Ryan Taylor
Email: ryan.taylor@lcri.org
Title: Rural Energy Coordinator
Organization: Lake County Resources Initiative
Community: Lakeview
Population: 2,474
County Served: Lake County, Klamath County
Meet Ryan Taylor:
Ryan was born and raised in Redding, California. He is a United States Army Veteran with a B.S. in Linguistics from the University of Oregon’s class of 2023. My interests include sustainability, environmentalism, and sociology. He is especially excited to learn more about renewable energy and how it can benefit our communities in Oregon while also helping cut our carbon emissions.
Community and Organization:
Ryan is currently serving in Lakeview, which is located in the south-central region of Oregon. This small, rural community is located in the high desert where there is a lot of agriculture production and wilderness to explore. For his service year, he is working at Lake County Resources Initiative, a non-profit organization that assists Lake and Klamath Counties residents, agriculture producers, and small business owners with renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. These projects aim to increase the efficiency of energy for the local members to help with their energy cost and usage.
Projects:
The main project that he is working on focuses on providing technical assistance to local agriculture producers and small business owners that are interested in making their systems more energy efficient or offsetting them with renewable energy through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). This project includes reaching out to potential applicants that may qualify for the program and providing them with information to get started. For applicants that qualify, they supply the coordinators with their pertinent information. This project then crystallizes with the culmination of the grant itself and all its many parts. Then, this is followed by sending it to the applicant to review and submit for themselves.
The other projects that he is working on include connecting various rural agriculture producers with small business owners and helping them collaborate with Oregon’s rural energy network. This is done by participating in various events, meetings, and sessions.