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

Gathering together the Midlands family

On Saturday, we had our regional gathering for FoE campaigners in the West Midlands.

As always it was a great opportunity to swap stories, exchange knowledge and tips or just generally moan about the bad things going on with the environment.
Our biggest campaign at the moment is Final Demand, so we had Donna Hulme up from London to give us some detail on the plans for how that will develop, as well as explaining what's going on with FiTs - why the government wants to kill the solar industry.

The question I really wanted to put was how we counter the arguments put by Monbiot that solar can't deliver very much and is a tax on the poor for middle class people to get eco-bling. The answers were very convincing and it's a bit puzzling that Monbiot has refused to have a public debate on it, as our policy team are very confident they would be able to counter any points he makes. This blog post by Alan Simpson does a good job of it, but a few quick snippets of solar's positives are:

• we could generate a third of the electricity we need from domestic roofs
• solar and wind complement each other very well
• the behaviour changes you get from those with PV on their roofs are very marked
• community or social housing schemes can really benefit the most vulnerable, including fuel poor
• It's still well worth putting PV on your roof with the 21p FiT, but community schemes need more

My understanding has also been much improved by the emphasis that it's not just the rate which is the problem with the government's tinkering, but having to have band C energy performance, which takes out about 90% of the housing in this country. That makes far less sense for generating electricity than for heat, but there's no connection with the Renewable Heat Incentive and efficiency.

We also spoke about new campaigns on biodiversity and greener products, but these campaigns are still in development and also had a session where we looked at lobbying MPs.

On a lighter note I also won some chocolate for the following pretty awful limerick - it was the only entry in the poetry competition:

Chris Huhne's sped away from DECC
Where he was always a pain in the neck
He tried to kill solar
And melt all the polar
Icecaps, but his plans were wrecked.

Joe Peacock

SusMo success! Church roof turns into power station.

We've been following the situation with solar panels on the roof of St Mary's church in Moseley with interest for some time, as this should be a great opportunity to show other churches what can be done with a real demonstrator project that benefits the local community and the cause of renewable energy as a whole.

SusMo has put in a huge amount of work to make this project a success. They won £30,000 from the Green Streets award for this part of the bid (the other money going to the Mosque and some residential properties). The project also had a further £20,000 lined up to meet the full cost, but that opportunity has now expired. SusMo are now actively seeking a replacement source of funding, and would be delighted to hear from people who can help them find it.

However, the important barrier of permission to install the solar panels has now been overcome. This result comes after a long and arduous campaign. The Planning Inspectorate overturned the decision of the Planning Committee, thereby granting planning permission, in September 2010. The Diocese of Birmingham had to follow a separate (and lengthy) process of evaluation before reaching their decision, but was eventually swayed by the sense and viability of the project.

John Dowell, the agent for St. Mary’s Moseley Parochial Church Council, expressed joy and relief at the Chancellor’s decision. “His decision backs the views of the churchgoers, Moseley residents, and members of the wider public who have written in support, rather than the objectors who wished to preserve the church building exactly as it was in 1910.” He added that it brought the Diocese of Birmingham in line with projects in other parts of the country‚ including London, Bath and Bristol‚ ensuring that the city is not left behind in its response to climate change and rising fuel prices.

SusMo Chair Claire Spencer echoed John’s sentiments. “This installation will ensure that St. Mary’s is less reliant on energy from fossil fuels, and makes a great deal of financial sense. Visually, it sends a wonderful, positive message ‚ the people of Moseley care deeply about its present, its future, and one another. But the process that we have been through with St. Mary’s has also set a precedent, making it easier for other churches to tap into renewable energy‚ and we look forward to their plans!”

SusMo would like to thank everyone who has supported them and St. Mary’s throughout this project‚ the good advice, letters of support and words of encouragement made all the difference.

Birmingham Friends of the Earth offers our congratulations and hopes that this will be the first of many similar schemes in the city.

Birmingham's vision

Over the past few months I have been on a training course with Common Purpose about leadership and the Total Place concept for Birmingham, showing how we need to work together to achieve the Birmingham 2026 vision. There have also been seminars and talks where this has been discussed alongside the reality of public service cuts in the offing, such as Monday's event at the MAC.

The vision is a good one as far as we're concerned, with really good aspirations for Birmingham to become a greener, more sustainable city. Birmingham also has a Climate Change Action Plan, which begins to show how the council is going to achieve the ambitious target it has for cutting CO2 emissions by 60% by 2026. Yesterday I went along to the first ever cabinet committee meeting on Climate Change and sustainability, where they talked about this plan and the progress that has been made in moving towards the goals it contains.

