Forum Topic

Film about Raising the Money and Creating Solar Power in a London Street

https://power.film/pages/screen-the-film?kuid=cbace717-5267-469a-87d6-b6a2ea8950ec-1760472345&lid=50529&kref=SuFBK2wxhloQThis is about the couple who camped on the roof of their terraced home in Walthamstow and engaged their street in raising money to put solar panels on their street.It has been in the press and you can watch the film online or in cinemas all across the UK and further afield.  You can also request a showing of the film and watch as more dots for the screenings appear all over the map.  Some screenings also have Q&As with the film makers and other involved people.

Philippa Bond ● 33d20 Comments

We've often passed this converted silk mill with its hydropower:https://www.hallidayshydropower.com/casestudy/dandridges-mill/and there is another one in at Totnes Weir:https://tresoc.co.uk/project/totneshydro/

Philippa Bond ● 2d

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz947djd3d3oThere is also a new geothermal plant in Cornwall - the UK's first:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewzg77k721o

Philippa Bond ● 4d

Head of Centrica now joins in, to tell Miliband to pull his trews up:https://www.agcc.co.uk/news-article/british-gas-boss-urges-rethink-on-north-sea-drillingMiliband of course now runs the government and is intent on throwing a wrecking ball at the entire economy to fulfill his extreme green ideals

Davy Jones ● 5d

I remember years ago seeing solar panels for sale in a Spanish supermarket.  Well the temperature has been heating up here and technology has improved and they say all you need is daylight...  So now looking forward to more information on how to heat, cool and ventilate our homes sustainably!And Futurebuild is also now coming up fast again.

Philippa Bond ● 5d

https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/churchcare/advice-and-guidance-church-buildings/renewable-energy

Philippa Bond ● 7d

https://stjohnswaterloo.org/the-story-solar/If you can't copy and paste the link - you can Google the church or Google "Cathedrals with Solar Roofs".Salisbury Cathedral is just one of many cathedrals now to have solar arrays on their roofs.We should and could have been doing this ages ago.

Philippa Bond ● 7d

To be fair, there is a hell of a lot of info in the article that was linked to, but a couple of take aways.The UK privatised its oil industry while Norway didn't.The revenues from privatisation in the UK were used to fund tax cuts, but at the expense of loss of future potential income.Population of UK a lot larger than Norway's ( more than 10x)Norway is high tax, UK is low tax.Interesting comment about the EU which I'll cut and paste:Interestingly both Norway and the UK have had referendums to reject membership of the European Union. Ironically, the voting majority was almost identical 48:52. Yet, there was a huge divergence between the two countries on what independence from the EU meant. Norway has taken a very practical approach, joining the single market, customs union, and having near economic harmonisation. The UK took a 52:48 vote to go the other extreme, leaving the single market, and customs union. It’s another factor that has hampered UK economic growth in recent years.

Andrew Jones ● 10d

To be fair, there is a hell of a lot of info in the article that was linked to, but a couple of take aways.The UK privatised its oil industry while Norway didn't.The revenues from privatisation in the UK were used to fund tax cuts, but at the expense of loss of future potential income.Population of UK a lot larger than Norway's ( more than 10x)Norway is high tax, UK is low tax.Interesting comment about the EU which I'll cut and paste:Interestingly both Norway and the UK have had referendums to reject membership of the European Union. Ironically, the voting majority was almost identical 48:52. Yet, there was a huge divergence between the two countries on what independence from the EU meant. Norway has taken a very practical approach, joining the single market, customs union, and having near economic harmonisation. The UK took a 52:48 vote to go the other extreme, leaving the single market, and customs union. It’s another factor that has hampered UK economic growth in recent years.

Andrew Jones ● 10d

I just looked Octopus up. "Take charge of your electricity bills with solar and battery"  was the first thing I saw.What's the problem with finding out more?There are lots of solar energy companies.  Which?  rates them and will also rate other companies.  I expect there's also an alternative to Which?I didn't advertise any particular solar company in my  original post.  I can't make someone's decisions for them.  They need to do that for themselves but they can also find out more for themselves. If people just looked around them they would find out that there are photo voltaic solar cells on roofs around them.  Technology changes and improves over the years.  They have become cheaper (although the problems of the Straits of Hormuz may change that as well). Start my just taking the opportunity to find out more! 

Philippa Bond ● 10d

Here's Greg Jackson of Octopus energy, bit of. Green.Britain is “staring down the barrel” of another energy crisis.“Global gas prices have doubled since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, and UK wholesale electricity prices are up about 50pc,” “Hikes in energy prices are bad enough, but they feed through to inflation, which in turn raises interest rates, compounding the economic damage.“The UK needs more sovereign energy, and this requires practical, pragmatic decisions. Ideology, wishful thinking, nostalgia and culture wars don’t provide actual solutions. We should use what’s available from the North Sea.“While the price is set globally, there’s no point shipping gas from the other side of the world when we have it here.”and“We shouldn’t be paying billions for expensive distractions,” - such as Net Zero

Davy Jones ● 10d

Philippa Can you not post a short rundown rather than links? If everyone kept posting links, everything would fall apart

Julian Pavey ● 10d

Oops:  Meant to post this - on the difference between what Norway did and the UK did.https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/214768/economics/norway-uk-oil/

Philippa Bond ● 10d

https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/2026/global-energy-markets-hold-the-key-to-climate-action/

Philippa Bond ● 10d

The point of the North Sea is not cheaper energy for us, but it does put back billions in tax revenue lost in not giving new licenses, and it supplies thousands of jobs in Scotland that have been lost. 70,000 jobs gone in the last 20 years, but now they say 1000 jobs are being lost every month.

Julian Pavey ● 10d

The question is, what would the price of get the production facilities back up or setting up new production facilities be?Gas production was on its way down before net zero became a thing, which I guess may have something to do with it not being as profitable as it was previously and/or it being cheaper to import your gas.Gas has shot up in price, which means opening up the north sea for gas would be more viable now - if the price remains elevated. But, if the gas price goes back down, then who will buy the presumably more expensive UK originated gas?If our gas is more expensive then we aren't going to sell it to others, so the UK will be subsidising it, increasing costs to the population of the UK.Now that might be a price the UK is prepared to pay for energy security, but in the previous era of cheap gas that may not have gone down so well?Just thinking aloud really, drill baby drill is a very simplistic one liner quote from someone we have increasingly recognised to be a military and strategic genius, and I doubt it's quite that simple.

Andrew Jones ● 10d

But what's in the North Sea is all sold on the world market.https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/2026/global-energy-markets-hold-the-key-to-climate-action/

Philippa Bond ● 10d

Let's dump Net Zero and these 'alt fads' and open up the North Sea again. Lots left!https://news.sky.com/story/north-sea-oil-is-it-time-to-reconsider-drilling-13520893

Davy Jones ● 10d

The number of screenings continues all around the country and others:If you want a screening near you - get in touch with them.The map is filling up with colour as the film showings (many with Q&As and more) move around from place to place.Right now with the problems in the Straits of Hormuz we are reminded of how much we rely on oil and gas - and right here is an alternative way of creating energy.

Philippa Bond ● 11d

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/29/power-station-review-solar-power-and-solidarity-on-a-walthamstow-street

Philippa Bond ● 30d

Here's the write-up for the film when it was shown ar ActOne cinema in Acton:https://actforealing.org/2025/10/05/actone-cinema-a-screening-of-powerstation-on-thursday-9th-october-2025/

Philippa Bond ● 32d