Update (15/10/2007): Our video interview with Pete Bradshaw of Man City FC is now included:
And there's a podcast from the event on BusinessAssurance.com.
I've been an avid (my friends might say evangelical) fan of decentralised energy ever since I first got my head around it. When I started working for Greenpeace, the organisation was in full swing on a decentralised energy campaign and part of my job was to communicate what it is and why it can do so much more than nuclear to combat climate change.
There have followed 20 months (for me) of virtual shouting from the rooftops. Films have been produced; countless blogs have been written; submissions have been made to energy reviews and audit committees; our campaigners and policy boffins have met with government representatives; dozens of volunteers have visited MPs; many thousands more have written to theirs.
The result? Well, we got the message through to the Conservatives, but they're not in power. We forced government to carry out a new public consultation on nuclear, but it soon became obvious that this was as much of a stitch up as the last one.
In terms of central government policy, nothing substantial has shifted. We're still near the bottom of Europe's renewables league. We still have a regulatory market that favours large, inefficient energy production. The government's still ignoring an incredibly smart, efficient, workable solution in favour of banging out new spin on an old and doomed idea.
After a certain amount of time banging your head against a brick wall, you start to get a headache - manifested for me as a kind of constant, low grade desperation.
It turns out, I should have got out more often.
Over the past few weeks, we've been hosting a series of discussion evenings and film screenings (Southampton and Manchester so far, Bristol tonight) for councillors, planners, businesses and interested individuals. I went along to the Manchester event, which was held, fittingly, in Man City Football Club - soon to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 3,500 tonnes a year by building an 85-metre wind turbine ("City's biggest fan," as Gary from Ecotricity later put it).
Local MP David Chaytor, who was chairing the event, kicked off with a bit of national context: the energy review and the nuclear consultation. Manchester City councillor Neil Swannick, set the local scene by talking through Manchester's (impressive) climate initiatives: The city, the UK's first nuclear free local authority, has over 200 renewables projects, a CHP-powered brewery, and all manner of other initiatives on waste disposal, CHP, sustainable transport, buildings and efficiency. The shame is they're doing all this in spite of central government policy - not because of it.
Pete Bradshaw, Social Responsibility Manager and general powerhouse for change of Manchester City FC talked about the impending turbine. What I found fascinating was the club's approach to community - its fans, nearby schools, neighbouring estates, colleges, the whole city really. Pretty much everything used in the stadium is built within 10 miles, and most of the waste is recycled for local use. The club's been involved in developing safe walking routes, affordable public transport for matches, an affinity scheme (so the community can buy into the turbine) and sending footballers into over 400 local schools to talk about environmental issues. A decentralised energy approach inherently involves a change in the way individuals, businesses and communities relate to each other, and an emphasis on community, and Man City seem to have got this down pat.
As well as a fine pun, Gary Freeman of Ecotricity had some new (to me) facts about wind: a turbine will have paid off its carbon debt within six months of being built; and wind farm applications almost never receive objections from building on urban or brownfield sites.
But it was Rebecca Willis, vice-chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, who really grabbed my attention, with just two words: "Grid 2.0". She was referring to Web 2.0, that much talked of transition of communications from a one-way system with passive consumers into a multi-way system of active participants. The parallel applies so neatly to the transition needed in the energy system that I plan to write a separate blog about it. If you want more now, make sure you check out Green Alliance's report Grid 2.0: the next generation (pdf).
Finally Doug, our chief scientist, talked about the need for regulatory reform, the failure of central government and the need for revolution from below. We at Greenpeace, he said, have been banging our heads against a brick wall trying to get the message through to Whitehall and Westminster, but local authorities are getting on and doing it.
And the discussion session seemed to show that it's not just local authorities. The audience of councillors, engineers, students, Man City supporters, local businesses and others had so many questions to ask and experiences to share that we ran out of time long before we ran out of questions.
They covered pretty much everything. The Severn barrage. Efficiency kite marks. The Merton rule. What small businesses can do. Free light bulbs. New home specifications. Insulation. The problems of ethical shopping. How to reduce night time energy consumption in cities. Renewable energy as status symbol. How to inspire action. (And, my favourite, whether "Rainbow Warrior whackos" are ruining the environmental movement.)
This was the point that impressed me most about the evening. There are thousands of people out there who hold power in their local communities and who aren't waiting for central government to sort its act out. They're getting on with it, building turbines, running educational programs, transforming business practices, contesting outdated planning rules, working with communities and generally making a difference. Combined, these efforts are starting to have an enormous impact.
Talking to people afterwards, I was also struck by how much everyone valued the chance to swap experiences with others. We're facing such a quickly changing world and such an overwhelming need for action that it seems there's a real need for communities to come together. Talk is no substitute for action, but community support while you're taking action seems to go a long, long way. Hopefully we at Greenpeace can do more to help facilitate this in future.
