Energy plays an essential and pervasive role in sustaining our modern economy and
lifestyles. Economic growth, national debt, climate change, water and air quality,
food security, foreign policy, and the equitable distribution of the earth’s bounty
are all influenced by how we produce and consume energy in the U.S. Climate change
debates, in particular, are reshaping the tensions between environmental, economic,
equity, and energy policy.
Opportunities for rural America include economic development based on renewable
energy. Most renewable energy development is land and natural resource intensive,
and thus points to rural America as an energy producer and exporter. With the right
planning and policies in place, rural communities could emerge as thriving producers
of biomass energy where agricultural land predominates, and of wind energy atop
the hills, hydropower throughout the valleys, and solar across the plains and deserts.
At the state and community level, multiple approaches to energy conservation, renewable
energy production, and new forms of fossil fuel extraction are already being implemented
and debated. This transition suggests a need for applied research, outreach, partnership
building, policy analysis, and community leadership training.
OUR WORK
By: Adam Blair, David Kay, and Rod Howe (Community and Regional Development Institute,
Cornell University)
RUPRI Rural Futures Lab Foundation Paper No. 2, June 2011
This Foundation Paper promotes energy literacy while connecting the dots between
U.S. energy policy and rural America. It explores what research tells us about the
benefits and drawbacks of the current energy system and renewable energy. Throughout
the document, it suggests possible impacts on and opportunities for rural America.