Balsall Heath Jungle

A Balsall Heath Jungle family have become the first household in the
area to install a solar electricity (photovoltaic) system in their home. The
photovoltaic system, which was installed by Sunpowered Energy Systems Ltd,
will generate around 900 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, one-third of their annual use. Unlike fossil fuels, it produces no greenhouse gas emissions
and will stop 510 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide from being released
into the atmosphere each year. They said, "“We have a portable
hand-held meter that shows how much electricity the panels are generating
and how much carbon dioxide we are saving. The system cost us £6000 and
we got a grant of £3000 from the government towards that. We’ve put the
remaining cost onto our mortgage. It’s made us think harder about the electricity
we use around the house too – if we use a bit less by switching unnecessary
lights off and using more energy efficient bulbs, we have the satisfaction
of generating a higher percentage of our needs.”

"The solar panel
doesn'’t supply all our electricity so
we still have to buy some from the
grid. We are on a ‘green’ tariff
where the electricity supplied is
from renewable sources (mainly
wind). In summer the solar panel
will sometimes generate more
power than we need! When this
happens, we export power to the
national grid and our electricity
supplier buys it off us at an agreed
price. This helps the electricity supplier
meet their targets for renewable energy. You have to have a special
type of contract with your electricity supplier to do this. Our old electricity
supplier made this a bit too bureaucratic, so we’ve switched to a new supplier
who does.
“It'’s nice to see that even on dull days in winter we generate a bit of electricity,
and it’s quite a lot on really sunny days. Roll on the summer! If loads of
people with south facing roofs like ours did this, it would make a major contribution
to the UK’s energy needs.”"

There are many ways to do your bit on climate change, including low-cost
and no-cost measures. To find out how you can do your bit, contact the Energy
Saving Advice Centre (residential) on 0800 512012, www.savenergy.org,
or the Carbon Trust (business) on 0800 085 2005, www.thecarbontrust.co.uk.

A house in Worcester designed by a Balsall Heath Jungle member has won a number of awards, most recently from the RIBA (October 2005) (see picture). The house uses glass on the sunny side to catch the sun and give a wonderful view onto a meadow, and a thick mud wall at the "back" to store heat. With a bit of luck the architect will explain it properly. He was asked to design a building which had these characteristics:

"humour mystery fantasy
ecological independent sustainable
contextual agricultural invisible"

The RIBA Sustainability Award judges said: "For sheer vision, the seamless and unobtrusive way the design was tailored to the client's needs, and the commitment and persistence of architect and client", the judges thought Cobtun House was a worthy winner of the RIBA Sustainability Award. Not only were some aspects of its construction truly innovative - particularly in the use of materials such as earth, sand and aggregate from the site itself - the architect and the contractors so entered into the spirit of the job that they made a point of arriving on site by public transport or bike. "The outcome is inspirational and pleases not only the client and his family and friends, but is regularly visited by people keen to learn all about sustainable construction."

In the Jungle Newsletter from time to time there have been bits about building ecological homes in Balsall Heath, and how to make our existing houses ecologically friendly. What can we all do after the tornado to help turn this wonderful vision into reality?

Comments:

consider cheap nightime electricity as a use to power mechanical storage devices ie a ton wieght lifted 10 feet has a lot of power stored .a powerfull spring is the same, through gearing the energy can be released during the day driving a genorator ,this isnt as daft as it seems as the electicity companies do the same thing in princable using water.

In 1883 a lamp was invented that used suphuric acid on zinc thus producing hydrogen this gas could be used for cooking the problem is extracting the zinc from the acid afterwards so as not to cause pollution

consider using a cess pit for your tiolet and organic waste with the right bactiria a methane gas could provide your cooking needs

would it not be more cost efficient to store excess electricity in batterys than to sell it to national grid and also as solar power gives dc voltage consider high luminosity led"s as a lighting medium they have an exelent power to light ratio and have a 100000 hour life expectancy

would it not be more cost efficient to store excess electricity in batterys than to sell it to national grid and also as solar power gives dc voltage consider high luminosity lcd"sas a lighting medium they have an exelent power to light ratio and have a 100000 hour life expectancy

Do you live or work in Balsall Heath or East Birmingham?

Are you interested in renewable energy?

East Birmingham Community Energy Company has been established to develop energy generating projects that invest profits in initiatives that help local people and organisations. We would like to invite residents and organisations in East Birmingham to work with us to help achieve our vision and play a role in the Company’s activities. Through joining with us local residents and organisations may be able to benefit from the following:

Redistribution of any future company profits
Economic and social benefits to Birmingham
Easy access to free advice and technical support relating to renewable energy products and energy saving techniques

For more information contact:

Alan Clawley, Secretary, East Birmingham Community Energy Company, 26 Taywood Drive, Small Heath, Birmingham B10 0DB, Tel 0121 772 7165, email alan.clawley@virgin.net. Website www.sustainable-housing.org.uk

I read in the Heathen that there was a residents' meeting recently attended by 100 people calling for investment in the area. Strangely, Balsall Heath Housing Co-op wasn't invited, so I didn't have the opportunity to go. From what I recall from the Heathen, the outcome of the meeting was that representation would be made to central government that a level of investment equivalent to New Deal for Communities was needed in Balsall Heath.

If there is going to be any meaningful investment in housing in Balsall Heath, then we need to push sustainable housing higher up the agenda by making clear the links between energy consumption, climate change and extreme weather events. There has never been a better time to do this. In addition, Jericho Community Business are undertaking a green refurbishment in Constance Rd, and we in Balsall Heath Housing Co-op are hoping to install 5 solar panels if we can raise a further £8,000, and of course Jungle's own Duggan family are having a solar photovoltaic system installed! So we can demonstrate to people what can be achieved in Balsall Heath.

The main barrier to sustainable housing in Birmingham is the planning issue. I know for a fact that two major housing associations are now doing sustainable housing in the Black Country as a mainstream activity, but they cannot do this in Birmingham because the planners are so opposed to anything new (except Selfridges).

Since there is a momentum building up to attract new investment to Balsall Heath, we need to be involved. I don't mind making some enquiries.

Phil Beardmore

(Birmingham Sustainable Energy Partnership)

Eco Homes

Birmingham family plug into the sun

Comments: