Ecotricity as our Platinum Sponsor for GEI17
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A Shared Ambition
Since we were founded almost 30 years ago, our mission has been simple: ending the use of fossil fuels.
That has taken us on quite the journey. As an energy company, we started out with the aim of bringing green energy to businesses and households in Britain. Our founder, Dale Vince OBE, founded Ecotricity in 1995, and built our first windmill in 1996 on a hill near Stroud
Since then, we’ve been using the profits from our customers’ bills to build new sources of green energy ourselves – as we like to say, we’re turning bills into mills. We now own and operate 24 wind parks across Britain (home to 74 windmills), three sun parks (with a combined capacity of 17.5MW) and our new green gasmill, which is now pumping green gas – made from grass – into the local grid.
As the world wakes up to the scale of the climate crisis, the wider Green Britain Group, spearheaded by Dale, has also been exploring ways to decarbonise the transport and food sectors, while also making room for nature.
For example, with transport, we built Britain's first national charging network in 2011 – the Electric Highway. In food, Devil's Kitchen, launched in 2019, now provides plant-based food for over 4,500 schools across the country. Then our mobile network, Ecotalk, uses money from bills to give the earth back to nature.
In all these sectors, we have wanted to showcase that there is another way to the business-as-usual model that is often fossil fuel-driven. This is what has brought us together with A Greener Future – a group that shares our mission for a future without fossil fuels and has done revolutionary work in decarbonising the events sector.
Most recently, we’ve worked together on pioneering the Grid Faeries batteries for live music events. We knew that the UK festival scene could not go on burning millions of litres of diesel annually - just to make electricity. After a successful summer powering the Arcadia Dragonfly stage at Glastonbury, the Charlie Gillett stage at WOMAD and Massive Attack’s show on Bristol’s Clifton Downs, we are now moving our shared mission forward.
Our next chapter will see us come together to support the initiatives developed by Liverpool as the world’s first ‘Accelerator City’ for climate action. This status recognises the city’s impressive commitment to innovation and smart regulation to rapidly decarbonise the live music and TV/Film production sectors, which make up a major part of the Merseyside economy.
There will be a year of activity embedding green technology into Liverpool; at Ecotricity we will be partnering with the city every step of the way, and we’re excited to expand our relationship with A Greener Future as part of this.
First up, there will be three nights of concerts at the Liverpool Arena from 28 to 30 November, which will coincide with a two-day expo (expeditions) showcasing green solutions for creative sectors. Expedition 1 on 29 November will be targeted at the business community, and the event on 30 November will showcase the solutions to the public.
We look forward to seeing you there to discuss more about our partnership with A Greener Future and how we’re making our shared vision a reality. There is another way. Want to know more, then visit: ecotricity.co.uk
