Staffordshire net zero living

Addressing global warming and meeting the UK's commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050, will require us to think very differently about how we generate, store, use and preserve energy. As well as increasing the amount of energy produced from renewable sources, this means organising energy systems differently and integrating these, reducing the need for energy to travel long distances which leads to losses of over 9% a year (BEIS 2021).

Staffordshire is at the forefront of some of this work already. These new approaches, and the technologies they use, are already being developed and tested on Keele's campus and in Rugeley. Rather than an energy system being owned and run by a small number of large organisations, these new approaches use energy generated, stored and traded locally across whole communities. This requires very different ways of working at the local level, as well as innovations in finance, how systems are run, and the skills of both professionals and communities. But it can bring enormous benefits for energy users and local economies, with the potential for reduced bills, more secure energy supplies, and rapid reductions in carbon emissions.

This project builds on the work already underway in Staffordshire and looks at how that can be scaled-up, and to enable more towns and settlements to benefit from this approach. It also looks at how Staffordshire can benefit economically from the energy revolution, moving forward the vision to create a low carbon technologies corridor along the A50/500 Growth Corridor, and preparing future support for local supply chains to become more competitive, build their skills, and accelerate the decarbonisation of their own operations.