Pivoting to the next 10 years

The next ten years are going to be critical to our transition to a zero-carbon energy system.

By the end of the upcoming decade we need to be able to answer whether the Low Carbon Hub has completed the tasks that we set out to do, and for this we need a plan.

Here is our ten year timeline, highlighting some of the key successes Low Carbon Hub has helped deliverOxfordshire over the last decade.

Everyone who has helped play a part in our journey over the last 10 years is invited to download a digital copy or contact us here if you would like us to send to send you a hard copy.

As the timeline reveals, we are already making plans to ‘pivot to the future’. The orange boxes in the bottom right hand corner highlight some of the issues we will be addressing in the coming decades in order to make the most of our portfolio of projects, to do our bit for Oxfordshire by 2030, and get on the right path to achieve net zero by 2050.

In order for us to get to net-zero in a way that benefits everybody – making our energy in a way that is good for people and the planet – we really have to make the most of the renewables pipeline that we already have. As we find ourselves in the midst of an energy crisis, it is worth taking account of the policy landscape we find ourselves in: UK citizens are using 15-20 per cent more energy than if the energy efficiency programmes of 2012-15 had not stalled. But we can still repair the situation. 

In order to halve our energy demand by 2050 there needs to be a focus on moving to an all-electric system and doubling our electricity use. Owing to the insightful work carried out by the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS), we also know that we will be able to move to this new system much more quickly if solutions are just and fair, as well as technically and commercially viable. It’s crucial to include everyone in this transition and we know that Low Carbon Hub, and our network of community groups and other partners, is a really precious asset in moving Oxfordshire towards that future.

What we’ve learnt so far is that there are a basic set of solutions that we have the technology to implement that are becoming increasingly commercially viable. The following outline brings together all of our learning and comes out with a business plan that understands how to make comprehensive solutions from all of the programmes we have been developing:

We need to save energy, shift our demand through time, and learn how to share our surpluses with others. Check out our Save, Shift, Share blog for a more detailed look at this framework.

And we have to do all of this very swiftly, at scale, and in partnership. It’s more of what we’ve been doing – turbo charged. We need to work out how to do this in conversation with our partners and across our brilliant network of community groups.

People, people, people

We only get technical and commercial solutions deployed quickly, at the scale we need, and with the inclusion that is needed across the population if we have people working with others in a smart – but fair and just – way. As we develop our business plan for the next phase of our work it will be crucial that we reflect the important role people will play in the transition: who these legions of people need to be, how they can work together, and how a partnership of the willing that we already have in Oxfordshire is going to work together.

This is what we need for the future: if you want to keep up-to-date with opportunities to get involved with Low Carbon Hub, consider signing up to our newsletter.