Energy and Waste

Develop a county-wide renewable energy strategy that would:

• Identify where and how each type of onshore and offshore renewable energy technology could be facilitated through local action, including green gas
• Support for the community energy sector
• Provide advice to consumers on choosing an effective green electricity tariff
• Determine how all new buildings could be made to include solar panels
• Link to building retrofit schemes to promote renewable heating and electricity solutions
• Develop local opportunities for storage and flexibility services
• Encourage the use of waste heat from Energy from Waste installations
• Ensure no local support for new fossil-fuel generation
• Encourage district heating in new development and retrofit
• Engage with key landowners to generate power on their land

Produce a county-wide waste and resources management strategy that would:

• Introduce a county-wide recycling system that operates the same in each area
• Penalise poor recyclers, alongside an enhanced education campaign
• Provide support for more repair cafes to encourage reuse
• Enhance resale and reuse facilities at household waste recycling centres, perhaps through involving charities
• Educate people about the impact of unnecessary consumption by product type, e.g. electronics, fashion, beauty
• Introduce a deposit return scheme on bottles
• Promote the sharing economy by copying the “Totnes Libraries of Things” model
• Introduce carbon capture and storage technology on the Energy from Waste installations to produce lime-based fertiliser and aggregate
• Produce biochar from the pyrolysis of degradable waste to sequester carbon as a soil enhancer
• Enhance the use of anaerobic digestion

More nuclear power generation capacity

• Introduce policies to limit the human population

• Enhance resilience and capacity of the National Grid and Local Distribution Networks
• Remove the effective ban on onshore wind energy within the National Planning Policy Framework
• Offer demonstrators in Devon of Carbon Capture and Storage technology on industrial facilities
• Review Part L of the Building Regulations to require new and refurbished hotels to use key-card switches on the electrical circuits within individual rooms

• Legislate on the materials that are permitted for packaging to limit it to materials that are easily reusable and recyclable and to minimise single-use plastics
• Reduce product obsolescence, perhaps by requiring companies to offer minimum warranty periods or lease option
• All waste should be collected free of charge by local councils to avoid fly tipping
• Shift financial onus of disposal back to producer to enforce lifecycle consideration
• Drive refunding schemes for recycling to transition to circular economy

• Improve carbon literacy so that carbon footprints can be compiled alongside financial accounts and then carbon intensity can be considered within decision making

• Rationalise streetlights and illuminated signs, bollard and furniture
• All buildings to have solar panels fitted