The Valley Energy Committee is the result of the county’s initiative for economic development in Valley County, Idaho. A team of community volunteers gathered around the theme of local energy, specifically with as aim to create local job opportunities.
Mission
The mission of the Valley County Energy Committee is to leverage our abundance of energy related natural resources to create local energy self-reliance and economic depth that promotes opportunities for value-added local employment (more)
Background Considerations
- Energy is a vital input to every economic and household activity of a community, and is a key factor in added-value activities; this is specifically relevant to the Valley County economy with its harsh winters and related energy needs. Self-reliance will therefore not only make our local economy more resilient, it provides more options for economic diversity.
- The Valley County Region has an abundance of hydro, biomass, geothermal and other renewable resources to produce energy in a distributed and multi-modal manner. The use of these region-specific resources provides a competitive edge to the local economy.
- Import substitution (switching the source of economic inputs to businesses and households from outside of the region to within the region), is a recognized and powerful tool in economic development. Not only does it create local jobs by transferring the input related jobs to the region, it also provides for more economic depth and keeps money in circulation longer. Comparative pricing of energy should therefore take this direct and indirect economic impact into account.
- The committee recognizes that distributed production of energy in the form of electricity, heat or otherwise needs a coordinated infrastructure and community structure. Public-private partnerships, solicited entrepreneurship and formalized oversight are all tools that should be considered to make this work.
- Energy self-reliance is a two-edged sword and needs coordination both on the production side (effective use of natural resources) as well as the usage side (efficient use and conservation).
Working document and Feedback
The committee keeps a “working document” to guide actions and initiatives and welcomes feedback and comments on this document: link. This web-page is a place for communication of developments and ideas. Feel free to post a message or comment on any of the individual posts.
Meetings
Anyone is welcome at the committee’s meetings. Meetings are usually held once a month, with an informal “breakfast/coffee” meeting in between meetings.
- Informal breakfast/coffee meeting: First Wednesday of the month at 9 am
- Where: at the Hub in McCall.