Since 1981 the University of Illinois Center for Urban Economic Development has conducted three market and financial feasibility studies requested by community-based organizations interested in starting energy conservation ventures. The three groups were located in different areas of the city of Chicago, South Shore, Lower Westside and Uptown, but shared the same ideas and purposes for considering an energy conservation venture. Their purposes were 1) to confront the problems that energy hikes were generating in these communities particularly on the low and moderate income residents, 2) to take a more active role in the economic development of their communities, and 3) to contribute to the economic self-sufficiency of the sponsoring organization.
After a careful assessment, we concluded that the three ventures were not feasible as for profit businesses with a market limited to a low and moderate income area. At the same time, however, findings revealed that some kind of energy conservation program at the local level was badly needed. Thus, in each case, we used the feasibility evaluation to suggest designs as close as possible to the initial idea that made sense while facing the problem as defined by our findings.
Each of these studies provided us with important insights on the energy problem in the moderate and low income sector, and the possibilities of energy conservation to address these problems. This paper introduces our main findings and uses them to discuss current government programs and to suggest consumer and community actions that could make a difference in the short run while pushing for long term solutions.