Power to the people!
6:04pm Wednesday 31st October 2007
Comments (1)HOUSEHOLDS could get cheaper energy if a council idea to become a power provider gets off the ground.
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council is considering setting up combined heat and power (CHP) plants in residential areas to provide cheaper, more efficient energy supplies to households.
The suggestion, still in an early phase of discussion, could form a major part of the borough's sustainable energy strategy.
Cllr Julian Ellacott, executive member for environment, said: "If you go back a step, the way we consume energy is quite inefficient. You burn fossil fuels at a power station and by the time you get to using it in your home you are only using about 10% of the energy which was in the coal or gas in the first place.
"One way to reduce that waste is to produce the energy locally and to use combined heat and power. It will be like having a gas boiler in the middle of Redhill. You burn the gas locally which generates heat locally that feeds into the houses around it and you are able to pipe the hot water around the houses as well.
"With the regeneration in Redhill we have an opportunity to implement it from the start and really the council is the only body which can pull that together."
Green Party representative Jonathan Essex said: "We held a public meeting on this issue last year so I welcome this move and look forward to seeing it as a large-scale project in Redhill but it does not need to wait for new development. Let's not wait and discuss this for another couple of years - let's do it now."
Woking Borough Council introduced CHP in 1990 and has 13 CHP stations, including one powering its municipal buildings. As a result the council's energy bills have halved and its climate emissions have been cut by 70%.
If the Redhill scheme receives the go-ahead the council would probably go into partnership with an energy provider to create an energy supply company. The improved efficiency could mean householders' energy bills will fall by 5%.
The borough council is also considering setting up a carbon offset fund to pay for environmental projects. The money could also help less well-off residents pay for loft insulation and other energy efficiency measures.
It would be financed by businesses on a voluntary basis but developers would have to contribute if they failed to include enough sustainable energy devices in new buildings.
Cllr Ellacott said: "We are in a very early stage of discussions but we are looking at requiring all future developments to reach high environmental standards."
Do you think this is a good idea? Add your comment.
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Pete, Reigate says...
6:44pm Thu 1 Nov 07
Let's hope the Council can mobilise the kind of momentum and financial resources behind it such as those behind the devastation/restorat
ion of Reigate Priority Park.
But this future vision shouldn't allow the Council to delay action on climate change in its own backyard right now.
Woking has been a world leader on energy use and tackling climate change for years. It's shameful that R&BCC has taken so long to just start thinking about it. Even Surrey County Council has a greenhouse gas reduction target.
The last time I corresponded with the Leader of our Council she was 'too busy' for climate change. It was also quite obvious the Council hadn't got a clue as to the size of it's own carbon footprint in the first place. Again, Surrey County Council have done this, enabling them to set a target to reduce its emissions.
If any of us are serious about tackling our personal greenhouse gas emissions, one of the most effective things we can do is to cut down on our flying. On this note, it was good to read that any future Conservative Government would not let a new runway be built at Gatwick.
No doubt that wouldn't be the case for the Labour Government who seem hell bent on expanding the economy at any cost. Gordon Brown seems not to recognise that the economic system is a sub system of the eco system.