Philip Pearson's Posts - Sustainable Hackney2024-03-29T10:37:48ZPhilip Pearsonhttps://sustainablehackney.org.uk/profile/PhilipPearsonhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/68585248?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://sustainablehackney.org.uk/profiles/blog/feed?user=0xgorct34qc1h&xn_auth=noHurry up Hackney!tag:sustainablehackney.org.uk,2018-10-04:6446498:BlogPost:668172018-10-04T12:42:23.000ZPhilip Pearsonhttps://sustainablehackney.org.uk/profile/PhilipPearson
<p>Hackney Energy has struggled to get a new solar power/community energy project up and running this past year. The big issue is government cuts in support for community energy - as frackers, the Tories seem to despise the wishes of local communities.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Hackney Council decided not to support the Wilton Estate solar scheme while it works out a borough-wide energy plan. It's six months since the local elections and we haven't heard anything further.</p>
<p>If we had received…</p>
<p>Hackney Energy has struggled to get a new solar power/community energy project up and running this past year. The big issue is government cuts in support for community energy - as frackers, the Tories seem to despise the wishes of local communities.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Hackney Council decided not to support the Wilton Estate solar scheme while it works out a borough-wide energy plan. It's six months since the local elections and we haven't heard anything further.</p>
<p>If we had received support from the council, we would probably now be installing solar panels on the Wilton Estate, with the help of a grant from the London Mayor's Community Energy scheme. As every year goes, by we lose a year’s worth of potential carbon savings on Wilton Estate. Meanwhile, we are still in discussion with the Rio Cinema for a scheme on its huge roof on Kingsland Road.</p>
<p>We were not alone: 2017 was a challenging year for community energy nationally, according to <a href="http://http:/https://communityenergyengland.org/pages/state-of-the-sector-report-2018" target="_blank">Community Energy England</a>. Only one new community organisation was set up in 2017, with 30 fewer successful projects and 31% less generation capacity installed or acquired in comparison to 2016.</p>
<p>The sector faces increasing risk, which include the impacts of feed in tariff cuts and the withdrawal of tax incentive, with lower project margins impeding the progress of the community energy sector in 2017.</p>
<p>However, the community energy sector is resilient: Whilst conditions have been difficult, there have been a number of successes in large-scale generation, increased innovation and greater collaboration throughout the sector.</p>
<p>For an idea of the impact of community energy, look no further than Bannister House in Homerton. The latest report from Bannister House Solar shows that during the operating period from January to December 2017, the 102 kilowatt solar array on the rooftops of the estate generated a total of 79,877 kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to power 23 average UK homes. This generation resulted in 39 tonnes of avoided carbon dioxide emissions.</p>
<p>So yes, hurry up Hackney!</p>Help make the Rio the UK's first solar powered cinema!tag:sustainablehackney.org.uk,2018-03-07:6446498:BlogPost:646262018-03-07T09:34:43.000ZPhilip Pearsonhttps://sustainablehackney.org.uk/profile/PhilipPearson
<div class="gmail_default">Hi, </div>
<div class="gmail_default"><b><font color="#FF0000">Help make the Rio the UK's first solar powered cinema!</font></b></div>
<div class="gmail_default">Hackney Energy agreed last night to give its full backing to install a solar power system on the Rio cinema's roof, making it the UK's (and maybe Europe's) first solar powered picture house!</div>
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<div class="gmail_default">To get going, we are holding a big public awareness…</div>
<div class="gmail_default">Hi, </div>
<div class="gmail_default"><b><font color="#FF0000">Help make the Rio the UK's first solar powered cinema!</font></b></div>
<div class="gmail_default">Hackney Energy agreed last night to give its full backing to install a solar power system on the Rio cinema's roof, making it the UK's (and maybe Europe's) first solar powered picture house!</div>
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<div class="gmail_default">To get going, we are holding a big public awareness event outside the Rio, with their full blessing, on Saturday 17 March from 11am to 1pm. <b><font color="#FF0000">Please let me know if you can make it.</font></b></div>
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<div class="gmail_default"><b>To make this happen - key actions:</b></div>
