Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Fwd: Anyone cohousing communities out there using (or considering) a Community Microgrid?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Apr 16, 2025, at 10:37 PM, Jean Foster <jean.l.foster [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> I live at Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farms in NH and we are beginning to 
> explore what it would take to get us to Net Zero. Considering the state of 
> our world, becoming energy self-sufficient is looking more attractive every 
> day:( 

My favorite story on this comes  from an indigeonous cohousing community in the 
UK. This is the NYTimes story but there are many other articles available on 
the web now. Google "Ashton Hayes."

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/22/science/english-village-becomes-climate-leader-by-quietly-cleaning-up-its-own-patch.html

My favorite points in this story:

1. A village decided as a village to to do whatever it could to become Net 
Zero. 
2. They refused to use grants or government funds.
3. They consulted with scientists at the local college and set up a scientific 
measurement process to determine what worked and what didn’t, and documented 
the process.
3. While the village adoped this as a village project, no one was coerced to 
participate or penalized for not doing so. Gradually, they all participated in 
one way or another, voluntarily.

The NYTimes article explains where they started, what worked best, how long it 
took, etc. It is an excellent example of community action without having 
started as an ecovillage or cohousing community.

The most frequent question I’ve received about this is “Why did they refuse 
grants and government funds?”

Because it would give external control over the project and divert focus. 
Grants and other kinds of funding come with expectations — energy is diverted 
to arguing with an external source. Being entirely self-managed they were free 
to do what worked best for them and looked to each other for solutions, not to 
the state or a foundation. They retained all the power and avoided distracting 
requirements and paperwork — they preserved community autonomy. They were 
responsible only to themselves.

In 2016, they were one of the first typical urban areas to clean up "their own 
patch."

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org