“There’s huge potential for lasting, skilled jobs in green industries” says CEO of CAT, Adrian Ramsay
“We simply cannot keep pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and expect life to continue as normal.”
Adrien Ramsay,
Chief Executive of the Centre for Alternative Technology
March 2016, BERLIN - When he decided to join the Green Party at 16 years old, Adrian Ramsay felt it was the right space for him to contribute to tackle environmental issues with strong and coherent policies. Former Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wale, Ramsay became, in 2014, the Chief Executive of the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT). Situated in Wales, this education and visitor centre demonstrates practical solutions for sustainability and covers all aspects of green living. I spoke with Ramsay about his work with CAT and his view on the future of renewables.
What is the Centre for Alternative Technology and what are its missions?
The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) is an environmental education and research centre, based in Wales in the UK.
Our mission is to inspire, inform and enable people in practical solutions for sustainable living. We do this through a range of different activities, including a visitor centre open to the public, school visits and outreach work, postgraduate courses and vocational training, and a free information service for people who want to make changes in their own homes and communities.
We cover a wide variety of sustainability issues, from renewable energy and green building to woodland management and organic growing. Our Zero Carbon Britain project looks at ways of getting to net zero greenhouse gas emissions using technology available today.
What sort of projects are you currently developing at the Centre for Alternative Technology?
At the moment, we’re introducing some new displays and training areas in biomass heating. This will help us to train biomass installers, and will be used as an experimental area for students in our Renewable Energy and the Built Environment MSc programme. By providing working examples of technologies for students to learn from, we can make sure that we’re providing them with the real-world skills they need to get started in a career in the renewable industry.
Another example of the ‘living laboratory’ principle is our use of experimental materials and methods in our green buildings. For instance, we have students working on MSc projects and PhD theses using data from our buildings – including studies into hemp and binder insulation, rammed earth, straw-bale buildings, solar thermal, biomass, and more.
What does a typical day look like at the Centre for Alternative Technology?
I’m not sure we have such a thing as a typical day! During the school holidays, when our visitor centre is at its busiest, you might see children learning about renewable energy by building solar-powered boats and watching them speed across our ponds. When our postgraduate students are here, you’ll hear snippets of animated conversation about solutions to climate change, or you’ll see them setting up experiments in solar tracking or building innovative structures as they learn about sustainable materials and methods. There might be a school group staying in our self-contained Eco Cabins, exploring environmental issues in an immersive learning environment. We also hire out our venue for events – so last weekend a couple got married at CAT. No two days are the same.
Why is it so important to develop renewable energy globally, and why is it such an “emergency” to shift our energy systems?
Climate change makes it not just important but essential that we get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the second half of this century. We simply cannot keep pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and expect life to continue as normal. We are already seeing the effects of the global temperature rise – in the UK we’ve experienced increasingly extreme weather patterns, with record rainfall causing flooding up and down the country. Around the world, food supplies are being disrupted, homes are being ruined and lives are already being lost because of our changing climate. If emissions continue on their current trajectory, things will get much, much worse.
So we need to find workable solutions. We need to ‘power down’ our energy use, and we do this by retrofitting our housing stock to make homes and businesses more energy efficient, by transforming our food systems to reduce emissions from agriculture, and by changing the way we travel, including a significant reduction in aviation. At the same time, we need to ‘power up’ our clean energy supplies, investing in the technologies that will help us get to zero. In the UK, we have a great wind resource, and could meet this reduced energy demand through a combination of off-shore and on-shore wind, solar energy, hydro-power and UK-sourced biomass.
CAT’s Zero Carbon Britain: Rethinking the Future report explores a scenario that would result in net zero greenhouse gas emissions, using only technology available today – it’s a scenario that ensures that the lights stay on and that we don’t have to sacrifice too many of our comforts. Similar scenarios have been developed for countries all over the world, and we’ve brought all of these together in our Who’s Getting Ready for Zero? report to show that we already have the technology to create a climate safe future.
What are the main challenges that society has faced since you have worked in the field?
The latest phase in CAT’s Zero Carbon Britain research project looks at the social, economic and political barriers to getting to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, and explores how we can overcome these. There are clearly many challenges to be met, but the problem is far from insurmountable – our research has shown that it’s possible to get there using technology available today, but what is lacking is the political will.
In the UK, the current government is systematically dismantling support for renewable energy, particularly on-shore wind. At the same time, they’re encouraging fracking and new nuclear. It’s definitely a challenging policy environment for the renewable energy industry. Germany seems to be streets ahead of the UK in this area.
How much faith can we place in renewables today? Are there unreasonable expectations on the future of renewable energy?
I think it can be dangerous to portray renewable energy as a ‘magic bullet’ for climate change. It’s a very important part of the solution, but it’s far from the only part. If we are to tackle climate change, we need to tackle over-consumption; we need to use less energy. I think most people who support renewables recognise this.
According to you, how could a green economy stimulate jobs and the economy overall?
There’s huge potential for lasting, skilled jobs in green industries. Whether it’s insulating homes, installing renewable energy systems, running local repair and reuse schemes or working on an integrated public transport system, the green industries we need for the future could provide millions of new jobs across Europe. The economy needs to operate within the natural limits of the planet so focusing efforts on creating work in areas which help preserve natural resources and use renewable energy is the way to create sustainable jobs.
For more information on CAT, including courses in renewable energy, please see www.cat.org.uk or email info@cat.org.uk.