The Carbon Co-Op is a social network that connects people who want to buy low carbon technologies together.

The project aims to help cut carbon emissions and energy use from people’s homes by bringing people from local communities together to bulk buy the renewable energy resources that they need.

When asked about the ideas behind The Carbon Co-Op Jonathan Atkinson said:
‘For a while I’ve been aware of the slow uptake of renewable energy technologies amongst households. Simply put they are too expensive. But if people clubbed together as a co-operative and bought in bulk they would be much cheaper.

I want to develop a social networking site that helps put people who want to buy low carbon technologies together. This will enable people to save money and find others in their neighbourhoods who want to reduce carbon emissions. It’s a simple idea but it has lots of potential and no one is doing it.’

With a target of cutting our carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 the Carbon Co-Op have identified that domestic energy will play a big part. ‘Everyone knows this but no one is quite sure how to do it,’ explains Jonathan.

The beauty of their idea is that it allows individual households to do it for themselves and gets over the problem that renewables are too expensive to buy because take up is low but won’t become more popular until they are cheaper.

‘Living in Hulme, South Manchester,’ inspired Jonathan to come up with this innovation. He describes: ‘Looking out of my window I imagined the potential of so many empty roofs and imaging a community self sufficient in its energy production. All that is needed is to bring people together.

www​.sicamp​.org