Build Our Energy

The Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline was proposed to run through hundreds of Nebraska homes, farms and ranches, crossing the delicate Sandhills and putting the critical Ogallala Aquifer at risk.

Nebraskans took a stand in the summer and fall of 2013 for their future by literally building the clean energy future we need. Bold challenged Big Oil to show its true stripes by constructing a wind turbine and solar-powered barn immediately in the path of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, using creative tactics to resist pipeline construction before it began.

The Build Our Energy project — organized by Bold Nebraska with support from 350.org, Sierra Club, CREDO, NextGen Climate Action and Nebraska Farmers Union — comprised a fundraiser that generated over $67,000 in small online donations from more than 1,300 donors. We also recruited hundreds of volunteers who participated in an old-fashioned community barn-raising.

Would you like to visit the barn? Reach out to Tom Genung at tom@boldnebraska.org. We’d love to show you around.

That’s not all. BOLD has powered a number of projects to “build our energy,” which includes:

  • Installing a new 9-Kilowatt solar array on the land of “Harvest the Hope” concert hosts and farmers Art and Helen Tanderup near Neligh, Nebraska. The farm just so happens to be directly on the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline.
  • Bringing Merlin and Rita Friesen’s farm near Filley, Nebraska, back on the grid after they installed $10,000 in renewable energy projects on their land — including solar panels, a solar water heater, wind turbine and windmill. As the farm produced more clean energy than it needed, it became too expensive to pay the power company to add “net metering” so that the surplus energy could be used by Nebraskans and the Friesens could get paid for being a clean energy producer. That’s where BOLD came in.
  • Reduced the use of plastics at the “Harvest the Hope” concert, distributing free water stored in tanks. After the concert, the tanks were donated to the Omaha Biofuels Coop to be utilized to store processed vegetable oil that is used to power vehicles that run on biodiesel.

BOLD is always looking for ways to build clean and local energy. You can donate to continue these efforts here.

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BOLD FLICKR GALLERIES

Build Our Energy Barn Press Photos

Dedication Day

Weekend #1

Barn Materials Arrival

Groundbreaking Day