University aims to shame ministers into tougher action
Ian Sample, science correspondent Wednesday August 27, 2003 The Guardian
A group of scientists in East Anglia has launched an ambitious campaign to tackle the threat of global warming in an effort to shame ministers into stronger action on climate change.
The task they have set themselves is formidable: to slash the region's emissions of carbon dioxide in half the time the government believes is possible.
At first glance, the project, known as Cred, for carbon reduction, might easily be dismissed as well-meaning nonsense. But the team behind it, Keith Tovey and his colleagues at the University of East Anglia, belong to the most prestigious environmental science department in the country.
"If anyone is going to do this, they will," said Dennis Thouless whose Norwich-based company, Global Commodities, collects used cooking oil from local businesses and turns it into fuel.
The Cred project was set up in response to the government's white paper on energy, published in February. "The government pledged that they would be pushing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by the year 2050," Dr Tovey said.
"It looked impressive and sounded good, but didn't give any clues on how to do it. To put it bluntly, there were too many agendas being thrown around."
The result was a statement of high intention that lacked any practical guidance.
Growing frustration at the government's dithering has spurred Dr Tovey's team into action. They have taken the government's stated target of 60% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, which according to the royal commission on environmental pollution is vital to avoid the adverse effects of climate change, and pledged that East Anglia would meet it in half the time.
"If we can show that the people here can achieve this target by 2025, we can turn around and say to everybody else, 'What's your excuse?'" Dr Tovey said.
Enthusiasm for the project has snowballed. Local businesses have submitted themselves to scrutiny, to see how much electricity they are wasting. School children have had crash courses in saving energy. Night classes have been set up to teach people the fine art of making solar cells that, strapped to their roofs, will give hot water. Others have gone one step further and installed silicon-based panels on their roofs that convert sunlight into electricity.
Dr Tovey is talking to the Diocese of Norwich to try to get the Anglican church on board. "East Anglia has more than 600 churches," he said. "Because churches are all built running east to west, it means they've got a huge area of roof that's facing south, so they're perfect for catching the sun."
"It would be very hard not to agree with the aims of the Cred project," said the Rev Jan MacFarlane, the Bishop of Norwich's chaplain. "And if there's a possibility of generating some income, why not?"
But Dr Tovey knows that slashing carbon dioxide in East Anglia will have little impact on global climate change. The people of East Anglia produce 6.5m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, against the 500m tonnes produced by the UK as a whole.
"To make a real difference, the US will have to be doing this, but that will happen when they realise there is money to be made doing this."
Word of the project is spreading beyond East Anglia. The Bishop of Hereford has expressed an interest. A delegation from Japan which visited the Cred team may set up a similar project.
The biggest threat to success now, the scientists believe, is that people's enthusiasm dries up as the novelty wears off.
Dr Tovey said: "There's always a chance we will fail. But if we fail, it can't be said we haven't tried."
Nature's way
· Two wind turbines are due to be installed at the University of East Anglia. They will provide more than enough power for the campus. The surplus electricity they generate will be sold back to the national grid and the profits fed into local community projects
· Night classes set up to teach people how to make solar panels to provide hot water have gone down a storm
· The Cred team is also carrying out "environmental audits" for companies and local residents
· Community meetings are being held to advise people on how best to conserve energy in their homes
· The Cred team is also advising people on environmentally friendly ways to travel. A plane flying to France emits three times more carbon dioxide than Eurostar
· The team has developed a gadget that, when plugged into an electrical appliance, measures the amount of electricity it uses and works out how much carbon dioxide it is responsible for emitting