Clean energy trail blazer asks 'What now?' after Copenhagen
 Few people realise the world faces an energy crisis every bit as dangerous as the credit crunch, says award-winning clean energy entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett. The man described as ‘Britain’s most respected green energy boss’ was speaking at a Science City event on climate change at Nottingham Science Park.Along with other business leaders, including Sir Richard Branson, he has signed a new report calling on the Government to avoid making the same mistakes it made with the banking crisis and to tackle the ‘oil crunch’ before it is too late. Predicting a massive shortfall in oil energy reserves within five years, Leggett says the world must act now. This was one of a series of lectures on climate change hosted by sustainable developer Blueprint, an organisation that shares Leggett’s passion for showing that business can be sustainable and commercial. The venue, No.1 Nottingham Science Park, which Blueprint developed, is a multi-award-winning eco-friendly building, which is powered by a biomass boiler, has a ‘brown’ roof and is set in its own wetland habitat. Speaking to a packed audience of more than 100 scientists, environmentalists and business people, Leggett said: ‘There is an alternative, and it’s an alternative that can be fashioned with technologies that are available today – a low carbon future powered by renewable energy.’ Leggett gave up a lucrative career in the oil industry to join Greenpeace because of his concern about global warming. He then decided the best way to crusade for clean energy would be to set up a successful clean energy business to show it was possible and has since grown Solarcentury into the UK's largest solar energy solutions company. ‘We are in business to make as big a difference as we can in climate change,’ said the author of The Carbon War, Half Gone and Social Century. ‘Our business is trying to turn buildings into solar power plants.’ One of the Financial Times’ panel of experts at the Copenhagen talks, he says the failure by world Governments to reach a binding treaty was disturbing but predicts the ‘solar vision’ will still unfold. Leggett, who blogs about clean energy on the Guardian website, is scathing about the world’s major energy companies, accusing BP and Shell of paying lip service to renewables and Exxon of doing ‘virtually nothing’. He says solar energy gives the world an option for a rapid response to the energy crisis. Even major installations take only a few weeks to install compared with next generation power plants that are years behind schedule and millions of pounds over budget. Low costs and new technologies are making solar more affordable, and solar power will soon be as cheap to generate as conventional power, he says, forecasting a ten per cent return for UK householders that install solar once the Government allows them to sell power to the National Grid from this April. But, though solar panels on every roof and façade in Britain would more than meet the country’s energy needs, he says the world needs a ‘mix and match’ approach to renewables, and to invest in energy-saving buildings such as No.1 Nottingham Science Park. John Long, a development director at Blueprint, said: ‘We share Jeremy’s vision that it’s possible to be ‘green’ and deliver a return on investment so it was a pleasure to welcome him here. We have a lot in common. Jeremy founded the world's first private equity investment fund for renewables while we at Blueprint are backed by Aviva Investors’ Igloo, which is the world’s first sustainable property fund.’ Leggett is the founder of SolarAid, a charity whose patrons are actors Ian McEwan and Cate Blanchett, and which has raised millions of pounds for its work, teaching young Africans to make and sell solar lanterns. www.nottinghamsciencepark.co.uk www.science-city.co.uk www.jeremyleggett.net Pictured (L-R): Blueprint Development Director John Long, Event Organiser Mark Patterson, Neil Horsley of Nottingham Science City and Solar Energy Entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett. Thursday, 25th February 2010 |