Climate Change for Local Councils: Innovations, Developments and Practical Actions

APSE Policy Seminar 

Thursday 23 January 2020, Midland Hotel (Green Tourism Certified) Manchester City Centre 

View the programme here

Following the success of APSE’s Climate Emergency seminar in Liverpool in July 2019 we are delighted to announce a further seminar in our policy series on climate change.  This event will feature bespoke learning forums and expert plenary speakers such as Yves Tielemans, Business Unit Manager at Group Machiels, a global operator in green energy production. Yves will be discussing the “enhanced landfill mining site” in Remo, Belgium, where the Group are in the early stages of excavating decades-old waste and turning it into renewable energy. Forums will explore:-

• The Built Environment : Passivhaus, Ground Source Heat Pumps and Low Carbon Workspaces     
• The Local Environment : Air Quality, Water Quality and Public Realm Adaptations
• Energy and renewables : Green Bonds, Alternative Fuel Fleet, Municipal Energy Schemes   

With plenary speakers on measuring and monitoring carbon, air quality, alternative fuel vehicles, the role of public realm in adaptations strategies and a host of other topics and speakers.

Presentations:

Main Session:

Opening Remarks:
Councils and climate emergency: The UK wide picture

• What the APSE Survey Data is telling us
• The issue of resources: How do we fund change?
• Barriers to frontline service changes in tackling climate change

Paul O’Brien, APSE Chief Executive

Utilising the Carbon Target Tool

• Global carbon targets to UK local council targets. How do we capture and measure carbon?
• Translating the Paris Agreement into tangible actions at a local level
• The Tyndall Carbon Target Tool: Generating a carbon budget between local areas

Professor Carly McLachlan, Director, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change

 

Are UK Local Councils doing enough to adapt places and services to climate change?

• Vulnerability and exposure to climate change: The priority areas
• Flood risks and heat: Decline in greenspace: Increase in impermeable surfaces in urban areas
• Extreme weather: Infrastructure interdependencies; resilience of telecoms, digital and ICT
• The role of adaptation and mitigation strategies through local authorities

Nick Jackson, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Waste and Resources: Rubbish or gold mines? Landfill mining

• Can we excavate millions of tons of decades old waste?
• Is the technology there to develop renewable energy and building materials from existing landfill?
• An exploration of the Remo site: the experience in Belgium
• Enhanced landfill mining: A business model to both deal with landfill elimination and circular economy factors and remodelling clean sites into parks, housing and public spaces.

Yves Tielemans, Enhance Landfill Mining Project Manager, Group Machiels, Belgium

Alternative Fuels for Council Fleet on the Frontline

• Greening fleet: The issues for transport managers
• Hydrogen or electric; What technologies are under development
• Can the vehicles stand the test of the waste industry experts?
• Battery developments v service efficiency and costs

Georg Sandkühler, Chief Engineer, Faun Zoeller, Germany

A local council journey : Carbon Neutral Charter 2028

• The key targets for Nottingham City Council
• Turning our pledge into realistic actions places
• Waste: Travel: Transport: Housing and Infrastructure

Wayne Bexton, Head of Energy Services, Commercial, Infrastructure and Energy, Nottingham City Council

Forum 1: The Built Environment

Keynote Address

Passivhaus 2030 Roadmap: responding to the climate emergency

• New build and retrofit: The art of the possible
• Cost issues
• Future proofing on carbon and fuel poverty

John Palmer, Research and Policy Director, Passivhaus Trust

Back to the Future: Retrofitting and Improving Housing Stock

• The importance of considering existing housing stock in tackling climate change
• The options for retro-fitting to reduce carbon and create energy efficient homes
• The benefits for your climate emergency strategy and tenants.

Stephen Cirell, APSE Associate

Ground source heat pumps: A viable alternative?

• Cost and practicalities of installation
• Skills set for fitting and maintenance?
• What are the long-term benefits for communities?

Bean Beanland, Ground Source Heat Pumps Association

Forum 2: The Local Environment

Keynote Address
Flood resilience in an uncertain future: The role of Blue-Green Infrastructure

• Integrating Blue-Green Infrastructure - can it be achieved without public resistance?
• Designing optimal solutions in public spaces
• The role of planners, designers, engineers and communities
• Delivering safe, healthy and attractive places

Dr Emily O’Donnell, University of Nottingham, Research Fellow, Faculty of Social Sciences

Clean Air Quality: Are electric cars the only answer to Air Quality? (currently unavailable)

• Issues for EV infrastructure
• Is there a place for lower carbon solutions?
• Air quality impact of transitioning vehicle types

Sukky Choongh-Campbell, Environmental Manager, Society of motor manufacturers and traders

The London Borough of Brent Bee Corridor

• Re-imagining wild flower meadows
• Taking a biodiverse approach and avoiding chemical use
• The diverse species we used and the outcomes for nature and our communities
• The new bees, insects and flowers to create our bee corridor

Kelly Eaton, London Borough of Brent

Forum 3: Municipal Energy and Renewables

Keynote Address
Barnfield Solar Park: From Avoiding Landfill to Renewable Energy

• The Barnfield Park Solar Project a 2.5 MW ‘private wire’ project
• Converting a Swindon Council Landfill site to a renewable energy production centre
• Savings of £185,000 per annum in energy costs
• Avoiding waste to landfill wide
• Creating a financial model that operates largely without subsidy

Steve Cains, Public Power Solutions, A Swindon Council wholly owned company

Green Finance Developments

• Local Green Bonds – a natural successor the PWLB?
• Green Investment Opportunities – convincing the decision makers

Roy Nolan, FCPFA, RP Martin

The case for Municipal Energy Schemes

• Tackling the energy and carbon footprint of local council energy use
• Transitioning to a renewables strategy
• Council assets and wider opportunities
• The emerging picture across the UK
• The social and environmental impact: From reducing greenhouse cases to addressing fuel poverty

Phil Brennan, Head of APSE Energy