Welcome to the blog for the Cambridgeshire Renewables Infrastructure Framework. This will be the place where the team running the CRIF project talks about what we’re doing. It’s our voice in a conversation about how we maximise Cambridgeshire’s potential to generate renewable energy.
Before we say anything else, it might help if we explain just a bit about what CRIF is and what will be happening.
What is CRIF?
It’s a project to examine all the opportunities we have in the county to generate renewable energy.
It will:-
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Map where we use energy in the county.
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Identify the places where we could generate more power using renewable methods, including solar panels, wind turbines and biomass combined heat and power plants.
Cambridgeshire Horizons has been appointed to deliver CRIF. There are lots of things that need to be done, but perhaps the most important is ensuring that everyone who lives and works in Cambridgshire understands what is happening and can take part in shaping the framework.
When we say ‘taking part’ we mean being able to play an active role in identifying where we can develop new energy generation for your own community.
Why is CRIF happening?
Cambridgeshire, in line with UK Government policy, needs to maximise its energy-generating potential as we move from an economy reliant on coal, gas and oil to one that includes a much greater use of renewable generation.
Please note: CRIF isn’t a debate about whether that’s a good thing. It is a conversation about how best to get there.
What are we doing?
Along with the blog, we’re planning a series of events that will start that conversation. The first one will be on Wednesday May 25 with more planned. Some of them will be big, like May 25, and others will be smaller as we move throughout the county.
Outside the events, there will be the chance to talk online about how we maximise our use of renewable energy. We don’t expect people to do anything on this website, though.
We know that people are already using local websites, online forums and social media to talk about the issues that are important to them. We’ll be using a tool – called Citizenscape (coming soon) – to bring these voices together, along with those that aren’t online, into a single place where you’ll be able to see the debate develop and offer up answers to that central question: how do we maximise our use of renewable power generation to provide the county with the cheapest, cleanest and most secure energy we can?
That, then, is about it. At least for now. The next post will be about the event and what we’re planning. Stay tuned.
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As we are about to become totally self-suffient in gas for at least the next 60 years why are you troubling to do all this?
Thanks for your comment, Philip. In brief, the CRIF was established to examine the opportunities for renewable energy in the county.
You can see more about some of the thinking behind that here: http://crif.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/councillors-hear-the-facts-about-renewable-energy-potential-in-cambridgeshire/. The CRIF is really a discussion, therefore, about how that change to renewable energy can take place and what benefits it might offer.