The 361 Energy Fair is back in Barnstaple on September 29th. The 2024 event starts at 10 AM in the Pannier Market with an introduction by Ian Roome, the newly elected Liberal Democrat MP for North Devon.
To give you a better idea of what to expect, here’s a video with extracts from previous 361 energy fairs:
For the first time this year’s fair includes a series of talks on a variety of topics. Our very own Jim Hunt will be giving a presentation on the topic of “An introduction to V2x, making greater use of EV batteries”, and the emphasis will be on vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-building rather than fully fledged vehicle-to-grid.
I had high hopes for what I dubbed the “South West Powerhouse” back in 2015, when I attended the launch of Molly Scott Cato’s “The Power to Transform the South West” report in Glastonbury. Here’s Molly, the then Green Party MEP for South West England, describing that vision from the podium:
After the presentations were over I bumped into a researcher from the University of Exeter, who didn’t look very well. I enquired after his health, and he explained that it wasn’t a physical problem. It had just been announced that the then Conservative / Lib Dem coalition Government had published its so called “Productivity Plan“, which claimed to be:
Creating a more prosperous nation.
The plan included the following weasel words:
The government does not intend to proceed with the zero carbon Allowable Solutions carbon offsetting scheme, or the proposed 2016 increase in on-site energy efficiency standards.
An unfortunate side effect of the cunning Conservative plan was that the vehicle-to-grid pilot project at South West Exeter that I’d just been discussing with Molly was instantly consigned to the recycle bin of history. Hence I wrote the first of several subsequent “open letters” to Mel Stride, recent candidate for leadership of the Conservative Party and my then Member of Parliament:
Much more recently I found myself on stage at the Everything Electric North event in Harrogate, where I exhorted to audience to “get out and vote!”, a message echoed by presenter Robert Llewellyn:
