Our Methodology
Solar Stewards utilizes sociotechnical frameworks for the advancement of equitable systems
What are Social Renewable Energy Credits?
Social RECs™ connect corporate renewable energy procurement with historically excluded communities.
Renewable Energy Credits or Certificates, create the pathway for individuals and organizations to green their power. Since the late 1990s, RECs have transformed markets for renewable energy by allowing renewable energy generators to connect with clean energy buyers, regardless of where the energy is generated or used.
Social Renewable Energy Credits, or Social RECs™, take this one step further by creating the opportunity for purchasers of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to procure renewable energy from sites that provide tangible community benefit.
Solar Stewards engages, recruits, and aggregates these sites into portfolios of scale to attract Social REC buyers, our Climate Stewards, who value both environmental and social benefits within their business and climate strategy.
Localized action for equity
Think Globally. Act Locally.
Solar Stewards recognizes the value of localized climate action. Our methodology focuses on renewable energy that directly serves those most vulnerable and historically excluded.
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Solar Stewards focuses on the worlds most vulnerable and under-resourced populations. The renewable energy transition provides an unprecedented opportunity for equity and restorative justice.
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Many communities around the globe have endured economic exclusion, and are now disproportionately effected by climate change. Social RECs begin to bridge the gap, helping to outfit historically excluded communities with the benefits of renewable energy.
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Fortunately, Solar Stewards joins a multitude of organizations and entities all doing their part in ushering an equitable energy transition.
With Social RECs, corporates can target which mission resonates best with their brand, to include and support equitable renewable energy adoption as part of of a wholistic climate action strategy.
People
Focused on the worlds most vulnerable and under-resourced populations
Energy Burdened
Energy burden is defined as the percentage of gross household income spent on energy costs. According to DOE's Low-Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) Tool the national average energy burden for low-income households is 8.6%, three times higher than for non-low-income households which is estimated at 3%
Women and Girls
UN Sustainable Development Goals
The Gender Snapshot 2021 presents the latest evidence on gender equality across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting the progress made since 2015 but also the continued alarm over the COVID-19 pandemic, its immediate effect on women’s well-being and the threat it poses to future generations.
Low and Moderate Income (LMI)
The term low- and moderate-income refers to communities that in certain geographies that have income levels that fall between certain ranges, as determined by the Census Bureau. A low-income community means there is a median family income of less than 50 percent of the area median income. A moderate-income community means that the median family income is at least 50 percent and less than 80 percent of the area median income.
Seniors
Climate Change and the Health of Older Adults
Climate change will increase extreme heat events and lead to higher temperatures throughout the year. Extreme heat exposure can increase the risk of illness and death among older adults, especially people with congestive heart failure, diabetes, and other chronic health conditions that increase sensitivity to heat.
Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)
Equitable Solar Policy Principles
Studies have shown that communities of color bear higher levels of exposure to pollution from fossil fuel-based energy production. Communities of color and low-income communities are subject to poor health outcomes, compromised education, loss of livelihoods, and loss of life as a result of exposure to toxins and the ravages of climate change. The 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race presents an opportunity for future exploration and incorporation into policy development.
Students
Students take their future into their own hands on climate change activism
Climate Change Resources for Educators and Students
Students should be fully informed of climate issues, particular those that directly impact them. What good is a curriculum if it’s not relevant? As adults drop the ball, as politicians erode environmental protections, and signs of climate change are too evident to deny, students are forced to speak out against practices that directly impact their environment and contribute to the mounting climate crisis.
- The Hechinger Report
Immigrants and Refuges
UNHCR - Climate change and disaster displacement
Refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs) and the stateless are on the frontlines of the climate emergency. Many are living in climate “hotspots”, where they typically lack the resources to adapt to an increasingly hostile environment.
