October 2012: Labour’s Shadow Energy and Climate team have established a website setting out some of their activities and key messages. One of the first things posted at www.shadowdecc.org.uk is a new publication called ‘The Power Book’, produced with support of the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), the Labour environment campaign SERA and the Co-operative Party.
The book consists of a series of papers on initiatives being taken forward to develop community-led energy projects, ranging from the role that local authorities and community groups are playing, to the technologies such as microgeneration and district heating, that are being used. The foreword to the book by Shadow Energy Secretary of State Caroline Flint states that “we cannot neglect the potential for individuals and communities to create and save energy. In truth there are plenty of examples both here and abroad which demonstrate the potential of community energy as a low carbon driver…There is also a window of opportunity to increase community-level energy generation instead of creating a rigid framework to fit the old, centralised system.” Download the report here.