Group of Solar Commons Project Tiles related to infrastructure

The Solar Commons Community Trust Ownership Model links the gifts of the sun to clean electricity generation and market-priced solar savings on monthly electric bills. Then it creates an obligation that the host passes the electric bill savings on to the community trust fund, which translates market value into common wealth and distributes funds to beneficiaries based on community-based rules.

Community Trust Ownership Agreement Five Steps:

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

…funds 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?

Hands holding a sun disk from the Solar Commons mural in Tuscan

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.

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