Switched on Thinking for a Connected Community

As I write this we are fast approaching EU Green Week 2016 which runs from 30th May to 3rd June and is all about investing for a greener future.

Over the past few years a host of projects from electric vehicle charge point networks to zero energy bill homes have established Corby as a leading community scale test bed for future ways of sustainable living, working and transportation. As part of its work Electric Corby has attracted partners and funding from across the UK, and significantly from across Europe, with €4m of funding secured from the EU to help drive forward Corby’s future focused growth.

Energy lies at the heart of much of our work and as costs rise, risks around security increase and awareness of the climate impact of our consumption is heightened, energy is fast becoming a key element of many businesses and residents thinking. So community energy is a big part of our thinking too.

According to the Government at least 5,000 community energy groups have been set up in the UK since 2008 and most have focused on renewable generation to bring value to their communities, with some successes. The impact has so far been relatively modest though with 60MW of community energy contributing to the UK’s daily 34,000MW of consumption*. The withdrawal of many renewable energy subsidies is also making new schemes difficult to bring forward.

But Community Energy has a vital and exciting role to play in the future of our energy system and how it effects our home and working lives. On a day to day basis our consumption, to one degree or another, is within our gift to control and that control can have an immediate, long lasting and potentially significant impact.

And here’s the bonus, if you use less, you pay less.

We just need some switched on thinking about how to achieve it in an automated way that doesn’t have a negative or restrictive effect on lifestyle or business operations.

So Electric Corby is soon to be offering the next phase of Community Energy that joins businesses and residents together with the public sector to ensure the entire community benefits from smarter energy usage. Better visibility of the energy you use and where it comes from helps build a better, more sustainable future for everyone.

More details on Community Energy are available by calling Electric Corby on 01536 560222 or looking out for the Community Energy Dome at events this spring and summer across Corby.

*Demand for electricity in 2014 was 34.42GW on average^[3]