Dr. Nyangon Weighs In on Community Choice and America’s Push for Renewable Energy

Dr. Nyangon, an energy economist at the University of Delaware, was recently featured in National Geographic in a story examining Americans’ growing demand for renewable energy and the role Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) programs can play in meeting it.

The article, “Americans want more renewable energy. Can ‘community choice’ help them get it?” by Alejandra Borunda, highlights how frustration with slow utility-led transitions has prompted communities to take control of their power supply. CCAs allow local governments to aggregate electricity demand and purchase power—often with a higher renewable mix—on behalf of residents and businesses.

Dr. Nyangon notes that CCAs are expanding rapidly beyond California into states such as Massachusetts and New York, with legislation under consideration nationwide. He emphasizes that this growth could be “quite significant for the renewables market,” particularly as falling costs make clean energy increasingly competitive.

The National Geographic feature underscores that CCAs are not only boosting renewable energy adoption but also delivering broader benefits, including local job creation and energy equity. With strong bipartisan public support for clean energy and the urgency of climate goals intensifying, CCAs are emerging as a practical, community-driven tool to accelerate decarbonization.

As Dr. Nyangon explains in the piece, the convergence of grassroots demand, supportive policy, and market economics positions community choice programs as a meaningful force in America’s clean energy transition.