PLAYING FANTASY PRIME MINISTER
A guest blog by John Taylor of the Greater South East Net Zero Hub
Playing Fantasy Prime Minister, this is what I would do day 1 on entering office to tackle the Gas Crisis.
1. I would replace the Downing St wallpaper with this map. The red areas are neighbourhoods with higher than average gas consumption. I would target an info & door2door campaign to get these homes in particular to reduce boiler flow temps and thermostats.
An interactive map showing the carbon footprint of each neighbourhood in England
If you filter by ONS classification you find they are predominantly Affluent Communities and Highly Qualified Professionals. So two demographics who could also afford to fit a heat pump. By focusing on these above average users, we free up more gas for everyone.
2. Every rural market town to immediately hold a meeting with their surrounding parishes and farmers. Get an ordnance survey map and work out where your community is willing to site wind turbines and solar farms.
Grants will then be given to establish Energy Cooperatives which will plan and build out these assets on behalf of the community, raising investment like the Building Societies and Mutuals of the late 19th and early 20thC.
3. Every council ward to designate at least one community warm room. Commandeer a pub, village hall, scout hut, library, whatever space is most suitable. Grants provided to fit insulation, renewable heating and batteries to these premises.
4. This would complement @Adam_Grant_Bell's idea to co-opt energy company employees as part of a trained energy professionals focus on fuel poor and Priority Service Register homes.
(see https://twitter.com/Adam_Grant_Bell/status/1560587513055825920 )
John Taylor
I work for this thing called the Greater South East Net Zero Hub. https://www.gsenetzerohub.org.uk/
We're a public sector team funded by BEIS. We offer free support to councils and communities on local net zero and energy projects.
