Coop Campaign for Community Energy

Call for greater support for community energy

The UK can no longer afford to rely on increasingly expensive and environmentally damaging fossil fuels. Instead we need to accelerate the development of a clean energy future. To help achieve this we are campaigning for a dramatic increase in the number of communities democratically owning, controlling and benefiting from their own renewable energy projects.

Please contact your MP to sign Early Day Motion 684 (Community Energy) and ensure that:

• the Government recognises the significant potential and benefits of community energy
• a comprehensive framework of Government support is introduced.

You can find out if your MP has already signed the EDM. If they have already signed it, why not congratulate them and encourage them to get in touch with the relevant Minister about the issue.

more info on the coop campaign http://www.co-operative.coop/

IOW Energy & Food Self Sufficent by 2020

From BBC Hampshire

Isle of Wight to be energy self-sufficient by 2020

Islanders would have "smart meters" which showed exactly how much fuel they were using

Continue reading the main story

An Isle of Wight community group says it is aiming to make the island the UK's first energy self-sufficient and carbon neutral region by 2020. 

The island, which is 23-miles long and 13-miles wide, annually draws 600GWh of electricity per year from the mainland.

The group Eco Island said power for the population of 142,500 could come from a waste to energy plant, solar panels and tidal and geothermal power.

More info see http://www.eco-island.org/

Ecobuild 2013

Ecobuild the future at ExCeL, London
Tue 05 -Thur 07 March 2013

Register today and take advantage of our two brand new and free to attend conference streams focusing on Property and International. The first new stream, Sustainable Property will have an exclusive focus on property issues such as investor and occupier considerations and will be held in association with Property Week.


Sustainable Property will cover hot topics such as:

• Financing green property
• What's sustainable property worth?
• Making green leases work
• The office of the future
• The shop of the future

The second new stream, Sustainability Overseas will connect sustainability thought leaders across the international built environment and will link directly to the Ecobuild portfolio in China, India and South-East Asia.

What does the international sustainable built environment look like and what are the opportunities for your business? Find out more about:
Understanding the sustainability drivers in overseas markets
What and where are the market opportunities for sustainability expertise in BRIC nations?
What sustainability strategies are needed for different climatic zones?
Successfully delivering sustainable buildings in emerging markets

Make sure you register today for your free ticket to Ecobuild 2013 giving you access to the most comprehensive conference programme for the built environment.

We look forward to welcoming you to the event.

Kind regards,
The Ecobuild team

Be part of Ecobuild



Join us next year to discover the future of the sustainable built environment.

Get your free ticket here




View
The acclaimed free to attend conference returns to Ecobuild.

See the full conference line-up here

Victoria's Green Matters - 29th Nov 2012

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:At long last our ‘greenest government ever’ has decided on an energy policy for the future. It has been a long time coming because of the in-fighting between the LibDem energy secretary and the Conservative chancellor.

Most people will only really be interested in how much energy will cost and, while investment in renewable energy will still need subsidies in the early stages, hence increases in fuel bills, these will be off-set over time by the increasing cost of the rapidly declining stocks of fossil fuels.

Whichever way you look at it, we need to keep the lights on and cutting carbon emissions is a legal requirement so we must work within these boundaries. Cost is a crucial factor but trying to forecast the future when it comes to energy prices is an extremely difficult job. We know that the price of fossil fuels is rising and will continue to do so but the cost of green energy, including its subsidy, is already falling.

However, one of the main causes of disagreement within the government was the need to de-carbonise power generation. It was hoped that plans for this would be included in the policy but it has been deferred until after the next election. Green jobs in the renewable energy sector is the one area where employment is increasing but if the government neglects to invest in the renewables’ market, jobs set for the UK will go abroad.

How very sad that these chances are being jeopardised. Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.

Victoria's Green Matters - 22nd Nov 2012

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

It was very noticeable that during the recent Presidential election in the USA, both candidates for the White House only mentioned climate change once during the whole campaign. This year we have seen some unprecedented extremes of weather in all parts of the world, not least the USA, where extreme drought has ruined food crops and hurricane Sandy has destroyed lives and property along the East coast.

It is pretty obvious that climate change is happening all around the world and it’s happening much faster than expected. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice this summer was predicted to happen at the end of the century but it is happening now and by the end of summer 2015 there will be none left.

