Talking Energy

There was a cynicism in the audience tonight, which I had anticipated before the first debate but not encountered until this, the last one. Cynicism is uncomfortable, in a way I suppose I’m not expected to write about it at all but should gloss over it, however actually I don’t need to, I expected it, we all did and we didn’t worry about it.

I suspect it is there because E.ON is an energy supply company, this seems completely at odds with the fact that they are advising us on how to use less of the stuff. But there is another factor, we are all wary of marketing, particularly green washing.

In modern times we never know when we are going to be pounced on, in the middle of a television programme, at the cinema – although then we know it is coming. We are quite prepared for the salesman in brochure form popping through the letter box, we are even aware that we may be persuaded into buying something while on an innocent internet surf or meandering the high street.

So, why would E.ON do this unless they were trying to sell us something? The clever amongst us like to think we can see through even the most sophisticated forms of marketing and a debate with free wine, sponsored by an energy company might well be just that. It is only after the first few comments that people slowly begin to realise that the discussion is just that, there is no agenda other than the fact that E.ON need to know what their customers think.

Tonight I initially heard cynicism and resentment in several voices, ‘Why am I penalised because I am not online? came from one man who had his arms firmly folded. Why do the energy companies bamboozle us with tariff options, came the shout from another quarter when they are simply not clear for older people.

Cynicism to me reflects fear and concern a feeling of being out of control perhaps and obviously a lack of trust. However, all that can be helped with information and honest dialogue, so tonight I knew that this was our chance to find out if these events were really going to work.

To answer these particular problems I looked to my left and Mervyn from Age UK with Steve from Age Concern, they work to help people with just these issues and they understand the problems.

‘Come and see us,’ said Steve ‘That is what we are here for’

Affordability and clarity of tariffs were swiftly followed by passionate debate on a variety of issues. We had more people in the Town Hall of Leamington Spa than we have had at any of the events so far and they really bounced off each other, they weren’t afraid to challenge the CEO or me for that matter and we covered lots of ground.

The debate culminated in a question about the embodied cost of solar photovoltaic panels, in terms of environmental savings once you have taken into account the environmental costs of building, materials and transportation do they really represent a benefit to the environment? We could have continued for another hour at least.

We had run out of time however and by this point there seemed to be a willingness, an understanding, that these debates are really about sharing information and opening up discussion, tonight I didn’t get close to getting through all the pre-submitted questions for the audience but I was only too happy about that, it was because the audience had far too much to say to wait for me to finish burbling on.

I only have one regret, and that was that we didn’t have more time. Honest, open communication is vital if we are to face the energy challenges of the future and rather than coming to an end, these debates have hopefully just been the start.

One man, the greatest contributor to our debate tonight in Stratford-upon-Avon very strongly felt that our future energy supply is too vulnerable. That it could be wiped out with a few well placed bombs! A little extreme I know and uncomfortable for us to think about but his advocacy of self sufficiency and his sense of urgency is thought provoking.

He is not the only one, who feels the need to be more independent. It seems most people are uncomfortable with the fact that in 2009, we imported 45% of our total gas usage from abroad. I know this because we conduct live polls at intervals throughout our discussion and when I ask whether renewable energy sources such as wind power should provide the majority of the UK’s energy supply at each debate we have, so far always had a decided majority who think that it should.

Self sufficiency is something I have been passionate about since I was a child, was it the charming ‘good life’ on the TV? No I think it runs deeper. I grow my own vegetables, I keep chickens and ducks, I have a small orchard and we have investigated the possibility of generating our own electricity from the river outside our house. I play at being self sufficient, sadly the economics of the real world don ’t allow it to be anything more than a hobby, even with my glut of courgettes we couldn’t last the year on my home grown veg.

So how does it stack up in the world of energy? I share our contributor’s fear that our energy sources are vulnerable to disaster, the world is an unstable place. I also thought that he came up with a very good solution, ‘The only answer lies in nationwide local generation with solar panels playing a crucial role. However few people have either the money or inclination to install such things. Why does not E.ON get ahead of the game by getting into the business of installing local generation capacity with people’s home and businesses, charging a rent for them?’ An interesting proposition replied Sara from E.ON.

