Our first volunteer discussion night got off to a hectic start as 20 volunteers settled down to listen to a presentation. Dr Andy Young, Subject Group Leader, Mechanical Engineering at Hallam University told us about the Government’s new Pathways 2050 web tool which highlights the choices the UK has to make as we move to a secure, low-carbon energy system. It enables anyone to pick and choose the actions we should take, such as insulating homes, and the technologies we should use to meet the resulting energy demand. You can then see the impact that your choices would have on the UK’s carbon emissions. If you like your solution to meeting the UK’s legal commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, you can even share your ideas with other people, including the Government. You can play with Pathways 2050 free online here. If it all seems a bit too mathematical, there is an animated version here.
Attention then turned to Sheffield City Council’s ambitious plans to be the UK’s first decentralised energy city. Chris Broome, who is also involved with SCACC, has been looking into the feasibility of the plans. He highlighted key points and provided his personal perspective on the proposals. This sparked a lively discussion around Sheffield’s existing energy generation activites, the infrastructure changes that would be needed to connect these energy sources to users and wider social and economic factors affecting the changes. The one thing everyone agreed on was that Sheffield Renewables is keen to play its part, gradually developing our community owned renewable energy schemes throughout the city. The Council’s executive summary and full report can be downloaded free by members of the public here.
The next monthly volunteer event will be a social on Tuesday 3rd May. All volunteers are welcome to come along and catch up with each other. If you’d like to know more about getting involved with Sheffield Renewables as a volunteer email cariad@sheffieldrenewables.org.uk.