The Center for Community Technology (CCT) was a non-profit, membership organization that was formed in December 1977 in Madison, Wisconsin to promote renewable energy. Originally comprised only of volunteers, CCT gained a permanent office in 1979 in space donated by the Madison Campus Ministry. Involved in this early organization were Randy Korda, a Ph.D. chemist from the University of Wisconsin and former staff person for the Institute for Environmental Studies, and Bonnie Albright, a solar energy coordinator for the Wisconsin Division of State Planning and Energy.
In 1978 CCT took over sponsorship of the Alternative Energy Festival, an event which had been organized in 1977 by the Wisconsin Union. The festival continued as an annual CCT activity through 1981.
During CCT's most active years (1978-1983) it was a project-oriented organization with a membership that eventually numbered over 400, and it was generally regarded as the leader on residential energy conservation issues in Madison. Through funding and grants from sources such as the Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG), the Campaign for Human Development (CHD), and VISTA, CCT was able to assist in the development of a long-range community energy plan for Madison, give hands-on workshops, coordinate a speakers bureau, sponsor lectures by notables such as Barry Commoner, lobby for state and local legislation, carry out research on energy conservation and renewable resources, maintain a reference library, and publish an informational newsletter. Some of CCT's research consisted of work on solar greenhouses and retrofit weatherization, and two independent energy companies (Sunspace Design and Construction and Creative Energy Products) were spun off from CCT.
CCT's most ambitious and complex project, which was initiated in 1981, was the Neighborhood Energy Project (NEP), the purpose of which was to demonstrate the feasibility of reducing neighborhood dependence on traditional fuel sources. Other projects included a co-generation test and an Energy Information Center that was funded, in part, by the Madison Energy Conservation Committee.
Beginning with the loss of its VISTA program, which meant the loss of three influential and active staff members, CCT began to experience severe financial difficulties in 1982. Loss of CDBG and CHD funding followed in 1983. These losses were attributed to a shift in national politics, poor management, and a decline in public interest in energy conservation. On August 8, 1985, the board voted to terminate the organization by the end of the year, and the final articles of dissolution were executed in February 1987.
