Transition Trade Proposals for Renewable Energy Projects

Discussion

Chris Cook:

"The greater prize – where the UK has barely scratched the surface – is to reduce energy consumption through the use of what is called the 'Fifth Fuel' (ie intellectual value), embedded in smart technology and solutions. In fact, an example of the necessary reality-based energy policy may be identified - back to the future- in 1778, when James Watt supplied the use of his new steam engine to Cornish tin mines to pump out water in return for a third of the coal saved: Pumping as a Service. Such savings of energy as a service are made at the retail price and this often gives rise to a compelling conventional economic case.

So in a nutshell, I believe one of the great reality-based trades of the 21st Century will be the exchange of smart/intellectual value (the Fifth Fuel which the UK possesses in abundance) for the value of fossil fuels and other finite resources saved – the Transition Trade." (https://www.thealternative.org.uk/dailyalternative/2017/3/7/the-policy-makes-the-party)