Agenda item

The Committee received a report of the Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Services, which provided an update on the engagement and opportunities for schools and young people to engage in climate change activities (for copy see file of minutes)

The Committee received a presentation by R Hurst, Education Advisor, Education Durham (for copy see file of minutes), which gave details on how human activity was contributing to climate change and what methods were being used in County Durham, which had declared a climate emergency.

The Education Advisor confirmed that there were projects and opportunities for schools to reduce their carbon footprint.  All schools had the opportunity to sign up to the DCC Energy Management Service Level Agreement.  Schools were able to monitor their energy use and would could access support services from the Outdoor Sustainability Education Specialists (OASES) and the Energy Team at County Hall.  There were 240 schools signed up to the agreement which was 90%.

The Education Advisor continued that there were various ways schools could control energy use, such as setting timers, upgrading lighting to LED, and engaging with staff and students with regards to greater energy efficiency.  The Enlighten Project was funded by Salix which was a 0% loan for 8 years and the idea was that savings from the conversion would pay for the works. 

The Education Advisor responded to a number of questions from students.

In response to a question regarding the type of energy used and what schools and students could do to reduce energy consumption, the Education Advisor confirmed that schools energy consumption was mostly provided by fossil fuels and simple changes to behaviour could assist in reducing climate change.  He advised that people should think about the way they travelled, use alternative transport if they could, and think about how the products we bought and food we ate were produced. 

In response to a question with regards to what action was being taken in order to assist in the conversion to electric cars in future, the Education Advisor confirmed that the Council had rolled out charge points in most of their buildings and intended to upgrade schools and communities.  Using Scaling On Street Charging Infrastructure (SOSCI) local authorities were working together in the north of England to provide on street residential chargepoints at community locations.   This was an area with a large proportion of terraced housing so consideration was being given to householders who did not have driveways.  New technology to potentially provide electricity through street lighting columns was also being considered.  Councillor Scott confirmed that rapid charging ports were being installed in Neville’s Cross.

One of the Students asked for comments on the number of youth strikes in relation to climate change in County Durham.  The Education Advisor described this as a contentious subject and whilst he was thrilled to see students being passionate, he could not support or encourage children walking out of school and would advise them to look at other ways to campaign and raise awareness within school.  He also would ask them to consider the location of the strikes and the impact of emissions when travelling to locations.  He encouraged the students to look at how they could make more efficient choices as individuals, how they could encourage family members to change, and how they could encourage their school to make changes.

A student asked whether Durham Johnston were signed up to the Enlighten Project and the Head Teacher confirmed that he had been unaware of the scheme prior to the meeting, but he intended to make enquiries.  The Education Advisor confirmed that a full refit of a new building would take approximately two weeks, but older buildings took longer as they were more likely to have structural issues such as asbestos contamination. 

In response to a question about the Councils ability to choose their own source energy, the Education Advisor confirmed that energy suppliers were tendered through North East Procurement Organisation.  Low carbon energy providers were used where possible but there would be a significant cost increase associated if the Council were to go 100% green.

A question was raised with regards to the environmental impact of electric cars and whilst there was evidence that batteries had a life span of five years for car use, there were ongoing research projects into how they could be reused or collated to store energy.  Manufacturers were encouraging people to lease vehicles therefore batteries would be widely recyclable, however electric cars would be replaced by new evolving technology, such as hydrogen powered vehicles.

With reference to Earth Hour, one student suggested increasing the regularity of switching off to four-weekly and the Education Advisor confirmed that advertising had began for 2020 but this was a global campaign, but perhaps schools could look at taking individual action more regularly.

With regards to cycling initiatives in County Durham, the Education Advisor confirmed that Durham had a good network of cycle paths and was part of the National Cycling Network and advised that contact details for the Sustainable Travel Officer would be forwarded to the school who would pass on the information.

In response to a question regarding the installation of solar panels, the Education Advisor confirmed that the key consideration was whether they could be south facing.  A lot of schools had them installed but there were no longer government incentives as they were not as expensive as they had been in the past and they were reliant on the sun for power, but it still made sense as a long-term investment.  The Education Advisor confirmed that a wind farm in the North Sea from the Redcar area to the Hull area that could generate enough power to cover the whole of North Yorkshire or 10% of the UK’s electricity, was being constructed but would take 20 years to complete.  Investigations were being carried out on storage methods such as compressed air.

Resolved

That the report and presentation be noted.