<div class="gmail_default"><ul>
<li>Factsheets - Viv to produce</li>
<li>Milo - copying</li>
<li>Sign up sheets (to get emails of potential supporters) - Debbie</li>
<li>Flyer 'About Hackney Energy' - Philip</li>
<li>Press release Gazette and Hackney Citizen - Philip</li>
<li>Pens, clipboards, solar toys - Viv, Debbie, <b><font color="#FF0000">everyone who can bring these!</font></b></li>
<li>Big HE sign - Perry</li>
<li>Table- Meral</li>
<li>Sustainable Hackney pop-up stand - Philip/James</li>
<li>Local notice boards/Homerton Hospital etc - Lisa</li>
<li>Contact Divest Hackney - Philip</li>
</ul>
</div>
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<div class="gmail_default"><b>NEXT HACKNEY ENERGY MEETING: TUESDAY 27 MARCH 7PM</b></div>
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<div class="gmail_default"><b>philip.pearson034@gmail.com</b></div>
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<div class="gmail_default"></div>3 new solar power projects for Hackney in 2018?tag:sustainablehackney.org.uk,2018-03-04:6446498:BlogPost:644272018-03-04T11:48:42.000ZPhilip Pearsonhttps://sustainablehackney.org.uk/profile/PhilipPearson
<div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">There are 3 big opportunities for Hackney Energy to help develop solar power projects in the borough this year - <b>the Rio Cinema, the Wilton Estate and Homerton Hospital.</b> To pull off just one of these would be a great achievement, but progress on all three (and possibly others) is possible if we can pull in enough resources. A key question is, Can we rely on the council's support? …</font></div>
<div class="gmail_default"></div>
<div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">There are 3 big opportunities for Hackney Energy to help develop solar power projects in the borough this year - <b>the Rio Cinema, the Wilton Estate and Homerton Hospital.</b> To pull off just one of these would be a great achievement, but progress on all three (and possibly others) is possible if we can pull in enough resources. A key question is, Can we rely on the council's support? </font></div>
<div class="gmail_default"><font size="4"> </font></div>
<div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">Please try to get to our next meeting: <b>Tuesday 6 March, 7pm, at Wilton Estate Tenants and Residents Association community centre</b> - located in the middle of the estate at the junction of Wilton way and Greenwood Road, E8.</font></div>
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<div class="gmail_default"><b><font size="4">Agenda:</font></b></div>
<div class="gmail_default"><ol>
<li><font size="4">Welcome and Introductions<br/></font></li>
<li><font size="4"><span>Feedback from Solar Panel-making workshop on Wilton Estate, Saturday 3 March.</span><br/></font></li>
<li><font size="4"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri, sans-serif">Planning for Hackney Energy/Rio Solar project. Next step is a <b>Community Engagement day on 17th March</b>- please put date in your diary. The Rio has obtained verbal agreement in principle to support the scheme (about 15 kilowatts of solar panels) from Hackney Council Commercial Surveyors team.</font><span> </span></font></li>
<li><span><font size="4">Wilton Estate community solar power project: as many will know, we have an informal agreement from the GLA for funding for a feasibility study. The stumbling block is still the lack of in-principle support from the council. How can we overcome this final hurdle?</font></span></li>
<li><span><font size="4">Homerton Hospital: a potentially big solar project: latest update at the meeting.</font></span></li>
<li><span><font size="4">Hackney Energy AGM 2018: date and venue to be decided.</font></span></li>
<li><span><font size="4">Any other business</font></span></li>
</ol>
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<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size: large;">Philip Pearson, </span><span style="font-size: large;">Chair, Hackney Energy</span></div>
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</div>Hackney Energy relaunches bid for power!tag:sustainablehackney.org.uk,2017-03-06:6446498:BlogPost:580452017-03-06T13:30:00.000ZPhilip Pearsonhttps://sustainablehackney.org.uk/profile/PhilipPearson
<p>Hackney Energy is up and running again. Government cuts to community solar schemes knocked us off track for a while. But we are going for an Energy Advice Shop in Hackney and for crowdfunding a solar scheme in the borough – just for starters. The Hackney Energy website, blog and tweets are ticking over, and we always welcome ideas for blogs or news items. But it was good to begin to share ideas for further HE campaigns in 2017.<strong> </strong></p>
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<p><strong>Actions from…</strong></p>
