Overview
The Solar Commons Community Trust Ownership Model links the gifts of the sun to clean electricity generation and to market-priced solar savings on a host’s monthly electric bill. It then creates obligation so that the host passes the electric bill savings on to a community trust fund which translates market value to common wealth and distributes those funds to a beneficiary following rules created by the community.
The Solar Commons Model has five steps that organize the creation and local agreements for its community trust ownership:
Agreement
…among neighbors: How can we use our common wealth to repair our world and create local, regenerative livelihoods?
Gathering
…through solar panels: Who will partner with us to host our Solar Commons array and take on the obligation to pass the solar-generated savings on their electric meter on to our community trust?
Electricity
…as market priced value: How much money will the market-priced electricity bring over time to our trust?
Trust
…$ converted to local common wealth value: How should we transparently and flexibly manage our common wealth?
Community
…built from common wealth: How can we celebrate and protect our community’s common wealth work over
With its guiding principles and the ancient but simple structures of trust ownership, the Solar Commons Model offers a new way to gather and equitably share the sun’s common wealth as human societies face the urgent tasks of creating a just energy transition and rebuilding local, equitable livelihoods.