Red Dwarf star adds stardust to eco fight
An actor and comedian gave his support to renewable energy event held in Bath.
Robert Llewellyn, who played Kryten in hit TV comedy Red Dwarf and who presents engineering gameshow Scrapheap Challenge, chaired an event in Bath on the “Past, Present and Future of Community Energy”.
Robert, inset, is a keen advocate of the transition to electric vehicles through his online Fully Charged Show.
He accepted the invitation to help a local Bath based organisation explore how we can best meet the challenge of climate change.
The event was a joint initiative between not-for-profit enterprise Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE) and people who had been involved in Comtek (community technology) events in the 1970s that focused on alternative technology, recycling and sustainable living.
The Museum of Bath at Work hosted the event to coincide with its “Bonkers but Brilliant” exhibition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bath Arts Workshop (BAW).
Alongside giving birth to the Bath Fringe and the Natural Theatre Company, BAW was also responsible for the creation of Comtek.
More than 50 people gathered to hear about the history of alternative/renewable technology locally and to explore how we can all get involved in reducing local energy demand and support the increased generation of local renewable energy.
The event organisers were especially keen to respond to the local schoolchildren who had been demonstrating their concern for their future and to support the recent Bath and North East Somerset Council declaration to make the area carbon neutral by 2030.
Brian Ford and Glyn Davies from Comtek described how their creative and do-it-yourself alternative technology events in Bath in the 1970s had gone on to influence mainstream developments in renewable energy technology.
Comtek had also been involved in saving threatened buildings for community use, including the Museum of Bath at Work itself.
Max Wakefield from national environmental organisation 10:10 Climate Action stated that concern about climate change had reached a record high as the increasingly urgent warnings from scientists had been amplified by street protests and the resulting media coverage.
He said: “It is up to all of us to harness and sustain this new climate moment to build a safe, fair and prosperous zero carbon world because we can, because things will get better if we do and because we have no practical and moral choice.”
Pete Capener from BWCE emphasised the importance of local ownership and control over energy and the resultant benefits for local communities, including in BWCE’S case £155,000 donated to local environmental projects through its Community Fund.
He said: “As a community owned company we are committed to reducing carbon emissions and delivering community benefit. But we can do little by ourselves. We need local people to help us, become members and invest in local renewable energy projects.”