<p>Hackney Energy is up and running again. Government cuts to community solar schemes knocked us off track for a while. But we are going for an Energy Advice Shop in Hackney and for crowdfunding a solar scheme in the borough – just for starters. The Hackney Energy website, blog and tweets are ticking over, and we always welcome ideas for blogs or news items. But it was good to begin to share ideas for further HE campaigns in 2017.<strong> </strong></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>Actions from meeting:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Pursue crowdfunding idea for a solar energy project in Hackney.</li>
<li>Meet Councillor Jon Burke with a view to exploring the idea of Hackney bringing its energy advice service back home.</li>
<li>Arrange Hackney Energy’s annual general meeting.</li>
<li>Donate £100 from HE funds to <a href="http://www.hackneyenergy.org.uk/banister-house/" target="_blank">Banister House solar co-op.</a><strong> </strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong><img class="size-medium wp-image-1022 aligncenter" src="http://www.hackneyenergy.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Screen-Shot-2017-03-06-at-13.14.48-300x224.png" alt="" width="235" height="165"/><br/></strong></p>
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<p><strong>Hackney solar power installations.</strong> We all acknowledged again our sense of betrayal that the government had cut the feed in tariff for solar power schemes, preventing further community energy schemes like Banister House. However, people are still installing rooftop units in Hackney, but at a slower rate than before the cut in the feed-in tariff, and the motivation is more about cutting carbon emissions than to generate income. Viv O’Brien said that there is growing interest in households opting for lithium battery storage systems. A church in North London had installed solar panels through a crowdfunding scheme, which obviously helps to pay for the kit and derive some benefit from the much lower feed in tariff.</p>
<p>We should also have a closer look at electric vehicle charging points in the borough – anyone up for that???</p>
<p></p>
<p><img class="size-medium wp-image-1019 aligncenter" src="http://www.hackneyenergy.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Screen-Shot-2017-02-24-at-11.29.30-300x202.png" alt="" width="253" height="182"/></p>
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<p><strong>Energy shop:</strong> Gilbert Smyth updated us on the idea of setting up a <strong>one-stop energy advice shop in Hackney</strong>. At present, Hackney council <em>subcontracts</em> its energy advice service to Islington Council’s Ene Advice Team. We have tried without success to find out how much Hackney council pays Islington for this service, and how many Hackney residents are using it. Apparently, details of the contract are confidential</p>
<p>Ideally, we would like to persuade Hackney to set up an Energy Advice Desk at the Service Centre by the Town Hall, Mare Street, so we have our own energy advice point for Hackney residents. We believe this would help to tackle the growing problem of fuel poverty in Hackney with a direct service, perhaps supported by Hackney Energy volunteers. We could also set up an energy stall in Ridley Road to find out what kinds of advice residents want.</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><em>Contacting Islington Council’s Energy Advice Team:</em></strong></p>
<p>Advice covers insulation, no cost and low cost ways to save energy, efficient heating systems, low energy lighting, local and national grants and discount schemes, understanding bills and renewable energy technologies have to go to Islington Energy Advice Team.</p>
<p>Contact: <a href="mailto:energy.advice@islington.gov.uk">energy.advice@islington.gov.uk</a></p>
<p>Phone: 0800 953 1221 (FREEPHONE) or 0207 527 2121</p>
<p>Or make an appointment to see an adviser at the Energy Advice Centre, 222 Upper Street, Islington.</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>Energy projects in Hackney</strong></p>
<p><em>We also discussed:</em></p>
<ul>
<li>Hackney Energy Company: Cllr Burke is apparently interested in setting up an <strong>Energy Company in Hackney,</strong> providing lower cost, renewable-sourced energy for our residents. The company could buy energy generated locally. Possible places where power could be installed include the London Fields Lido and Hackney council homes.</li>
<li>Planning issues: Local councils can put additional requirements on developers to include sustainable construction methods ion their schemes, including houses converted into flats. We will pore over the council’s draft planning policy.</li>
