On Monday, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, threatened to cut off the gas supply to Western Europe. This came in response to the continuing sanctions being placed on his country, in light of the invasion and ongoing war in Ukraine.

European energy chiefs will be understandably concerned, given the dependence the continent has on supplies from Russia, but are we really at their mercy?

Not necessarily…

France’s Minister for the Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, said last week, that Europeans will “have to consolidate our resilience with a voluntary reduction of consumption.”

Could that really work though?

The idea behind Sir Dave Brailsford’s ‘Theory of Marginal Gains’ could hold the answer, as it is estimated that lowering the temperature in buildings by just 1 degree Celsius across Europe, could reduce demand for Russian gas by up to 7% this year.

A tiny change for the individual.

A huge economic and environmental impact.

Other measures, such as replacing gas boilers with electric heat pumps, could also make further marginal reductions, 1% at a time, to the need for Russian gas.

As much as the war has drawn our attention to this issue right now, and shone a light on our dependence on Russian supplies, it’s not just the people in Ukraine who would benefit from these changes in the long run.

For the good of the environment and production margins, we need to find ways to become more self-sufficient with our energy supplies, sooner rather than later.

Reducing consumption is one way of doing this, but we still need to do more.

At Energy Gain UK, we help manufacturers and businesses within this sector take control of their energy supplies, both in terms of where it comes from and the cost.

We do this by installing solar PV systems, which protect the planet and help keep energy affordable for our clients.

It’s a scary time for millions of people throughout Europe and the wider world, but if we change our dependence on gas supplies from the continent, we can’t be held over a barrel, so to speak, by under pressure Russian politicians.