Heat or Eat – Now is time for action!
Sustainability Project Update #12
What a difference a year makes… in fact what a difference a month makes. Many things have changed but from our project’s position one thing is becoming more important with each passing day – reducing your energy consumption to save money.
Just over a month ago Boris Johnson was seeing out his last few days in office as our Prime Minister. Now we have a new Prime Minister and Chancellor and a mini budget. We are all starting to assess the effects of the financial changes. What seems to be happening is that the Government has taken action to stave off the worst effects of the energy price increases although our energy bills are still rising significantly… and who knows what will happen in the future with the uncertainty in Ukraine and rising interest rates.
Suddenly, the phrases we shared last month ‘Heat or Eat?’ and ‘Homes fit for the Future’ have a strong ring of truth about them.
Our project is not about costs; it is about making our Community Buildings sustainable by becoming Carbon Neutral. With the help of grants from various bodies who agree with our philosophy of creating exemplar buildings and by sharing our learning we are starting to make good headway and by the middle of next year we should have reduced our carbon footprint by more than 50%.
However, having said this project is not about costs – we are saving money. For example, the solar panels and storage battery installed at the Community Centre have meant we have generated over 60% of the electricity used there; the portable floodlights at the Football Club are saving parents money by not driving their children to train under floodlights outside the village – as well as the Club no longer hiring those facilities and of course the carbon emissions are eliminated.
This edition features 4 topics,
- Our 11th October public showcase event at the school,
- A reminder about the Energy Hierarchy; the steps to take to reduce carbon emissions and save money.
- The cost of boiling a kettle for that cuppa
- Preparing for possible blackouts.
Project News Update
After the wonderful news in the spring of grants for the school from SALIX and for the Community Centre from the Lottery Fund, now is the time to put the money to good use.
Replacing the gas heating system with a Ground Source Heat pump at the school is progressing well. The summer holidays saw some spectacular work in the school playing field where a new £750,000 automated boring machine, along with associated equipment drilled 10 boreholes to a depth of 96 meters and threaded in the flow and return pipes to extract the heat from the underlying rocks. In this case it was a thick layer of mudstone sandwiched between 2 bands of limestone. These outside works have been completed and the internal works are planned for half-term.
In addition, the old flourescent lights have been replaced by LED ones throughout the school and a section of old draughty windows replaced with new windows. This is fantastic progress. Now the school is looking for funds to power the GSHP from solar panels.
The Community Centre Progress has been steady this summer with a short list of 3 potential contractors to install an Air Source Heat Pump being reduced to two. Before a contractor is chosen the Lottery Fund must approve both the quotes and the chosen contractor prior to moving on to the next stage which is to obtain planning permission. In turn this cannot be done until the precise model of the ASHP is known. We anticipate this process should be complete by next spring which will coincide with us starting to generate a surplus of electricity from the solar panels to power the ASHP. We are also seeking quotes from 3 contractors for further energy efficiency work at the Community Centre. Again, this process will be scrutinised by the Lottery Fund.
The Cricket and Football Clubs are steadily moving towards replacing their cess pit with a better, more environmentally friendly system and we hope to announce a successful outcome before too long. At the same time, they are applying for grants to install solar panels and a battery similar to those at the Community Centre.
Other news: One of the objectives of our Project is to share information and try to create interest through a ripple effect. We are very pleased to report that this seems to be working. Around August Bank Holiday, North Yorkshire County Council issued a press release and accompanying video featuring our project. This was taken up and published by the Yorkshire Post, the Selby Times and the York Press.
In addition, we have been invited by Selby District Council to share our learning and insight with their Policy Review Committee in mid-October and later in November we will be presenting to the East Yorkshire Village Halls AGM.
Tuesday October 11th School Showcase Event: Originally planned to showcase the Primary School’s remarkable achievements during the project, we have now added a number of speakers to share with you their views and the work they are doing to deal with the current energy market situation.
