Renewables and Solutions

Stories

Transforming our energy systems the right way

To realise our beautiful goal of a European power sector free of fossil fuels by 2035 we need to act at a speed and scale as yet unseen in Europe. There are many reasons to believe we will succeed.

Rinse and repeat

 

Renewable energy technologies like solar panels and wind turbines have incredible plug-and-play modularity, and we already have thousands of examples of their successful deployment that we should rinse repeat.

Fast and fair

Bare rooftops, degraded land, massive disused surface mines, and non-conservation offshore waters are perfect go-to areas for renewables to quickly get us hitting the right numbers, but we’ll need to look beyond these obvious locations, and as we do, we should be sure that planning and mapping of projects remains transparent.

Communities and business

We’ll want to bring renewables into our homes and businesses because the closer we are to them, the more they benefit us. So locals should be consulted on project plans and offered co-ownership and co-decision-making opportunities where possible. This is fair, and will speed up permitting processes. The best renewables projects come with brilliant additional benefits for communities, such as new green jobs, training schemes, and opportunities for local businesses. We should always aim to maximise these gains, and because we want renewables to boost opportunities and not reduce them, we should avoid locating them in places where there is already lots of competition for land.

People and nature

As renewables are going to be our exclusive source of energy, and we depend on ecosystems to sustain life, compatibility between nature and renewables is a non negotiable. That means proper impact assessments and public consultations that fossil fuel companies have happily trampled all over for decades.

Smart and efficient

And because this transformation isn’t only about energy production but also energy consumption, we’ll be upgrading our homes, community spaces and businesses to make sure we’re on top of our energy use and that it’s as smart and efficient as possible.