Every type of energy has its own storage issues, but perhaps the hardest challenge is to store electricity. As the proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources increases, the problem of storing it grows too. For example, a solar panel on a roof generates electricity during daylight hours, but we might need that electricity at night (for lights especially). So it is common to use solar panels (or any other intermittent renewable energy device) with batteries that can store a limited amount of electricity for use later on. Unfortunately this tends to work less well for high-demand appliances such as fridges, washing machines and kettles, because the sheer amount of electricity they need would require a really large bank of batteries. New technologies such as fuel cells may create ways to convert this electricity in to hydrogen during times of plenty and then back in to electricity when electricity is needed, but there are efficiency and cost barriers to this that still need to be overcome. - Description added by: David Lockie

Renewable and alternative energy sources are set to play an increasingly important role in providing the electricity, heat, cooling and fuels that society needs. There is a wide range of energy sources such as solar (both photovoltaic and solar thermal), wind, bio-fuels and biomass, hydro-electric, geothermal and heat pumps. - Description added by: David Lockie

The most important groups of fuels are fossil fuels, bio-fuels, hydrogen and nuclear fuel (uranium). Of these fuels, only bio-fuels and hydrogen are strictly renewable, but in both cases, this really depends on the energy source used to produce it. We have traditionally been heavily dependent on fossil fuels (first coal, then oil and now natural gas) and more recently on nuclear power. In the future, we will need a more sustainable range of fuels for all potential uses. New technologies such as fuel cells may require a wider range of fuels (e.g. hydrogen) and widen the range of applications for which fuels may be used (e.g. methanol-fuelled fuel cells to power laptops). There are many controversial topics surrounding fuels, from carbon emissions and climate change through the potential for bio-fuel crops to compete with food crops to the whole debate around nuclear power generation. - Description added by: David Lockie

Communities consist of homes, businesses and sometimes industrial concerns, with infrastructure like health care, transport, communications, government and utilities. Many decisions about low carbon need to be considered at the community level in order to ensure that ‘joined-up thinking’ is applied to the process. Click the picture to the right to explore our interactive community environment. - Description added by: David Lockie