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 climate change is real and is happening now. For a Cornwall perspective go to the county council website.

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.

CEP has successfully managed the innovative, award winning Home Health project for the last 4 years, offering free and discounted insulation measures to private home owners and tenants across Cornwall. CEP has recently 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.

Economy - Energy Security

The total energy bill for Cornwall is estimated to be about £600 million per year, most of which leaves the local economy. A 20% saving through a comprehensive energy efficiency campaign is easily achievable and is equivalent to twice the annual input from Objective One.

According to the Energy White Paper the UK will become a net importer of gas in 2006 and a net importer of oil in 2010. 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 stability or conflict in other parts of the world.

Being at the end of the national grid, pipe lines, and fuel supply chains 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.