Global experts will explain how we can speed up the switch to sustainable at WIRED and Octopus Energy’s Energy Tech Summit
Right now, the way the climate crisis is being handled feels like we’re stuck in a holding pattern. We’re waiting for some new revelation—say, progressive regulation or a miraculous, silver-bullet-like technology that will erase all trace of carbon emission from our atmosphere. But we actually already have all the components required for practical solutions—they just need to be harnessed.
Green energy is inherently innovative, and there’s a lot of untapped potential in the technology we’ve already invented. One company recognizing that potential is Octopus Energy, and it made this clear when it called for Zero Bills to be standard for all new homes built in the UK. The British energy provider is already fitting homes with the correct insulation, battery storage, solar panels, and electric heating systems—all well-established green technologies—so the new owners don’t have to pay a thing for their power, because their household energy consumption is outweighed by the amount their houses generate and export. The first of these zero-bill homes are up and running right now in Essex, and Octopus expects to establish more than 10,000 others over the next seven years.
Octopus Energy is investing in wind and solar around the world—including in the UK.
The power of this approach lies not in inventing new hardware, but in embracing a fresh perspective. Octopus combined multiple technologies and property partners to—quite literally—give these established innovations new power.
On a global scale, energy startup Xlinks is preparing to soup-up solar panels with its Morocco-UK Power Project. The goal of the £18bn scheme, part-funded by Octopus, is to generate energy through a London-sized solar and wind farm that Xlinks is building on the Sahara Desert, and to send it back to the UK through four, 3,800km-long undersea cables. It may sound audacious, but again, the technology isn’t the moonshot-type-innovation we’ve been waiting for some mad scientist to come up with—it’s attainable via solar panels, wind turbines, and (albeit really long) cables. In fact, it bears a similarity to World War Two’s Operation Pluto, where submarine pipelines were laid across the English Channel to send power (in the form of petrol) over from Europe—proof that a great, innovative idea doesn’t have to be made up of all shiny new parts.
When Xlinks’ Morocco-UK Power Project is set up, the 13 million solar panels and 530 wind turbines will generate enough energy to power 7 million homes in the UK, while also creating 10,000 jobs in Morocco.
Greg Jackson, founder and CEO of Octopus Energy.
This change in perspective to think about solving problems in terms of the tech we already have is exciting because it’s feasible. We no longer need to wait for far-fetched solutions—we can actually act now. And, as more businesses get involved and this becomes the norm, Octopus Energy founder Greg Jackson claims that “the green energy revolution will be bigger than the internet”.
To delve deeper into this new way of thinking about green energy and explore its opportunities, Octopus Energy and WIRED are hosting the Energy Tech Summit. This one-day event will bring together global leaders from the energy and tech worlds to show how global decarbonization can be achieved at pace, highlighting the role that everything from hardware and software to politics and behavioral science can play in that process.
Attendees will hear from speakers examining green energy from all angles. Dragon and green-business-enthusiast Deborah Meaden will share her expertise alongside hacker and tech whizz Pablos Holman, European Space agency astronaut Tim Peake, Octopus founder Greg Jackson, and WIRED’s Greg Williams—plus many more to be announced over the coming weeks. Topics will vary from the innovations coming out of developing regions and alternative approaches to wind and solar power already being worked on by entrepreneurs, to sessions explaining how tangible technologies can make real change in established industries.
The Energy Tech Summit will be hosted at Outernet London, an immersive events space in the capital, on September 14. All ticket sales income will be passed to National Energy Action, a national charity working to end fuel poverty in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Don’t miss the chance to be part of this groundbreaking event set to inspire new approaches to Net Zero. Join WIRED and Octopus Energy at the Energy Tech Summit and together, let’s unleash the potential of today’s energy tech for a greener tomorrow.
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