A deep dive into renewable energy
We at DIAS have recently launched The Renewable Energy Locator for Green Alliance. It’s an interactive map and league table exploring how well the different areas of England and Wales are doing in transitioning to renewable energy.
It provides an in-depth snapshot of the state of renewable energy in 2015.
As far as we know, it’s the first time this data has been mapped in this detail — and it should also be said that Regen SW did an amazing job collating all the data.
The numbers themselves are really interesting, showing not only the large differential between different regions, but also how areas vary in the types of renewable energy they produce.
But what I personally find equally interesting are the untold stories of “why?”.
Why do adjacent areas of similar size, population density, climate and terrain differ so much from each other in terms of renewable energy capacity?
Why does a region like the West Midlands generate less than half as much renewable energy as the East Midlands? Why does Berkshire have twice the capacity of Surrey, and why does Hampshire have twice as much again?
Is it a question of geographic size? Population density? Microclimate? Terrain? Does local political will play a part? How much influence does grass roots lobbying have?
Answering these questions is beyond the scope of this project (at least for the moment). But now a light has been shone on where our renewable energy comes from, we’d love to see it kickstarting some conversations around how we can learn from our regional renewable champions to make the make the most of the renewable potential we have.
