Energy

The UK has a target to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050

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There are 2 ways of affecting emissions:

  • To capture as much carbon as possible, e.g. by planting trees, seaweed farming, land restoration.
  • To reduce the amount of emissions being created e.g. by moving to renewable energy.

This page and project focuses on how we can impact and reduce our emissions locally.

In February 2020 we held an open meeting on energy and had a presentation from Poppy Maltby from the not-for-profit sustainable energy consultancy REGEN. The useful notes below are from her presentation. There are website links at bottom of the page to this and other useful organisations.

What you can do…

These are easy wins for Energy that we can all do:

  • Use less
  • Be more efficient
  • Consume renewable and off-peak
  • Switch to green electricity suppliers – Ecotricity and Good Energy are the only true green suppliers

Other things you can do:

  • Improve home insulation and efficiency measures
  • Rooftop solar panels
  • Electric vehicles
  • Travel less & take public transport more
  • Heat pumps
  • Live upside down – bedrooms downstairs, living space upstairs
  • Don’t fly
  • Smart thermostats

53% of CO2  in the UK comes from petrol, diesel and residential gas use.

The plan for net-zero:

1.Decarbonise electricity with renewable generation (and perhaps a bit more nuclear power). We need 4 times as much renewable energy produced by 2050. The Dorset Coast is particularly good for wind power generation.

2.Storage, electrolysis and hydrogen to manage variability.

3.Electrify transport.

4.Electrify heating.

5. BUT – it is critical first to minimise what we use.

Energy sub-group

This sub-group was set up in the spring of 2020 and includes representatives from parishes outside Swanage. The group’s aim is to find energy solutions that enable communities across Purbeck to reduce their carbon footprint. It is currently exploring how to increase the production and use of local renewable energy.