P2P Foundation

An important initiative related to the creation of an Energy Commons, i.e. the Solar Commons project:

“The Solar Commons is a plan to produce renewable energy in our public right of way and capture the common wealth it generates in a community trust dedicated to local social equity. Using principles of commons management, the Solar Commons is a powerful organizing tool for civic organizations to partner with government and investors to grow a commons sector of the green economy. Our demonstration project was named the 2009 Legacy Project of the US Green Building Council’s Greenbuild Convention. Explore our plans to design, finance, govern and build Solar Commons in urban right of way. The sun shines for everyone. The Solar Commons is an alternative business plan to help us move quickly, efficiently and equitably from large scale, fossil fuel-based energy production to local, distributed, green energy systems managed by communities for the public good.

Phoenix is the home of our first public trust-managed solar commons, a model for other communities to observe how the commons– a new (and indeed ancient) form of public space, public consciousness and public ownership can work in tandem with government and private sectors to help solve problems created by the over-industrialized urban life of the twentieth century. Once completed, the Phoenix pilot will be rendered as a blueprint for solar commons construction and management and be made available to all the earth’s citizens on this website. Our partner, On the Commons, joins us in hopes that, like the grain elevators that rose up one century ago along the railway lines joining small towns in a cooperative solution to our nation’s food crisis, solar commons will spring up along the light rail systems of Main Street USA offering an equitable and sustainable way out of some of our cities’ most urgent problems.”