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Renewable energy needs PR

Last March, EU leaders did something stunning.

They vowed to lead the world in the fight against climate change.

And they promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a fifth by the year 2020.

Their report tells us that the EU is already a world leader in renewable energy.

But it also admits that development is “uneven” across member states.

Sadly, that unevenness means Britain. A report on a leaked DBERR document in the Guardian today revealed that the UK’s way behind on renewable energy. Only Malta and Luxembourg have a poorer record.

Incredibly, we’ve installed only 270 solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on houses in 2007. That’s compared with 130,000 in Germany, say.

Overall, we produce only 2% of our energy from renewables. The EU has slapped our wrists and told us we’ve got to get that up to 15% by 2020.

So there’s everything to play for.

It’s not that people don’t care – they do. It’s just that we don’t know.

There are Government grants for putting photovoltaic panels on your house. They will pay you to do it! And then your electricity bills drop to nothing and if you’re lucky, you can even SELL ENERGY BACK to the National Grid.

How about that for eco-conscious?

Government grants DO exist to convert our houses to green energy. But they don’t get picked up because people don’t know about them. Department for Business grants for households to install solar, wind or hydro-power are expected to be underspent by £10m over the next year – more than half the £18m allocated for the three years to March 2009.

So they’re starting to be cut back.

Meanwhile, as revealed in the Daily Telegraph, our power bills are going to rise in the coming year by 10 to 15 per cent.

Where’s the sense in that? Let’s join up the dots, people!

If we get the Green message out there, and the woman in the street can see a real cost saving in going green, the whole of Britain could be soaking up the sun and selling the energy back to the grid by the summer.

Think of that. 50 million homes, all humming with Government-sponsored home power. Beaming energy back to the world. Cutting emissions and growing flowers. And all because they got the message and heard the call.

All because the Green cause was properly told. PR’d and promoted.

So who’s doing it? Who’s spreading the word, holding Government to account, letting people know, building the popular pressure?

This is what proper promotion can do.

It’s time to start.