I want to find out whether the UK’s local authorities could use renewable energy as a means of generating alternative income and protecting vital public services. To start my investigation, I’m in North West England to talk to Councillor Janet Henshaw of Warrington Borough Council. The council’s strategy involves investing in solar farms and the …

Continue reading "Episode 4: Can renewables help local councils beat austerity?"

In this episode I visit Professor Brett Christophers at Uppsala University in Sweden to delve further into claims he makes in his new book, ‘The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet’. Professor Christophers argues that there’s a widespread misconception about what’s needed to expand the use of renewable energy and speed the …

Continue reading "Episode 2: Is there a profit problem for renewables?"

In this episode I meet Alan Woods, the Director of Strategy and Business Development at Rolls Royce SMR which stands for Small Modular Reactors. Rolls Royce plans to use tried and tested small nuclear reactor technology as the heart of a factory built series of standardised modules which can be transported by road and then …

Continue reading "Episode 3: Factory built modular nuclear power stations"

Can we avoid conflict between local residents, developers, landowners and farmers? In this opening episode of Road2Zero we take a look at one major consequence of decarbonising the electricity supply – this is the growing number of applications to construct utility scale solar farms in the countryside. A typical example of this is Woolpots Solar …

Continue reading "Episode 1: Where should solar farms go?"