Power to the People
Brandon Gorman
Diné grad student wants to tailor electric grid to community
Brandon Gorman
CHINLE
For a century or so, public electric utilities have been in existence; their approach to supplying power has not changed much: build a power plant, usually powered by fossil fuel, and run lines to homes and businesses.
In recent years, some consumers have won the option to pay a little more for mixing a little clean energy into their power supply, but they are pretty much at the mercy of their power company.
The thing that is missing, says Diné graduate student Brandon Gorman of Chinle, is the voice of the community.
Gorman, a Ph.D candidate in sustainable engineering at Arizona State University, hopes to prove during his dissertation research that power grids can be tailored to the needs, desires, and resources of each community — and that if they have a say in the matter, communities will opt for cleaner power.
He’s starting close to home, in Dilkon, Ariz.
Gorman said that after approaching several chapters about the matter, he picked Dilkon because it is a good size, fairly remote, has land it could put toward energy development; and when he talked about clean energy, he got an enthusiastic response.
“One kid said, ‘We’ve been waiting for you a long time,'” he recalled.
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