Energy Changemakers is a private, online community for those who support local, clean distributed energy. It’s a place to gather, help each other, find opportunities, learn what’s new, and advance your ideas and projects.
We amplify the work of our members through our magazine, Decentralized Grid, an online publication designed to generate discussion about the growing move toward energy democracy.
Think of the community like an industry conference available to you 24/7/365. The doors are always open for networking, discussion and learning. And there are no planes, trains and automobiles required to get there.
Why local energy needs a community
The time has come to reframe the energy paradigm and form a decentralized grid. The technology is there. Funding is there. Public support is there. But it’s still not easy to build distributed energy projects. That’s because our electric grid is designed for another century, governed by rules that no longer make sense, and dominated by economic models that encourage big power plants and long transmission lines — not the energy of the future, which is nimble, local, clean distributed energy.
Energy Changemakers is designed to bring ‘all of us’ together to collectively find solutions to overcome these problems and get more distributed energy built. As business guru Ken Blanchard says, “None of us is as smart as all of us.”
Who leads Energy Changemakers?
Energy Changemakers was launched in 2024 by long-time energy journalist Elisa Wood, the co-founder of Microgrid Knowledge and Real Energy Writers. She previously wrote for S&P Global Platts and other energy publications.
“For an especially readable voice in the industry, the most consistent interpreter across these years has been the energy journalist Elisa Wood, whose Microgrid Knowledge (and conference) has aggregated more stories better than any other feed of its time,” wrote Malcolm McCullough, in the book, Downtime on the Microgrid, published by MIT Press in 2020.
More about Energy Changemakers
Most energy news sites treat their readers as passive consumers of information. Energy Changemakers is different. We’ve built an online community platform that lets the audience actively participate.
Some people call this participatory or citizen journalism. Ideas put forward by community members help inform articles for the community’s publication, Decentralized Grid Magazine.
The online magazine, which is publicly accessible, provides news, trends, analysis, and how-to content for those working on distributed energy. We focus on five main topics: distributed generation, energy efficiency, energy storage/electric vehicles, virtual power plants and energy policy and regulation.*
Please visit the magazine regularly to read our new content. You can also subscribe to our free newsletter.
This is where the action happens!
The community is a private platform to get together and work together. It’s where members can:
- Network and build relationships
- Exchange ideas
- Gain access to premium magazine content
- Put forward their work
- Gather data
- Strategize with others to advance a decentralized grid
We invite you to try out the community through a free 30-day free trial membership. We’d love your participation! — Elisa Wood, founder of Energy Changemakers
*For information about microgrids, go to MicrogridKnowledge.com.