This is a great week for YouGen to go live, as renewable energy is high on the international agenda. On Tuesday EU leaders agreed that a fifth of Europe’s energy mix should come from renewable sources by 2020. Politicians and green campaigners alike welcomed the decision (“a ray of hope admidst the gloom of the EU climate negotiations” according to Friends of the Earth).

Yet, as usual, most of the coverage talks about renewable energy in terms of big grid systems. Microgeneration at community or individual level rarely gets a look in. Yet, if the UK is going to meet these challenging targets then we need a bit of everything: wind farms as well as ways to harness the power of the sun, tides, waves and more.

We also need to make our houses as energy efficient as possible and, if it’s appropriate for our circumstances, to think about low carbon methods of generating heat and electricity. And that’s where YouGen comes in.

Having dipped a toe into the renewables market when we were renovating our house a few years ago and the gas boiler died, I discovered how hard it can be to get all the information you need and how vastly the prices differ. The idea of YouGen was born.

Our aim is to make it easy for people who want to invest in renewable energy to find the information that they need to make a wise decision. While that information is out there, it can take a great deal of persistence to gather it all together.

We will do the research and work out which are the reputable sources, so you don’t need to. We’re also recruiting a team of renewable energy specialists who will share their expertise with you – and answer your questions. Look out for the blogs by our Energy Experts. This is stage one on our journey to create a lively community of people interested in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Coming soon will be the opportunity to share experiences and tips and find a good, local installer.

We’re here to make it easy. Please let us know what you think of the site: what works and what could be improved and let us know what else you’d like to see in the future.

If you have a question about anything in the above blog, please ask it in the comments section below.