The building of four new towns in England (housing being one of those aspects of policy devolved to the Welsh assembly government who are probably concocting some more crazy schemes like sprinklers in residential properties instead of schemes like this) at or near Whitehill-Bordon in Hampshire, St Austell in Cornwall, Rackheath in Norfolk and North West Bicester in Oxfordshire is a strange concept when you think about it. New towns have long been the butt of much humour - you only need to think of Milton Keynes and a whole plethora of jokes follow (What is the difference between a yoghurt and Milton Keynes? Yoghurt has culture. - admittedly not very good jokes)… populate them with the concerned eco-warrior types who will be attracted to these places and add a sprinkle of politics and I think we have the recipe for a whole new range of (not very good) jokes).

Putting aside my cynicism (believe me it’s hard) these seem like worthy and worthwhile developments - so long as true eco credentials can be established and renewability and sustainability not merely paid lip service to then these new towns may well form beacons of good eco-housing practice and catalysts for change in the wider community.

I must admit my first thought was ‘glad they’re not on my doorstep’ , but then I’ve had a bloody big gas pipeline on mine since 2007 so feel that I’ve done my bit in regard to what’s on and not on my doorstep!

Share This

The feed-in tariffs scheme certainly looks to be of great interest. For the unitiated, feed-in tariffs are the governments new scheme to encourage the takeup of renewable technologies through financial benefits. These financial benefits are two-fold, firstly in the form of savings made to on-going energy costs and secondly through a payment made through the scheme:

Installing solar panels [2.5 kilowatt peak photovoltaic system], which cover a space of around 10ft x 10ft on an average sized roof, will cost around £12,500 but this will be paid back in 10 years because the households will be paid £900 per annum, plus making £140 savings on the yearly electricity bill.

Telegraph article

Given the feedback I’ve had on this site in relation to heat pumps and running costs I’m a little concerned that air source heat pumps are included in this:

Mr Miliband also introduced a renewable heat incentive that will pay households for producing their own heat from woodchip boilers or an air source heat pump. A ground source heat pump, that costs more than £1,000 to put in, could be rewarded with £1,000 a year and lead to savings of £200 per year if used instead of oil.

So a step in the right direction, as some financial incentive has to be good for the takeup of renewables and is well overdue - I’ve been moaning about this for sometime now.

Given that this technology is already being sold by ex-used car salesmen who graduated from selling uPVC windows (i.e. sales over-whelmingly motivated by commission) I have concerns for the future morals of the renewables industry and will watch with interest the degree by which demand drives price rises following the introduction of the scheme.

But putting my cynacism aside, one to watch and a step in the right direction.

Share This

I occasionally ‘page’ through the ecologist website and came this article that piqued my interest:

We need a citizens’ housing revolution

Whilst a little short on content the sentiment - that the development of new housing can be partially entrusted to self-builders who should be ‘helped to create vital, sustainable communities’ - is one that I totally agree with. As ever, the public sector seem to be one of the main barriers to this (at least according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation) - the empowered enablers acting to disable the self-builder and retain control.

Share This

Whilst way beyond my own humble aspirations for energy self sufficiency, the fantastically named Island Micro Grid just commissioned at the Centre for Alternative Technology is an interesting development.
I was shocked to read:
The developed world’s centralised electricity system wastes around 65% of energy through heat loss in power stations and transmission lines, before reaching our [...]

I wrote about the Lammas ecovillage back at the start of the year. At the time, I aired my feelings of ethical support, but real-world unease. Now things have moved on and the development has been granted planning permission not by local planners, but in an act of centralised government colonialism, by the Welsh Assembly [...]