LQBTQ+
GLAAD - there is no planet b: why climate change is an lgbtq issue
“LGBTQ people are already on the margins of society and that marginalization doubles when we look at queer youth. In shelters, LGBTQ people often face danger, which pushes them more to the streets; meanwhile, LGBTQ-specific homeless shelters often don’t receive enough funding to fully support their population. Making a change isn’t optional—it’s a necessity. In order to protect our community from the disastrous effects of climate change, we need to do more. We can’t just stop using plastic straws and recycling. When just 90 corporations are responsible for 66% of carbon emissions, we need to demand more from our governments and from ourselves.” - Noah Goodwin
Children and Youth
Approximately 1 billion children are at an 'extremely high risk' of the impacts of the climate crisis.
In many parts of the world, people are facing multiple climate-related impacts such as severe drought and flooding, air pollution and water scarcity, leaving their children vulnerable to malnutrition and disease. Almost every child on earth is exposed to at least one of these climate and environmental hazards. Without urgent action, this number will go up.
Incarcerated and Re-Entry
Climate Change and Mass Incarceration
Some 2.2 million inmates are currently incarcerated in approximately 1800 facilities across the U.S., overseen by nearly half a million correctional employees. Extreme heat, the most common cause of weather-related death in the U.S., is becoming an increasingly dangerous problem during summer months in facilities that often lack air conditioning and proper ventilation, especially in southern states like Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. As inmate populations suffer disproportionately from health problems that make them more vulnerable to heat, related illnesses have claimed the lives of numerous inmates in recent years. Higher temperatures and other impacts of climate change will increase such risks.
Veterans
Solar Ready Vets® Pilot Program
Veterans account for about 8% to 11% of the approximately 9.2 million jobs in the U.S. energy sector, while they make up 6% of the U.S. workforce overall, according to the Energy & Employment Report. Veterans account for 9% of jobs in solar photovoltaic, 8% in natural gas and 7% in coal, the report says.
Special Needs
Solar Energy and Loan Fund (SELF)
SELF is an independent, non-profit, community-based lending organization focused on financing home renovations that promote energy efficiency, storm protection, water conservation and disability products.
SELF has developed special low-cost financing programs for disabled homeowners through its Home Adaptation Loan Options (“HALO”) program.
Energy Communities
Newly designated in 2022, an energy community is a redeveloped site or location that has experienced significant fossil fuel extraction and contamination. While also considered synonymous with brownfields, reinvesting in these areas can ensure that projects are eligible for a 10% tax credit in accordance with the Inflation Reduction Act. Investments with respect to a qualified facility or energy storage technology within an energy community can also help to create local jobs, improve the safety of communities, increase area property values, and conserve undeveloped land.
Communities
Together we can ensure ALL communities can benefit directly from renewable energy
Coal Communities
Economic Development Administration
Coal communities include those outlined by the Interagency Working Group report as well as communities and regions that can reasonably demonstrate how changes in the coal economy have resulted or are anticipated to result in job losses and layoffs in any coal-reliant commercial sector (e.g., coal mining, coal-fired power plants).
Distressed City
The Distressed Cities and Persistent Poverty Technical Assistance (DCTA)
The Distressed Cities and Persistent Poverty Technical Assistance (DCTA) program is designed to build capacity of local governments experiencing economic distress and assist local governments and their nonprofit partners in alleviating persistent poverty in specific areas (census tracts). Through DCTA, HUD provides technical assistance (TA) directly to entities serving smaller communities with populations under 50,000.
Brownfield
Overview of EPA's Brownfields Program
A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment.
Persistent Poverty County
USDA - Economic Research Service
Persistent poverty counties are counties that have had poverty rates of 20% or greater for at least 30 years. The county poverty rates for 1999 and previous years are measured using decennial census data.
