How smart is the government’s smart power strategy?
The government’s smart power strategy, Upgrading our energy system, unveiled yesterday, is the ultimate under the radar approach. It contains 29 deeply technocratic changes (such as “developing a Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) modification, P344”), which are combined seamlessly with the neutered language of “removing barriers” and “making markets work”. It looks boring. But don’t be fooled: if it works, this strategy will deliver radical change. But this is a big if. Read more
Small scale technologies are shaking up the existing energy paradigm, where the only consumer choice is to decide which big and distant power company to buy from. This ignores rapid developments in solar panels, onshore wind, electric vehicles (EVs) and battery storage. People are increasingly choosing to be energy owners, and are able to take back at least some control over energy production. 
This year the spring budget comes at an odd time for all things low carbon in the UK. In February, the government published its industrial strategy, setting out its clean growth aims as part of Theresa May’s flagship domestic economic policy. By the beginning of the summer, the government will produce a ‘clean growth’ plan, outlining how the UK will meet its fourth and fifth carbon budgets (covering 2023-32).
This post is by Jonathan Gaventa, director of E3G.
This post is by Paul Brockway, research fellow at the University of Leeds. He examines roles and relationships between 
This blog is by Amy Leppänen, communications assistant at Green Alliance.
Reading the news, it’s hard to know what to make of the UK’s low carbon progress. On Christmas Day we were running on 
This post first appeared as a 
John Steinbeck described the California I grew up in as ‘
Green Alliance associate 