Plastic Is a Design Problem. So Is Our Energy System.

To end pollution, we have to end old ways of thinking

This World Environment Day, the theme is plastic waste and I can’t help but see a glaring parallel between our energy system, and the same “design problem” that got us in this plastic mess.

Stay with me: we didn't end up drowning in plastic waste because people are careless…we got here because a few people in a boardroom once upon a time made a design decision to prioritize convenience, profit, and short-term thinking. They built a linear system: extract oil, then make, ship, sell and toss the plastic. It’s the same ‘extract-produce-discard’ logic that underpins our energy system too.

And just like with plastic, the real obstacle isn’t consumer behaviour, it’s industry capture. Both sectors are tangled in lobbying and legacy protections that keep innovation out and delay critical change. Whether it's petrochemical giants or utility monopolies, the old guard knows what it’s doing: defending a model that works for them, not for the planet.

Fossil fuels are the ultimate one-way product: dig it up, burn it, pollute. And as long as our energy infrastructure is built around that “logic”, we’ll keep chasing our tails trying to clean things up.

The good news? We’ve seen what happens when systems are designed differently.

Just look at solar, or software…look at what happens when a model is decentralized, reusable, and open. When you hand individuals the tools to design their own systems, and you strip out the bureaucracy that protects the old guard, things change–and fast.

That’s why I designed our company, OpenSolar, the way I did: free to use software, open to all, built to scale. And today, 25,000+ solar professionals in 160 countries use our platform to design better projects, faster: they’ve already prevented more than 63 million metric tonnes of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere. That’s what happens when a tool is built to empower, not obstruct—eliminating delay, complexity, and needless barriers.

I don’t think the climate needs more “hero moments”. It just needs some well-designed systems that make clean energy the obvious, frictionless default.

This isn't theoretical: in January, I wrote about the solar S-Curve model, which shows that solar is growing at 25% per year. That level of compounding doesn’t just move the needle: it can solve the climate crisis in a single decade. But only if we get outdated structures out of its way.

We don’t need subsidies. We don’t need bailouts. We need a fair and open energy market. 

That means three simple things:

1. Embrace Open Pricing. Let solar, storage, and EVs compete on price. Remove tariffs on clean technology, and eliminate legacy energy subsidies. The best solutions will win: and that’s good for consumers.

2. Cut the Red Tape. Digitize and automate permitting and interconnection processes. Right now, bureaucracy is one of the biggest bottlenecks in solar. Projects that could be generating power today are stuck in approval limbo.

3. Establish a Global Energy Standard. I call this the Electric Protocol—a uniform framework for treating all energy sources equally, no matter their size or location. Every prosumer (producer/consumer) should be able to access real-time pricing and be compensated for the value they bring to the grid. This creates a more efficient, cost-effective system for everyone.

These aren’t pie-in-the-sky ideas: OpenSolar has powered $4.18B in project value to date, is growing at 36% per year—and that kind of scale proves the design-led, open-access model works, and that the appetite for change is real.

I’m actively working with Durham University’s Energy Institute to take this forward. Together, with Professor Andrew Crossland, we are laying out a plan for exactly how the UK could lead on this. 

We’re proposing a new way of thinking, and pressuring our government to act on the advice of experts and think long-term.

The same way we now talk about extended producer responsibility in plastics, we should be demanding distributed generation responsibility in energy. Not just because it's cleaner, but because it's designed to last.

Ending plastic pollution and decarbonizing energy aren’t separate fights. They’re symptoms of the same disease: top-down, throwaway, clunky thinking.

It’s time we end that too, for good.