Take Columbia off the grid

In thinking about a "new" Columbia, and how to design and define it, we have to move beyond the argument of "Jim Rouse's vision vs. contemporary preferences".  The fact of the matter is, the defining paradigm under which Columbia was founded, was that something like Columbia had seldom, if ever, been tried at the time.  That is, a community that was welcoming of individuals and families of all ethnicities, domestic situations, ages, and income levels. 

What Columbia did in the early and mid-60s was take the social orthodoxy of society at the time head-on.  And people paid attention.  And they came.  And now, 41 years later, they are 100,000 strong.  And Columbia proved that the type of community that was said wasn't possible, was possible.  And so it must be again.

Therefore, I feel the Columbia, for the next 40 years and beyond, to be able to continue to be a place in our nation-- indeed, our planet-- that defines society, it must take on as a new challenge, the social orthodoxy of the time.  However, this orthodoxy is not just a social one, but an economic one as well.  It is the orthodoxy of energy use and its relationship to climate change.

I ask, therefore, that Columbia become an Energy Independent Community (EIC), and that it do so within the next ten years.

For those who wish to read more about Energy Independent Communities, more information is at http://www.iere.org/index.html

Columbia is a very appropriate place for the concept of an EIC to take root on the east coast.  As alluded to above, Columbia was developed to be a place of creative, idealistic, futuristic thinking.  The concept of becoming an EIC should take root and grow here.  The proximity of Columbia to our nation's capital makes re-creating Columbia as an EIC a strong statement to Federal leaders regarding the issue of climate change and the need to halt it's catastrophic effects on our planet.  Columbia is a compact, densely populated environment and so it would be easy to apply EIC principles to it.  Last, Columbia is currently starting a process of examining its redevelopment and retooling.  This makes it a great time to consider  such a concept, as taking Columbia off the grid completely.

Minutes after sending this post, I will be sending this post as an e-mail to local leaders.  I will be following upon this e-mail, and this topic, and  I will be  making the self-sufficiency of energy in Columbia  a personal priority.

Comments

[Drew]

Let us know what we can do to help!

[Freemarket]

Can you give us the executive summary of being an EIC? I followed the link and I had to dig around for anything about what consitutes an EIC. Finally, I found a 100+ document about it, but heck if I have time for that. I am interested, but not enough to do a whole bunch of digging around for myself at this point.

[Young at Heart]

What would it realistically take for this to happen? Would each home have to be retrofitted in some way? Could this really be done in an established community nearing the half-century mark with tens of thousands of private owners? Isn't this more practical in communities that are currently being built? I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, I just really want to know.

[Marshmallow Man]

Hi,

For those looking for more information in overview form, try here:

http://www.iere.org/documents/EnergyIndependentCommunities.pdf

[Freemarket]

Thanks. EIC is kind of a misnomer, because we would still be reliant on gasoline for cars. Anyway, what mix of alternative energy sources is available to us, and what is the cost to implement those? The cost must be astronomical, don't you think?