November 2009 Archives

SusMo is working hard on our Community Engagement Plan, to gain maximum impact from the British Gas Green Streets investment in Moseley and aiming to win a further £100,000 for our achievement in saving energy, generating renewable energy and helping local people to save money and save the planet.

SusMo will be at the Moseley Farmers' Market tomorrow with a display about Green Streets so, if you read this in time and live nearby, come along to find out more and to learn how you can join in to help yourself, the project, the City Council's Cutting CO₂ targets, and the planet. For more information email susmo@moseleyforum.

At the same time you can stock your larder with local produce and buy seasonal gifts, many of them locally produced, at the "Extended Christmas Special" Moseley Arts Market.

You will get another chance to shop with lighter footprints at the Moseley Markets before the festive season - on December 19th.

Today SusMo was confirmed as one of fourteen winners in the British Gas Green Streets competition, sharing prize money of £2 million.

The competition is about saving energy, generating energy and engaging the community.

The SusMo Green Streets project will install energy-saving and renewable energy measures at the Moor Green allotment site (MADAHAL), in three community buildings - Moseley CofE School , Hamza Mosque and St. Mary's Church and in 20 homes. The homes, selected by Moseley and District Churches Housing Association , Hamza Mosque and St. Mary's Church to participate in the project, will be a mixture of tenures, income groups and ethnic backgrounds.

We asked for over £200,000 and measures under consideration, in addition to the 20 homes, include:

- Photo Voltaic panels on St Mary's Church to provide renewable electricity, most of which would be fed back into the grid, generating income;

- a solar hot water system to heat water required for Wudhu (washing before prayers, five times every day) at Hamza Mosque in Church Road;

- the installation of energy saving measures at Moseley CofE School such as thermostats, and on-site renewables such as solar panels;

- a feasibility study for MADAHAL to look at renewable energy options such as wind, photovoltaic cells, and renewable heating systems for their Pavilion such as air source/ground source heat pumps, and biomass.

Following feasibility studies at each location, the most cost-effective measures for CO₂ emission-cuts will be chosen.

Moseley Community Development Trust will act as lead partner for the project and will host a SusMo community energy company, which will reinvest a portion of the savings and income generated through the installations provided by the SusMo Green Streets project. This will enable low interest loans for energy efficiency improvements in Moseley.

Andrew Hogan, Director of Communications, at British Gas , who sat on the judging panel, said: "The level of support within this community is outstanding. I was very impressed with the huge participation from across the area.

"To make Britain a greener place we need to build on the commitment and initiative of our communities. All the inspiring presentations we saw are proof of the passion, knowledge and energy that is out there in our communities. We were particularly encouraged by the strong focus that SusMo had on diversity and the ideas they had to involve the whole community."

I walked to the Open Day at John, Jo and Theo's zero carbon house this morning. I would have liked to encourage everyone who reads this to make sure that they visit the house as well, but the visit ended at 4 p.m., and I expect that it will be last time for an open invitation event, as they will start to move in next week.

The publicity for the Open Day states "No more fuel bills", and this should be a reality for a least a few years. The time limit is not due to an expected reduction in efficiency, but due to a need during the coldest weeks of the year, probably six or seven weeks, when there will be a boost from a wood burning stove. They have enough wood, from trees from their garden, to last them for five to six years. After that there will be a cost to get more wood on site.

You can read about the features of the house, which achieve this remarkable reduction in carbon emissions, on the website. I will just mention a few features.

It is quite cold today, with a strong wind, but the house was very snug. This demonstrated the effectiveness of the insulation and that the house has no draughts.

This house's Insulation is in a different league from normal references to cavity wall or loft insulation. It has been improved by a factor of 14 using compressed clay blocks, insulation from recycled newspaper and a finish of lime plaster, containing glass ground from recycled bottles.

"No draughts" is also an under statement : the house is almost air tight, 28 times better than an average house. There is a ventilation system with a fan and heat exchanger.

When you approach the house, you can see the array of Photo Voltaic panels that provide electricity. The excess electricity created on clear days will be sold to the "grid" and bought back on cloudy days. Water is warmed by solar panels and the hot water store is large enough to provide water for two to three days.

The technical achievements are impressive - so too are the design achievements. This is architecture to lift the spirit. I'm sure that there will be more publicity about this house, not just because it is the first solid wall, 19th century house in the UK to achieve Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, but because it is inspirational in a much wider context.

The news, last spring, that improvements to the insulation of Cotteridge Quaker Meeting House, together with more energy efficient heating and lighting, had cut the building's energy use by 59% over the past five years was welcomed by Cotteridge Quakers. I'm a member of Cotteridge Meeting and have learned a lot from those who have worked so hard to achieve this.

I confess that, at first, when the new heating system was installed I was not entirely happy. Our old electric storage heaters were replaced by air-source heat-pumps, and I found their intermittent noise a distraction during our Quaker silence. The noise was significantly reduced by skilful handy work and it didn't take long for my negative feelings to be replaced by joyful ones. I now like to be reminded, by the distant hum, of the energy savings that have resulted from the new heating system.

Work to reduce energy use still further was approved and on Tuesday we will celebrate the addition of a new "warm roof" which, together with further wall insulation, should cut heat loss by another 21%.

Cotteridge Meeting's next plan is to install solar PV panels on the roof and it is hoped that these will produce enough electricity to render the building "carbon neutral".

I have not put a link in this blog to the Cotteridge Quaker Meeting website page "greening our meeting house" as it needs updating. When the update is completed I will add the link.