This is just the kind of debate we like and hoped for, it is inventive and thoughtful and from it comes an understanding of where we are now and where we are heading. E.ON have invested in these events as a means of getting closer to the public so that they can hear about their concerns and issues and that is exactly what is happening. What we are hearing clearly at each event is that there is indeed something comforting in self sufficiency, more and more people are coming with questions about how they can generate their own power from solar through to ground source heat pumps. Slowly the economics are beginning to change. Now, with the introduction of the feed in tariff, south facing roofs might begin to be in demand. Now, it is finally becoming economically feasible to install solar, whether it is photovoltaic or just solar thermal. Perhaps, in twenty years time, each house will be its own power station, using a variety of micro-generation techniques; perhaps my house will finally be able to draw on the free energy from the neighbouring river. In many ways it is ridiculous and frustrating that it is taking us so long to get to that vision, but from the content of these debates I am positive that there is a huge desire to make it happen, more than that, a desire which more and more people are acting upon. Perhaps self sufficiency is economically viable after all.

It was a most peculiar setting the Severn Valley railway, peculiarly appropriate. I arrived for debate number three with my head full of high tech renewables of the future and in a moment found myself transported to a scene from the past. It must be what Dr Who feels like on a good day, I walked through the entrance to find myself under a beautiful cast iron and glass canopy, in front of me steam trains lined up gently puffing, all around me were uniformed soldiers from the Second World War. Posters warned me that glamorous ladies might be spies, and reminded me how much my country needs me, an official looking table was set out to welcome evacuees to the countryside and a barrow full of donated colanders was gathered for the war effort.

I have some time, while our crew prepare and to look around me. I see a washing line full of old fashioned clothes – big pants they wore in the war. I see the vegetable patch, a raised bed created from old planks right there in the station full to bursting with thriving cabbages, peas, lettuce… It puts my own vegetable patch to shame. I see this country as it was then, responding to a crisis, stepping up to the mark, saving money, using every available resource and yes also saving energy.

How did we forget all this? It became second nature to us at one point? Self sufficiency, efficiency, waste not want not, dig for England. When did we start to spoil ourselves with the notion that we could use/squander whatever we liked?

As we began the debate later, something outside the window caught my eye and continued to do so throughout the evening, those big pants flapping on the washing line.

We discussed photo voltaic solar panels and whether they were really the answer to our energy crisis; self sufficiency. We discussed the possibility of pooling all our respective south facing roof space for solar panels, and how we might see the vulnerable elements of our society through the coming price hikes; thoughts of a community coming together.

We discussed transport and I put the MP Mark Garnier on the spot a bit about what the government were intending to do about train prices. As the trains puffed outside he told us about the vast amounts of money being invested in high speed trains from London to Scotland and the hope that a facility like that would stop people travelling quite so much by air.

I had already witnessed self sufficiency, community spirit and ingenuity this evening, all these things had been there in the Second World War when I had stepped back in time on the platform outside.

And all the way through the debate those big pants on the line flapped outside and kept catching my eye, a clear and happy reminder that we have faced these kind of challenges before and that we are perfectly capable of dealing with them. Ok call me daft but I need these signs as well as the innovative science to keep me positive through the economics.

There was only one positive sign which was more significant, the amount of people who are turning up at each debate and arming themselves with knowledge ready and willing to take up the call to action.

Amongst other things I am a writer and other writers always say that the second book is always the hardest, after the novelty of the first one you’ve got to really pull something special out of the bag for another.

I’m not sure if the same applies to debates; if so tonight was that second book, if anything it was better than our first!

I think each of these E.ON Talking Energy Live events is going to have its own flavour, the audience will be different every time, the panel different too and I am probably going to be the only one who is at all five of them (loyal production team aside).

Tonight I think we all appreciated the tensions of what E.ON call the trilemma, the balance between affordability, reliability and low carbon energy. The debate really took off when we were discussing affordability and many different cross sections of society found a voice, for example while we were advising people to shop online for cheaper tariffs we were also reminded that older generations particularly don’t have the IT skills to do that, how on earth could they phone all the energy companies and get the latest deals?

