This is the first of a two-part conversation, about whether we can transition to renewable energy within the current system, or whether we need system change. Read more

Interview with Marcus Saul of Island Power, an energy company with incredible ideas that could be world-changing, in terms of building a new kind of (commons) economy. Read more

Major energy loss is a huge issue in our electrical system. Read more

Aldegarden is a wonderful site in Suffolk, with accommodation, a community pub, and a ‘glamping’ site with yurts, timber structures, a cob roundhouse, gypsy caravan and a converted barn, communal areas, solar hot water and electricity and compost loos. They’ve been in our directory for years. But now they’re looking for new owners for the property and successful businesses. Read more

We’ve blogged before about the great work the Big Solar Co-op are doing, bringing solar into communities. Here Jon Halle explores the potential for solar to provide some protection against energy price rises for small businesses and community-based organisations. Read more

In early October 2021 I was teaching a series of workshops for The Brighton Permaculture Trust. One of these was a solar battery half-day workshop which I believe went very well, giving people an introduction to further solar courses. The other workshop was about woodland management; there will be more in 2022. Those people who… Continue reading How to buy second-hand solar panels Read more

Over five weeks we’re publishing a range of Stay Grounded factsheets about various kinds of techno-greenwashing provided by the aviation industry. Here we look at the promise of electric-powered flight. Read more

We recently blogged about a project: ‘rebuilding a home, and changing the surrounding fields from dead agricultural land into an oasis of natural life’ – as well as building an off-grid electrical and heating system. Here’s the next in the series – about repairing an off-grid wind and solar electrical system. Read more

All governments, including the UK, are telling us that they’re laser-focused on reducing carbon emissions. How are they doing? The chart above shows how they’re doing (source: Our World in Data). There’s a tiny flatline around 2020, but that’s because of the Covid lockdowns. Read more

This is the third part of an interview with Jon Halle of Sharenergy, about the prospects for keeping energy production local and mutualised. Here we talk about community energy, mutual credit and mutualisation of the economy. Read more

Hi. I’m Andy Reynolds – author, instructor, forester, promoter of self-reliance, and for the last few years I have been reflecting on our project’s progression, as it seems to have reached the stage of early maturity. The project – rebuilding a home, and changing the surrounding fields from dead agricultural land into an oasis of… Continue reading Building your own sustainable future Read more

This is the second part of an interview with Jon Halle of Sharenergy, about the prospects for keeping energy production local and mutualised. We talk about community energy, Energy Local and the Big Solar Co-op. Read more

Today I’m speaking with Jon Hallé. We go back about 20 years. You ran courses on how to make biodiesel for Lowimpact, back in the early noughties, and you authored a book for us about making biodiesel, that sold about 15k copies in the first year. It caught the zeitgeist then, but of course diesel… Continue reading Jon Hallé: Introducing the Big Solar Co-op, and how you can help renewables and the co-op sector Read more

As it’s Community Energy Fortnight, I thought I’d have a word with my old mate Jon Hallé, who used to run Lowimpact’s ‘How to Make Biodiesel’ courses in the early noughties (and authored a book of the same title with us), and since then has gone on to found Sharenergy, who have helped over 100… Continue reading How you can help get solar onto more roofs in your community: the Big Solar Co-op Read more

This is Part 2 of a conversation between Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org / the Open Credit Network and Chris Huskins, a smallholder tenant of the Ecological Land Co-operative, starting a veg box scheme in East Sussex, building his own home, and looking to trade via mutual credit. Read more

Are you fired up to find practical solutions to the climate crisis? If so, this job opportunity as a Project Officer with Big Solar Co-op could be right up your street. Over to Jon Hallé at Sharenergy to tell us more. Read more

North Kensington Community Energy is the first community-owned energy enterprise in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. They are installing solar panels on 2 primary schools and a community centre. Read more

We learn from our resident retained heat cooking specialists Jane and Seggy Segaran about how to build an off-grid solar slow cooker. Read more

On the NonCorporate blog, we’ll be interviewing people who are out there building a non-corporate economy on the ground right now. We’ll be finding out exactly what they’re doing, what they’ve achieved, what problems they face and what they’d like to see change – and we’ll be asking them how we might co-ordinate the non-corporate… Continue reading What does the future look like for community energy? Interview with Jon Hallé of Sharenergy Read more

I have been running our home for the last decade or so using wind and solar electricity. The experiences of building this system have been distilled into a book, of which we are now in the third edition. Read more