Peer2Politics

“In Highland Park, Michigan (a city within the city of Detroit), having already cut funding for the fire department and other public services, tough economic times have caused even more severe cuts to public services. One of the most recent, and potentially the most public, occurred in the winter of 2011. In order to pay a $4 million debt to local utility company Detroit Edison, the city removed two-thirds of the community’s street lights. After 1300 of the city’s streetlights were physically removed, residents were asked to leave their porch lights on at night. In this small, urban community, a group of dedicated community members are applying off-grid solar technology and a simple crowdfunding model to light the streets of Highland Park.

“The minister for climate change Greg Baker recently said that crowdfunding could be an “incredibly powerful” way to deliver a “decentralised energy system, and help achieve the goal of turning the Big Six into the Big 60,000.” It may sound fanciful, with community-owned renewable schemes only existing in the UK on a very small scale. But in Germany, over 50% of renewable-energy capacity is community-owned. And online crowdfunding or peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, allowing individuals to lend or raise money for projects directly, could be set to kick-start community-ownership of renewable energy in the UK too.”