Also it is easy to forget that many people don’t even have a bank account and so direct debit payments are not an option for them, they are penalised for that by higher prices. Leading to the question of whether energy companies should subsidise the extra cost it takes to service the accounts of those customers who are not paying by direct debit, or is should that be a government responsibility?

From affordability we moved to reliability. This is more than just avoiding inconvenient power cuts but really refers to reliability of supply in the years to come. The amount of gas currently imported by the UK is 45% this is set to increase to 80% in the next two decades and often comes from unstable countries. Isn’t it better to be self sufficient? But if so what is the technology that enables that? Is it solar? Nuclear? Wind farms? Are we right to be looking at a whole raft of technologies to take us into the coming decades?

As devils advocate I asked which, economy aside, is the technology that really works, could solar power feasibly make us self sufficient in energy if we didn’t have to think about economics? I realise now that I didn’t really get an answer because it is almost impossible to remove these things from economics – I’ll ask again at the next debate.

Possibly my highlight tonight was the ‘dragons den’ moment, Nick in the audience put up his hand and took the mike, slowly the penny dropped for me that he wasn’t actually asking a question he was pitching an invention to E.ON, luckily for him the right person was in attendance. My first thought was ‘I must move him on so that I can cover enough topics before our time runs out’ but then I realised that this is also what these events are about, a forum to contribute whether you have an opinion or an idea. Ok it would have been boring for everyone else to listen to much more especially as poor Nick was trying to pitch a product that would solve many of the problems we were discussing but without revealing too much about it, however I was thrilled he had the courage to do it and its pleasing that we have provided a place for ideas of a practical nature as well as a discursive nature.

Another man has installed his own Solar PV generating system on his shed and wanted more information on whether he could be earning money for the huge wattage he is generating. Later he confessed to me with a grin that he has also been designing his own wind turbine which often heats more hot water than they can deal with.

Although at first glance these men seem to be a distraction to the broader issues we are trying to discuss they are like diamonds glistening in the coal face, for without people like them and their passion and skills we will be armed with nothing to face the energy challenges of the future. I was thrilled to see them at our debate tonight, when the bad news about the energy crisis of the future can get depressing they give us hope!

It was such a nice feeling for me to stand in our new set and welcome an audience to our first debate. We have been planning it for so long and to see everything come to life was really rewarding.

What I have really loved about this first one was the wide variety in the audience, we had hoped that people from 7 – 70 would contribute but I don’t think any of us dreamt that it would happen in our first debate. Amongst our first audience there were some who really knew their stuff and had worked in the energy industry, some educated and passionate amateurs, a lady from age concern worried about fuel poverty and a student of micro generation. Most had come to ask questions and some just to listen and learn.

There was the usual moment at the beginning of the debate when I kicked off with the subject of affordability and asked who had the first question. Of course there was silence and everyone was still but it didn’t take a moment for someone to take the plunge and from then on there wasn’t time for any silence.

There were of course some heated moments and some difficult questions posed, including whether or not we should consider Solihull an affluent community. But that is just what we wanted; the panel certainly had their work cut out for them, especially Don from E.ON. I loved being able to ask the local councillor what plans were afoot for his local community in terms of saving energy or increasing public transport and it was even better when suggestions came from the pupils who were there in the audience.

As the person directing the questions from the floor it was of real benefit to have five people on the panel who represented quite different areas of expertise, on a national and local level from the Energy Savings Trust to the local Chamber of Commerce.

Overall the tone was of enquiring minds coming together to learn about something which affects us all. It is such a massive subject that I feel we could have gone on and on, the time we had allotted seemed to fly, but I was pleased that no-one really felt too daunted to ask about what was important to them.

I was particularly interested to see just how many people were interested in home generation whether that was from photovoltaic panels or solar heating systems. As ever with these debates I found myself learning about something new, this time it was about the Green Deal suggested by the new Coalition Government that offers a loan to people to take out energy efficiency improvements to their home.

However, I get the impression that many people are after more information on generating energy and putting it back into the grid.

I’m hoping that after tonight the people there will only be encouraged to think carefully about energy as a finite resource and that they have come away armed not only with some useful information but that they use the energy saving gadgets in the goody bag.

I just wanted to say to all thanks for coming I hope you found it as valuable as I did and see you at the next one.