http://www.rtcc.org/energy/comment-can-one-man-alone-drive-the-green-revolution/

 

Tom Youngman, a young climate activist from South West England, reflects on his meeting with Dale Vince, the CEO of Ecotricity, the world's first green electricity company and now the UK's leading dedicated green energy supplier. 

 

It is a time of change in the energy sector. This does not happen often: it has only really happened twice, the First and Second Industrial Revolutions.

Confronted by climate change, resource depletion and growing demand for electricity, the development of renewable energy and more intelligent methods of distribution (the 'smart grid') is essential.

Dale Vince, and his company Ecotricity, is one of a generation of entrepreneurs participating in this transition.

Ecotricity currently has 53 wind turbines and sees itself rising to become the 'Big Seventh' energy supplier to challenge the UK's traditional 'Big Six' utilities.

However with 65,000 customers and only capacity to power 32,300 homes, it is clear that this vision is a long way off: their Big Six rivals each have over 5 million customers.

Vince dismisses other green energy companies - describing his nearest renewable supply rival, Good Energy, as "not in it for the long term" - implying that his company alone will be the driving force behind the transformation of the British energy industry.

This is a mighty ambition for both Dale Vince and Ecotricity. It is important to understand that in many respects Vince and his company are one and the same. Ecotricity's publicity proudly describes it as having "no shareholders". In fact it has one: Dale Vince.

Vince made it clear in our discussions that he is the boss, stating: "I make the decisions. I set the strategy of the company."

Founded on the climate fight

To assess Ecotricity, one must assess Dale Vince.

Vince's clarity of purpose for Ecotricity is striking.

"Climate change has been there for us from the beginning. The choice of electricity for us as something to tackle, was because it's the single biggest source of carbon emissions in Britain, responsible for about 30% - it seemed sensible to me to tackle the biggest issue," Vince explained.

Ecotricity's foundation, according to Vince, was a calculated result of questioning how best to tackle climate change. Vince recalled the company's description of themselves from their early days: "We were environmentalists doing business, we weren't a business doing the environment."

This mantra appears still true for Vince. Rather than being a hindrance, it appears that the company's strong ethical values drive both Vince and Ecotricity to success - a lesson that many businesses would do well to observe. Vince is clear about the grand scope of these aims: "I started Ecotricity to change the world, I didn't start it to make money."

Vince seems to attempt to redefine the cliché of a 'hard-headed' businessman: he possesses the stubbornness of an entrepreneur but shows that success in business can be defined by more than the simple pursuit of profit.

His stubbornness was obvious throughout our conversation. One of the first questions I asked - for my own benefit, as much as anything - was what advice he would give to a young person thinking of starting a green business. His response: "One of my favourite pieces of advice is, don't take advice. That's important."

Vince credits much of his success to his stubbornness, as he explained: "I'm not a person that likes to be told something can't be done or that I can't do it. I'm not saying that drove me on, but I just refused to accept other people's view."

"Back in the day, the early 90s, the common thing that everybody said to me was 'what is green electricity?' - they didn't know the concept - 'who's going to want it?' and 'you'll never be able to sell it because it'll cost more money'.

"My view on that was that if we made it available, people would want it - that we would create the demand for it by making it possible... I just had my own view and wasn't deflected by other people's opinions. The fact it was something that hadn't been done before doesn't mean it can't be done."