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Heatwaves and climate change

County Council supports proposal for action for clean and safer streets

The County Council meeting on Nov. 6th voted to support a motion from Cllr Suzanne Bartington (the County ‘cycling champion’) to move towards agreeing a prioritised and costed Strategic Active Travel Network (SATN). The text of the motion is ...
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FairPlay events on climate and justice this autumn

LCON are actively involved in the North oxford-based FairPlay network working on climate justice. In autumn 2018 they have an interesting programme of meetings and events – more details here.
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LCON signs the Oxfordshire Clean Air Charter

LCON and O2 have worked to raise awareness of air pollution in our city. We are happy to sign the Clean Air Charter developed by Oxford Friends of the Earth and encourage others to do so.  There’s full information here.
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Heatwaves and climate change

It’s hot and dry across much of Europe and North America – a good time to talk about climate change?  Climate Outreach have produced some new material on this that would be useful for anyone looking to engage with organisations or simply our ...
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It’s hot and dry across much of Europe and North America – a good time to talk about climate change?  Climate Outreach have produced some new material on this that would be useful for anyone looking to engage with organisations or simply our neighbours.

 

 

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LCON Open Meeting – July 25th

    LCON would like to meet you!

Like any voluntary group LCON depends on people getting involved as volunteers.  And we’d like to find some more of you, who might like to move on from simply reading this newsletter to playing a more active part in greening North Oxford and cutting our carbon emissions. So we’re inviting you to come and hear about what we do and how you could be involved.

We are holding a special open meeting on Wednesday 25 July at the North Oxford Association community centre in Diamond Place, Summertown 7.30pm – 9pm.  We welcome anyone with a desire to get involved and ideas for what could be done in this area.  We’ll have time set aside to talk about what we are doing with local people on plastics, and we’ll discuss other issues such as air pollution, energy efficiency and whatever else you’d like to raise.

We know North Oxford has plenty of people with ideas and enthusiasm – we’d like to use some of that to make lasting change. Please do join us on the 25th.

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Climate Justice – action in North Oxford

Low Carbon Oxford North is supporting a new (July 2018) initiative by the FairPlay Network to encourage people in North Oxford to engage with ‘climate justice’ issues. Evidence from around the world shows that it is the poor and vulnerable who suffer the most from a changing climate. This is also making existing inequalities worse since those with least resources often lack resilience in crisis situations.  FairPlay’s work shows that there is plenty that we can do in richer nations to help tackle these problems.

Find out more about FairPlay here

 

 

Public meeting, 18 April: Air quality in North Oxford – what can we do?
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Public meeting, 18 April: Air quality in North Oxford – what can we do?

Please come to our public meeting on Wednesday 18 April. Our guest speaker at this meeting is Dr Tim Chatterton, who will be talking, among other things, about the Claircity project that he has been involved in. This is about citizen-led interventions to improve air quality, hence the title for his talk: What can we do?

We will start with an update from Allen Shaw on what is happening to monitoring air pollution in Oxford.

The event is part of our work to help inform people in Oxford about the air quality situation, how it is affecting our health and what we can do about it. We are hoping, also, that better informed citizens will result in extra pressure on Oxford City Council to introduce effective policies.

We look forward to seeing our supporters and friends there – it is free and there will be ample time to ask questions and network.

Wednesday 18 April, 19.00 – 21.00
Baptist Church, 198 Woodstock Road
Facebook event page

Planet-friendly power? It costs less than you think
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Planet-friendly power? It costs less than you think

 

Low Carbon Oxford North is running a major new campaign – The Oxford Big Clean Switch (OBCS).  We are challenging the people of Oxford to become leaders in support for clean renewable energy.

We invite you to make paying your electricity bill part of a movement for positive change. If you visit our Oxford webpage for this project – www.bigcleanswitch.org/oxford – you can compare the price of energy supply tariffs from six different companies all offering 100% renewable electricity, and make the switch.

OBCS aims to make it easy for us all to switch to green energy tariffs. Over 70% of people in the UK are ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ concerned about climate change.  Yet just 2.5% of homes buy their electricity from a ‘green supplier’, even though the costs are now similar or even cheaper (see note 1 below).

LCON is piloting this work alongside community groups in three other cities through the national Big Clean Switch, who are also working with local councils and businesses including IKEA.

For an average home in Oxford, the cheapest green tariffs available through the campaign are now within £35 to £45 of the very cheapest tariffs on the market, and up to £300 cheaper than the average standard tariff with one of the country’s Big Six suppliers (see the notes on savings below).

We want Oxford to be the place where a higher percentage of people use green energy than anywhere else.

How do I switch?

When you visit the site you will be offered a choice of tariffs from six different companies. You’ll need to have a recent bill or statement to feed in what you currently pay. If you like your quote, completing the switch application takes another few minutes. After that, just sit back and relax – you don’t even need to contact your old supplier. Your switch should go live about three weeks later. You’ll just need to provide a meter reading to your new supplier at that point.   The length of your contract will depend on the supplier – you should read their information carefully.

What is a clean tariff?
When you’re on a clean tariff, your supplier promises to match the amount of electricity you use by putting the same amount of renewable electricity into the National Grid. The more renewable electricity that goes into the Grid, the greener it gets.

Which sources of energy are covered by a clean tariff?
Big Clean Switch uses ‘clean’ energy as shorthand for power from renewable sources – sun, wind, water (river dams, tidal or wave power) and biofuels (such as gas released by rotting food or energy crops). These produce much less CO2 than fossil-fuel power stations – solar power had lifetime emissions of 0.01 – 0.1 Kg CO2 /kWh  compared to 0.8 – 1.4 Kg / kWh CO2 for a coal-fired station (World Energy Council figures).   A full guide to all types of renewable energy is available on Wikipedia.

The environmental impact of some biofuels has been the subject of debate. Some tariffs that include a high level of energy from some biofuels have been excluded from those offered through the Big Clean Switch. You may wonder how the suppliers compare in terms of environmental and ethical standards, and we certainly hope that our supporters will want to consider this aspect carefully. You can check out each supplier and what they offer at www.bigcleanswitch.org/oxford (scroll down to ‘What is clean energy?’ and follow the link).

What kind of savings may be available?
Note 1.  A typical saving of c.£300 was calculated on 6 February 2018 by comparing an average usage dual fuel household on a Big Six Standard Variable Tariff (£1,135) with the cheapest dual fuel tariff supplying 100% renewable electricity available through the Big Clean Switch website (£834). All prices are for a single rate meter paying by monthly direct debit, with prices averaged across all regions of England, Scotland and Wales. Average usage as defined by Ofgem is 12,000 kWh pa of gas and 3,100 kWh pa of electricity.

Note 2.  The cheapest open market tariff for an Oxfordshire postcode on 13 February 2018 was £802 a year for a medium consumption dual fuel household on a single rate meter paying by monthly direct debit. This compares with £844 a year for the cheapest comparable tariff available through the Oxford Big Clean Switch.

Note 3. Even if you already have a green supplier, you may wish to check out possible savings as well as looking at the environmental impact and track record of your current supplier compared with the others on offer. (Most suppliers have a ‘standard variable tariff’ and you will probably save money by switching if you are on one of these.)

Which companies are involved? We are not promoting any one company.  Some you may have heard of include Good Energy and Ecotricity, others are newer companies such as publicly-owned Bristol Energy.  There’s full information on all six at www.bigcleanswitch.org/oxford (scroll down to ‘What is clean energy?’ and follow the link).

Can I switch gas tariffs?
Yes, but most of the gas available will be fossil fuel gas. Some suppliers offer tariffs with a small proportion of gas from biofuels or have carbon off-setting arrangements.

Who else is involved in Oxford?

We are pleased to be working on this with other groups. These include the Low Carbon Hub, Oxford Friends of the Earth, the Community Action Groups network, Low Carbon West Oxford, Rose Hill and Iffley Low Carbon and Local Environmental Action Florence Park (LEAF).

For everyone who switches, our coalition will receive around £11 in commission. We will then be giving out the money that comes in as grants to community groups. If 500 homes switch in the next couple of months we can have £5500 to give out!

The website for switching is: www.bigcleanswitch.org/oxford.  

Act Global, Eat Local – a food directory for Oxford
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Act Global, Eat Local – a food directory for Oxford

LCON and Good Food Oxford have collaborated to produce the second edition of ‘Act Global, Eat Local – A Food Directory for Oxford‘.  The directory aims to promote low carbon and local food shopping. It is available to buy from various local and independent food outlets and farmers’ markets in Oxford for £1 and there are reference copies in most Oxford community centres and community libraries.  The directory can also be downloaded as a PDF here and the entries can be found on the interactive map in our food section.