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Two Wednesdays ago we reported on the effort led by environmental activist Bill McKibben to ask Barack Obama to reinstall solar panels on the roof of the White House, like his predecessor Jimmy Carter did more than 30 years ago. Last week we followed up with the co-founder of Sungevity, the company that offered to install new panels on the White House roof. Today, part 3 in our 3-part weekly series on solar energy: Community Solar. For many homeowners installing solar panels on their roofs is a financially daunting prospect. For renters and those whose roofs are shady, there are even fewer options. Among those are so-called Community Solar projects. Such projects include groups of residents buying solar panels in bulk to get cheaper prices, or residents investing in solar panels on a neighborhood building and sharing the benefits. A new report issued this month by the Institute for Local Self Reliance examined nine community solar projects and found that most are unique to their particular situations. However, an common theme is that communities can overcome adversity and switch to renewable energy through creative solutions.

GUEST: John Farrell, Senior Researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Author of the report, Community Solar Power: Obstacles and Opportunities

Find out more at www.newrules.org.

Download the entire report here: http://www.newrules.org/sites/newrules.org/files/communitysolarpower.pdf