Why Bother about Saving Energy?
Community Energy Plus is committed to the principle of sustainable development, which brings together the three interlocking themes of environmental, social and economic sustainability.
Environmental - Climate change
The vast majority of the world’s top scientists agree that man-made climate change is real and is happening now.
Oursouthwest gives a good regional view and the BBC Website is excellent for the global perspective. Cornwall is particularly vulnerable to climate change, especially from rising sea levels, storm tides and high winds. But even if you don’t believe climate change to be real, consider the following:
Social - Fuel Poverty
Over 45,000 households in Cornwall are believed to be living in "fuel poverty". This means that they are unable to afford to keep warm and well in their own homes. In the UK each winter between 30,000 to 50,000 people will die un-necessarily because their houses are cold and damp. Behind this headline figure some 3 million people are living in sub-standard housing.
Since 2002, CEP has successfully managed the innovative, award winning Home Health project, offering free and discounted insulation measures to private home owners and tenants across Cornwall. Last year, CEP completed another phase of this project, 'Home Health HotSpots' (funded by the Energy Saving Trust). To find out more about this pioneering project please read the case study.
For further information and to download training resources click here.
Economy - Energy Security
The total energy bill for Cornwall is estimated to be over £1 billion per year, most of which leaves the local economy. Cutting this figure by just one fifth would put three times as much money into the local economy as the European "objective One" programme. Of course, Objective one only ran for a few years, whereas energy efficiency measures go on saving money year after year after year...
After years of plentiful gas from the North Sea, dwindling supplies and increasing demand mean that Britain is now a net importer of gas. Within a few years, a quarter of our gas will come from Russia.
According to Government figures, reserves of economically viable deep mined coal will be exhausted by 2013. If existing nuclear power stations are not replaced, there will only be one nuclear power station still operating in the UK by 2025. Being a net importer of energy could make the UK vulnerable to price fluctuations and interruptions to supply caused by regulatory failures, political instability or conflict in other parts of the world.
Being at the end of the supply network for electricity, gas and oil, Cornwall is particularly vulnerable to interruptions in energy supply, but there is a sufficient wave resource off the coast to enable Cornwall to supply all its own energy needs and become a net exporter of energy.