Rick Weights is the Headteacher and will explain how the school and the children have attained the Eco-School Gold standard award and the work being undertaken to reach carbon neutral status.
Kate Urwin is the Yorkshire Energy Doctor and will share the latest information about the energy market, and what help people can get for their energy bills. She is building a network of volunteers known as the Energy Ambassadors who help people understand their energy bills and how to get help with them. Some of this might not be directly relevant to you but you may know someone who could benefit from the information.
Mark Johnson is a well-known Monk Fryston resident and a former Parish Councillor. Faced with increasing energy costs, Mark followed all the general advice about how to reduce his bills with some success, until the latest round of cost increases. Mark will be sharing his data and asking the question – what can I do now?
Robin Parkin is chair of the Community Association and shared his energy data and costs at the last public event on May 23rd. Robin had some remarkable success; reducing his consumption by nearly 40%. Robin has volunteered to follow up with more data – are his efforts still working?
Bryony Boyle is Strategy and Partnerships Manager for Selby District AVS and leads the Our Zero Selby Project. This is a community consultation project which aims to get residents and stakeholders of Selby to consider and agree what their vision of a decarbonised Selby will look and feel like. This is a nationally important project as Selby has a carbon-based heritage of coal mining and power generation. Our village project has acted as a stimulant and showcase to Our Zero Selby by illustrating what is possible. Bryony will provide an update on this exciting project.
Doors open at 7pm with refreshments on offer; presentations start at 7.15 and conclude at 9pm. Those who attended the previous event commented how useful it was and our aim is to make this equally interesting. Everyone is welcome.
The Energy Hierarchy The two most frequently asked questions in recent months are;
- How I can reduce my energy costs?
- Where can I get solar panels and a storage battery?
The Energy Hierarchy, shown here as Planning for the Future -Fabric First! previously featured in the update no 6 and gives clear guidance on reducing energy costs. Put simply make sure you turn off what you can and reduce the amount you consume.
It’s about your behaviour; turning things off, installing smarter controls wearing more clothes, before you even start insulating your house.
The Solar Edge display at the Community Centre illustrates how much power is required to boil water for a cup of tea. It’s quite a spike – so don’t overfill your kettle – just boil enough for what you need.
As for advice on solar panel suppliers, we can share who we have used but cannot offer any guarantees of price or quality. However, we can share what we have learnt during the process of installation and operation afterwards.
Be Prepared – Blackouts may occur this winter: if you live in Monk Fryston or Hillam, that statement will probably not come as a surprise. Powercuts seem to occur frequently for no apparent reason and without explanation from Northern Powergrid. Given the increasingly fragile power supply situation for gas and electricity supplies via our continental interconnectors and with more electric cars on the roads, there could well be more powercuts at peak times this winter.
It's frustrating when the lights do go out and you wonder if it’s a fuse or a powercut; the telly has gone off, the internet gone down, the radio gone silent and the microwave, fridge, freezer and oven have all stopped working – so no hot food for a while unless you have a gas cooker. To cap it all the electric pump on the central heating system has stopped so the house is starting to get cold – and it always happens in the middle of winter!
So, what can you do about it – hope it doesn’t happen or start to prepare in case it does? We suggest you make a list of what you need to do to prepare; perhaps you have a head torch or some normal torches stored in an easily accessible place? Are the batteries charged and working? What else do you need? Candles, matches, batteries, a flask of hot water are all good ideas.
For Your information
- The Community Centre website now has a section dedicated to the project, our embryonic Sustainability Information and Energy Advice Centre – where you can find the Interim and Final Feasibility study reports by Locogen www.mfhcc.com/sustainability-project/news-about-us/
- If you have any feedback or comments to share or require further information, please contact Ray Newton on 01977 682084 or 07706 795334 or via www.mfhcc.com/sustainability-project/news-about-us/contact-us/
Thank you for your support.
The Steering Group and Project Partners
221002_MFH_CSP_Project_Update_12.pdf
