New Sector supplement supported by The Co‑operative Fund. Contributors: David Parker, Sarah Louise Taylor, Valentina Di Felice
From office towers in Manchester to remote hamlets in the Hebrides, various communities are developing innovative ways of generating power from renewable resources. From wind, water, sun, wood, plants, even used cooking oil - very different sources but one common aim: that local communities should own, control and benefit from the means of generation.
In the Renewable Energy & Community Enterprise supplement, featured in issue 78 of NS magazine, we examine a range of locally based initiatives that are striving for a new kind of ‘triple bottom line’: reduced climate change, long-term sustainability and community empowerment. This is a relatively new area of co‑operative endeavour.
Most of these enterprises are less than 10 years old. The journey from turning up at meetings to turning on the power is long, complicated and expensive. So when community renewable energy initiatives succeed they are likely to be replicated, as some of the projects in this supplement already are being. These pioneers are leading a fairer, greener and saner approach to energy.
