The Green Party vision is to re-vitalise and re-own public transport as well as encouraging cycling and walking. Problems of congestion and parking are simply caused by too greater dependence on private cars - the more on the road the greater the air pollution.
In our more rural areas I will campaign for the creation of cycle paths, both to connect villages and our towns. This will encourage more cycling and be far safer than risking life and limb on the highway. This initiative, in turn, will lead to more healthy lifestyles and cut down on visits to the doctors.
As the responsibility for our Highways falls within Essex County Council's remit the Green Vision is for more environmentally friendly, low carbon buses along with supporting car sharing whilst allocating sites where electric cars can connect to charging networks.
So I am standing as a Green Party (GP) candidate again, this time for the Mersea and Tiptree division of Essex County Council (ECC).
Since this time last year, when I first stood as a Colchester Borough Council (CBC) candidate, I have learnt a huge amount. This is both because my involvement with the Green Party built during 2016 culminating in being elected as the Colchester and District GP's Events Officer in September. Concurrently I was co-opted as a local councillor onto West Mersea Town Council. This has entailed a steep learning curve and many challenges, which I have relished, having been invited onto various committees.
In addition to this I was recently invited onto the Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG) core steering group which has been fantastic for my grey matter, topping up my maths and physics along the way!
Politics being the way it is the geographic divisions for this election vary substantially from the CBC electoral wards with the greater area they cover, therefore I am extending my investigation of concerns beyond the Mersea Island locality.
Having become one of the founding pillars of the West Mersea Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group I have identified shared concerns on striking the balance between excessive housing developments and fulfilling local housing needs for local people. Furthermore Tiptree and Mersea (along with Wivenhoe) are classed as District Centres also serving the local villages. Mersea, of course, has the unique aspect of only being accessible by one road and inaccessible either side of the spring high tides.
Over the next month leading up to polling day I shall outline my thoughts and proposals using the hashtag moniker#MyManifesto - don't forget to vote!
Promoted by Robbie Spence on behalf of Peter Banks, both of 124 Morant Road, Colchester CO1 2JD
Once seen, never forgotten... Nahko and Medicine for the People were the outstanding musical moment from last year's Greenbelt Festival, an annual pilgrimage. In fact the performance was one of the best gigs I've ever been too. And to be one of the many standing to challenge corporate oil, respect.
Myths and Mysteries - The Electric Car - Future or Fallacy?
So let me fess up straight away, my name is Peter Banks, I drive an electric car and, since my conversion, I want to share the good news about EVs (Electric Vehicles) with everyone! So am I biased? Of course! My carbon footprint is less, I am now practising what I preach and I’m saving money. Whilst the last point will be highly important to many, for me making a personal, yet token, action towards saving the planet is reason enough.
My second confession is I have been concerned about our environment for some time and nailed my colours to the mast by joining the Green Party in 2008. Sadly, in this country, addressing climate change is not given the urgent and critical priority it warrants.
So, how did I get here?
Until recently I drove a diesel car, rather than a petrol version, because I was led to believe that was the most environmental option. In September 2015 I was horrified to discover it could have far worse emissions than specified after the ‘Diesel Gate’ revelations. When I started the tricky task of researching my next car the massive amount of jargon and rhetoric was overwhelming to my non petrol head grey matter! Then came the epiphany...
From a Twitter post I followed a link to a talk by Robert Llewellyn, he of Red Dwarf and Scrapheap Challenge fame, and a clearer light started to dawn. Whilst he now has his own YouTube channel, Fully Charged, all about news relating to EVs, it was his TEDx talk, as above, that summarised his own journey. Whilst he claims not to be a scientist, and he is shockingly poor at mental arithmetic, his layman’s approach to explaining sometimes difficult concepts in straightforward, non jargonised language - with a generous helping of humour - is compelling.
Unfortunately there is much mis-information bandied about concerning Electric Cars, ostensibly referred to as research, which, on closer inspection, proves to be data provided by vested interests in the status quo, aka the fossil fuel industry. So let’s banish five myths to start with.
Myth One - EVs are slow
Essentially petrol and diesel engines utilise Victorian technology. They employ the same principle as a good old Steam Locomotive: pistons, cylinders, valves and connecting rods but obviously use a more efficient fuel. Now, despite fossil fuels being very energy dense, electric cars do not have to convert energy to such extremes: the battery powers a motor that drives the wheels which is highly efficient and makes them extremely nippy. In fact the prestige Tesla cars can achieve an impressive 0-60 mph performance of under 3 seconds!
Myth Two - EVs are expensive
Yes, the List prices of EVs are higher than an equivalent petrol or diesel car, however, there is currently a £4500 pound government sponsored discount, zero road tax, no congestion charges and, along with manufacturer's deals, this actually makes the cost competitive. On top of all that even if you have a relatively low mileage of say 20 miles a day (the average daily car commute is 26 miles) you will save £1600 per year!
