Video messages about our Final Demand campaign

Last week, we met Gisela Stuart, MP for Edgbaston, at Martineau Gardens to talk about our Final Demand campaign.

There's a press release on our website about it and we also asked her to record a video message, so here it is:

The previous week we were in Summerfield with Shabana Mahmood, MP for Ladywood, and while she wasn't prepared to record a message for us, we did speak to Mark Clemson of New World Solar, who said the following about what MPs can do to support the solar industry:

Birmingham Energy Savers consultation

As part of my work as a BFOE volunteer working on the Final Demand campaign, this week I attended a consultation event on delivering the Green Deal in Birmingham, organised by the pioneering Birmingham Energy Savers project. 

In a nutshell, the Green Deal is a new government initiative aimed at reducing people’s energy use, thereby reducing their carbon emissions and alleviating fuel poverty, as well as creating jobs, in one fell swoop.

Through the scheme, people are able to improve the energy efficiency of their homes without having to pay for the costs upfront. Loft- and cavity-wall-insulation and efficient boilers are among the measures that can be taken to reduce energy wastage in the home, which of course reduces energy use. The work is paid for through people’s fuel bills, but with the ‘Golden Rule’ of the Green Deal – that the cost of the retrofit will not be more than the savings made on the bills – a net saving is still made.

Birmingham is the first local authority to be offering the Green Deal. Birmingham Energy Savers (BES) is a city council initiative which offers solar pv installations and energy advice to the people of Birmingham, aiming to reduce the city’s carbon emissions and create local jobs. Amazingly, it is the second largest refurbishment programme in the world!

BES is currently gearing up to start delivering the Green Deal later in the year when it goes live. Already they have conducted pilot tests and been finding partners to work with. Right now they are hammering out the finer details of how the real deal will work – and that is why they organised the consultation event that I went to.

The event was attended by a varied bunch, including housing associations, energy companies, consultants, contractors, renewable energy companies, councillors, business people – and BFOE!

We started with a presentation explaining the project and some of the potential problems it may face – such as the numerous very old properties that don’t meet the required standards. For example, some Victorian houses only have one wall layer, so can’t have cavity wall insulation (as they have no cavity!). I was pleased to hear that extra subsidies may be available for these houses.

We then broke out into three focus groups. BES asked us all for our input on three areas, to feed it into their continuing development of the project. Firstly my group focused on behaviour change – why it’s important, what can be changed and what resources are needed. With a representative of a housing association in our group, we spent some time discussed potential problems of offering the deal to social housing tenants, in particular people questioning why they have to pay for the work themselves – should the housing association not provide them with energy efficient homes in the first place? 

We all acknowledged the need to maintain a dialogue with ‘customers’, providing ongoing support rather than simply going in, doing the work, and then disappearing. This could be done with six-month follow-up consultations. With the installation of solar pv panels that provide free electricity, there is a danger that some people may actually become more frivolous with how they use that electricity. Smart meters – which allow people to clearly see how much energy they are using – may be a good way to engage people with how much energy they are actually using and encourage them to be more careful with it.

Our group then moved on to discuss customer satisfaction. Having work done on your house can be extremely disruptive, and if a house is having a full retrofit the tenant may have to move out of it while the work is being done, so ensuring minimal disruption is a high priority for ensuring customer satisfaction. We suggested that complimentary services such as free storage space may help to make the process smoother.

We agreed that the energy advisor making the initial contact will need to be multiskilled to put the customer at ease, explain the technical details but not present the work as a ‘sale’, as this may be off-putting for some people and even arouse suspicion of the scheme. A national website and hotline will be provided for people to follow up on the initial visit and confirm the project as bona fide and not a scam.

Finally we discussed awareness-raising and engagement. We built upon the previous discussion of potential suspicion, and agreed that clear endorsement by Birmingham City Council and/or central government was required to put people’s minds at ease that the project is for real

I raised the point that in communicating with people about the scheme, the environmental message needs to be as strong as the financial one. For many people it will be the financial incentive that attracts them, but the reason the deal exists is to reduce carbon emissions and that message should not be lost. If it is then a precious opportunity to raise awareness of the direct links between day-to-day behaviour and climate change would be lost. Some people will also be attracted by the environmental incentive too, so there is a need to understand people’s drivers.

I found the consultation interesting and informative, and it was great to be representing BFOE ‘out there’. It felt like a responsibility and a privilege to be championing the green perspective and engaging with people with very different perspectives, such as business, housing and even energy (I was sat next to a man from one of the big six energy companies, who we are currently campaigning against with our Final Demand campaign!). This was both challenging and enjoyable, and felt very necessary.

Kara Moses

Hot stuff… This is for free

Normally when something sounds too good to be true it is. Here’s an exception:

A couple of weeks ago I got an unexpected telephone call – the voice introduced himself as Mr Black and informed me that as a landlord, the property I rent is entitled to cavity wall insulation for FREE –not only that but I was also able to get my second home insulated for a mere 99 quid!

The whole process was so simple; Mr Black came round to my house to assess that the work could be done and then returned 2 days later with a couple of guys and completed the job in an hour.

Mr Black also mentioned that cavity wall insulation is free for 75 year olds as well as anyone that is currently claiming U.K. benefits/tax credit.

Personally I haven’t had to put the heating on once since he left - Happy days!

Whilst I’m not sure my tenants will be as “involved” as the couple in this video (they’re both approaching 90) I, on the other hand, remain optimistic :-)

For more information on cavity wall insulation and the benefits of energy efficient homes please contact: soraya@birminghamfoe.org.uk or visit http://www.foe.co.uk/what_we_do/warm_homes_25659.html

Soraya Hodgetts

Aston University Go Green Week

Last week was Aston University’s Go Green Week. Birmingham FoE were invited along to engage with students on our environmental campaigns. Each day had a different theme. The Energy & Climate Change group were there to coincide with “Turn Off Tuesday”.

One of the things that amazes me about Birmingham is that two of its universities have no student led environmental groups. Aston University used to have one but it is now defunct. So a big aim of the day was to sign up as many interested students as possible to a mailing list, with a view to getting a new group up and running with links to Birmingham FoE.

Armed with our leaflets and clipboards in the foyer of the Main building we approached students. Of the students who weren’t too busy on their way to lectures to stop, almost all of them recognised that energy & climate change were important issues and many of them wanted to find out more. This is encouraging, (we didn’t come across any climate change deniers!), but the difficult bit will be engaging them enough to get them to actively get involved!

The second aim of the day was to gauge students views on their student digs. Student rented accommodation is amongst the worst housing stock in the UK and Birmingham is no exception. One of the things we are campaigning for is a legally binding minimum standard of energy efficiency for private rented properties by 2016.

While students were largely very keen to tell us about their draughty bedrooms and freezing bathrooms, when it came to agreeing to be filmed for a “Rate My Digs” feature, they became a little more reticent! Some for fear of retribution, but many because they hadn’t done their hair or because they “had a heavy night”! However, with perseverance and charm, we were able to get a handful of brave soldiers to appear in front of the lens without make-up!

You will be able to see what they said in a video which will shortly be released, so look out for that. On the whole though, it is fair to say that Aston University is investing in new, energy efficient accommodation so hopefully our students can watch Deal or No Deal in warmth and comfort, safe in the knowledge that they are not wasting energy!

Robert Pass