Decentralized control over energy is also important for very practical reasons. There are plenty of examples of large-scale, privately owned renewable energy projects that fell apart because they were imposed from the outside without local input or profit sharing. Indeed, when communities are excluded in this way, there is a very good chance that they will rebel against the noise and “unsightliness” of wind turbines, or the threats—some real, some imagined—to wildlife and ecosystems posed by solar arrays. These objections are often dismissed as NIMBY-ism (Not in My Backyard) and are used as
...more
