In Bristol in 2017, the Green Party has a chance to win a second MP, strengthening the voice for equality and environmentalism across the UK. Bristol is already leading the way in the fight against climate change – most recently with the Bristol Energy Cooperative, a publically-owned energy company focused on generating local energy for local people.
The Big Five energy companies are consistently putting up prices and lowering standards, but there are other ways of doing business. In London, the Greens have been campaigning for a London Energy Company, owned by the local authority through Transport For London, which could generate electricity from solar energy to power all of Crossrail, and provide cheap, zero-carbon energy for local people.
Already in Islington, projects such as Bunhill Heat and Power prove that it can be cheap and easy to capture the energy that is already all around us, and rather than let it go to waste, using it to lower energy bills and provide safe heat and light to our homes. Every year the technology to sustain carbon-neutral cities gets better, cheaper, creating jobs and the opportunity for local communities to take control of their own electricity.
Want to learn more about how jobs and climate change are linked? Read more here.
– Catherine Webb