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Our history


Switched on since 1979

The Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) came into being in 1979, though in those days we were called the Urban Centre for Appropriate Technology (UCAT). We began as a sister organisation to the Centre for Alternative Technology.

We’ve always been based in Bristol with strong roots in the community.

The photo gallery below features the Future City Home (c1981), an initiative of the Urban Centre for Appropriate Technology (later CSE) which included a terraced house renovated to show energy efficiency in action in a city environment.

Our 40th anniversary

In 2019 we marked our 40th anniversary, and we took heart from Carl Jung’s words: “Life really does begin at 40. Up until then, you’re just doing research”

You can read our CEO, Simon Roberts’, thoughts from January 2019 on why we’re optimistic about the year ahead: Scale up, speed up, start up; inspiring change in 2019.

Roy Kareem, who manages our environmental leadership programme for young people, Bright Green Future also turned 40 in 2019. Here he reflects on what this milestone means for both him and CSE.

One of the speakers at our 40th anniversary conference, Jasmine Ketibuah-Foley, gave a particularly well-received presentation on the lack of representation in environmental movements of people from BME backgrounds and what we should be doing to rectify this shortcoming. Her presentation is reproduced as a blog here.


“And the winner is …”

We’ve won many awards over the years. Take a quick peak into our trophey cabinet …
Let me see!

Our team

Who are we? Around 100 people work at the Centre for Sustainable Energy. Find out who most of us are here
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