Former Coal Company Town Integrates Energy Efficiency and Solar

By Dan Radmacher Powering a coal museum with solar panels is the kind of news story that attracts attention, as the city of Benham, Ky., discovered. “It’s put us on the map internationally,” says former Benham Power Board chairman Roy Silver of the decision to install solar panels on top of the Kentucky Coal Museum,…

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In Tennessee, Powell Valley Electric Co-op members speak out

Bee keepers in Claiborne Co., Tenn.

Electric co-ops are governed by boards who are democratically elected, and therefore supposedly responsive to their customers, who are also co-owners of these utilities. The Powell Valley Electric Cooperative in east Tennessee has stirred grave concern with its herbicide spraying policy, and members are speaking out.

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Got 90 seconds? New video explains electric utility financing for residential energy efficiency

Contact: Rory McIlmoil, Appalachian Voices, Energy Savings Program Manager, 828-262-1500, rory@appvoices.org Cat McCue, Appalachian Voices, Director of Communications, 434-293-6373, cat@appvoices.org A video short released today aims to broadly publicize a rarely used model of financing for utilities to pay the upfront costs of residential energy efficiency improvements so customers can immediately benefit from healthier, more…

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