Historically Redlined
Mapping Inequality - Redlining in New Deal America
In the United States, redlining is a discriminatory practice in which services (financial and otherwise) are withheld from potential customers who reside in neighborhoods classified as 'hazardous' to investment; these residents largely belong to racial and ethnic minorities. While the most well-known examples involve denial of credit and insurance, denial of healthcare and the development of food deserts in minority neighborhoods have also been attributed to redlining in many instances. In the case of retail businesses like supermarkets, the purposeful construction of stores impractically far away from targeted residents results in a redlining effect.
Island and Coastal Communities
United Nations as Small Island Developing States, or SIDS
Because of their low-lying ocean-fronted borders, relatively small land masses, and exposure to extreme weather and climate variability, island nations are especially vulnerable to the effects of global warming and climate change. As sea levels continue to rise, island peoples and their cultures are being threatened. There are small and low populated islands without adequate resources to protect the island and its human and natural resources. With the risks to human health, livelihoods, and physical space in which to live, the pressure to leave the island is often barred by the inability to access the resources needed to relocate.
Endangered Species
Americans shouldn’t have to choose between reducing our greenhouse gas pollution and protecting our rich wildlife legacy from energy development. We can, and must, do both. Defenders of Wildlife is excited to be working with our conservation partners in leading the effort to encourage wildlife-friendly renewable energy development.
Least Developed Country (LDC)
The least developed countries (LDCs) are a list of developing countries that, according to the United Nations, exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, with the lowest Human Development Index ratings of all countries in the world. The concept of LDCs originated in the late 1960s and the first group of LDCs was listed by the UN in its resolution 2768 (XXVI) of 18 November 1971.
National Historic Register
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources.
Opportunity Zone
Opportunity Zones are an economic development tool that allows people to invest in distressed areas in the United States. Their purpose is to spur economic growth and job creation in low-income communities while providing tax benefits to investors. Opportunity Zones were created under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Thousands of low-income communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories are designated as Qualified Opportunity Zones.
Heat Island
National Integrated Heat Health Information System
NIHHIS is an integrated system that builds understanding of the problem of extreme heat, defines demand for climate services that enhance societal resilience, develops science-based products and services from a sustained climate science research program, and improves capacity, communication, and societal understanding of the problem in order to reduce morbidity and mortality due to extreme heat. NIHHIS is a jointly developed system by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Air Quality
The Most Detailed Map of Cancer-Causing Industrial Air Pollution in the U.S.
The EPA’s threshold for an acceptable level of cancer risk is 1 in 10,000, meaning that of 10,000 people living in an area, there would likely be one additional case of cancer over a lifetime of exposure. But the agency has also said that ideally, Americans’ added level of cancer risk from air pollution should be far lower, 1 in a million.
Mission
Solar Stewards provides the opportunity to include a social mission within a climate action strategy
Universities and Colleges
On-campus solar energy systems help America’s colleges and universities to shift to 100 percent clean, renewable energy. Campuses across the U.S. are installing solar energy to save money, provide learning opportunities for students, and achieve their climate goals.
Research: Colleges are researching and prototyping the next generation of solar cells. For instance, at Penn State researchers use inexpensive optics to concentrate sunlight onto super-efficient next generation solar cells. Students can help with these research activities.
Vocational Training: Engineering programs can provide students with pre-professional learning opportunities in design, production and oversight of on-campus solar farms.
Proximity to Energy Demand: Colleges can install solar energy on rooftops, in parking lots and on marginal land, close to where energy is used.
Places of Worship
Faith groups have long espoused justice-driven values and mandates. But in step with rising concern over climate change, increasingly, religious missions not only entail addressing social and economic inequality, but also environmental injustice.
In many cases, churches, temples and mosques are taking an obvious first step: addressing their own emissions by subscribing to a nearby solar garden, or installing panels on their own roofs.
Libraries and Museums
Carter Library And Museum Unveils New Solar Energy System
Libraries and museums present a unique opportunity to showcase a commitment to climate action, educate and advocate for renewable power, experience greater resiliency, and enjoy the cost savings of renewable applications
Primary and k-12 Schools
Education is a crucial component of climate change mitigation and adaptation. Increasing environmental awareness and education on the climate crisis can contribute to the effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and in adapting to a changing climate in both the short- and long-term.
