As promised, here are the outputs from our very successful Energy Day held in March. The fully illustrated report of the day that we produced for our sponsors is now available and you can access it by following this link:
FINAL REPORT ENERGY DAY - 2023
The individual videos of the morning and afternoon sessions are now available on the website and elsewhere. You can follow the link below to access both the programme and the YouTube links.
One of the practical outputs from the day is the Thermal Imaging programme that we plan to establish. The details are on Page 9 of the report. If you would like to get involved with the programme, either as a householder or surveyor, contact us at:
- Opening Welcome - https://youtu.be/Sg0z8Tp5G9Y
- Cllr. Joe Porter, SMDC Cabinet Member Climate and Biodiversity (introduced by Mark Johnson, MCA)
- Fabric First: Basic Energy Solutions for your Home - https://youtu.be/-y-igXNruJI
- Nick Parsons, Sustainable Building (Sheffield)
- Graham Hirst, Energy Assessor/Advisor Sustainable Hayfield (in partnership with Marches Energy Agency)
- Heat In Homes - https://youtu.be/tp27pj3TIN8
- Mark Thompson, Get Energy Savvy
- Domestic Energy and Retrofit: The Next Steps - https://youtu.be/0KS8evwmECc
- Becky Lane, Furbnow and former Net Zero Delivery Manager, West Midlands
- Charlie Baker, The Red Co-op and Your Home Better Consortium (Manchester)
- Dan Chambers, Moorlands resident embarking on low carbon future
- Delivering a Smart and Local Energy Transition - https://youtu.be/ghLdZA6Fe7o
- Prof. Zoe Robinson, Director, Keele Institute for Sustainable Futures
- A Sustainable Energy Future for the Moorlands, Staffordshire and the Region. - https://youtu.be/ovwqvWDsVz8
- Serena Bacuzzi, Midlands Net Zero Hub
- Chris Langdon, Decumans and Net Zero Rugeley
- Gillian Wright, Climate Change Officer, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
- Followed by final panel questions
We are very excited about the way that our second annual Energy Day is taking shape. To be held on Sunday 5 March at the Foxlowe Arts Centre in Leek, it will focus on the following themes:
- Fabric first: basic energy solutions for your house/home
- How to reduce your energy use: a talk plus Q&A
- Domestic energy: the next steps
- An energy future for the Moorlands Staffordshire, and the region
As before, the day will feature a lively mix of speakers who will then take part in a panel discussion as well as answer any question you may have.
From last year, we’re delighted to welcome back Sheffield’s Nick Parsons, of Sustainable Building, one of the most insightful (and user-friendly) experts on energy refurbs in the business.
EASY ENERGY and Money Saving Help
Ofgem’s energy price cap was planned to happen on 1st October 2022, a substantial increase from the previous price cap. This is worrying and is likely to lead to a very hard winter for many of us. Now is perhaps not a good time to switch energy supplier as they are all in the same situation and can’t offer a better deal at the moment. Simply the best way to reduce energy bills, is to use less, which means conserving energy in a variety of ways. We can stop wasting energy by helping to make our home more energy efficient and/or changing what we do to try and consume less.
Using less energy and saving on our heating bills makes sense financially and for the planet. Turning our heating down to 18 degrees (Considered to be the lowest temperature we need at home to maintain good health) can help save a considerable amount. Also, wearing warm clothes indoors and switching off any electrical items not in use like lights, TV, computers, consoles etc., will also cut down bills and energy use. (Although fridges and freezers should always be left on).
Below, we have gathered plenty of simple, cost-effective suggestions from a variety of sources, to help save energy at home and to stay warm this winter. This is not about major changes and expense like retrofitting the whole house or investing in solar panels and heat pumps - although they are all very important ways to save energy.
Moorlands Climate Action held the first ever Energy Fair in the district on Sunday April 3rd at the Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek. Over 130 members of the public attended the free event, as well as 12 elected members of SMDC. They listened to a range of energy experts and users of renewable energy. Topics ranged from energy efficiency, new sources of domestic heating and water to community energy production. Here is a brief report on the day, including reactions from participants.
SPEAKERS AND PRESENTERS
James Aberley, Chair Climate Change Working Committee, SMDC – Opened the day by highlighting the need for collaboration across all sectors of the Moorlands and the need to ensure delivery of ambitions.
Laurie Duncan, Big Solar – demonstrated their app which allowed user-friendly analysis of solar footprint of any particular buildingDominic Swords, Hope Valley Renewables – outlined innovative early stage project to deliver renewable energy on Derbyshire Dales District Council-owned site. How this can keep more of the value created within the local community.
There are many myths about wind turbines and other forms of renewable energy, usually told by shadowy figures and organisations such as Lord Lawson's ‘Global Warming Policy Foundation’ that are funded by the fossil fuel industry. Such myths have been used by some SMDC councillors to prevent the establishment of wind turbines and solar farms in the Moorlands.
Misinformation like this has exacerbated the Climate Emergency that is now so obvious to all. Most supporters and beneficiaries of the fossil fuel industry do now admit to the reality of climate change but their current policy is to delay reaching net zero carbon as long as possible by proposing false technological solutions and expecting taxpayers to pay for them or to argue that aiming for Net Zero is too expensive. After 30 years of uncontroversial and accumulating scientific evidence, during which time the fossil fuel lobby used all sorts of dirty tricks to mislead the public, why should we be expected to give taxpayers’ money to these people to promote carbon capture & storage and hydrogen schemes that depend on fossil fuels, when renewables and their related technologies would be so much cheaper and also more efficient?
One of the scientific challenges of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, as SMDC promised us two years ago, is not energy production itself but ensuring that supply is matched to demand. That’s why storage capacity is necessary - to store electricity generated at times of peak output and make it available for use at times when it’s needed but the wind isn’t blowing or the sun shining, in other words, balancing the grid.
The drive for better storage comes from the need for motive power to transport people and goods. This has brought down the price of lithium battery storage so much, it is now economic to attach battery storage to large solar farms, such as those proposed for the Moorlands. It also makes them cost-effective, as energy can then be sold at a higher price when demand is high, although the primary purpose of battery storage is to balance the grid.
England is particularly fortunate to have globally significant reserves of lithium in Cornwall, with strong potential for extracting it economically as a
.Energy can of course be stored in many ways. Since the 1980s, there has been a large-scale pumped storage station at Dinorwig in Wales, with a hydro scheme operating to balance the grid. Another approach, planned for Cheshire, is to use an old salt producing area to store pressurised air underground. Perhaps in the distant future we will have a storage facility in the old salt area around Salt in Staffordshire.
Photo credit: Solar-panel farm, Bishops Lydeard by Roger Cornfoot, Solar-panel farm, Bishops Lydeard - geograph.org.uk - 2538248, Cropped image, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Moorlands Climate Action Energy Fair (sponsored by Leek United Building Society)
- Throwing Light on Energy Matters
- Community Energy Self-sufficiency
- Green Energy Fair and Proposed Solar Farm
- Community District Heating in the Moorlands?
- Zero Carbon Housing
- Community-powered Renewables in the Moorlands?
- Going Green at Adders Green
- Fusion, Fission and Fossil Fuel Fables
- Hydrogen Hype
- Solar News
- Energy Production