Closer to home, floods have devastated parts of Italy over the last week and experts warn that even more severe flooding in the future will destroy food crops and the country’s natural beauty. Venice has seen its sixth worst flooding since 1872 and climate change is clearly having an effect on crops this year with the production of bananas for the first time in Sicily.

But, even as all these dire things are happening around the world, our leaders seem to be turning a blind eye. Worse yet, governments are heading to produce more fossil fuels to burn through tar sands oil in Canada and fracking for gas in the USA and here at home. Surely, the signs are obvious – how can our governments ignore them?

Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.

Last chance for £300 free insulation....

Last chance. FREE £300 insulation
Energy firms' duty to dole out £100s for cavity wall & loft insulation's ending. Miss it, and you could miss out

Big energy firms' CERTs (Carbon Emission Reduction Targets) force them to pump cash into making UK homes more efficient. Failure means big fines. Yet in December CERTs end, and some have already hit targets, so deals are going.

• Who can get free insulation? Cavity wall & loft insulation can slice £100s/yr off energy bills. It's available to anyone unless in a housing association / council home, a flat where you can't co-ordinate with other tenants, while the deals below exclude NI. Full info in Free Insulation Deals.
  
• Urgent. Free £300 loft & cavity wall insulation. Even non-customers can apply for British Gas's free insulation, but must do it by Fri 30 Nov. It'll also pay for £450 scaffolding and £100 air vents if needed. After that, Scottish Power's free insulation's the only 'available to all' deal left. It says there are no plans to end this, but we still say go quick. 

• Get paid to get insulation (or recommend it). With British Gas's £50 referral, tell someone on pension credit or families on certain income-related benefits about the free insulation, and you'll get £50 and so will they. If you're on these benefits yourself, Npower's free insulation cash means you get £250 on top. 
• from Martin's Money Tips http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/latesttip/

Draught Busters Workshop in Deal

As you know we had to cancel the fair today but we were able to run the first of our 'draught busters' workshops today in the Town

We had a very full house with seven of us crowded in at Guy's small house in College Rd Deal to listen to Luci Ransome from Transition Glasglow.

Luci toook us through the all the practical tools in identifying draught issues (thermal camera or candle), what draughts are good, damp in building, options for doors and windows depending on their construction, making radiators more effective, tools and materials needed (which is relatively few - but we all liked the nail punch. Average cost for most homes £20-£50) and general good practise in floor and person coverings!

It was very much a practical session and great fun - we all learnt a great deal and were enthusied to get similar sessions going in the town.

If you are interested either in getting involved either as a 'buster' or your home needs some 'draught busting' please drop steve a line at Press@dealwithit.org

Big thanks to Luci for sharing her knowledge and skills (and Cake) with us and Guy for hosting and letting us loose on this back door and windows!

Victoria's Green Matters - 15th Nov 2012

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury: It is wonderful to be able to report some good news this week. We all know that our economy is in trouble and that new jobs are hard to come by but very little is spoken or written about the increasing number of green jobs and businesses that have been created.

There are now nearly one million workers in green jobs. These industries range from electric car manufacture to biofuels and wind turbine installation and more than 25,000 new jobs were created last year.

It seems strange that the government – our ‘greenest government ever’ – appears to be reluctant to talk about this success. Could this be because so many of our MPs are still climate change deniers, still want to limit any subsidy on renewable energy even when there are new jobs involved?

David Cameron has recently visited the United Arab Emirates with a view to persuading them to invest huge amounts of money in renewable energy. Many MPs are worried that anti-green comments from other MPs in the coalition – including the Chancellor, George Osborne – will lead to us discouraging vital overseas investment in these important areas.

There are more than ten companies just waiting to invest millions of pounds in our wind industry – all they need is the encouragement to do so by some good political backing. If this doesn’t happen, we could easily miss out on this much needed cash.

The green economy is worth more than £120 billion per year so let’s help it be worth even more!

Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.

Protect Kent - Water Conference

Please be sure to book your ticket by Monday 19th November to guarantee your place.

“Planning for Drought – Is Kent in Crisis?”

Don’t let economic recovery be washed down the drain !

Whatever your views on our Government’s “growth agenda” and their drive to ‘develop

ourselves out of recession’, there is no doubt that for this to happen we must have a sound

foundation to work from.

