The clean energy ambassador

14 May 2013

How did you come to work in renewables?

I'd been involved for a number of years in sustainability, working first in the food industry and then at the Soil Association. I was already interested in green energy but not so informed about it. So I decided I'd like to come and work for Dale Vince, the Founder of Ecotricity, to learn more and be able to share my learning with more people generally.

What does your job involve?

We're a little bit different, I suppose, to most companies. As Ambassador I work on helping promote our 'Green Britain' vision, which is about enhancing sustainable energy, transport and food activity. I deliver and project manage our campaign work, organise our events and run our two charities: the Green Britain Foundation and Sustainability in Sport, for Dale and Gary Neville, the footballer. I'm also helping our Football Club, Forest Green Rovers FC, be even greener than it is already. In essence I sit alongside other people's departments and support them in various ways.

'Ambassador' is quite a strange job title. What do people think about it?

I think most of them understand it's a kind of information sharing role but they usually say "Ooh, that's quite a good title". It's a bit of a catchall title, which means you can do what you need to do. It is quite unusual. A lot people say "Oh I'd quite like to be one of those", or "It'd be good to have one of those in our business". It is unusual but then Ecotricity is a slightly different company to most. We don't see ourselves as a corporate; we're a company that just gets on and does stuff and whoever needs to do something, does it. I'm one of those people.

Ecotricity's Helen Taylor and Dale Vince with Head of Nissan Electric Vehicles Paul O'Neill (c) Ecotricity

Why do you support clean British energy?

Ecotricity generates green energy from the wind and the sun. We aim to produce as much power as we can and sell it to customers who want UK-produced green energy - which is over 70,000 so far. Obviously we want to make a profit, but we see the bigger picture. There isn't an endless supply of fossil fuels available to keep burning; there has to be shift. I probably won't see the benefit of all the work we're doing because the impact will be longer term. It's the next generation who will be affected. They'll be faced with a different kind of world, with far fewer natural resources available. We should all be questioning how we will keep the lights on and heat our homes in the future.

Why do you back a clean power target?

Whether or not there's a target we'll battle on and continue to build as many windmills and sun mills as we can. But if a clean power target is set within the Energy Bill obviously this should inspire more people to get behind green energy. More people will (hopefully) want windmills here in the UK; they'll want to generate more of their own green energy if they can. And they'll probably understand the importance of it to a greater degree if the Government is backing it as well.

What do you like doing when you're not working?

I find it difficult to switch off, so I like being outside; I have my own allotment. I also like cooking, seeing friends and generally doing stuff everyone else likes to do. But I get very driven by meeting people who I think, if they knew a little bit about the issues, could really help change how things are. So, in a nice way, my leisure time slips into my work time and vice versa sometimes. That's not a bad thing.

Are you green at home?

I think you naturally are when you're so close to the issues. I only work 4 days a week for Ecotricity and I spend my 5th day supporting sustainability projects, quite often working with food. I like to spend time with people that I like being with, who need perhaps a little bit of help to get something off the ground or through to completion. The environment is a really friendly sector to be part of - my contacts are my friends, and I like that.

Feeling inspired? If you want to see more clean British energy, ask your MP to support a clean power target now.