Looking at the energy system through an Energy Democracy lens allows us to ask new questions:

Are the rules of the current system are too complex, or is that complexity necessary for reliable energy supply?  Why is 100% reliability seen as non-negotiable by government? Is it really the most essential goal for social wellbeing? Could we safeguard energy provision for those whose lives depend on it, but let go of some of our unlimited demands for the sake of treading a bit lighter on the planet?

It is difficult to ask these questions if we can’t imagine things being different to how they are now. This guide is designed to untangle the things we can easily shift and the things that are harder to change, to make space for imagination. At one end of the scale, we have the laws of physics, which are simply facts we need to work with. At the other end, we have infrastructure – a mix of technologies and human-created systems of rules and regulations – which humans could redesign, if we look at things through a different lens.

This is a book for idealists, grounded in realism, but not limited by the current mainstream ideology or worldview. What if we looked at the changeable and unchangeable physical realities with the freedom to imagine a dramatically different social and cultural context for them?

About the author

Taking detailed, pedantic, technical information into utopian and activist spaces is something I have done for a long time. I made a short film (you can watch below) during my PhD, when I was frustrated with observing and writing from the sidelines rather than taking action. I wanted to bring some very niche information about the governance of the energy system right into an activist context – an occupation of a coal mine in Wales by Reclaim the Power. Maybe it’s a bit niche as a trailer for this book, but it did wonders for my mental health. Previously, as an engineering student, I’d created an ‘energy game’ for activists at climate camp to engage with the figures and trade-offs outlined in David MacKay’s Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air. This is available as a creative commons resource.

I’ve also learned a lot about how the energy system works from being involved in the very early days of Bristol Energy Co-operative, a community energy investment co-operative that builds solar panels and other renewable energy. I know that my colleagues in that sector know a huge amount about how energy works, but they’ve picked it up along the way, and may not realise how much of a learning curve new people need to go through to be able to participate fully. This book is for those people new to community energy who want to understand the context in more depth.

Every piece of writing has an agenda. I have tried to be transparent and clear about my stance, so that you are free to question and disagree. To find out more about my influences and inspirations, skip straight to the worldview chapter.

Here’s a short film where I had a go at showing how complex the system’s rules are:

Who is this guide for?

This guide is intended for two main audiences:

• Climate campaigners – who want to have a more concrete understanding of an energy system we can say yes to. The guide will explain what can be changed through policy processes and what can’t change due to physical and infrastructure fundamentals.
• Community energy practitioners, especially those new to the sector, to gain practical knowledge that more experienced colleagues have gained over time but may not have shared.

I hope it will promote more strategically targeted campaigning on energy system change for democracy and decarbonisation, and enable a greater diversity of people to participate at a strategic and creative level in the community energy sector.

The guide may also be of value for civil servants at local and national level who want to understand more about the energy system, and open their eyes to the potential for energy democracy.

Other books, websites and guides already provide information about how renewable energy technologies work, specific aspects of energy system regulation, and how to make energy generation and consumption add up in GB. This book doesn’t do that. The bibliography proposes additional information you might find useful if you want to learn more.

How to use this guide

Each chapter of this guide adds a new layer to our understanding of the UK energy system.  These layers are inspired by Donella Meadows’ concept of ‘powerful places to intervene in a system‘, starting from the least powerful or changeable.

The first layer is the social value of energy – the unchangeable basic humans needs that are met by energy (at least from within my worldview!). Then comes physics – the fundamentals of the universe we cannot change. The next layer, physical infrastructure, was built by humans and so can be re-built. However, this would be very difficult and resource intensive.

Changing the pattern of who owns what part of that infrastructure is a potentially very powerful lever, but not easy to do without a lot of political momentum. Money flows between those owners is (arguably) easier to change, as is the governance and decision-making structure. Arguably the ‘social value of energy’ should come here, as the goal of the system, the third most powerful of Meadows’ levers – but I’ve made the move of already changing the goal in the first chapter.

Meadows’ most powerful levers are ‘the paradigm in which the system arises’, and ‘the power to transcend paradigms’. The worldviews and framings chapter describes the alternative paradigm from which this book is written. Hopefully reading it and contrasting with the mainstream approach to energy will increase your power to transcend paradigms – whether you take on this one, or question it and create your own.

The beauty of an online book is that you can choose how you read it. You can read through a high-level version, or you can take a deep dive into particular aspects of the guide. Deep dive options are signposted throughout.

Each chapter begins with a set of questions for energy democracy , and ends with a summary of learning points.

If you are new to working on the energy system, you may want to read the guide from start to finish. If not, you may want to go straight to the chapter that you want to know more about, and skip the ones that are more familiar.

For more resources on how energy systems work, see bibliography.