What is local supply all about? Is it a good idea? Should we be pushing for this model in the energy system, or is centralised public ownership a better option? What about peer to peer trading, and private wire arrangements? These are some of the questions that came up in the session on local supply …
Putting people at the heart of the energy system?
In September, Carbon Co-op staff member Emilia Melville attended British Institute of Energy Economics conference in Oxford, speaking at the invitation of Tyndall Centre on the future of community energy organisations. Here’s her report on the panel and the rest of proceedings at a fascinating conference. The 2018 British Institute of Energy Economics (BIEE) conference …
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Commons, capabilities and collective action. A response to Ingrid Robeyns
Ingrid Robeyns’ essay on capabilities makes a valuable contribution to the discussion of the ethics of sustainable prosperity. I want to comment particularly on what she says about the boundary of the public and the private, global commons, and collective action. Robeyns extends the liberal ‘harm’ principle, that “our liberties may be restricted only when we …
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Nexus between community and municipal power in Bristol’s quest for energy democracy
Bristol is the largest city in the south-west of the United Kingdom. It has a strong history of environmental and sustainable initiatives, and was awarded Green Capital of Europe in 2015. This award was won partly thanks to the richness of grassroots sustainability initiatives, including urban food growing projects and community energy projects. Latest funding …
Wonder, abundance and public goods
Public goods are defined as those which are ‘not subtractible’ – i.e. if one person uses some, this doesn’t reduce the amount available for others to use. Knowledge, social trust, and enjoyment of public space and the natural world are classic non-subtractible goods. Subtractible resources, such as cake, result in less being available for others …
Energy and Land
There is increasing awareness of the importance of land as an economic distributional issue, with housing activists and food growers coming together to seek common solutions and develop shared analysis. But what does this mean in terms of energy? In preparation for a session on energy and land at the recent Land for What? event in London, …
What is capitalism?
Do you really understand what capitalism is? I’ve been wondering for a long time, and often wondered whether people who campaign passionately against capitalism really understand what they mean by it. For some left wing environmentalists, such as Naomi Klein, we have to end capitalism if we are going to stand a chance of addressing …
Emilia Melville 