An important new report has recently been published.

A good summary is on RealClimate.org:

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/06/a-warning-from-copenhagen/

Dear Peckham Power'er,

Would you be interested in attending a free training session for installing draft proofing measures in domestic buildings?  The training will be given by a representative from a leading insulation manufacturer and will probably happen some time in May or June at a local venue.  Spaces are very limited at this initial training event.  However, if you're not able to attend this initial training event then please don't worry because our intention is to run regular, free and community-based "Draft Busting Saturdays" to pass on draft-busting skills.

Please email jack [at] peckhampower [dot] org to register your interest for the initial draft proofing training.

For more discussion of the "Draft Busting Saturdays" events, please see our forum post:

http://peckhampower.org/forum/groups/energy-efficiency/draft-busting-project

Many thanks,

Jack

Peckham Power

Dear Everyone,

Just a quick correction for the last newsletter: please email info [at] peckhampower [dot] org to register for the event or to get in touch (not info [at] peckhampower [dot] org [dot] uk!)  Apologies!

Here's the corrected newsletter in full for those who didn't receive it last time:

see http://www.e4declaration.org/

this emerged from a Schumacher College conference. Also connects to the NEF 100 months and counting pages at http://neftriplecrunch.wordpress.com/

see http://www.nesta.org.uk/selling-sustainability-report/

Might be helpful in getting messges across. Particularly if you decide to get into tangible products for people.

Hi folks,

Is anyone planning to go to the Climate Camp on Wednesday 1^st April in Central London?  I and at least 1 other Peckham Powerer might be going.  Let us know if you fancy going by replying to this thread!  Here's a short bit of blurb from the Climate Camp website:

...

We've camped against the Heathrow runway, we've camped against the Kingsnorth coal power station. Now its time to camp against the over-arching problem: absolute faith in unfettered markets and endless economic growth. On April 1st the G20 leaders arrive in London. At a time of climate crisis their response to the market meltdown is emergency loans to car manufacturers, increased spending to encourage consumption, and bailouts for the very people who got us into this mess - just the thing that will make the climate crisis worse.

Don’t let them get away with it: join our camp in the Square Mile!

We will convergence on the European Climate Exchange, Hasilwood House, 62 Bishopsgate, EC2N 4AW at 12:30 exactly. If we are to be succesful, it is very important that we all arrive at the Climate Exchange at the same time. We must swoop in from different directions, and under different means to all arrive within a minute or two of each other. We therefore advise that people meet up with their mates early, and somewhere within easy reach of the Climate Exchange. Then, at the appropriate moment, leave quickly, and timed to arrive at exactly 12:30. You may even want to practice beforehand.

...

More info: http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/g20

Perhaps a "Peckham contingent" could gather before hand?

I've just returned from the Energy Saving Trust's Green Neighbourhoods workshop.  Here are my notes.  These notes are quite rough around the edges but they will hopefully shed some light on what happened at the workshop... if you'd like me to explain anything in more detail then please post a comment at the end of this post and I'll do my best to elaborate.

The workshop was held today (Friday 20.03.2009 1pm-5pm) in Westminster.

Overview of the EST's Green Neighbourhoods scheme

• The EST's Green Neighbourhoods scheme will aim to provide a grant plus a zero-interest loan plus other funding.

• The project is gearing up now. Pilots are running. Not sure when the project will be rolled out nationally.

• GN will aim to help up to 100 neighbourhoods. Total budget might be £5M? Maybe 15 households per neighbourhood; £4k per house. But don't know how much money will be available. Originally the fund was £10m but that has been cut by the government, partially because of the overlap between GN and the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) run by the Department for Energy and Climate Changes's (DECC).

• Aimed at able-to-pay owner-occupiers; not social housing (which is covered by DECC's CESP)

• Aimed at “hard to treat” homes where “hard to treat” means solid walled or off mains gas. The existing Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT) scheme is addressing the “easy to treat” homes so the EST's GN must address the hard to treat.

• Target is for a 60% reduction in CO2 per household. Measure over 2 years using smart meters (electricity, water, gas, oil will all be metered. Data is viewable by homeowners and is also sent to utilities). Homes which already have some measures installed will not be penalised, the 60% reduction is relative to stock average. (e.g. if a house already had some solid wall insulation installed then that would contribute to the 60% reduction). The aim is NOT for the full 60% reduction to come from just the EST funding.

• The £4k per house from the EST will be leveraged against other funding to reach £15k per house. Match funding. The homeowner will be expected to put in a large chunk of money.

• “Whole-house approach”

• Hoping to bring in CERT where possible for appropriate measures (e.g. loft insulation). GN wants to be a facilitator to help bring in other funding.

• The EST GN is a demo programme. It will not compete with CESP.

• 65 people subscribed to today's workshop.