Anonymous, "Is there an energy co-op in your area? (Cumulative 42/48)", contributed by Andrew Rosenthal, Briana Leone, Alison Kenner, Morgan Sarao and James Adams, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 26 July 2023, accessed 4 May 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/there-energy-co-op-your-area-cumulative-4248
Critical Commentary
This chart reflects responses to Question #48 from the Spring and Winter 2020 surveys and Question #42 from the Spring 2021 survey which asks “Is there an energy co-op in your area? *According to definitions in Energy Democracy (Fairchild & Weinrub, 2017), “energy co-ops are organizations where buying power in the energy market is self-organized by individuals and smaller businesses combining their purchasing powers” - I.e. Energy co-ops are community-owned.* The available options were
Yes, there is an energy co-op in my area; I am a member.
Yes, there is an energy co-op in my area; I am not a member.
No, there is not an energy co-op in my area.
I don’t know what an energy co-op is; I don’t think there is an energy co-op in my area.
I don’t know; this is the first time I am hearing about energy co-ops.
I know what energy coops are; I don’t know of any in my area.
Two hundred and thirty-one answered this question, respondents could choose multiple options.
124 respondents (53.7%) answered that they did not know and this was the first time they had heard of energy co-ops.
Sixty respondents (26%) answered “I don’t know and I don’t think so.”
Twenty-four respondents (10.4%) answered “yes, I am not a member.”
Twenty-six respondents (11.3%) reported “I know what they are, I do not know of any in my area.”
Nineteen respondents (8.2%) responded “No.”
Four respondents (17.3%) answered “Yes, I am a member.”
The data was produced by the Shifting Energy Demands in COVID-19 Survey, which has been administered to 234 people over two time periods. The Spring 2020 survey was administered to 86 people between May and June, and the Winter 2020 survey was administered to 83 people between December 2020 and March 2021 The Spring 2021 survey was administered to 65 people between March 2021 and June 2021. Visit the Shifting Energy Demands in COVID-19 - Spring + Winter 2020 Survey Results page to view more data from our survey. The project is approved by Drexel’s IRB.