Why Clean Energy Is Not Enough: John Farrell on Lessons from David Morris

Why Clean Energy Is Not Enough: John Farrell on Lessons from David Morris

From Building Local Power by Institute for Local Self-Reliance

July 24, 2025 · 27 min · Episode 1

About this episode

John Farrell discusses the importance of community ownership in clean energy systems, drawing lessons from David Morris's vision.

When ILSR co-founder David Morris published his pamphlet The Dawning of Solar Cells in 1975, nearly the only people using solar power were those in the Apollo program at NASA. Yet David saw decades into the future as he laid out a vision for community control and local ownership of a solar power system that was better for the climate and kept much more money in local economies than utility monopolies ever would. In many ways, says ILSR co-director and leader of the Energy Democracy Initiative, John Farrell, the world is still catching up with things David Morris wrote 50 years ago. John Farrell is this week's guest. To hear him tell it, one of the most important lessons he took from David Morris was that the idea of clean energy itself isn't enough. In addition to the climate, we must also think about who owns energy and the systems that provide it. If clean energy systems are owned and controlled by energy monopolies, communities still find themselves at the mercy of huge corporations. A true energy revolution will come not only from clean energy, but community-owned clean energy. That's the path to energy self-reliance. That's the path that David Morris charted decades ago, and…

People in this episode

Host: Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Guest: John Farrell

Topics covered

  • clean energy
  • community control
  • local ownership
  • energy monopolies
  • energy self-reliance
  • climate change

Keywords

  • clean energy
  • community ownership
  • David Morris
  • energy democracy
  • solar power
  • energy monopolies
  • local economies

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Books & works: The Dawning of Solar Cells

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