For my issue brief, I would like to discuss how rural America can benefit from switching to renewable energy. Many small towns, farms, and communities rely on outside sources for power and supplies. If these places could produce their own renewable power, they might be able to reallocate money to other urgent needs. This issue brief will be an intervention in the policy surrounding renewable energy because I will talk about what the situation is right now in rural America and what can and should be done at the local, state, and federal levels to improve the lives of rural Americans.

 

Right now, rural Americans, especially farmers and small business owners, are struggling to keep themselves afloat. I also recently read an article about how there are so few doctors and hospitals in rural Midwestern states that people can’t access the care they need. Bringing renewable energy to rural towns can help them save money by producing their own power, allowing people to keep their businesses or livelihoods going without worrying as much about paying their bills. In addition, renewable energy has come so far regarding technology and installation that it is more easily accessible. If communities across rural America start implementing renewable energy, this process can lead to a more country-wide rejection of fossil fuels and awareness of environmental health. I would like to tailor this issue guide to the audiences of rural communities, energy companies, and the government (at each level) to convince them that switching to renewable energy is highly beneficial.

 

The cause of this issue – the lack of renewable energy in rural America – is a actually a  combination of multiple causes. For example, President Trump’s intentional backing out of the Paris Accords and lack of focus on renewable energy has hurt rural communities (most of which are conservative) by demonstrating that clean energy is not as “important” and should not be seen as a necessary and beneficial step. There are also inadvertent causes at play here, such as the impact of markets on farms and small businesses, lack of awareness about the real costs of fossil fuels, conservative attitudes about clean energy within rural communities, and inaction relating to the financial struggles of small towns.

 

I will most likely recommend the first three policy instruments mentioned in the “Making Policy” reading: mandates, inducements, and capacity builders. I believe that mandates should be used by state governments to transfer the reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energy. If more rural states did this, energy companies would have to provide cleaner energy to smaller communities. Inducements can be in the form of incentives for customers of switching to renewable energy (like net metering and tax deductions). Incentives can also drive energy companies to want to provide renewable sources to small towns if mandates are not in place. Finally, I believe that a capacity builder policy in the form of an awareness campaign would prove beneficial in changing the opinions around energy. Rural communities need to know the impact of fossil fuels and the benefits of wind, solar, water, biofuels, and other renewable energies. Town hall meetings focused around renewable energy may also spread awareness through deliberative discussion.

 

Implementing renewable energy in rural communities will require a many-pronged approach, but I believe that it is a necessary process that will benefit America’s rural communities and create a chain reaction of cleaner energy throughout the nation.