White paper: Juliet Davenport
"Climate change will not wait for the world's leaders to catch up, but luckily, neither will we."
Twenty years ago I was sitting in my college library in Oxford,
underwhelmed by the book in front of me. So I reached for some Sunday
newspapers that sat temptingly close to my desk and an article on climate
change - one of the earliest to appear in the mainstream press - caught my
eye. That moment would shape the rest of my life. What I discovered was
that the energy we need to sustain our lifestyle could not continue to be
produced without causing climate change, and that climate change itself
would be detrimental to our lifestyle. I realized that there needed to be a
significant shift in the technologies we used and the way we used them.
That wake up call in the library set me on a winding journey toward creating
a business that would help individuals and companies take simple, easy steps
to reduce their carbon footprint. My first move was to find out about the
science. My degree studies included atmospheric physics and, for all of the
skeptics out there, I recommend that you look at the systems and the science.
The links between the massive changes we have made to the gas composition
of our atmosphere and the changes in our climate are clear.
My next step was to study economics. While the change to the atmosphere was
the problem, it was the way energy is used as a tool for economic development
that was the cause.
Returning to the UK I was determined to make business make a difference.
My chance came in 1997 at a conference in Greece when I met Martin
Jakubowski, a true visionary. At the conference drinks evening we were both
having separate conversations about the same subject: how individuals and
businesses were the key to delivering a new energy paradigm. After overhearing
each other's conversation we turned to talk and realized we shared the same
vision. That was where it started-Martin had raised over $106 million from
private individuals in Germany who wanted to invest in a renewable energy
future. Some of this money was directed to the UK and I used it to create the
Good Energy business in 1998.
It has been a long and varied road, but Good Energy has always stuck to its
initial mission: discovering simple, effective ways for individuals and
businesses to cut their carbon footprints without major change to their
lifestyles or way of work. And our main focus after 10 years is still the same:
generating and supplying renewable electricity to customers across the UK
We think that the way we do it goes that extra mile-all of us in the
company, from software developers to billing analysts, know exactly what
we do and why we do it. Good Energy is the only 100 percent renewable
electricity supplier in the UK.
By supplying information about climate change, and showing how we can
stop it, Good Energy empowers people to become part of the solution.
Through our website and our newsletters we offer practical information,
often through the stories of customers and power generators who are
pioneering ways of green living and green business.
Twenty years on from that epiphany in the library, I am happy with what I,
and Good Energy, have achieved. Personally, I believe that the world
leadership of tomorrow will come from the innovators and pioneers. Already
in the US, consumers across the country are embracing renewable energy,
unlike the boys in the White House. Across the Atlantic, European leaders are
also being left behind. Climate change will not wait for them to catch up, but
luckily, neither will we.
What do you think?
I believe global warming will not be taken seriously until people see an impact on their own lives and habitat. It is curious to me that no one has publicized a map of the future U.S. without the 250 feet high land that will be gone if all the ice melts as is forecast. That info alone may shock everyone as to what is happening. I believe our fearless leaders would not let such info be published. I wish you good luck in all your efforts. This subject has been a major concern to me as I have seen major changes in the environment in my lifetime (76 years).
The information I have only begun to gather and notice only calls for more attention. My focus is reciprocating the same ideas to Kenya, my home country. Keep up the good work.
Increasing demand of energy and the rapid exploitation of fossil fuels has made man think about alternative energy and I think Good Energy is a classic example of creating a clean renewable energy. I think this model of energy creation should be followed in all developed and developing nations. I would personally like to start a business like Good Energy in my city too.
Very interesting, challenging and a wake up call to everyone, especially those in Nigeria, to begin to embrace this new idea of alternative sources to energy, thereby contributing to climate change.
