Something I find infuriating in certain corners of UK discourse is the idea that addressing climate is a threat to working classes. It’s not. It’s a massive opportunity to make things better *if we get it right*. The biggest threat to all of us is the status quo. The earth is warming, devastating people and places around the world, driven by governments and fossil fuel shareholders who are making more money than ever before while people spiral into destitution because of soaring energy bills.

Bit of the old professional news: after 9 wonderful years at @UniStrathclyde, today I start helping drive energy and social justice in energy innovation with the wonderful Regen, shaping a fairer energy system for the future. Sad to be saying goodbye, but buzzing to get started (Small matter of a thesis still to finish and submit, but we will get there)

🚨New (first!) publication alert:

Can community energy help address inequalities in the uptake of things like solar PV? ⚡️ Tentatively, yes! Community energy in Scotland has tended to locate in lower-income areas, benefitting places typically excluded: sciencedirect.com/science/articl… This is compared to the uptake of solar PV at the household-level, which has heavily favoured the middle-classes. Not just in energy: household solar PV has generated substantial (£140m+ total) revenues for those more affluent Scottish households too.

Community wind farms have paid communities 34x (!!!) more than commercial wind farms in Scotland — on average £170k per MW per year compared to the industry standard £5k. And that’s before we even get to the wider benefits of community energy as well

communityenergyscotland.org.uk/uncategorized/… That community energy has been worth so much in revenue to local areas (not just wind and not just in wealthy places either) goes to show how important ownership is in Scotland’s massive renewables transition, when it comes to who really gets to see those wide-ranging benefits.