Met de Stroom Mee reaches the Council Chamber

Just published - the Greens' first 'golden motion' on the council order paper, i.e. the one that's sure to get debated.   It brings together the linked issues of fuel poverty, renewable energy, climate change and peak oil in one neat package in which Bristol could take a real lead.

Here's what the council is being asked to agree at next weeks meeting (Tues 17th, 2pm):

COUNCILLOR T GREEN TO MOVE:

Background

The costs of energy are rising steadily, leading to widespread fuel poverty in the UK and at the same time we are facing serious climate change caused by our profligate use of fossil fuels.

For many ‘shopping around’ for the best energy tariffs is confusing and time-consuming and it is often those working the longest hours or earning the least who are unable to take advantage of cheaper rates. This motion aims to address this issue of energy injustice. We also aim to stimulate the UK renewables market and make us a world leader in providing our citizens with affordable clean energy.

For the purpose of this motion we define clean energy as energy derived only from renewable resources i.e. excluding all fossil fuels and nuclear processes.

We propose that BCC leads the way to co-ordinate a national ‘energy bulk-purchase’ scheme of clean energy on behalf of UK residents based on an existing Dutch scheme ‘Met de Stroom Mee’. We had hoped to implement this solely for Bristol but cheaper tariffs have to be available nationwide by law.

A network of councils would be able to negotiate cheaper costs through bulk purchase both for their own needs and those of citizens. The scheme should also include incentives to reduce consumption.

This scheme will require investment to set up, but it is intended that this will be shared across authorities and it is likely that savings from the scheme will make it self supporting in the future.

Action

This council requests the Sustainable City team (a team within Bristol City Council) prepare a report to consider the above and to consider how to:

· Initiate and form a national network of authorities able to negotiate together a good rate of clean energy purchase

· Implement a scheme with this network to allow all UK citizens to buy cheap clean energy (where clean energy is defined as energy derived from non-fossil fuel and non-nuclear sources)

Council regards this a matter of urgency and requests this report if at all possible, be presented to the June Cabinet meeting and that the report specifically considers the possibility of implementing the scheme by December 2012.

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There's a pdf. summary here of Met de Stroom Mee, prepared by the New Local Government Network, a think tank supported by a number of corporations and local authorities (not including Bristol)

Avonmouth and the Orang utans

This picture was taken in Indonesia - it's one of the huge 'Earth from the Air' placards that will be on display through Bath city centre through till January. The exhibition's been updated since its appearance in Bristol four or five years ago. See them if you possibly can! Take the family!




This picture is from a planning application (09/03235/F) currently awaiting 'determination' by Bristol City Council. It's what one small corner of Avonmouth could look like.

What they have in common is palm oil. At the Indonesian end, as a crop to replace the rainforests. At Avonmouth, as a 'renewable' fuel earning premium prices in the electricity generating market.

The power station is proposed by a firm called W4B Bristol Ltd, of Bourne End in Buckinghamshire. It does have some merits... it uses a site and some of the structures left by Sevalco Ltd. But it doesn't even attempt to do anything other than generate electricity for the grid - its other potentially useful product, process heat, will be wasted.

Nor does it attempt to use locally produced biofuels. The oils it uses will be highly processed products imported from the other side of the planet at the expense of the rainforest (not to mention the orang utans). Certainly not from Bristol's takeaways! Carbon neutral? You're joking.

So sadly, it's thumbs down for this one. To make it easy, there's far more explanation and background on a biofuelswatch page, with all the links you could want for evidence, and a well reasoned 'objection' to copy and
paste if you haven't time or confidence to construct your own.

A similar application by the same company (under a slightly different name) was turned down by the Weymouth and Portland Council on Sept 16 - apparently due to the same concerns about the impacts of palm oil planting. Let's make sure that Bristol's planners are equally well informed.