April 2011 Archives

After excessively long negotiations, the plans to generate electricity using Photo Voltaic panels on the roofs of St Mary's Church in Moseley, the Hamza Mosque, St Mary's CofE School and the pavilion at Moor Green Allotments, funded by the British Gas Green Streets award, are progressing.

All installations have finally been agreed in principle by the owners of the buildings.

The negotiations about the installation on the church with the Birmingham Diocese began after winning the planning appeal against the planning refusal by the City Council Planning Committee. The negotiations lasted for six months and there was much rejoicing when permission was granted this month.

The negotiations for the two buildings owned by the City Council: St Mary's CofE School and the pavilion at the Allotments, had to be completed before planning permission was applied for. The deadline set by British Gas for agreement by the building owners was originally during the autumn of 2010. This was extended and extended and extended. Permission was finally granted for the last building, the pavilion at the Allotments, last week, 37 minutes after the very final deadline.

I'm glad to report that British Gas was flexible about this delay and Lee Barlow, the British Gas Project Manager, wrote to say "Fantastic News!!! I will set the ball rolling at our end."

Planning approval has still to be granted for these two buildings, and for the installation on the Hamza Mosque. The Mosque committee was the first building owner to confirm their wish for the installation, but the planning process could not begin until the Birmingham Diocese had confirmed their agreement for the installation at St Mary's. If they had refused the money allocated to the church would have been divided between the other community buildings.

I hope that only good news will follow about progress for the installation of PV panels on these buildings.

After excessively long negotiations, the plans to generate electricity using Photo Voltaic panels on the roofs of St Mary's Church in Moseley, the Hamza Mosque, St Mary's CofE School and the pavilion at Moor Green Allotments, funded by the British Gas Green Streets award, are progressing.

All installations have finally been agreed in principle by the owners of the buildings.

The negotiations about the installation on the church with the Birmingham Diocese began after winning the planning appeal against the planning refusal by the City Council Planning Committee. The negotiations lasted for six months and there was much rejoicing when permission was granted this month.

The negotiations for the two buildings owned by the City Council: St Mary's CofE School and the pavilion at the Allotments, had to be completed before planning permission was applied for. The deadline set by British Gas for agreement by the building owners was originally during the autumn of 2010. This was extended and extended and extended. Permission was finally granted for the last building, the pavilion at the Allotments, last week, 37 minutes after the very final deadline.

I'm glad to report that British Gas was flexible about this delay and Lee Barlow, the British Gas Project Manager, wrote to say "Fantastic News!!! I will set the ball rolling at our end."

Planning approval has still to be granted for these two buildings, and for the installation on the Hamza Mosque. The Mosque committee was the first building owner to confirm their wish for the installation, but the planning process could not begin until the Birmingham Diocese had confirmed their agreement for the installation at St Mary's. If they had refused the money allocated to the church would have been divided between the other community buildings.

I hope that only good news will follow about progress for the installation of PV panels on these buildings.

The weather is warmer now, so your fuel bills may not be a real concern for you at present, but you could - should? - act now to get help for the future.

If you live in Moseley and have not received energy efficiency improvements through SusMo's British Gas Green Streets 2010 prize, there is still time to get some small energy saving items. This could lead to getting significant energy efficiency improvements for Moseley, including your home, in the future.

SusMo - Sustainable Moseley - is competing against the other 13 Green Streets 2010 winners for a £100,000 prize for more energy efficiency improvements for Moseley. Your interest and action to reduce your fuel bills will help SusMo's chances of winning this prize, and may mean that your household receives part of the award.

Birmingham City Council invited SusMo to a workshop about the "Birmingham Energy Savers" programme. BES Phase 3 aims to invest £100m in improving the energy efficiency of 10-20,000 homes, including the installation of solar panels. SusMo plans to play a part by helping BCC to find the households in Moseley which wish to benefit from this investment - does this include you?

Your best first step is to ask for some energy saving items which are available free to Moseley residents who sign up to imeasure and join the SusMo Carbon Club. Electricity energy monitors, radiator panels, standby savers, cylinder jackets, pipe lagging and EcoKettles are available - ACT QUICKLY before the stock runs out!

imeasure is a "Home Energy Monitoring Calculator" on the internet.

Go to www.imeasure.org.uk/
Register your details
Join the SusMo Carbon Club
Enter your meter readings every week (if possible - but if you miss a week sometimes that's OK).

You receive details of your carbon footprint, as well as handy hints on how to reduce your energy use.

You will be able to see how many other people in Moseley are monitoring their fuel consumption - data on the website is anonymous for those who don't wish to be identified, so you need to tell sustainablemoseley@gmail.com when you join.

If you have a Smart Meter it is much easier to check your energy use. By 2020 all homes in the UK should have smart meters - ask your energy company if you can have one now. Some energy companies charge extra for Smart Meters, others do not - tell SusMo what your energy company says.

Contact sustainablemoseley@gmail.com to find out more.

When we are sitting down we usually close doors close to us. This prevents draughts and helps to keep a room warm in cold weather - it reduces energy waste.

The scale of energy waste is greatly increased if external doors are left open. Research has proved that in the case of shops, 50% savings in fuel use is gained if doors are opened when customers enter the shop instead of being left open. The research found no conclusive evidence that footfall, or transactions, were affected by closing the shop door.

Keeping doors open and the heating on full is estimated to be costing the UK's retailers £1billion a year.

The close the door against energy waste campaign started in Cambridge and has now spread to seven other cities in England.

Closing shop doors is an easy, cost effective way of cutting CO₂ and contributing to the targets set for 2026.

Birmingham City Council's target is a 60% reduction. Birmingham Friends of the Earth has posted information about the campaign on their website and encourages us to Take Action: "The next time you're out for some retail therapy and see a shop door wide open, politely ask them to close the door. Simple! Or come along to our campaigns meetings."

Contact Robert Pass - birmingham@closethedoor.org.uk - for details of this campaign, or Joe Peacock - joe@birminghamfoe.org.uk - about FoE campaigns.