Howard Johns of Southern Solar and a co-founder of OVESCO (Transition Lewes community energy company) used to be a road protester.  Passionate about the environment and tired of saying ‘no’ he decided to say ‘yes’ instead. ‘Yes’ to renewable energy and in particular solar power. He took us on a journey to how we can create an energy revolution.

Looking at the current the energy generation picture it may look bleak.  We rely on an old way to generate energy through coal that is extremely wasteful. It takes 100 units of coal to make 22 units of energy.  It is slightly better with gas but then that is reliant on much imported gas.  So we are being told by the government that we should use fracked gas instead. It might have brought gas prices down in the US but the UK is a totally different environment

The BBC reported on the day the government gave the go ahead for continued exploration

government advisers warn today that shale gas may be unlikely to bring down energy prices much in Britain. In fact, the Committee on Climate Change warns that relying heavily on gas for future electricity supplies would leave households vulnerable to higher bills in the long run as the price of gas on the international market is volatile.

Read more at www.refracktion.com….

Then there is nuclear energy… with the building of Hinckley C on our doorstep we are faced with relying on a form of energy generation that the tax payer will be funding many years to come with no solution for long term storage.  EDF are beset with problems with the building of their nuclear power stations that we will have costs spiraling out or control.

So what do we have instead… renewables of course.

Germany is leading the way; in the first half of 2014, Germany generated 31 percent of its energy from renewable sources, setting a new record.  Communities lead the way in Germany…. only 12% of renewable energy in Germany is run by energy companies; the rest is in the hands of communities, individuals, farmers and development trusts.

This is typified by the town of Schönau where after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster decided that they wanted a nuclear free town.  After battles with the government and energy suppliers they forced a referendum over the ownership of the local grid and took over the running of the local grid in 1997. Two years later they were selling renewable energy to customers across the country and now supply 150,000 customers across Germany.

The renewable energy story does not end in Germany… it continues in Denmark.  The island of Samso, inhabited by 5500 people, produce 100% of their own renewable energy made up from wind, biomass and solar.  They even export energy produced on the island.

Projects are occurring at the council level as well where the local municipality buy power for the district and sell on at a reduced priced – Marin Clean Energy in the U.S..

So what can  we do in the UK….  we can have our own community owned energy businesses as Lewes’ OVESCO proves.  It raised £400,000 to invest in solar power and put panels on a local brewery (the brewery even produced a special beer for the celebration).  Now the aim is to build more projects and provide 20% of the power needs for the town of Lewes.

Howard Johns book Energy Revolution is out next year.  Look out for a great read.