Jessica |
 |
iCRAG: minutes of meeting Monday 7 January 2008
iCRAG’s second settlement meeting
Present (8): Alison, Doug, Sybille, Tom, Lucy, Guy, John, Jessica
Apologies (3): Robert, Jax, Deborah
Settlement of 6 month period, from 1 June 2007 to 30 November 2007.1. This was our second settlement meeting, to settle our first carbon year which ended on 30 November 2007. John brought a copy of the accounts for everyone, as at 30 Nov 07.
2. John said there were still some inaccuracies in the figures, but that our new rolling bank account system meant that any errors in the settlement figures could be corrected by the next settlement and payments adjusted accordingly then. The figures to be checked and possibly adjusted were: – Deborah’s train trip to Italy – Jessica’s ferry trip to Ireland – need accurate ferry conversion factors – Jessica’s public transport trips to be made into one entry rather than multiple, or John to adjust calculator to allow for lower than 1kg emission trips rather than always rounding up, so Jessica’s public transport figure presently too high – Lucy’s gas and electricity to be adjusted as too high – needs discount for working from home, and gas tariff was incorrect – Sibylle wants to exclude her business trips to Oxford
3. John asked us not to put in end dates when adding travel to the calculator.
4. In spite of some inaccuracies, everyone was happy to settle at the meeting, on the basis that figures would be corrected by next settlement.
5. Doug was the only carbon debtor, being 3665 kg in debt. He had to buy credits pro-rata from the other 10 members (the largest savers selling the most credits), paying a total of £183.20. Doug agreed to pay his debt with admirable good humour. [Doug’s debt payment was subsequently administered by John to each creditor CRAGger.]
6. The carbon allowance for the carbon year 1 Dec 07 to 30 Nov 08 is 3564kg per person. Half this (1827kg) was allocated to each person’s account on 1 Dec 07. Those with credits left after Doug had bought a share from them could keep these in their account, and the new allowance would be on top of these credits.
7. Robert has left the group as he has moved to Essex (where he is starting a new CRAG), but participated in this settlement.
8. We discussed what to do about Sibylle’s account, as Sibylle had not taken part in the first 6 months’ settlement. It was agreed that, as Sibylle had joined during the first year when we were still deciding how the settlement would, she would be treated as a special case and John would work out Sibylle’s account as if she has been in the group since 1 Dec 06.
9. However, it was agreed that from now on, the rules would be: – we would prefer new people to join at the start of a 6 month period – but if they join at any other time they will be given a pro-rata allocation of credits for how long is remaining in that 6 month period, or they can backdate to the start of the 6 months if they can evidence their carbon use – a settlement will not be unpicked – everyone must submit settlement figures on time to be in the settlement, although the group will use its discretion as to how to treat members who have good reasons for not being able to do so – members can’t take a break for a settlement period and rejoin later in order to avoid debts, but again, we can exercise discretion if, eg, people move away for a longer period and come back later
Our thoughts on our carbon use over the first year.
10. Each member gave their observations on how they felt their accounts reflected their energy choices and efforts in cutting carbon.
11. Alison: – Electricity looks high, probably because cooks on electric stove. – Public transport was mostly train journeys. – Took train to Dorset for holidays, so massive difference from her overall account last settlement when she had flown to Mauritius. – Had done some car trips, but shared with friends.
12. Tom: – Surprised by how much gas had reduced, but in October his central heating had broken down for 6 weeks, so he had used no gas then. – Has a new tank which is very efficient. – Recently bought a wood-fired stove, and uses scrap wood, so no longer needs central heating, and only uses gas for hot water. He has spent winter using mostly the room with the stove. – Estimates gas usage will reduce by 60% over next year; has taken precise measurements using a kilowatt meter. – Using 38% of elec he used last year, because bought new fridge freezer, changed lightbulbs and is being very careful to switch off lights etc – Set self a target of 5 kwh a day for all elec and has come in just under that on average over the whole year. Reads gas and elec meters every day. – Wants to reduce gas this year. Has applied to Islington CC fund which has £0.5 million to give away to householders; a surveyor came to do survey and said could have PV on roof and geothermal in garden. May go for solar water heating. – Works from home but doesn’t discount home gas and elec as too complicated to distinguish working hours from non.