Myth Three - EVs are heavier and cause more pollution
I could think of ruder words but let’s just go with ‘Tosh’! Come on, they are NOT heavier than trucks, buses or heavier than thou 4 x 4s for goodness sake?! EVs utilise something called Regenerative Braking which reverses the use of the motor to slow the car down whilst also recharging the battery. Similar to changing gears to slow down it means brake wear is much less and, taking Tesla, Nissan and BMW, for example, their manufacturing plants have each committed to providing renewable energy on site. Another challenge raised is that the electricity when charging is never ‘Green’. Well, even if all electricity used l was non-renewable, CO2 emissions are reduced by more than 50%, and we are producing more electricity from renewable energy all the time – although we could do more!
Myth Four - If everyone drove EVs the Grid couldn’t cope
The founder of Ecotricity has carried out detailed research and the numbers are such that if every car in the UK was an EV an increase of 12% of grid capacity would be required. However most charging is carried out at home overnight when the demand on the grid is at its lowest which actually helps reduce the overall costs of shutting down power stations and turbines to reduce output. On top of this the massive amount of electricity used to refine crude oil to diesel or petrol would be recovered.
Myth Five -The batteries might explode
I’ll make this one short! Batteries can overheat but there is sophisticated technology to cool and control that. So how long have you driven a car around with a far more explosive medium just behind you? Petrol / diesel cars are all potential bombs…
There’s so much more I could share - suffice to say I am entering an exciting new world which fulfils my environmentalist standpoint and is proving to be a very pleasant pilgrimage!
Mersea Island and villages in the Ward face unique challenges in addition to those of Colchester Borough. The ridiculous decision of the Chancellor to build a new nuclear power station at Bradwell to be designed and operated by the Chinese has energised the population to protest. Furthermore, despite the Tory government’s undermining of renewable energy, sustainable electricity generation in the UK has now reached 24.7% and increasing. Why should we rely on nuclear power for future energy supplies?
The local elections this May 5th are unusual due to the ward changes and you will each have 3 votes to choose 3 councillors. The Green Party has 3 candidates standing in our ward:
Vote Green to demonstrate your desire for change; for a clean, green environment and a caring community.
Locally we need:
Renewable energy sources and subsidies
Revival of the Cycle Highway to Colchester outlined in the Mersea Appraisal
Fair-Fare & eco-friendly bus services
Appropriate infrastructure suitable to support new and affordable housing
Sustainable and ethically managed industries
What we don’t want:
A new nuclear power station
Lack of transparency re dismantling processes of Bradwell Power Station
More nuclear industry waste storage at Bradwell
Any radioactive discharges into the Blackwater and atmosphere arising from FED dissolution
P Promoted by Robbie Spence on behalf of Lisa Britton, Peter Banks and Bartosz Mizgier
Colchester & District Green Party, all at 124 Morant Road, Colchester CO1 2JD
It's been just over a year since the solar energy photo voltaic panel (PV) system has adorned this house and has provided me with another distraction - I do love my stats! Additionally it has provided many surprises along the way, anyway, let's start at the very beginning...
On Mersea Island it is apparent there has been a substantial take up of the electricity micro-generation using solar panels as they are clearly visible on many homes. Indeed, there are a handful of proactive installers based on this relatively tiny patch which would contribute towards the prevalence.
One of the first things I discovered when having decided to embark on having an installation was to invite quotes from the local teams as well as further afield. In total I contacted six, all but two visited and quoted for different configurations, that was the first puzzle. I settled on a fairly local off-Island company, Igloo Environmental, who already had happy customers on the Island.
This property does not have a South facing roof, the pitch roof is East - West with additional flat roofs, one which is fairly large. An initial proposal was for brackets to angle panels on that flat roof, but the first surprise was that panels can either be laid flat with only ~10% reduction in output OR be installed on an East - West roof with a similar reduction. Igloo eventually came up with an optimised solution with panels on the flat roof, on the East side of the property, positioned as far East as legally permitted and panels on the West facing pitch. In fact the West roof is slightly inclined toward South, even better!
The outcome of this is that the flat panels receive sunlight much longer than if they were on the East facing pitch, so overall we get a really good result, only marginally less than an ideally aligned house with a South facing pitched roof.
Igloo were up against a bit of a deadline, only partly my fault, principally due to interest and take up peaking as deadlines approached. This resulted in a dearth of components, mainly the panels themselves. However, all parties were delighted that deadlines were met and everything worked first time. Since the original installation they have been back just once and then only to address a couple of minor, aesthetic matters.
Another major surprise was that when everything was connected and tested I noticed that it was immediately started generating electricity even though it was overcast. It intrigued me that none of the sales pitches had ever mentioned that the generation depends on the level of light rather than sunlight. A good selling point, surely?!
Another key point that only really has any clarity when it is explained is what the Feed In Tariff (FiT) really is. In a way FiT is a bit of a misnomer, because the main income is from the total electricity units the system generates whereas the Feed back to the grid bit is estimated at half the generated units and paid at something like 3p. I managed to scrape in when the rates were higher, around 43.3p per kWh unit generated, even though it is now around 20p/kWh the sums still work out very favourably.