All of this sounds very positive and should be cause for celebration, but at the moment, with so many public sector jobs under threat and funding cuts for many really good projects already starting to bite or in the pipeline, it is quite hard to be quite that positive about delivery. Birmingham is a city with many talented and dedicated people who really want to make a difference, but the concern is that if all the regional agencies and support mechanisms for local authorities are removed, a large vacuum will be left and all the energy will disappear into it.

Total Place is potentially a good concept, but most of the talk amongst the participants on the course has been about how many people are losing their jobs. There are inspiring ideas and there is a real desire amongst most of the people there to be recognised as public servants who really are serving the public, not being bashed for doing "non-jobs" by politicians (who probably want public attention deflected away from them after their expenses scandals last year).

The most important thing is that the leadership at the council take on real responsibility for the actions happening and I was encouraged by at least one councillor at the meeting yesterday saying that he would do exactly that. It is also up to all of us to show leadership and to remind the politicians of what we've told them when consulted in the preparation of all these visions.

Policy on the ground has to match up to the visions, meaning local business is supported (while large supermarkets and chainstores aren't given planning permission) and people are given the employment opportunities, independent retail outlets and leisure facilities they need locally to reduce the need to travel. If developments such as Tesco in Yardley Wood or Moseley and Asda in Weoley Castle are granted permission, this sets the city on the wrong course, as does the refusal of planning permission to put solar panels on St Mary's church.

Let's get everything joined up and make sure a vision of a sustainable city does come to life. Cuts are on the way, so are massive challenges to stop the big society becoming hugely disappointed with promises not materialising into action.

Joe Peacock

Big Decision For Renewables in Moseley Tomorrow

The planning committee of Birmingham City Council will meet tomorrow morning to decide on the installation of a photovoltaic array on the roof of St. Mary’s Church in Moseley.

SusMo has been rallying support for this as it is a crucial part of the plan for spending the money they recently won in the Green streets challenge to bring energy savings and sustainability to the area.

A report to the committee by the planning officer has recommended refusal, but this withholds crucial information, and seems to entirely ignore Birmingham City Council’s own Sustainability Strategy and Action Plan, as well as the government’s Planning Policy Statement 1: Delivering Sustainable Development. Under the heading of ‘Policy Context’, the report fails to mention a letter of support from Birmingham City Council’s head of Climate Change and Sustainability, Sandy Taylor. Furthermore, under the heading of ‘Sustainability’, the report states the project as ‘Neutral’ – failing to note the array’s expected contribution of 8000kWh of electricity. SusMo has written to all members of the Planning Committee to alert them to these omissions.

With regards to the listed status of the building, it is significant that the National Trust has recognised the threat that climate change poses to our national heritage, and that there will be none left to conserve if climate change is not tackled. The National Trust first installed solar panels on the roof of one of its Grade I listed buildings in 2008, and recommended that owners of other Grade I listed buildings follow suit, where appropriate. Indeed, solar panels are particularly appropriate, given that their installation is a simple and easily reversible procedure which causes no damage to the roof that they are installed on.

For a current example, there is a photovoltaic array on St. James’ Church, Piccadilly.

It is also notable that the Moseley Society, which for decades has guarded the character of the Moseley Conservation Area, is in favour of the application. In total, 22 messages of support were received, and just two objections – one of which came from the Chantry Road residents’ association, which did not consult all residents before forwarding their objection. However, no objections were received from residents on Oxford Road, which is the vantage point from which the panels will be seen most frequently.

For reference, the panels, which are dark blue and low profile, will not be visible from the pavements of St. Mary's Row as they will be hidden by the parapet. Some panels will be visible from the end of Oxford Road but most will be hidden by trees when they are in full leaf.

If the Planning Committee refuses planning permission at its meeting on Thursday, not only will Moseley lose all the benefits that the project would bring to the parish and the wider community, but also, the £30,000 contribution towards the cost of the project from the British Gas Green Street project will be lost, as it has a tight timescale.

The Planning Committee meets on 4 February at 11:00 in Committee Rooms 3 and 4, Council House. The St. Mary’s photovoltaic array is Item 15 on the agenda.

It would seem very strange indeed to reject such a project the day after Birmingham City Council announced it was signing up to 10:10.

(Information from Susmo: susmo@moseleyforum.org.uk)