Wirral Council gives CRed-ibility to energy efficiency campaign

Low Carbon Innovation Centre (LCIC) is delighted to announce that Wirral Council has adopted the new community carbon reduction CRed system as part of its energy efficiency campaign. The campaign was launched at a Tranmere Rovers football match with the organisers showing a picture of a three metre football, representing the amount of CO2 emitted daily by each of us. The CRed System encourages behaviour change and shows how to reduce your carbon footprint by improving home energy efficiency.

The CRed System has been in operation since 2003 but this is the first version of the new CRed system, updated in 2009, to be used by a local authority. Its unique application as a carbon reduction collation and recording tool is already proving beneficial to the authority. Wirral Council has implemented an effective climate change committee consisting of Wirral Council, NHS Wirral and Cheshire and Wirral NHS Trust to help spearhead the campaign in their area, giving them inclusive ownership of the campaign.

Chris Harrison CEO of LCIC said: “We are delighted that Wirral are the first to use the new CRed System as part of their energy saving ambition. As government legislation starts to require local authorities to reduce their carbon emissions, tools such as the CRed System will assist their carbon emissions reduction efforts.”

LCIC East of England low carbon innovation fund

In June 2009, UEA, through the Low Carbon Innovation Centre (LCIC), was provisionally appointed as Fund Operator for an exciting new investment fund in the East of England. This appointment, which follows UEA’s success in running the Carbon Connections programme has now been formalised and since the summer, the UEA team, led by LCIC’s Chief Executive Dr Chris Harrison, has been working hard with EEDA to obtain government approval for the Fund.

With approval in place, the next stage was to appoint a Fund Manager who will be responsible for raising private money for co-investment into innovative, regional SMEs alongside investments from the £8M pot from the European Regional Development Funds. The fund will have a broad low-carbon remit and be capable of supporting a wide range of new and established companies in their low carbon activities and products through equity investments.

Anyone seeking investment for a venture is advised to keep monitoring EEDA and LCIC web pages for further information as it becomes available. The Fund is expected to formally open for business in summer 2010. Businesses are kindly asked not to contact us yet. However, anyone interested in the Fund and wishing to keep up to date with developments should keep checking the LCIC Innovation pages.

Copenhagen debrief

LCIC’s Scientific Adviser for Energy Dr. Keith Tovey, attended a Copenhagen Debrief organised by the Guardian newspaper. Here is his summary of the event.

The Guardian organised this event because surveys show that their readers tend to be twice as aware of ‘green issues’ as average consumers. The event was also an opportunity to promote the forthcoming quarterly networking master classes which seek to disseminate good practice in business.

The first speaker was David Kennedy of Committee for Climate Change.

David suggested that by the end of the Copenhagen event he was cautiously optimistic; the 2˚C target was agreed although in reality this simply limits the probability of restricting temperature rise by this amount to about 50%. He informed the audience that there was a general feeling that carbon emissions would be restricted to 55Gtonnes a year by 2020 rather than the figure suggested by the Stern report of 40-50 Gtonnes. In addition $100B was pledged for mitigation strategies. However, overall EU targets were not raised and though the UK has suggested a 30% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2020, current targets are not being met in this country. Over the last five years UK reduction amounts to 0.5% rather than the required 2-3% per annum. Kennedy then emphasised that having targets without the correct mechanisms in place to achieve them was rather pointless. In conclusion he maintained belief that, despite Copenhagen, an 80% reduction by 2050 was still achievable.

Steve Peake of Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, felt that the EU had been sidelined at the conference with a shift in power from Annex 1 to non-Annex 1 countries. He reflected that the speed of bringing the Copenhagen event had led to an overhyped expectation. Nick Robbins of HSBC highlighted the China/India/US accord as implying a stabilisation of 3-5˚C suggesting some movement in the right direction albeit one that is not sufficiently low. According to Nick the UK is ranked 17th among the G20 countries in terms of vulnerability to climate change.

In the panel discussion that followed, there was some finger-pointing at China for its intransigent stance while the need for smart meters was also discussed. There was a split decision as to whether the $100B was sufficient for mitigation measures.

Rackheath eco-community

Since September 2008, LCIC has been separately commissioned by Broadland District Council (BDC), Barratt Homes and the Department for Communities and Local; Government (CLG) to undertake work in relation to the proposed Rackheath eco-community. Rackheath, a village five miles north of Norwich, has been earmarked as one of a series of proposed eco-town sites and was the only one of the original twelve locations to be given a double A rating.

LCIC’s most recent for BDC was a scene-setting exercise and serves to identify data required to produce a baseline carbon footprint for the existing Rackheath community, against which future comparisons can be made. The document also discusses potential methodologies for collecting carbon data within the Rackheath Eco-community with a view to helping residents further understand their carbon footprint and identify ways to reduce it. 

In October 2009, LCIC was commissioned by CLG to host a 1-day workshop attended by about 50 stakeholders to discuss the proposals and devise ways forward.  A report from this workshop can be seen at 
http://www.broadland.gov.uk/bdc_shared_content/bdc/committee_papers/091110_REP_Council_Rackheath_Development_Appendix_E_-_Event_Summary.pdf

LCIC also sits on the Rackheath Carbon Management Steering Committee,   adding  to our growing expertise in  low carbon living.   

