Hello, I am Allen Harris. Managing director of Common Sense Energy. My career started in the building industry back in 1982 and shortly after whilst studying a university course, I first became aware of renewable energy. The thing that inspired me most, was a combined heat and power station in Amsterdam which was powered by the cities waste. The by-product from the power station (Hot Water) was pumped to supply the local area. Hospital, police & Fire station got their heating for free. Houses and factories had a metered supply. The enormity of this and the positive impact for the whole of the community and the resultant savings on fossil fuels has stayed with me ever since. Renewable energy wasn’t heard of back then & there was nothing commercially available in the UK for the general public to buy or own. When the building industry crashed in the 1990’s I re-qualified as an optician. After more than a decade I reverted back to the tools. Firstly qualifying as a plumber, then as a Gas Engineer and shortly after as an Electrician. With all these trades under my belt, I became very much aware of the amount of heat and power we were using both domestically and commercially. The only sources of this energy was either fossil fuels or nuclear. Energy prices double every 7-10 years typically, so, I started to take another look at alternatives. When the Kyoto climate change agreement was signed in 1998 The availability of renewable energy started to emerge. I have always believed that renewable energy makes sense, So, the next logical step for me was to follow this path. In 2006 I started working in the renewable sector. I could see the benefits, not only for me as a career, but for the customer and the planet too. I took more qualifications and after a short period working for another company, in 2011, I started my own.
