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The concept of zero energy buildings was discussed at the Digital Greenhouse on Friday, with the founders of a local renewables company offering a powerful sustainable vision of an energy independent and empowered society.
Paul and Jack Fletcher from Renew Guernsey sought to highlight their work in developing renewable energy solutions in the Bailiwick. They also provided insight into how individuals and businesses can help.
They called on local investors, engineers, data scientists, and government to work with them to deliver innovative solutions for the energy transition required to meet environmental targets.
Improving the understanding of how we use energy - and tapping into sustainable sources which generate energy - was argued to be crucial to democratising energy and the energy grid itself.
Paul Fletcher said that “now is the time to galvanise” the support and technical expertise needed to provide energy security and lift people out of poverty.
“We need help to build/code better systems – we can’t just do it on spreadsheets anymore,” said Paul.
Jack Fletcher added that these issues are more pressing given the United Nations’ “stern climate reports” which demand emergency action at emergency speeds.
Pictured: The talk delved into multiple ways individuals and businesses can decarbonise their operations.
The event was introduced by Rollo De Sausmarez, an environmental advocate, who said the talk was an opportunity to drive “conversations around the future of our islands wellbeing”.
He highlighted that 32% of the Bailiwick’s carbon footprint comes from energy use and the buildings it powers.
If Guernsey is serious about achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 then there is an urgent need to tackle that third of the problem, claimed Mr De Sausmarez.
Solar, wind, tidal, hydro-electric, heat pump technologies, and myriad ways of storing energy were listed as the solutions to decarbonising the Bailiwick.
Paul Fletcher then empahsised that the objective is to not just achieve a superabundance of energy, but also a superabundance “of sensors and IoT (Internet of Things) devices” to better display, collect, and monitor energy use and production for the home.
He said this would lead to a greater control of energy systems allowing people to not just compare prices, but the rates of generation vs. consumption.
“All the technology needs is monitoring control” he said, claiming that a better understanding of domestic energy use underpins how much we need to “conserve, generate and store to create balance and reduce costs to the self and to society”.
Paul added that the data collection from millions of devices linked to home renewable energy sources would help to optimise systems, allow for performance monitoring, increase efficiencies, and help inform public and private sector energy policies.
Pictured: Paul Fletcher demonstrating the current tools for monitoring solar energy production and consumption.
Jack Fletcher reiterated that “renewables big and small” are essential to hit targets for decarbonisation.
Paul suggested that working with the grid operator was essential to success, claiming that Guernsey Electricity had been responsive to their ideas: “we need [them] to put up energy to sell and buy back from people generating power at their properties".
This approach is known as 'Grid as a service' (GaaS), and it was stated that “whatever we produce will generate more [electricity]” for other users - hypothetically across the world.
The Fletchers said they have already seen “lots of demand for solar panels and heat pumps” locally.
They said that the return of investment for renewable energy products was typically between 6-7%, with larger projects resulting in larger returns.
“Every watt you generate is a watt for the world,” concluded Paul.
Pictured (top): Paul Fletcher (left) and Jack Fletcher.
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