I attended this event with gusto as I was more than interested in learning about how businesses viewed sustainabilty.
The first talk was from Lizzie Gillet of Age of Stupid fame and was based on the 10:10 project, this was a project that simplified and made easier the reduction in emissions target. If 80% by 2050 is considered too much, too far then 10% in 2010 is far more attainable. An idea was born.
The main thrust, for me, was the idea of spreading the word and this is the key to its success. The concept in itself is very simple. On a personal level, turn off the lights, turn the thermostat down by a degree, don’t use stand by on appliances. For businesses the question was more or less the same but with some additions Tottenham Hotspurs were able to reduce their emissions by 14% by changing the bulbs in the floodlighting systems, reducing travel and some plumbing changes. Public building such as schools have benefitted from the Solar Schools project where schools raised money through micro donations to buy solar panels and were able to make money from this new free and sustainable source of energy.
The key challenge facing the project was changing the culture and attitudes, the approach for resolving this was top down, get to the most important and the rest will follow. The same idea as the Age of Stupid and the luck in recruiting Pete Postlethwaite.
I like the idea that in order to achieve the big figures, we have to focus on each of the component parts and the smaller elements.
The second presentation,Prof Roy Alexander, highlighted the work done in a village near Chester called Ashton Hayes, the first carbon neutral village in England. This project began on a cold night in 2006 and has very quickly achieved worldwide fame and is a testament to the founders of the idea and the residents of the village. Apart from the quality of the idea, the publicity was key in achieving succes. Local newspapers were involved which in turn triggered the interest of national press and ultimately National TV and international press agencies have become involved.
Going back to 2003 and the heatwave we have some very sobering statistics, 30,000 deaths, an increase in mortality in the UK of 17% and more importantly for some an economic loss of 7.5bn GBP. Predictions say that we could expect, as a reult of climate change, more summers like that of 2003 or more specifically that 2003 will become a new average summer, if we don’t address the problem.
The Ashton Hayes project embarked on various emission saving ideas from plant auditing to monitoring consumption. The project wa undertaken as a whole community with co operation coming from many stakeholder. the local authority constructed a footpath connecting the village to the local rail network which had the effect of reducing car journey, not just of youngsters walking to school but also with commuters.
A community electric car was purchased and is being sold due to lack of use, a clear example I think that people will do what they want but won’t be pushed too far, the project is also learning from mistakes.
Householders complied by changing some of their habits by using energy efficient bulbs, insulating their homes, installing pv and planting trees.
The net effect is the UK’s first carbon neutral village, an incredible result when a community works together.
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