UtILItY WeeK | 14th - 20th November 2014 |
9
Interview
H
ave you got any idea of the energy footprint is of
an email with an average-sized attachment? Did
you even know an email had a carbon footprint?
If you didn't, you are not alone. According to Lord
Redesdale, chief executive of the Energy Managers Asso-
ciation (EMA): "Most people are fairly ignorant about the
energy cost of computing." He thinks most folk would
be surprised to learn that computing has overtaken
aerospace as the sector with the world's highest carbon
dioxide emissions.
Redesdale, a life peer and long-standing Liberal
Democrat who has spoken for the party on a brace of
issues including energy, has a wide interest in utilities.
As well as his current role running the EMA, he has had
a hand in many key pieces of legislation, including the
Water Act 2014, and the Energy and Climate Change
Acts. Today, he meets Utility Week to publicise Emex, the
EMA's annual exhibition at the Excel centre in London
on 19-20 November, and share his wider reflections on
the sector.
Redesdale explains his wide-ranging interest in
energy and resource efficiency as a Damascene moment:
"I became terribly worried about climate change," he
says simply. "I think this happens to a lot of people as
they reach middle age. You suddenly go 'oh my god
we're all going to die!' and you fear for your children."
Since waking up to the severity of the threat posed
by climate change, Redesdale has been a disciple of a
number of environmental and energy causes. "I've been
through the full climate change journey," he admits.
"First I believed that micro-generation was going to save
the world – it really isn't." Then came convictions about
distributed energy and nuclear.
Now Redesdale appreciates that the solutions to such
a giant problem will be complex. "Everyone is looking
for a silver bullet," he sighs. "But providing energy for a
developed society is much more complicated than that.
We're going to need a bit of everything."
Redesdale is doing his bit, working on multiple
fronts. He is a strong advocate for water efficiency and