13. Guy: – Biggest impact from gas because for heating, cooking, water. – Elec quite low. – Public transport particularly high – 87% over whole year. Lots of long distance train to see family and friends. – One plane trip. – Lodging in other people’s houses so found couldn’t effect changes to household consumption, and those households were fairly eco-conscious already, eg, had CFI bulbs. – At present, effect been able to achieve has been marginal, although happy to be oin 3.2 tonnes and thinks would have been higher if not been in CRAG. – Planning to get a bike.
14. John: – Heating flat is a big problem; intends to get some windows double-glazed. – No cavity wall insulation, so major heat loss. – Standby is a problem, but has a intelli-plug which plugs into TV and freeview and saves energy. – Uses desktop PC at 80/90 watts for 8 hours a day because not out at work; intends to switch to using laptop mostly as less energy. – Didn’t go on holiday this 6 months, so not much public transport. – Cycles around London.
15. Doug: – In November went for 1 month to Argentina by plane, and took some internal flights, hence large transport footprint. – Heating gas high usage: old Victorian terrace which leaks heat. – Old boiler which needs replacing. – Will appraise insulation. – Hasn’t made any physical changes to home this year as wanted to see what footprint was without changes. – Has become more stringent about turning off standby. – Partner works from home, so 37% discount – using figures on homeworking from Zero Carbon Britain report.
16. Sibylle: – Uses mix of old gas heater and some plug-in radiators. – Gas for cooking and some hot water. – Thinks can cut down on elec heating. – Will be more careful to switch off PC, etc. – Has done unusual amount of travelling: work, family, conferences. – Has always cycled. – Rents home so can’t make structural adjustments. – But only one outside wall. – Member of slow food movement; has adopted two gardens near home and grown some fruit and veg.
17. Lucy: – Needs to make some decisions to deal with large heat loss. – Thermostat is set at 16.5 degrees. – Made conscious decision this year to cycle whenever can rather than take bus.
18. Jessica: – Heating and electricity still largest. Three outside walls, so very cold; had walls tested and found there is cavity wall insulation, put in when house built, but it’s of the lowest grade so not very effective, and this can’t be rectified. – Loft has minimum insulation of 10cm but plans to top up this year to max of 25cm. – Shares house with people not so energy conscious, so others do waste energy, espec electricity; can be hard to influence others’ behaviour. – This year switched to getting organic fruit and veg delivered, and milk in glass bottles from milkman, and is composting food waste in garden, so waste production has been cut massively; hardly any packaging. – Made deliberate decision to cycle everywhere possible this year, so has saved on public transport. – But took many train journeys and couple of longish shared car journeys for holidays and this added up. – No flying this year. Took ferry to Ireland but worked out, on available ferry conversion figures, that ferry plus train is not much less carbon than getting direct plane from London. However, thought this not reflect fairly, as most people on ferries are with their vehicles and this weight is what makes the ferry use lots of energy, so foot passengers should have discount. Looking into better figures. – In spite of minimal carbon saving, still prefer train plus ferry as more pleasant and less stressful travel. And by choosing not to fly when there are alternatives we’re not adding to the growth in air travel, so more of a statement.
Food production and carbon.
19. Guy gave brief talk about food emissions from whole lifecycle of production. Two tones GHG pa pp average in UK from food. Meat alone is at least half a tone, and meat plus dairy is 0.8 tonnes (dairy alone 0.3 tonnes). Not counted fish in this. Whole UK responsible for 600 million tones CO2 pa from food, excluding international travel. Most effective way of cutting GHG would be to cut our meat and dairy consumption.
Energy vs emissions.
20. Tom said he was looking as how emissions figures can hide energy use – eg, a gas shower uses more energy than an elec shower, but produces less carbon. Tom is considering these correlations and may report further in future.
Next mandatory meeting Monday 7 April 2008.
ACTION:
1. Members to read meters every month and record and send to John or post on calculator yourself.
2. Doug to write down how he thinks we should calculate homeworking discount and circulate.
3. Jessica and Guy are working on Big Green Challenge funding competition application – anyone welcome to help.
4. Lucy to post details re sash-window seals on yahoo group and website
5. All with inaccuracies in settlement figures to check figures and make adjustments to accounts with John.