What a bank holiday! Saturday morning out leafletting for the European elections with Jenny Jones, followed by an afternoon in the wonderful Bussey Building with the Peckham Power Company. Never mind the sandwiches, the sun brought out a great mix of people, including a policy expert from DECC no less. Anna from the PPC took us through the mix of energy we currently use — nice to see people quite so shocked by the proportion of energy ’embodied’ in the stuff we buy; next, the mix of energy we could physically generate in the UK; and finally some realisation of the challenge both for the UK and for Peckham in responding to the triple crunch of the recession, climate change and peaking fossil fuel reserves.
The recipe for Peckham and The Lane area? That’ll be lots of refurb, solar thermal & PV, a ground-source heat pump system under Peckham Rye Common and the possibility of some co-generation replacing the old boiler houses in estates and big public/private buildings. I’m not sure that Southwark Council has the officers and councillors who understand what this really needs, yet!
I’ve offered to help Anna & co with their response to the Peckham Area Plan, and Jenny and I are meeting with a very nice guy from the Council planning department to discuss it soon.
Now to the Centre for Alternative Technology for a two day seminar to revisit and update their Zero Carbon Britain report. I’ll be presenting some work about the construction sector and embodied energy, whilst not-very-secretly wishing I could get out into the hills for a good walk!