In the U.K., Community Renewable Energy Pushes for More Power
Buoyed by Pope Francis’ new encyclical, community groups have been trying to tackle climate change on their own. But they’re not having an easy time.
Joe Nixon remembers when the hopeful, festival atmosphere of the anti-fracking demonstrations two summers ago in Balcombe disappeared.
Riot police surrounded the oil drilling site 30 miles south of London to fend off protesters. "I thought the police were supposed to be on our side, daddy," Nixon's daughter remarked.
After drilling one exploratory well in 2013, the energy company, Cuadrilla Resources, stopped the project. It was a victory for Nixon and the others. And a larger accomplishment came later, when a new source of energy popped up in Balcombe. Sixty-nine solar panels now crown a local barn rooftop. It’s the first step by Nixon and his neighbors to turn the village to 100 percent renewable energy, and to go from protesting one
