Edinburgh Council solar
This week's picture shows the solar panels which have
been installed on the City of Edinburgh Council's new headquarters with Calton
Hill in the background.
Local authorities should be at the forefront of the fight against climate
change, but only a few seem to be really making the required effort commensurate
with the scale of the problem. The Sustainable Development Commission gives
special mention this week to London, Woking, Southampton and Leicester, but
there are still too many councils, like St Albans and Dover being criticised
by their own councillors and others for not doing enough.
Environment Minister Phil Woolas is reported this week saying: “Local
councils have an important contribution to make in tackling climate change
– by reducing their own impact on the planet, but also by encouraging and
helping their local communities to become greener.”
GNN 18th Sept 2007
more
>>
But Woolas is being too woolly – the role of local authorities is central
to the task of saving the planet.
The suite of
documents published by Greenpeace on Decentralised Energy would
be a good place to start for anyone wanting to push their local authority
to do more.
week ending 21 September 2007
Building Research Establishment
BRE can advise on sustainable housing design and construction, on safe and cost effective use of brownfield sites, efficient and renewable energy use, the environmental impacts of materials, and waste reduction, transport and recycling.
BRE 21st Sept 2007
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Dover
LABOUR leader Cllr Ben Bano has called on the district council's ruling Conservative group to provide more leadership for the community, particularly on issues such as climate change.
East Kent Mercury 20th Sept 2007
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Aberdeen Commercial
Advances in sustainable energy technology are being positively received in the commercial property industry. Aberdeen-based Active, a specialist in sustainable energy solutions, efficient systems and building maintenance, has won £3million of contracts this year and is expanding its services to the Highland and Islands. "The integration of sustainable energy sourced from solar panels, wind turbines, water harvesters and heat pumps, along with efficient ventilation and air-conditioning solutions, will be at the heart of the office of the future."
Aberdeen Press & Journal 20th Sept 2007
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Glamorgan Nature Centre
THE newly refurbished visitor centre at the Kenfig National Nature Reserve features a sustainable design with a “green” roof, solar panelling, an underground pump, underfloor heating system, energy-efficient lighting and a recycled “grey” water system.
Glamorgan Gazette 20th Sept 2007
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Welsh Carbon neutral communities
TWO Welsh towns and a city are hoping to be among the first in the UK to go carbon-neutral after an English village cut its emissions by 20% in a year. Mold, St Davids and Lampeter are all planning to follow the example set by Ashton Hayes in Cheshire with measures to reduce their carbon footprint.
Western Mail 20th Sept 2007
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Windsave
David Gordon is the chief executive of Windsave, a Glasgow-based company he founded to develop wind turbines that can help householders reduce their electricity bills. Next month B&Q, the retailer, will start promoting Windsave's 1.2kW turbines, which will sell for £1,899 and supplement the existing national grid supply - enough to power a television set and DVD player, computer, refrigerator, freezer and lights.
FT 20th Sept 2007
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Lib Dems
Small-scale micro-generation will be equally important. We would use German-style feed-in tariffs which would guarantee minimum prices to small farmers and households who generate different forms of renewable energy, such as wave, tidal, solar, wind, and micro-hydro.
Western Mail 20th Sept 2007
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Green Ice-cream?
Mackie's, an ice-cream maker in Scotland, has scooped the FT's first sustainable business award for small businesses, after installing three wind turbines near its factory.
FT 20th Sept 2007
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Ill-wind in Liverpool
A DECISION was once again deferred on controversial plans for a modern windmill to be built in the heart of one of Liverpool's best-known conservation areas.
Liverpool Daily Post 19th Sept 2007
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Supermarkets
Survey of green policies of Asda, Tesco and M&S.
Western Mail 19th Sept 2007
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Community Groups
NINETY grass roots organisations and groups will attend a conference today to learn how to combat climate change by leading a greener lifestyle. The Community Foundation, serving Tyne and Wear and Northumberland, has organised the Local Actions for Global Issues event at the Centre for Life in Newcastle to inspire voluntary and community groups. Workshops will encourage groups to focus on the environment, offering ideas and practical help on how to lessen the environmental impact of what they do.
Newcastle Journal 19th Sept 2007
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Stoke-on-Trent
The new college campus will have a series of environmentally friendly features, which could include a wind turbine at the Burslem site, biomass-fuelled boilers and heating pumped from a source in the ground.
Stoke-on-Trent Sentinel 19th Sept 2007
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Devon
Builders have raised the roof on a flagship £6m business centre in Okehampton, Devon, which will feature the latest advances in eco-friendly technology. Green features include building materials chosen for low environmental impact, windows designed to increase natural lighting and conserve electricity, solar panels to provide a significant percentage of the buildings' energy needs, a wind turbine to provide 6KW of power, and a boiler fuelled by wood pellets.
Exeter Express & Echo 19th Sept 2007
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Ofgem
Regulator Ofgem should focus on fighting climate
change after successfully marshalling British power and gas market competition
over the last decade, according to government advisory body the Sustainable
Development Commission. Ofgem, which has focused on ensuring affordable and
secure energy supplies since market opening in the 1990s, should pay more
attention to cutting carbon emissions and nurturing renewable energy, the
SDC says in a report on Wednesday.
Reuters 19th Sept 2007
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FT 19th Sept 2007
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Sustainable Development Commission website 19th Sept 2007
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SDC says increasingly decentralised electricity systems such as envisaged
for London, and already operating in Woking Southampton and Leicester, require
improved distribution systems to allow for two way flow of power.
SDC Ofgem Report 19th Sept 2007
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Fermanagh
The Share Holiday Village, on the shores of Upper Lough Erne, has won a top award in the annual Sustainable Ireland Energy, Environmental and Waste Management 2007 awards. It has built up an extensive portfolio of renewable technologies. These include three wind turbines, four solar water heating systems, and three wood pellet boilers. The organisation can now boast of using 99% renewable electricity on site, and 90% renewable heat, resulting in a total overall offset of CO2 of almost 300 tonnes.
Fermanagh Herald 19th Sept 2007
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Spalding
A PROPOSAL to erect a 15-metre wind turbine at Spalding High School is expected to be approved. Planning officers at South Holland District Council have recommended the scheme is approved by the development control committee.
Peterborough Evening Telegraph 19th Sept 2007
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Carbon-negative Leeds
WORK has started on a £26m pioneering urban regeneration scheme in Leeds that will create the greenest homes in the country. The former Shaftesbury House hostel in Beeston is being converted into the Greenhouse, 172 flats that will be the UK's first carbon-negative homes.
Yorkshire Evening Post 19th Sept 2007
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Environment Times 20th Sept 2007
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Cambridge
The organisation, which is overseeing the delivery of 47,500 homes in and around Cambridge, Cambridgeshire Horizons, is putting forward a programme for funding by the Government including innovative schemes which address the carbon agenda, in particular things like renewable energy, and also try to attract businesses to the area which have a sustainable side to create a hub of activity around Northstowe.
Cambridge Evening News 18th Sept 2007
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Local Authorities
The drive to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, reduce fuel poverty and improve energy use continues today with the launch, by BERR, of a comprehensive online government guide that gathers together best practice advice for local councils.
GNN 18th Sept 2007
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The report is available from:
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Lib Dems’ Policy
Encouraging microgeneration by paying a higher rate to producers who export energy to the National Grid.
Times 17th Sept 2007
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St Albans
ST ALBANS District Council has come under attack for its allegedly half-hearted attempts to fight global warming. The authority's draft "Carbon Management Strategy" to reduce emissions of the gases that are heating our climate has been criticised not only by the Green Party but even by a councillor from the ruling Lib Dem group.
St Albans and Harpenden Review 17th Sept 2007
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Letter from Green Party.