Affordable and Workforce Housing
Affordable multifamily housing providers need supportive policies and programs to help them integrate energy efficiency and solar resources. For example, building owners often rely on incentives to make investments that will reduce their energy costs. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) offers lower mortgage insurance premiums for green energy-efficient housing, and some state housing finance agencies (HFAs) incentivize or require that projects pursuing Low-Income Housing Tax Credits reduce a building’s energy use.
Agriculture and Food Access
How “Agrivoltaics” Can Provide More Benefits Than Agriculture And Solar Photovoltaics Separately
An emerging strategy known as agrivoltaics combines solar electricity generation with agricultural production in the same location. More and more research is evaluating agrivoltaics for its potential to enhance land-use efficiency, climate solutions, sustainable food, and local economies. Different agrivoltaic configurations—such as combining PV with croplands, pastures, or pollinator habitats—may contribute to achieving sustainable energy and food goals simultaneously, while possibly reducing local opposition to PV deployment.
Non-Profits and NGOs
National data on the social, environmental, and physical determinants of health show that a lack of equity causes people of color grievous harm. Distinguished researchers pinpoint parallels in the lack of racial diversity in Big Green environmental and conservation nonprofits, and the underrepresentation of people of color on boards and in the leadership. People of different identities, cultures, faiths, ages, and abilities also grapple with inequities.
Similar to government, business, and the rest of the nonprofit sector, but perhaps with even greater intensity, the future and vitality of environmental and conservation nonprofits depends on applying an equity lens to management systems and processes. This requires embedding equity and inclusion as a core practice.
Healthcare and Senior Housing
Solar for Health: Five Ways Solar Power Can Make Universal Healthcare a Reality
No woman should give birth in the dark. No surgery should be carried out by candlelight. And no child should be left vulnerable to disease because vaccines cannot be refrigerated. For too long, a lack of reliable power has prevented people in remote and rural communities from accessing the healthcare they need, when they need it. As the race for universal energy access picks up pace, here are five ways renewable energy can help protect quality healthcare for the world’s poorest.
Local Governments
Local Government Guide for Solar Deployment
Solar deployment has increased rapidly in the last 10 years, allowing more communities to access the benefits of solar PV. This increase has allowed solar to play an important role in local plans such as resilience planning, sustainability planning, and climate action planning. Some municipalities and states are already targeting 100% renewable energy or 100% carbon neutrality by a certain date, often with interim goals along the way. Solar can be incorporated into these plans by setting specific solar carve-outs within existing targets, incentivizing high energy consumers to use roof and parking-lot space for on-site solar through local tax incentives, or powering municipal operations with solar.
Solar can also play a role in energy-sector resilience, which may already be included in local planning. Resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions, and to withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from disruptive events. Solar can provide a foundation for grid islands by providing local power when the main grid is disrupted. Pairing PV with energy storage enables solar energy generated during the day to be used when the sun is not shining, providing power more continually during a grid disruption and thus increasing the resilience of the local energy system.
Dirty Grids
You may be surprised to learn that the electricity you consume could be a lot dirtier than other electricity, even if it is feeding the same power grid.
This comprehensive dataset includes various environmental characteristics—emissions of greenhouse gases, percentages of renewables vs. non-renewable fuels, net generation—for almost all electric power generated throughout the United States.
International
IFC - The Dirty Footprint of the Broken Grid
Around the world, nearly 1 billion people live without access to electricity, and about 840 million more live with unreliable and intermittent service from electric grids. For many of them, fossil fuel backup generators are the only source of power. But these machines offer a problematic, intermediate solution: their cost of operation is high, they fill neighborhoods and cities with noise pollution, and the exhaust is hazardous to health and the environment.
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