Can A City Run On 100% Renewable Energy?

In 2014 Burlington, Vermont became the first city in the United States to run on 100% Renewable Energy. But how do they actually do it? What’s their secret?

Thanks to Miguel Franco for helping to make this episode possible

Special Thanks To:
Neile Lunderville, Miro Weinberger, Mike Kanarick, Dave MacDonnell, Jon Clark and the Burlington Electric Department

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Music by:

Amarante

Driftless Pony Club

Whirm

Rob Scallon

Jason Shaw

[raduantoniu]

Burning wood to make electricity is ok for a small city but it's not a solution for the national grid because trees don't regrow fast enough. Fast growing temperate trees such as pines, poplars, or willows can grow at a rate of 10-15 tonnes per hectare per year. Burning 400 000 tonnes of wood per year would therefore require a tree plantation with an area of 260 square kilometers. That's a lot.
Say you wanted to produce 44% of the US electricity consumption (around 180 GW) by burning wood. That would require 1.4 billion tonnes of wood chips per year. You would need a fast growing tree plantation with an area of 930 000 square kilometers. That's almost 10% of the area of the United States.

[ringodooby]

biomass isn't a renewable resource we can use worldwide. Intentions are good but it isn't the solution we need

[tomandkelly]

How much oil and coal is required to cut down, chip and haul 600, 000 trees?

[AmaranteMusic]

Thank you SO much for using our song 'The Addict' on here!

[StepBackHistory]

That generating station may also just be the home for the worlds biggest guinea pig.

[NeverNatter]

This was an amazing episode. Really nice, that they gave you so much insight on how their city really works. Nice work!

[jimnicholas]

Major questions/issues not addressed in this video
1: The biomass plant has pollution control...so does every coal burning power plant. What are the comparisons of Carbon Emissions between the two?
2: How much Carbon Emissions are produced in the local biomass plant vs. the calculated Carbon Emissions used in the creation of new local forests?
3: How much does electricity cost in Burlington? (including total energy bill and cost to produce vs conventional methods.
4: Micro Grids are mentioned but not discussed (that's a HUGE change for our current grid system)
5: 76% of the city's energy is reliant on wood and water, how does this help the cities in the world to go "green" when they don't have access to either?
6: It is suggested that people store the energy they gathered from their solar panels in their basement. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING THAT MIRACULOUS TECHNOLOGY????!!

[tomkelly]

When it comes to ash, I just want to point out that when they study the regrowth in a clear cut forest vs the regrowth in an area that was burned by forest fire, the place that was burnt has 10x the regrowth.

So please if you burn wood on a large or small scale, bring that ash back to help the forests grow 10x better. It is a very simple task and it makes a huge difference!

[Pixelkip]

I love how interested you guys are when its comes to your videos, makes it super enjoyable to watch!

[canadiannuclearman]

one would have to plant a lot more then 600, 000 trees a year wait 20 years in order replace the ones you cut down. The land area needed in order supply the trees will never meet the rate of consumption (cutting)

[bellahispanica]

as having lived in Burlington for 8 years, this makes me incredibly proud to see people taking interest in our little city. it really is a wonderful place, with passionate people who care about what they do, how they can best do it and how to make to accessible to every income level. <3 loved this!

[Master_Therion]

Their slogan should be: Burlington, Vermont. USA's first green city. We make every other city green... with envy.

[lofton]

Bio-mass is dirty and takes a lot of land. Hydro is fine but is limited and is about maxed out in this country.

[bjorik]

This was an exceptionally well produced episode, I felt, even for you guys who already have a high standard. Great job!

[brofenix]

Neale Lunderville seemed very knowledgeable about renewable energy and the process of energy production/consumption. He sounded like he understood the science of energy production well. Awesome spokesman for the BED :)

[juliusdictatorperpetuus]

100% renewable energy, yet they still #FeeltheBern.

[EschMan]

I applaud the feel good narrative of this video, but as a business owner in Vermont I don't feel they touched on any of the downsides that came with this. Energy prices in the state are very high and starting a small business is nearly impossible. We have long winters and strict zoning laws so Wind and Solar Power on a large scale are not all that cost effective without major government subsides. I really wish the time and money spent creating "the first 100% renewable city" could have been used to modernize the power grid and make existing power plants more efficient. This sounds more like PR to me then actual progress.

[loudaprile]

This was a wonderful video! Thank you so much for talking about renewable energy.

[brodersami]

As per usual, this kind of setup is mostly feasible thanks to an abundance of renewable natural resources, something many places in the world don't have access to.
Personally I think nuclear is the way to go, not in the sense that we need to build a ton of reactors right now, but that we should do more to promote research into Gen IV Reactors. Right now a lot of the resources that could help nuclear reactors become safer, more energy efficient, and make use of old nuclear waste, is being poured into things like solar which is incredibly inefficient, demands vast amounts of space and a restructuring of the whole energy grid to be feasible large scale, not to mention impractical up north where solar hours drop drastically during winter.
We do need resources like solar and wind, but it's unreasonable to think that they can contribute the bulk of our energy needs.

[jessiemayfield]

This place is cool af, and I love cities like this