As we go to press it is cold. Very cold. Schools are closed. People are getting stuck in their cars overnight. And the sea around parts of the Isle of Wight has frozen. However, it’s not yet really cold. Outside Parliament the Thames has not frozen – as it often did in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (though the river flows much faster these days because of the Embankment). And we are nowhere near the coldest ever UK temperature (-27.2C), reached in 1982 and 1995. Nevertheless, it’s parky.
This is one of the reasons why I’ve been thinking about energy (despite the fact we’ve all had the heating on rather more than normal, there haven’t yet been any shortages which speaks well for our national supplies). But recently I’ve also been seeing a lot of evidence of the energy revolution that we are undergoing.
UK Power Networks have been in touch about their plans for a new energy landscape. They are planning for a world in which a network of small solar and wind farms add to power station generation with households storing power created on or around our homes (you can already buy solar panels and battery storage from Ikea …).
This week there’s an Energy Innovation Exhibition this week in Parliament which promises technology that listens to your gas meter and a system that ‘sees’ where a building is losing heat – improving efficiencies and saving fuel and money.
On the roads, Revolve Technologies in Brentwood is developing a range of green and environmentally friendly vehicle technologies suitable for anything from a supermarket delivery van to a bin lorry. For those living with the London Low Emission Zone, these are going to revolutionise what we drive in the immediate future.
Brentwood Borough Council is including the need to encourage charging points for electric vehicles to be included in housing and business planning applications as the Local Development Plan moves forward. It will also be considering the need for charging points in car parks and buildings owned by the Council.
At a time of year when the cost of energy to keep warm is a constant source of concern and expense, these innovations are all the more exciting. And if they allow us to heat our homes and drive vehicles while creating less pollution, it can only be a good thing.