7 July 2011: The New Economics Foundation have set out today ten ‘tried-and-tested solutions’ from their work on local economic development to propose a new way forward for UK cities. Included amongst these is to “Invest in local energy. At present only 0.01 per cent of electricity in England is generated by local authority-owned renewables, despite the scope that exists to install projects on their land and buildings. In Germany the equivalent figure is 100 times higher.” Two examples are cited – both in London:
“The London Borough of Haringey has launched their own Haringey 40:20 organisation, involving business and civil society, because of the scale of the challenge – one in four homes will need to improve energy efficiency, 20,000 will need some kind of renewable generator capacity fitted, and 30,000 local homes will need to be linked up with local energy networks.
But if cities generate energy then local people are employed. If local authorities have a stake in the financing of this, then the surplus can be re-invested into the less well-off areas of a city to increase sustainability. If community organisations are able to invest in energy generation, like the pioneering Peckham Power company in London, then there will be an ongoing benefit to local people which has huge implications for local economies.”