Town halls to power new energy revolution

Town halls covered in glittering solar panels and majestic wind turbines could soon become a familiar sight as councils turn their public buildings into mini power stations which harness the power of nature to provide clean, green energy for themselves and their citizens.

The government’s announcement that local authorities will be allowed to sell renewable energy to the national grid opens the door to a new revenue stream worth potentially £100million a year.

It’s a rare piece of good news, when every newspaper I pick up these days is full of headlines announcing more and more public sector cuts. Extra income for cash-strapped councils and reduced carbon emissions – these are just the kind of solutions we need.

The groundbreaking Climate Change Act committed the UK to reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. This is a massive challenge and sadly we are already falling well short of our renewable energy targets. So far, the pace of change simply hasn’t been fast enough. To achieve our targets we need to radically decarbonise our whole way of life. We need to rethink our relationship with energy and to do this effectively we’re going to need everyone’s help.

At Forum for the Future we’re approaching this challenge from two different angles. Firstly we want to look at the energy system from a different perspective. Delivering and using energy in the same way that we do now will only achieve the same results. We’re launching an experimental project to help players from outside the energy industry gatecrash the sector and shake up its preconceived ideas. If you are passionate about delivering a radically different energy system then please get in touch.

But this is not just about changing the energy system. The scale of change required to meet our emissions targets means completely reimagining how we meet the majority of human needs. The public sector, whatever its size, will have a vital role to play in enabling a low-carbon society but it will need to deliver services in a very different way. Local government buildings as power stations is just a start. What else can councils do to empower their citizens to live low-carbon lives?

Our second project is exploring what councils can do now to help increase the resilience of their communities and show their citizens the opportunities to live happy, healthier and more prosperous lives in a low-carbon future. We’re working with the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) to develop four scenarios, each painting a different picture of the role of the public sector in a low-carbon world and how local government might operate.

If we’re going to hit our carbon reduction targets in this time of austerity (and we must) it’s clear that the way we use and produce energy must become more efficient. We can’t leave it to the existing system to deliver us from climate change. Everyone has to join the party and I for one would like to see local government take up the opportunity and lead the energy revolution. That, at the very least, would give the newspapers some good news to write about.