What would a democratic energy system be like?
What would a democratic energy system be like?
In January 2015 a group of people at ‘Imagining Energy Democracy’ in London tried to imagine what a democratic energy system in Britain would be like. This is what they decided:
• A national energy grid that the public owns. Most houses and businesses are connected to this grid. It will balance supply and demand and store a lot of energy.
• Lots of different types of energy go into the national energy grid: solar, wind, wave, tidal stream and hydro power. The energy is made by many different local energy co-operatives, energy companies owned by the council, projects owned by the community and companies that do not make a profit.
• A lot of wind turbines (in the sea, not on the land) also make energy for the grid. The public owns the wind power as it is run by a nationalized company. Money from this company is supports energy efficiency, sustainable transport, good grid connections and small community renewable energy projects.
• There are some other small grids and local community projects that make and store energy.
• People pay the local company (co-operative or company owned by the council) for their energy; or a public energy distribution company supplies all the energy, and supports local energy projects.
Fuel Poverty Action, Global Justice Now (formerly WDM) and Platform organized the event.
NOW READ THE ORIGINAL: http://newint.org/features/2015/03/01/renewable-energy-keynote/