MYTH 1 – “Renewables cannot heat our homes – we therefore need gas.”

Many people believe that renewables can only contribute to any significant extent towards electricity our energy needs. The Germans prove otherwise. In 2012 Germany got 11% of its heating needs from renewables and this is rising rapidly:

MYTH 2 – “Our energy needs can only be met with big infrastructure projects – which is why we are beholden to the big energy companies to provide this for us.”

Much of the heat energy above, was produced by the rapidly growing energy co-operative sector:

The good news, although this is absolutely nothing to do with our fossil fuel obsessed/deranged Government, is that there is support for similar schemes in this country – from places like the Co-operative. Their COMMUNITY ENERGY vision recognises:
“In the UK, people are currently passive consumers when it comes to energy, at the mercy of wholesale gas price rises and large profit-making providers. We want to change the relationship between people and energy to one where communities own, control and benefit from their own renewable energy projects.
Community-owned renewable energy has the potential to deliver significant local economic and social benefits in addition to helping the UK to meet its energy and climate change goals. Amongst other benefits it can revitalise communities and increase public acceptance of renewable energy infrastructure.”
http://www.co-operative.coop/join-the-revolution/our-plan/clean-energy-revolution/community-energy/

Direct support for community energy

Read how they are already helping communities to set up and run their own community energy schemes via their Community Energy Challenge.

So hats off to the Co-operative. They are pledging £1billion towards renewable energy and fuel efficiency projects, while simultaneously supporting our campaign to halt shale gas development. You will remember that they launched their FRACK FREE FUTURE campaign here in Bridgend, in acknowledgement of the pioneering work we did with the Vale Says NO! campaign.
https://bridgendgreens.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/the-co-operative-launch-their-frack-free-uk-campaign-in-bridgend-on-23rd-september/

MYTH 3 – “We cannot get enough of our energy from renewables to make it worth the investment”

Quite simply preposterous. Just look at what has already been achieved across Europe. This graph shows the % of electricity generated from renewable sources in 2010 ( Source: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&plugin=1&language=en&pcode=tsdcc330)

Only Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta have worse records than us, and yet we have just about the greatest wind and tidal energy potential in the entire world, let alone Europe. Add to this the further largely untapped potential of solar, wave, biogas, river hydro, ground source, air source and geothermal; PLUS the enormous potential still for energy efficiency savings, and it is easy to see through the blatant nonsense behind this myth – propounded by this motley assortment of vested interests, that go right to the heart of this shameful Government: