Climate of change
- Published: 25 June 2008 14:29
- Author: Kaye McIntosh
- More by this Author
- Last Updated: 28 July 2008 13:11
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Councils are responding to climate change with Beacon award-winning projects.
Exploit your assets
Climate change is a pressing issue for Barking & Dagenham LBC. It lies on a flood plain and 25,000 new homes will be built there under the government's plans for the Thames Gateway area.
In addition, its population is the 22nd most deprived in the UK, meaning that many residents suffer from 'fuel poverty' — having to spend over 10% of their income on heating their homes.
However, the local authority realised it had one key asset, a gas power station that dumps hot water into the Thames. The council developed plans to use this waste energy, via a network of pipes, to supply more than 100,000 homes, serving both local residents and neighbouring authorities.
Homes will have pipes providing heating and hot water, connected to a household meter. The system will also help the council tackle fuel poverty by offering cheaper heating to those in need.
Barking is also addressing the risk of flooding. Its borders lie outside the Thames Barrier that protects much of London, so the council is using its planning powers to ensure that some new buildings will have green roofs, covered in turf, to soak up water and mitigate the effects of extreme weather. The roofs will also cool buildings in summer as
water evaporates, reducing the need for air conditioning.
According to Joe Baker, environmental sustainability team leader, Barking & Dagenham's approach is about making things that seem daunting achievable.
"People think climate change is far too big to do anything about it. We want to show there are things we can do," he says.
Apply business methods
The City of London Corporation has reduced energy usage by 35% in the past decade, and was also the first UK council to develop a comprehensive strategy for adapting to climate change.
Its efforts led to it winning a Beacon award, which recognises excellence and are run by the Improvement & Development Agency.
"We have a duty of care to ensure what we do is fit for purpose in a warming land," says Simon Mills, sustainable development team leader. With this as a guiding principle, the corporation has ensured that sustainable policies are integrated into its annual business plans for all its departments.
Mr Mills says the key is to apply business understanding to environmental challenges.
"We use a risk-management approach," he says. "In 2006 we consulted widely with stakeholders, service partners and our departments to identify how exactly climate change will impact on the city."
That led to 90 recommendations to combat flooding, heat waves and other environmental dangers. The corporation also drew up guidance for developers. To further reduce the impact of any potential floods, the corporation is also encouraging utilities to move critical infrastructure, like electricity substations, away from low-lying sites.
Generate sustainable energy
Woking BC has made a serious commitment to green energy by building a sustainable energy power plant, thought to be the first of its kind in the UK.
The plant is independent of the national grid and uses a fuel cell.
A private distribution system provides electricity, heat and cooling direct to customers. These include two hotels, a conference centre, leisure complex, bowling alley, nightclub and a multi-storey car park. Council offices are also supplied with heating, hot water, air conditioning and electricity from the plant.
To build on this success, the energy company set up by Woking BC is developing a project with English Partnerships to supply power to the whole of central Milton Keynes.
In 10 years' time, the company says it will be generating between 18 and 26MW — enough to run up to 26 million one-bar electric fires.
Woking also has more than 9% of the UK's photovoltaic panels, which convert sunlight into electricity.
John Thorp, chief operating officer of Thamesway, the council's energy company, says it was vital to overcome the major legal challenges of setting up a council-owned, profit-making business.
"Woking needed to bring in external capital for sustainable development. Thamesway allowed other organisations to come in and invest," he says.
Mr Thorp adds this has been achieved without cost to council taxpayers. "None of the sustainability work has any impact at all on council tax — it is all self-funding," he says.
Encourage residents
Eastleigh BC in Hampshire is helping residents to reduce their environmental impact by setting up a local carbon compensation fund. Carbon FREE allows individuals and businesses to offset carbon locally, enabling them to see where their money is going and that it benefits their own area.
The project invests money in local sustainable energy projects and home insulation to help residents to reduce the amount of domestic energy they use and cut utility bills. Beverley Draig, joint sustainable policy co-ordinator, says: "Insulation is much more effective per tonne of carbon saved than solar/thermal energy generation, for instance."
The council plans to map areas where insulation would make the biggest difference by using thermal imaging and demographic information to work out where heat loss is greatest and where people are least likely to be able to afford to have the work carried out.
The scheme is supported by information on the council's website, which has a user-friendly guide to help people to see exactly how the scheme operates and work out how much carbon they are emitting. Participants in the scheme can offset one tonne of carbon for £10, and see what difference they have made in the scheme's annual report, the first of which is due in autumn 2009.
The council has spent £50,000 to kick-start Carbon FREE. Ms Draig is hopeful that take-up will be high: "Our market research showed 36% of people would consider it in principle and 26% were happy to pay £10 or more."
Plan for climate change
Middlesbrough Council is achieving an annual 1% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions thanks to its Carbon Reduction & Climate Adaptation community action plan.
The unitary authority is committed to 'one planet living', based on the theory that if every person on Earth used as much energy as a UK resident, the world's population would need three planets. The aim is to reduce energy use to the level of just one planet.
Jeff Duffield, public protection manager, says top-level leadership from the elected mayor, Roy Mallon (Ind), and lead councillor for climate change, Barry Coppinger (Lab), is crucial.
"I've heard people say, for instance, that it's too expensive to have a dedicated climate change officer," he says. "But it's not expensive when you consider it's one post out of 7,000 — and it wouldn't have happened without the support of Cllr Coppinger."
The unitary authority has a range of measures incorporated into its plan. These include working with the housing association to ensure buildings are well-insulated, an eco-school initiative showing younger generations what they can do to combat climate change, and ensuring vehicles in the council's car fleet are chosen on grounds of emissions as well as cost.
Lessons learnt from Middlesbrough's experience have been shared through the Tees Valley Climate Change Partnership, which includes all local unitary authorities, the Environment Agency and the Energy Saving Trust.
