Environment and Sustainability Committee
Inquiry into Energy Policy and Planning in Wales

EPP 11 - Cilgwyn Community (representing approx 100 persons)

Please take on board the following:

Right to renewables

Everyone should have the right to meet their energy needs from renewables, and to install micro renewables or community renewables to do so.

The planning constraints on renewables should be removed from installations sized to achieve this.

It is abhorrent to force people to contribute to climate change (and wars of aggression) through burning fossil fuels, if they are willing and able to invest in renewable energy generation instead.

Large scale renewables

Because care for the environment is predicated on a relationship to it, the use of renewable energy close to its production engenders a relationship of care and responsibility. Large scale renewable energy should be used, where possible close to the resource that created it. Manufacturing and processing and uses for waste heat from generating (chp) should be invited and facilitated close to large scale renewables. Marine and shoreline renewables used for industry should be encouraged and facilitated to transport products using sea transport in slow vessels, taking advantage of free wind transport where available (sail as well as engine).

Adjusting use to resources

Rather than seek ways to continue our present consumption of resources including energy, we need to aim for a sensible balance between human population and its needs and resources, so that we can keep what we value indefinately rather than using it up in one generation.

One consequence of this long term approach is to discover how very little energy we need domestically.

Energy policy needs to evolve along with a green economic usp for Wales, re-training, transition movements, demographic change including relocation to live with our resources and other even more challenging physical and cultural shifts.

Vicky Moller