All the companies provide detailed graphs and figures of expected generation, in this case Igloo predicted that in the first year we could expect to generate 2954kWh whereas the system actually provided 3432kWh, a 16% excess, result! Furthermore when the system is generating more than you use, that is when the surplus is fed back into the grid. A light on the main electricity meter indicates when this is the case. It is quite hard to accurately calculate how much is returned but my billed usage has dropped from around 5000kWh to 3000kWh per annum. So roughly the system has made up that 2000kWh therefore an estimate for the surplus would be 1432kWh which the provider can resell at around 17p per unit.
Having the system does make one much more aware of daily usage, early on I would go round the house looking for lights I could switch off to trigger full parity for 'free' electricity. Now I am careful not to switch two power hungry devices on simultaneously, so kettle followed by toaster and only slightly less obsessed about switching devices off. However, I am still a bit crestfallen every night when the light finally goes!
As an investment it is brilliant, to receive tax free 'interest' of around 25% pa is incredible, the cost was under £8.8k and well worth borrowing for. I know there is criticism that this is only financially accessible to some but it is reducing energy usage. In an earlier post I relate how we had bees in the roof space and their re-deployment. That renovation also included serious extra insulation along with further upgrades to the main roofspace insulation. This is just part of a cunning plan to reduce costs and energy consumption and, despite a certain amount of ignorance, I embarked on the solar energy journey to be environmentally responsible rather than to make any money back. That's a rather pleasing by-product of being a bit naïve, a somewhat green Green!
Lots to love about this video which interprets the song in both an abstract and complimentary way without resorting to literal imagery whilst still using a mainly 'traditional' approach... Also see how the video was put together here by artist Jason Mitcham who discusses the project with one of the The Avett Brothers founder members Scott Avett.
If the video above is unavailable in your country, try this link.
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
I have found it challenging to find an original approach to comment on the General election... there certainly have been some 'moments to remember' and these have already been written up with great eloquence and variety.
However, today I read the Rogue's Gallery section in The Independent that certainly got through to me which makes the vital point that we, the public, are culpable for the current deadlock which writer Matthew Norman describes as a 'constitutional pile-up'. His view that none of the three current main party leaders will survive politically for much longer feels like a refreshing notion. I will not reveal what Norman says in the closing paragraph of this piece as I hope others read it and also feel the same sense of optimism and wet-eyed joy that instantly permeated my whole being!
Only the Green party has approached this issue honestly, by accepting upfront that economic growth is the problem and that current levels of consumption cannot be sustained. It's time we called out the other parties on their failure to acknowledge, let alone tackle, this contradiction. And it's time we all recognised that consumption is the big issue.
The title of the piece is: 'Carbon calculator reveals Labour and Tory policy as science fiction' and condemns the two 'old' parties unsurprising refusal to run the Guardian's National Carbon Calculator. Simon Hughes of the Lib Dems both ran the calculator and shared the results online. Sadly whilst addressing climate issues are in all the manifestos it is not as hip and newsworthy as the deficit (understandably) and immigration (inflammatory!). It is clear the main parties see economic growth as the solution to all ills whilst ignoring other burgeoning issues. One of the late Sir John Harvey-Jones' mantras was to 'always define the problem before suggesting a solution' and that is why the Greens are so very right.
So will I vote Green in a totally safe Tory constituency? Probably! Will I be wasting my vote? Some may consider so, however, my view could become part of a tangible statistic, the increase in vote for the Green Party in this election. Perhaps I should practice what I believe and vote with my conscience against the spiritual evil of rampant consumption?
It had been planted in good soil by abundant water so that it would produce branches, bear fruit and become a splendid vine... Ezekiel (quotation, NOT context!)
The speed at which information and images can be propagated has increased significantly over the last couple of years. Is this where Social Media can mature?
Rev Sam tagged me with this yonks ago! I'm supposed to 'Post a collection of 10 things you believe, ethical, philosophical or theological' and here, finally, it is:
I believe music is, therefore I am!
I believe I am in a good place most of the time.
I believe it's time to leave the sinking ship.
I believe food and feasts, with love, can change any world.
I believe listening is more important than trying to shout loudest.
I believe it's better to build bridges rather than walls.
I believe the veil of the temple should always remain torn in two.
I believe I am ok with being a servant yet struggle with being a slave.
I believe I don't do enough good things to help others.
I believe it is essential to individually do what would make a difference even when it seems everyone else won't.
I believe complication leads to confusion. (As a muso my amp goes up to 11!)
Now I'm going to tag: Phil R, James W and Joe H (please forgive me if I hadn't seen you've already been had!)
. While holidaying in Nova Scotia this summer I couldn't help notice how quickly nature reclaimed her own when land and buildings had been left for a while. So seeing this link promoting Alan Weisman's intriuging book about what would happen if the world was without human presence immediately struck a chord!