And this includes a sound infrastructure, around which to build. A comprehensive

infrastructure for reliable and sustainable forms of transport, energy, and significantly,

water supply. This is a principle tenet of our new National Planning Policy Framework.



Unfortunately, the reality of a reliable water supply into the future is still a long way off,

particularly here in Kent. Other segments of our national infrastructure are within our

means to control; water resources are not. Changing and erratic weather patterns over

recent years suggest that the risk of droughts is likely to increase. Placing greater stress

on the water environment. Placing greater stress on our water resources. Placing greater

stress on our ambitions for growth.

So what is to be done ?

CPRE Protect Kent don’t have the answers – yet – but are aiming to develop some.

Through an all-inclusive and comprehensive seminar scheduled for 26th November.

Which is why we are inviting you to our November Conference “Planning for Drought –

Is Kent In Crisis ?” If you are a planner, involved with the planning system, a developer,

or have an interest in development in our county, this is a ‘must attend’ event for you.


This promises to be a very informative and productive event, with 8 speakers from key

organisations in the water and environment sector, including a keynote speech from

Richard Benyon MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for the

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Our full-day conference will be held on Monday 26th November at the Kent County

Showground, Detling, in the Clive Emson building. Tickets can be booked at

http://planningfordrought.eventbrite.co.uk . The take-up of places is progressing well,

and we would recommend you book yours as soon as possible.

Ticket prices are £60 for CPRE Members, £75 for non-members. We hope you will understand

that, as a registered charity fully dependent on the generosity of our members and supporters

for income, we do need to ensure we cover our costs in staging this event. If you do find that

the cost of a place will prohibit your attendance, please contact us at info@protectkent.org.uk

or on 01233 714540.


Conference Programme

09:30 a.m. Registration – Coffee and biscuits

10:00 Welcome and Introduction – Richard Knox-Johnston

10:10 Keynote Speech – Richard Benyon MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

(Natural Environment and Fisheries), Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

10:40 Trevor Bishop – Environment Agency

11:05 Meyrick Gough – Southern Water

11:30 Graham Warren – CPRE Protect Kent

11:55 Question time for am speakers

12:30 p.m. Buffet lunch and discussion sessions

14:00 Dr Andrew Clark – National Farmers’ Union

14:25 Richard Frost – Shepherd Neame

14:50 Andrew Wickham and Alan Turner – Kent County Council

15:20 Question time for pm speakers

15:50 p.m. Summary and close – Richard Knox-Johnston

Question Time(s): These will be held as a ‘panel session’ chaired by Richard Knox-Johnston, where

delegates will be invited to pose their questions to a collective panel of the morning’s or afternoon’s speakers.

Lunchtime Sessions: These will be facilitated ‘round-table’ informal discussions on topics drawn from

the speakers’ presentations.

We hope to see you there !

Get Fractious on 1st Dec....

 

Deal Insulation Fair 17/11 - CANCELLED

We have had to cancel our Insulation Fair due next Saturday at the Town Hall (17/11).

Apologies if you we planning to come - we had some key stallholders/demonstrators unable to come to the fair.

We will be running it in 2013 and will look at some pop-up sessions we can do around the town... more news later in the week

Victoria's Green Matters - 8th Nov 2012

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury: It is difficult for us to comprehend the extremes of different climates that occur around the world. We are never satisfied with our weather – it is too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet, too windy........ but we never suffer the devastating hurricanes like Sandy, the one recently experienced in New York and the Eastern seaboard of the USA.

The USA is a vast country which experiences extremes within its own boarders. Severe drought in some US states has seriously affected its food crops this year which has, in turn, affected the price and supply of food around the world. We have suffered extremes of weather to a much lesser degree this year when we had hosepipe bans followed rapidly by more rain than in many years.

Sudden downpours of rain after weeks of drought can often result in flooding which can mean weeks of misery for people who have their homes ruined by dirty water. Modern forms of agriculture with huge fields and little in the way of trees and hedges add to the dangers of flooding by allowing water to run quickly off the fields instead of soaking into the soil. Run-off like this also adds to nutrient loss from soil and pollution into rivers.

Climate change deniers will say that these extremes are the natural course of things but man’s continued use of fossil fuels has warmed our atmosphere over generations, has added to the melting of our polar ice caps and altered our weather.

Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.