<li>SERA: a Hackney branch of SERA (Socialist Environment Resource Association) has been set up. It has prioritized issues such as: air quality in Hackney, monitoring particulate emissions around some schools; a feasibility study of solar power on the London Fields Lido; and glass bottle recycling.</li>
<li>We also discussed contacting other energy projects in Hackney to help build a wider energy movement in the borough.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Next meeting: chair to circulate a Doodle poll.</strong></p>
<p><strong>For more information contact: philip.pearson034@gmail.com</strong></p>
<p> </p>Hackney Energy back on the launch padtag:sustainablehackney.org.uk,2017-02-20:6446498:BlogPost:580032017-02-20T12:42:53.000ZPhilip Pearsonhttps://sustainablehackney.org.uk/profile/PhilipPearson
<p class="p1"></p>
<p class="p1"><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">Hackney Energy, first meeting in 2017: Tuesday 28 February, 7.30pm, at The Talbot, Englefield Road.</span></strong></p>
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<p class="p1">The sleeping giant that helped launch the Banister House solar farm, awakens!! There's much to discuss: </p>
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<ul>
<li>Out of control fuel bills have pushed as many as one in six Londoners into fuel poverty. In addition London lags far behind other…</li>
</ul>
<p class="p1"></p>
<p class="p1"><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">Hackney Energy, first meeting in 2017: Tuesday 28 February, 7.30pm, at The Talbot, Englefield Road.</span></strong></p>
<p class="p1"></p>
<p class="p1">The sleeping giant that helped launch the Banister House solar farm, awakens!! There's much to discuss: </p>
<p class="p1"></p>
<ul>
<li>Out of control fuel bills have pushed as many as one in six Londoners into fuel poverty. In addition London lags far behind other European cities when it comes to action on climate change. </li>
<li>In the mayoral election Sadiq Khan promised to set up a non-profit energy company for London, one which delivers clean and affordable power for the city’s citizens. We urgently need him to keep this promise. </li>
<li>The Mayor will soon be launching <i>Energy for Londoners</i>. Hackney Energy has joined those urging him to put the creation of a public supply company that tackles fuel poverty and generates its own renewable energy at the heart of this scheme. </li>
<li>London needs a fully-licensed company that has the freedom to set its own affordable tariffs, build its own customer base and reinvest revenue in renewable energy generation and warm homes. </li>
<li>London’s residents deserve a publicly owned company that is run by and in the interests of Londoners. Measures that allow ordinary people to control the energy system and allow us to build a better company with a long term future. </li>
<li>Switched on London <a href="http://switchedonlondon.org.uk/demand-a-public-energy-company-for-london/">http://switchedonlondon.org.uk/demand-a-public-energy-company-for-london/</a> is calling on the Mayor to make sure that <i>Energy for Londoners</i> provides affordable energy for all and helps London become a global leader on climate change.</li>
</ul>
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<p><a href="http://www.hackneyenergy.org.uk">http://www.hackneyenergy.org.uk</a> </p>
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<p><b> </b></p>Carbon pricing - a road to nowhere?tag:sustainablehackney.org.uk,2016-04-12:6446498:BlogPost:523872016-04-12T15:31:44.000ZPhilip Pearsonhttps://sustainablehackney.org.uk/profile/PhilipPearson
<p>How much longer can we tolerate market-based climate change policies that clearly aren’t working? This is the central challenge in a new <a href="http://unionsforenergydemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/tuedworkingpaper645.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> from the New York-based <a href="http://unionsforenergydemocracy.org/partners/" target="_blank">Trade Unions for Energy Democracy</a>, which puts carbon market under its intense spotlight. The…</p>
<p>How much longer can we tolerate market-based climate change policies that clearly aren’t working? This is the central challenge in a new <a href="http://unionsforenergydemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/tuedworkingpaper645.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> from the New York-based <a href="http://unionsforenergydemocracy.org/partners/" target="_blank">Trade Unions for Energy Democracy</a>, which puts carbon market under its intense spotlight. The <a href="http://blogs.worldbank.org/climatechange/carbon-markets-paris-agreement-early-holiday-gift" target="_blank">World Bank</a>may have been “happily surprised” at the leading role cast for carbon markets in the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change last December. But TUED shows that the great bulk of the world’s 36 billion tonnes of annual carbon emissions are still unpriced and emitted free to air. An equally large problem is the ‘universally low price of carbon even in areas where a price exists.’ </p>
