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Overcoming The Struggles Associated With Implementing Solar Energy Programs At The Municipal Level

​This paper explores how fully incorporated municipalities in Oregon, Vermont, & Massachusetts, ranging widely in population size, attempted to enact sustainably conscious development plans, such as solar initiatives, for their respective towns/cities & how each plan attempted to incorporate the public in the planning process. Whether that be by holding public forums, surveys or just by using media to spread the word about the proposed plan(s). It is believed that through this analysis of the varying sustainable initiatives mentioned throughout the paper, a stronger, more clear understanding of how certain approaches to implementing solar projects work in different municipalities with varying population sizes & values. This study also attempts to portray how certain methods used by these municipalities to push these projects fared in terms of how effective the projects were in garnering public support & participation. Specifically, through this study, the hope is to find & compile effective ways of garnering support for green initiative programs that municipalities can look to & put into practice after filtering through the options & determining which methods they could tailor to their respective communities. The idea is that municipalities that do not yet have a department dedicated to sustainable practices & may be unsure of where to begin or even municipalities that do have a vision in mind for the community but are unsure of how to increase public support for their program can look to this study & have a wide variety of options that can be applied to their respective communities.

Brendan Walker-Davis '22
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