From Christopher Jessop
How can the scientific and business communities combat the widespread misuse of the term “renewable energy”?
The subject of Renewable Energy: Practicalities, the House of Lords report reviewed by Jenny Hogan and Philip Cohen, was in fact renewable electricity. This is a clear demonstration of the UK’s civil service using “renewable energy” to refer only to electricity from renewable resources.
But this is far from being the only or even the most significant form of renewable energy in global terms. It is time for renewable heat to be brought out of the shadows. It has been a poor relation for far too long: the UK should fall in line with the rest of northern Europe and start to realise the enormous potential for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions offered by heat pumps, heat from biofuels, solar thermal systems, and so on. Nor should we ignore the home and export market potential for wind pumps, wind-heat conversion, hydraulic rams, hydraulic air compressors…
The phrase “renewable energy” must be extended to mean renewable energy – in all its manifestations.
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Marloes, Pembrokeshire, UK
