WHO ARE WE?

We are Daniel Edelstyn and Hilary Powell, an artist / film-maker turned activists husband and wife duo. We instigate and power this but this is a big and growing collaboration as seen on the Power People page of this site.

WHAT DO WE DO?

The single best way to get a good handle on us and the sort of “artivist” and socially embedded art projects we run is to watch our last film Bank Job. Whilst we should as indie film makers be attempting to monetize this wherever possible, we feel the topics covered in both Bank Job and POWER are too important to be behind a paywall. So we have made the full film available for free when you sign up for free membership.

WHAT ARE YOU SPECIFICALLY DOING WITH POWER?

We are looking to retrofit (start with solar and insulation) a London terrace street and use it as a way of prompting street by street action at a grassroots level. A key argument is that this should be happening at a national scale led by Government but as it isn’t…. Simultaneously we will be documenting all of this, resulting in a full length feature documentary and a series of “how to” tools that will hopefully be of use to anyone inspired to attempt similar projects. Alongside this we are working with 9 partner organisations, each in their own way picking up pieces of broken economic and social models to kickstart a sort of local “Green New Deal”.

HOW DO I KNOW THIS ISN’T A SCAM?

Again, watching Bank Job is the single best way to show we are legit. You can also check out the 9 partner organisations we are working with to plough stimulus currency into a sort of local Green New Deal.

ARE YOU JUST ANOTHER SOLAR INSTALLER?

No. We aren’t a solar installer at all. We are funding the installation of solar (via a third party installer) on our street via the sale of our 'Green Backs’ - banknote/artworks and memberships of POWER.

WHY ARE YOU FOCUSING ON ONE STREET?

As storytellers we think this is a compelling narrative. It provides a microcosmic way in for exploring the climate crisis, the need for national retrofit and the realities of the cost of living crisis. Documentary legend Grierson said ‘the drama is on the doorstep’ and we’re both making and documenting this as it happens.


WILL YOU DO THIS FOR MY STREET / HOUSE AS WELL?

We are doing everything possible to provoke and create tools for a rippling outward from this street in a street by street approach. We’re trying to provide details of what we have done, and why as we go along creating adaptable knowledge and tools that will allow you to start your own similar scheme, or to just become a local champion for renewable energy,

This is more aimed towards community projects than enabling solar on individual households, though you may be able to pick up a couple of tips on solo solar as we go.

I LIVE IN RENTED / COUNCIL / HOUSING ASSOCIATION PROPERTY. CAN I DO THIS?

It’s a lot trickier. It will vary based on your landlord / council / housing association of course, but in general it’s a lot of bureaucracy with no guarantee of a positive outcome. Which obviously sucks. We have the same problem with some of the properties on our street - we’ll certainly share our successes and how we did it when we finally crack them. The broad solution is that as we normalise solar - as it becomes mainstream rather than fringe for properties to have this - the powers that be for these properties will - hopefully! - become more receptive to it.

I LIVE IN A CONSERVATION AREA. CAN I DO THIS?

Probably not, in terms of rooftop, although there may be some wiggle room to lobby your local council etc. particularly if they have declared a climate emergency (many councils have, although not so as you would notice).

Three prongs of attack are

1) Panels sit on top of the roofs, and can be affixed with no, or barely any, damage to the underlying roof.

2) In part this is an aesthetic challenge. Is solar ugly? Or is this an aesthetic preconception that can be changed? A streetwide approach may counter-intuitively help here - whilst one roof with solar can look “ugly” the same as a recurring feature on each roof on the street can actually look quite pleasant.

3) It doesn’t HAVE to be a roof. Do you have a garden? Is there a way of mounting some solar in there (eg on a shed, garage, or just on some freestanding structures made especially for the purpose?) This will be different for everyone, but think outside the box. Although most solar DOES go on roofs it doesn’t necessarily HAVE to!


WHY SHOULD I PAY FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO GET SOLAR?

You are actually paying for pieces of art (which we think have value in and of themselves), access to video content, access to informative workshops on retrofit, climate change and art activism, towards tools to help replicate something similar in your own neighbourhood and towards the completion of the final feature length documentary.

You are paying to support organisations picking up the pieces of a broken social and economic model in one way or another.

You are paying to support a vision that you want to get behind. It’s definitely more in the “Kickstarter” model than a “Charity” model.

If you don’t particularly value any of that, then of course, no-one is forcing you to pay for anything.

THAT ALL SOUNDS ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL, BUT I REALLY CAN’T AFFORD TO SUPPORT THE PROJECT

That’s no problem at all. We recognise that many people are struggling to get by. That’s why we have made a free membership tier for the project that gives you access to all of the good stuff anyway. We think the conversations we are having about climate change, fuel poverty and retrofit are too important to hide behind a paywall.

