Category: Indigenous energy

Mar 18 2020 by David Breecker

Tribal Energy Resource-Base in Development

Posted in energy access, Indigenous energy, Innovation, MSL news

The Energy Sovereignty Institute (MSL’s partnership with the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative) is developing an online information clearinghouse and resource-base to assist Native American communities in energy planning and deployments. With financial support from Cornerstones Community Foundation’s Solar Initiative and Remy’s Good Day Fund, ESI will create a prototype platform designed to increase tribal members’ and energy planners’ effectiveness by providing ready access to useful information and resources, and to accelerate energy projects on the ground. (more…)


Jul 02 2019 2Commentsby David Breecker

Tribal Energy Workshop a Great Success

Posted in Indigenous energy, Innovation, MSL news

MSL’s Energy Sovereignty Institute (ESI, a partnership with the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative) held its inaugural Tribal Energy Workshop in June, 2019.  A group of over 40 attendees and subject matter experts convened for two days to discuss a range of topics and themes related to energy development and transitions in Native American communities, and by all accounts found the sessions highly valuable in enabling them to advance energy planning with their tribes.

ESI is a social innovation initiative designed to promote the benefits of decentralized energy systems and technologies for Native American communities, and to advance their availability and use. Attendees at the 2019 workshop, which focused on New Mexico, included members of the Navajo Nation and the Pueblos of Cochiti, Laguna, San Felipe, Santa Domingo, Santa Clara, Nambe, Picuris, and Jemez, and also included seven student interns from Sandia National Laboratories’ Indian Energy Program. (more…)


Feb 25 2019 by David Breecker

Energy Sovereignty Workshop with NM Tribes

Posted in energy access, energy poverty, Indigenous energy, MSL news, partners, Uncategorized

The Energy Sovereignty Institute (MSL’s partnership with the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative) will convene a workshop and summit of key New Mexico tribal energy stakeholders in the summer of 2019. This event will begin the process of developing ESI’s programming across a number of critical areas, deepening its resources in support of New Mexico tribes, and then expanding this model to national scale. The workshop is generously funded by Enterprise Community Partners and Cornerstones Community Partnerships.

The Institute is a social innovation initiative designed to promote the benefits of decentralized energy systems and technologies for Native American communities, and to advance their availability and use.  (more…)


Jun 25 2018 by David Breecker

Whole Energy Systems Transitions

Posted in Indigenous energy, MSL news, partners, pilot projects, workforce

A multi-organization team led by MSL has proposed the Whole Energy Systems Transitions (WEST) project for funding through a new program in New Mexico, the Collaborative Zone Grants. Created by three leading local philanthropies, the McCune, Thornburg, and Santa Fe Community Foundations, the grant “…is an opportunity for collaborations of organizations and other entities to apply together for multi-year funding to test, prove and support approaches to New Mexico’s challenges that extend beyond the mission of any single organization.”

The WEST proposal addresses the funders’ framing question, “What would an equitable energy transition look like for New Mexico communities?” Within that framework, the main issue the project seeks to address is that NM’s transition to a 21stcentury energy system – which we define as sustainable, resilient, and equitable – will have both universal impacts on all New Mexicans (primarily due to economic diversification from the state’s reliance on fossil fuel production), and also diverse impacts on the various different types and sizes of communities (rural, urban, traditional, Native American), and depending on their economic base and vitality.

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Mar 27 2018 1Commentby David Breecker

Energy Sovereignty Institute In Development

Posted in energy access, energy poverty, Indigenous energy, MSL news, pilot projects, research

Building on a successful workshop in January of 2018, MSL has partnered with the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative (SNCC) to form the Energy Sovereignty Institute (ESI). ESI is a not-for-profit social initiative, designed to promote the benefits of decentralized energy systems and technologies for Native American communities, and to advance their availability and use.

SNCC focuses on culturally and environmentally sustainable development with American Indian, First Nations, and Indigenous communities. As sustainable energy, housing, and community design are inextricably woven together in any effective development framework, SNCC and MSL combine the needed skills, experience, and networks to advance a shared mission and agenda. (more…)