If you are interested in any aspect of low carbon living please contact Chris Blincoe at LCIC.

Broad appeal for LCIC

LCIC has nearly completed its work with the Broads Authority on emissions and emissions reduction throughout the whole Broads area. BA administers the Norfolk and Suffolk broads, Britain’s largest protected wetland and home to some of the countries rarest plants and animals.

BA has identified a need to take a positive approach to the management of greenhouse gases and has responded to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) call for national parks to act as beacons for authorities and local communities. To this end BA commissioned LCIC to help them develop a strategy to reduce emissions that arise not only from its own operational activities but to quantify and subsequently reduce emissions arising from all other factors within its geographical remit. The first step to achieving this was to identify where the emissions are coming from, the factors that influence the scale of the emissions and to determine to what extent these emissions can be controlled or influenced by BA

This has led to a multi-layered strategy to reduce both the smaller emissions from BA operations and also encourage changes in land management and recreation and tourism that will deliver much larger emissions reductions. Examples of actions at this wider level include reductions in nitrogen inputs and other nutrient management measures to reduce nitrous oxide emissions as well as actions to encourage tourists and service providers to reduce the carbon intensity of tourism as a whole.

Uniquely, the Authority considered the existing carbon store in vegetation and soils as land management practices have an impact on this store. Modifying practices so that these protect and enhance the overall carbon store, thus potentially offsetting any unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions is another important feature of the project.

Low Carbon Film-making with Screen East

LCIC’s Fergus Rolfe is working with Screen East on a low carbon film-making project. Screen East is the regional screen agency for the east of England and is dedicated to developing, supporting and promoting the film and media industries in the region. Supported by the UK Film Council and Skillset, the low carbon fund will run for five years and will provide low carbon digital production investment across film, documentary, TV and computer games to commercially viable projects in the East of England.

The fund is split into two phases. The first is a business support programme, including up to ten workshops on business planning and carbon reduction, which provides practical examples to reduce carbon emissions, particularly regarding crew travel, electrical generators on location and the use of next generation lighting technology.

The second phase is an Investment Fund, providing up to £250,000 investments for 15-20 individual investment projects and a unique referral system to link creators with commissioning editors, games publishers and film financiers within this area of expertise. The outcomes of the fund will be shared with content industries nationally and will contribute to strengthening the leadership of the region in response to climate change.

LCIC’s will run low carbon workshops and advise applicants on how best to monitor, reduce and report on their production carbon emissions.

Laurie Hayward, Chief Executive of Screen East, commented: “The Low Carbon Fund will encourage the creation of low carbon content products and services by businesses and we believe that it is a ‘first’ for the UK, and possibly the world, in incentivising low carbon production techniques as a criterion for investment.

The lack of tailored, sector-specific business support is one of the main barriers to growth in the content industry. We expect approximately 105 companies to benefit from the project with an anticipated 30 per cent reduction in carbon emissions, helping both individual companies and the region as a whole.”

Girl guides

Norfolk's trail-blazing brownies and guides will become the first in the country to earn a new badge which encourages eco-friendly lifestyles. The Sustainable Living Challenge badge was launched by about 150 members of Girlguiding Norfolk at an event at Swaffham's EcoTech Centre on Saturday.

To earn the right to stitch the new badge on their uniforms, the girls will have to demonstrate a range of skills from growing vegetables and recycling to saving energy and composting. They will also be required to encourage their families and neighbours to alter their habits and reduce their carbon footprints.

The badge was developed in partnership with the University of East Anglia, with funding from its Community University Engagement East (CUE East) project, aimed at building cooperation between academics and communities. It will be trialled by all 8,000 members of Girlguiding in Norfolk - from rainbows through to senior guides and leaders - before being rolled out to more than 550,000 members nationwide.

A resource pack to help guide the girls towards the award of their badge has been developed in collaboration with scientists across the Norwich Research Park, including the university's Community Carbon Reduction Programme (CRed).

CUE East chairman, Professor Keith Roberts, said: “The young have a major investment in the future of our fragile planet, and at CUE East we are both proud and delighted to be sponsoring this new badge that will support their practical knowledge and appreciation of sustainable issues.”

At Saturday's launch event, the girls were given a tour of the towering EcoTech turbine and carried out activities including making butterfly feeders, recycling newspaper to make plant pots and sowing tomato plants to grow at home.

Events & Training

Renewable waste: An energy solution for the food & beverage industry

On the 5th of July 2010, the Low Carbon Innovation Centre will host a network-building event for converting organic food & beverage industry wastes into energy. Through presentations, case studies and open panel discussions, the event will draw together stakeholders from throughout the food & beverage industry life cycle in the East of England.

Over the day, the event will:

• Set the regulatory and economic context and outline future trends
• Explore opportunities for reducing cost, maintaining compliance and improving sustainability
• Share actual experiences of using waste-to-energy technologies in the food & beverage industries

Events

Courses

To attend any of the events or courses listed above please contact Matt Dolan on
01603 591358 or m.dolan@uea.ac.uk