ordinary people who believe in the extraordinary power of collective energy action. Green Neighbors take seriously their social responsibility for any pollution they can prevent. Green Neighbors hold utilities and regulators accountable, while engaging and educating friends, family, coworkers, and even neighbors about their power to make meaningful change in their homes and communities.
A home is a powerful place to make change. Our homes are where we live and where we invite others into our lives. Homes are where we spend most of our time and consume most of our energy. Every grid-connected home is a part of the grid. This means every outlet and appliance we use in our home is also a part of the grid. When we change how we consume energy — we change the grid. This is power.
Efficiency keeps our energy from going to waste.
Electrification replaces fossil fuels with electricity we can get from green sources.
Generation allows us to produce our own energy.
Storage allows us to move energy through time.
What is this about?
This is a community of practice for Green Neighbors. What are the largest uses of energy in my home? What are my biggest levers for change? Where should I begin? How much will it cost? How much can I save? What is a heat pump or induction stove? How can I leverage federal, state, and local incentives? Does my utility have programs I should look into? How do they all interact? How can I find a good contractor? How can I engage my community? We’ll explore all these questions, and more. This is a space to share our successes and setbacks. The goal is to learn from one another.
“Praxis is the action and reflection of people upon their world in order to transform it.”
-Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Who is behind this?
My name is Andrew Butts. I am the founder of Green Neighbor Challenge. I will be your guide. I am a system-thinker, tinkerer, educator, and misfit. I grew up in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin downwind from the state’s largest coal fired power plant. I’m an asthmatic, a renter, and a first-generation college graduate. Knowledge is power, and I believe good information in the hands of ordinary people is essential to a functioning democracy. I reject technocracy and embrace community agency.
I am a member of Science for the People, the RE-AMP Network, Wisconsin Climate Table, and WI Climate Action Navigators. I also coordinate a working group of Midwest energy advocates who help residents navigate their home energy transition.
I want to help you take energy action because we all breathe the same air.
Why should I join?
Over the last century, we’ve all been alienated from choice over the most essential building block of life: energy. The antidote to energy alienation, as far as I can tell, is energy democracy. Energy systems built by and for the communities they serve. But while its easy to agree what energy means, it’s harder to agree on what “democracy” means. I’ll spare you a singular definition, but I know something’s not a democracy if it doesn’t involve meaningful relationships and meaningful choice.
To rebuild energy democracy, we must rebuild our meaningful relationships to energy and each other while expanding access to meaningful choices in the energy system. This is our intergenerational call-to-adventure. And we cannot do it alone. Together, we can build a better present, and leave behind a brighter future. Will you join us?
The theoretical perspective of worldmaking and the concrete task of climate justice both force us to contend with the immense scale of injustice and thus the immense scale of the struggle for justice. It may well be outside of any generation’s ability to win outright. But if we choose to relate to the world as ancestors, we can prevent this realization from overwhelming us into political paralysis. Many of the things that we do every day link us with countless people who have come before us and—if we succeed at preventing the worst climate outcomes—countless people who will come after us. We can do the spiritual work to act from this knowledge and faith right now. The world depends on it.”
-Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Reconsidering Reparations
What comes next?
Educational newsletters every 1-2 weeks covering a range of home energy topics, including:
How to plan your home energy transition
How to access home energy incentives at federal, state, and local levels
What to consider when you’re electrifying specific appliances
What to know when you’re working with a contractor?
Upcoming home energy webinars and online Q&A’s for residents
How utilities, policies, and regulators shape our energy choices
Responses to this community’s questions and concerns!
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How can I participate?
Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and publication archives.
Comment on posts! Ask questions! Share your experiences!
Invite friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors to join the community.
Use GreenNeighborChallenge.org to find your energy programs and incentives!
Directly support this community with a small monthly donation.
Wear Green Neighbor gear out in your community.
Looking forward to some energy news and stories amidst my baseball Substack news and stories. :)