Of course, we DO need SOME people to fund the project – that’s the model we have chosen, but we trust that people who do value the project AND can afford to support it in some way will do so. And we’d be delighted if those on free membership would help spread the word.

DOESN’T SOLAR JUST HEAT WATER? HOW WILL THAT REPLACE MY RELIANCE ON GAS AND ELECTRICITY?

That’s solar thermal. We are installing solar PV.

MY AREA DOESn’T GET MUCH SUN IN WINTER. HOW WILL THIS HELP?

Whilst it would be lovely to go entirely off grid, pragmatically this is about reducing how much you need to take (and pay for!) from it. In an ideal world the energy you were paying for would also be from renewable sources, but for now the Power that we have lies in generating as much of our own as we can.

Batteries increase the cost, but will help. You can store energy created on more productive days and use it when you are generating less, rather than feeding unused energy back into the grid. Community batteries will potentially maximise this benefit further.

Interestingly Solar PV work better at cold temperatures. So counter intuitively on a bright cold day in Scotland the same panel will actually be generating more than if it was in The Sahara.

WHY ARE YOU DOING SOLAR? WHAT ABOUT TIDAL / WIND / INSULATION / HEAT PUMPS ETC ?

These are all valid and vital parts of a potential national solution to the climate and energy crisis. We have nothing against them at all – and more power to you if you are involved in campaigning for / rolling these out.

In terms of us convincing our neighbours to come along with us on our madcap scheme and provide a sort of “proof of concept”, for us, we decided that solar was the best entry point as the most achievable, affordable and understandable starting point. We are working on energy efficiency surveys and the first steps for insulation measures and should we manage to get beyond Phase 1 we’ll certainly be looking at things like community owned wind power and heat networks. But first things first and a big focus of research is community batteries.

ARE YOU INSTALLING BATTERIES?

Although we recognise that this is the gold standard of solar, and in the absence of an equitable Feed In Tariff a key part of achieving real energy savings, we are not including these in the first phase. This is not only because of cost increases -its a concern with multiple batteries when other options such as community battery and energy sharing would be much better. We are in dialogue with the local council about the feasibility of a community battery in Phase 2 - we have our eyes on a disused substation for this.

WHY AREN’T YOU WAITING FOR NEXT GENERATION SOLAR?

We recognise that some exciting sounding things are in the pipeline. Cheaper, more efficient, easier to install, smaller carbon and ethical footprints in the manufacture – all that good stuff.

However our starting point is that we are in large part living through dual Climate and Energy crises that could have been mitigated if not entirely avoided if the sort of National and International retrofit programs we advocate had happened 5, 10, 20 years ago. We believe our window of waiting for a better solution to be available has already closed and that we must take action NOW with the best that is currently available and future proof wherever possible.

WHAT ABOUT THE CARBON COSTS OF MANUFACTURE?

Depending on the variables (what panels, how they are installed, what usage they get) the carbon debt from manufacturing will be offset in 1-3 years of usage. The current expected lifespan of solar panels is 25-30 years (and increasing). We are also very aware of life cycles and material production and are researching and highlighting these issues by talking to experts in this area.

HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO RAISE?

Phase 1, rolling out retrofit on the street needs around £1 million. We are beginning with 30 houses and looking to raise £150,000 for this Autumn.

HOW ON EARTH WILL YOU RAISE THAT MUCH?

We can do it. We have appeared multiple times in the Guardian, The New York Times, The FT and many more places. We're collected by the V&A, The Smithsonian and the Museum of Modern Art (New York).

We have a major show coming up at the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge where the van we blew up with £1.2m of high interest debt will be on display and we aim to sell this to contribute to the POWER STATION.

We also aim to sell 300 x £5000 customised portraits of Greenbackers - ie people who will back this project. We will also sell cheaper prints and sets of our Greenback banknotes on the way. Doable? Yes. It is. We have already sold over £40k of these cheaper sets and memberships and have 300 people regularly contributing to the project.

It's not all about high net worth people buying. Our Greenbacks start at £1 from our website www.power.film, and we have membership levels starting at £5 / month. We are leaving our basic membership site totally free, so that everyone can access the knowledge we're gaining and sharing. 

Can artists really have an impact - isn't art all about museums or entertainment?

Yes they can. We have appeared multiple times in the Guardian, The New York Times, The FT and many more places. We're collected by the V&A, Smithsonian and Museum of Modern Art (New York). We have a major show coming up at the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge next month where the van we blew up with £1.2m of high interest debt will be on display. Making something entertaining, gaining press and having art in museums all helps reach more people and make more impact. We believe deeply in the power of art and POWER is a project where art and infrastructure come together to make real change taking a leap of the imagination and sharing a contagious vision. As art critic Lucy Lippard said ‘ the power of art is subversive rather than authoritarian , lying in its connection of the ability to make with the ability to see and then in its power to make others see that they too can make something of what they see and so on…’