Herts Advertiser 20th Sept 2007
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Plymouth
Plymouth City Council has set its sights on tackling fuel poverty - where less well off householders can't afford to keep themselves warm. The city's new Home Energy Strategy document says we need to encourage householders to produce more of their own energy using appropriate renewable energy technologies.
This is Cornwall 17th Sept 2007
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Vertical axis
B&Q want to put three vertical-axis wind turbines on the new store the company is planning to build in Halifax.
Halifax Evening Courier 17th Sept 2007
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Norwich
The people behind a new development just outside Norwich are claiming it to be the UK's first zero-carbon housing development. Ecostessey Park, in Costessey, comprises of 22 town houses kitted out with numerous environmentally friendly features, such as solar power water heating, highly insulated walls, floors and ceilings, harvested rainwater flushing systems and waste compactors and waste disposal units.
Norwich Evening News 17th Sept 2007
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Angus
THE COST of green schemes which could help Angus Council play its small part in saving the planet have been ruled out as too expensive by authority chiefs. Wind and water turbines, solar heating and photovoltaic electricity systems have been condemned as over-costly and slow in pay back terms in a report which also casts doubt on a wind power proposal for the authority’s new HQ, because the machinery would blight Forfar’s showpiece Angus House building. For the foreseeable future it seems the council’s hopes of reducing its carbon footprint rest with projects such as the biomass and combined heat power systems installed in only a very few properties.
Dundee Courier 17th September 2007
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Energy Storage
E.ON UK is researching and developing a groundbreaking 'giant battery' that will be able to store energy, in a move which could unlock the full potential of renewable energy and microgeneration.
Enviro Solutions 16th Sept 2007
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Conservative Party
Their proposals include a plan to reduce stamp duty for those who have made their homes more energy- efficient and the extension of rebates on council tax and low-cost loans to people taking steps to cap their properties’ carbon ratings.
FT 15th September 2007
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Good Design
Climate change dictates that building for sustainability is taking on an increasing importance. Developments should use alternative and renewable energy sources, promote recycling, use sustainable drainage systems; reduce construction waste, prioritise brownfield development and increase biodiversity.
Newcastle Journal 15th Sept 2007
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Brighton
New homes will be powered by sun, wind and water under radical proposals to turn Brighton and Hove into the greenest city in the country. Under new building guidelines, any development of three or more homes must be carbon neutral or offset emissions by improving the energy efficiency of the city's current stock of Regency, Victorian and post-war homes.
Brighton Argus 14th Sept 2007
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Selby College
Renewable energy sources, including the use of solar collectors, low-energy lighting and natural ventilation would feature in the new buildings.
York Press 14th Sept 2007
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Carbon-neutral Plymouth
Gordon Brown's carbon-neutral plan is more or less impossible at the moment. Some of the (building regulation) ratings (of how green a new house is) depend on the orientation of the building and whether there's a bus stop and a school and a recycling bin down the road, things we can't control. With super-insulated buildings like these the heating costs are virtually nothing. Add in all the extras such as the solar panels and the rest have about a five-year payback. The system has been in use in America for 50 to 60 years. It's tried and tested.
Plymouth Herald 14th Sept 2007
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Nottingham zero-carbon
A two day symposium on zero carbon sustainable homes is being held at The University of Nottingham on the 18th and 19th September, 2007. The event offers professionals within the construction industry a unique opportunity to gain added and significant insight into the innovations, policies and legislation which are driving the construction of zero carbon homes.
HERO 14th Sept 2007
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Communal Living
A country house near Morchard Bishop which is part of the communal living movement is about to be powered by three forms of renewable energy technology. Beech Hill Community, a community for 14 residents near Crediton, has installed a new 15 metre-tall wind turbine to generate electricity, four solar panels to heat water and a log-fuelled boiler to provide heating.
EDF Energy Press Release 14th Sept 2007
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