Green Great Britain Week

APSE Energy is helping to highlight Green GB Week. Local government has a significant role to play in the future of energy for the benefit of local communities and economies. Each day this week we will be shining the spotlight on a council or inititaive that is working hard to create a cleaner and greener society. 

Monday: Durham County Council

County Durham is excited to be launching Green Great Britain Week! Kicking off the electric vehicle roadshow with this event in Durham City, promotion will be focussing on the financial, social and environmental benefits of clean growth, low carbon business and green living. As a local authority leading the switch to a low carbon economy, Durham County Council has already reduced carbon emissions by over 40% since 2009, ahead of their target date. They now plan to focus in on electric vehicles and get behind the Government’s commitment to take a world leading stance and ensure that Britain’s vehicle infrastructure goes electric by 2040. The Council recognises that this will involve lots of challenges around making electric vehicle charging easily available to everyone but they also see this as a very exciting opportunity and are keen to put Durham at the forefront of the EV revolution.

Tuesday: Energetik 

Tuesday is focusing on technologies of the future clean growth and innovation

Energetik: Enfield’s own heat network company is an example of how councils have established technology to meet local need.

• Enfield council has established their own heat network company called Energetik to provide better value energy that’s reliable and environmentally friendly, with a vision to revolutionise the local energy market and be the supplier to trust.

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• Energetik’s first two heat networks are now live, which has led to an up to 80% reduction in homes’ carbon footprint for heating. When the networks are complete, they will save 8,000 tonnes of CO₂ every year. That’s the weight of 626 London buses!  
• Tacking fuel poverty - In the last 3 years Enfield Council’s ‘Fuel Poverty Service’ has helped 264 households save a total of £323k. It has also fitted 59 energy efficient boilers to private sector vulnerable households.
• The Council continues to support local residents though free Green Doctor’s visits, making homes warmer by:

1. Installing free energy efficiency measures
2. Offering hints and tips on energy switching
3. Income maximisation to ensure residents claim all benefits and grants they’re entitled to including ECO funding
4. Making referrals for further energy efficiency improvements, such as loft insulation and energy efficient boilers

For more information visit https://www.energetik.london/

Wednesday: Municipalisation of Energy

One of the reasons APSE Energy is supporting Green GB Week is that it fits with our vision of the ‘municipalisation of energy’ and a greater role for local authorities in the energy agenda in their localities.

Local authorities are ideally placed to play a major role in the energy transition – they have a leadership role and skills, there are examples of new technologies being used in local government, they have access to cheap finance, they are keen to promote their local economies and help them grow and they are constantly looking out for their local communities especially the poor and vulnerable.

The energy transition is happening and local authorities will have the opportunity to benefit financially, access grants and other funding, promote energy efficiency, generate jobs and provide cheaper tariffs – most councils are doing some or all of these things but more is possible.

The recent IPCC report outlined the consequences for not limiting rising temperatures and explained that we all have a part to play. Climate change is a huge challenge and local authorities must play their part.

Councils have their assets, they have their problems, they have a responsibility to act but sometimes they lack capacity. If you want to address the kind of issues raised during Green GB Week and you would like some support or to find out how APSE Energy can help you , please call Phil Brennan, Head of APSE Energy on 0161 772 1810 or at [email protected]     

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Thursday: Schools

Schools are being encouraged to get involved in Green GB Week!

Green GB Week focuses on events and activities bringing together businesses, schools, colleges, universities, community groups, and charities to explore how clean growth will change our futures and others can contribute to action on climate change.

Mid & East Antrim and Causeway Coast & Glens borough councils have worked with the Public Health Agency to deliver ‘Energy Detectives’, a project delivered by council energy efficiency advisors in primary schools which aims to help households maximise their income by enabling them to take real time measurements of their energy usage and costs.  

Energy Detectives is a primary school initiative developed to illustrate energy consumption and encourage behaviour change.  Pupils become members of an investigative team equipped with energy monitors and tasked with fun activities that help them and their families to identify the energy thieves in their home and together discover practical ways to address energy wastage. For more information click here.

This initiative demonstrates how local authorities can include schools in the energy agenda and address fuel poverty in unique ways.  

Friday: Fife Council

The focus for Friday of Green GB Week is ‘Climate action in communities,’ which encourages people to connect on clean growth and climate action. Many local authorities support community energy projects, which encourage local renewable energy generation and grow the local economy.

Fife council is part of an innovative partnership, the Levenmouth Community Energy Project, which demonstrates that green hydrogen can tackle two of Scotland’s biggest energy challenges - energy storage and low carbon transport. The project supports the Council’s ambitions of growing a vibrant economy and promoting a sustainable society.

The project showcases the transition of old traditional energy to new green energy by exhibiting clean alternatives for power supplies and transport. This project was set up to demonstrate the use of hydrogen energy storage in order to overcome the intermittency of renewables.

This is an example of a local authority that is engaged in a successful partnership that sources reliable green energy that meets the supply and demand challenges of a local network and acts as a blueprint for decarbonisation.

Find out more - https://www.brightgreenhydrogen.org.uk/levenmouth-community-energy-project/