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<p>The UN’s over-reliance on trading carbon emission allowances to encourage countries and companies to limit their carbon dioxide is clearly a high risk strategy. With global emissions up 61% since 1990, TUED argues that there is nothing to be gained from supporting policies that will not deliver the investment in low carbon, skilled jobs for a sustainable future.</p>
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<p>Under carbon cap and trade systems, such as Europe’s emissions trading scheme, carbon emissions from heavy industry and coal and gas power stations are supposedly "priced" so high that market forces drive investment and production into low or carbon free alternatives, like renewable energy.</p>
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<p>But in reality, as the TUED paper shows, around 88% of global carbon emissions are unpriced, while in the limited markets now operating the average CO2 price at no more than $10 a tonne. The biggest of these by far is the EU where the CO2 price in 2016 dropped to six euros a tonne, hardly more than the price of a cup of coffee. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Yet the World Bank also acknowledges that ‘a global average carbon price of $80 to $120 a tonne of CO2 would be consistent with limiting global warming to below 2 degrees centigrade.’ How much higher the CO2 price needs to rise to reach the UN’s objective of ‘well below 2 degrees or even 1.5 degrees’ in the Paris Agreement has still to be calculated.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Unions in the UK and more widely across Europe have, with reservations, supported a high carbon price within the EU emissions trading scheme. But, as TUED shows, the European system has failed to deliver a high and sustained CO2 price. Investment in low carbon energy and production is suboptimal. Worse, jobs and investment is spilling over to non-EU competitors with weak or no carbon controls.</p>
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<p>So-called "carbon leakage" is the Achilles heel of carbon pricing. It’s leading to massive job losses within the UK and EU as products such as steel, cement, chemicals and ceramics are lost to EU and non-EU competitors. Such huge losses unfortunately sustain somewhat hollow claims that this policy is driving down Europe’s carbon emissions, when arguably it is driving them out, to overseas polluters.</p>
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<p>The situation is exacerbated in the UK, where the government introduced without consultation a national, standalone <a href="https://sandbag.org.uk/site_media/pdfs/reports/Sandbag_Carbon_Floor_Price_2013_final.pdf" target="_blank">carbon price "floor" in 2011</a>, now set at £18 a tonne including the EU carbon market price. UK industry complains bitterly of an "uneven playing field" within EU markets.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A new <a href="https://www.foe.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/uk-steel-100406.pdf" target="_blank">study by FoE</a>sees this as a factor behind the UK steel crisis, with China's steel dumped on world markets because there's no carbon price in China. Some 40,000 UK steel jobs are at risk directly and in the supply chain. The Celsa steel works in South Wales could be a model for the industry’s future, with massive investment using recycled steel and electric energy rather than coal or gas in blast furnaces. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>TUED’s testing analysis urges unions and others to explore radical alternatives – ranging from Just Transition strategies involving massive public-led investments in low carbon technologies, jobs and skills, to ‘a completely different set of policies and approaches anchored in an extension of social ownership, activce government support and democratic decision making’ over energy and economic policy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>TUED makes a timely call to for fresh thinking on energy and industry policy. Much of TUED’s case for bolder government-led interventions to manage the energy transition in the national interest, in ways that are ‘democratic, equitable and ultimately effective’ resonates with community energy campaigns such as ours. </p>
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<p>Philip Pearson, chair, Hackney Energy</p>
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