Why sustainable development is essential for local strategic plans

The text of a presentation delivered to the Economic Task Group of the Stafford Borough Partnership by Paul Newman on 18th March 2003

 

The idea of an interactive, rather than a top down, planning system is not new. The reason why Government is doing it now is hidden in two words ‘sustainable development’.

 

"We want to see a system that plans positively for sustainable development and which is at the forefront of creating better quality, more inclusive and sustainable places in which people can live and work." - Extract from: 'Sustainable Communities - Delivering through Planning'

 

You can see them highlighted here within text taken from one of the several papers, available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s web site, describing the proposed new planning system, of which Local Strategic Partnerships are a significant part. They conceal an economic revolution that is so important and daunting that it is being delegated to you.

The long view of Economic Development

For at least 150 years economists have been discussing when and how we would stop using fossil fuels. There was even a Royal Commission on the subjects in the 1850s but it is the conclusions of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, in their Energy Report published in 2000, that have finally convinced the present government that the time is now. Actually, because we can now examine our planet from space, the problems we face can be understood better. You will notice that when seen in the light of the sun even America shows no sign of human activity but you can see the weather. However, on the dark side, you cannot miss us, as this right hand picture of Europe shows. Remember that the light you see is mostly being generated by burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.

Current economic growth does have limits

If you were wondering what prompted George W Bush to announce, a couple of weeks ago, that the US would become a hydrogen based economy by 2040 the answer is that his energy analysts have told him that the price of oil is expected to be too high by then to support the American way of life. As you can see from these diagrams published by the Institute of Energy: consumption has risen steadily since the OPEC action of the mid 70s. This prompted increased exploration for oil outside known fields so that between 1981 & 91 the estimate of world stocks rose markedly but a decade later little more had been discovered, despite better prospecting technology. Oil production is expected to reach its peak within the next ten years and thereafter, if demand continues at its present level, prices will rise.

The effect of human population & economic growth on the environment

One factor behind this problem is that the world’s population has grown from around 2 billion when I was born in 1946 to over 6 billion by the millennium; another is that countries outside the Western Hemisphere are seeking to emulate our apparent economic success. The problem is that the capital resources of the planet, such as fossil fuels are finite and our growth in numbers is also putting pressure on the other living things within the biosphere on which we rely for our water, food, oxygen (to breath), clothing and, for much of the world, fuel.

 

An economy living on environmental capital
Using technology to extract, burn & bury

The problem is our attitude to the globe that supports us and the way we currently use our technology. For example, we use great ingenuity to extract oil from the most hostile places, which we then just burn and thereby release chemicals that were first fixed by living creatures hundreds of millions of years ago, when the atmosphere was very different from the present.  Current carbon dioxide levels are higher than they have been for 3 million years, that is before modern humans evolved and evidence from ice cores shows that that there has been a rise of one third since the industrial revolution began.

Destroying environmental capital leads to lost jobs

The case of the fishing industry shows how damaging this behaviour is economically. Bigger boats, more machinery, stronger and larger nets, applying science to the search for fish shoals have all combined to reduce stocks of popular fish such as haddock and cod to critically low levels. The result is that fishing boats are forced to stay in port and the livelihood of whole communities is affected.

The economic and social costs of climate change

The Government’s Energy White Paper, released in February, conceded that ‘climate change is real’. I am sure that the people who have had their business and social life disrupted by flooding in recent years will not be surprised by this news. Scientists have been monitoring the effects for several decades and providing warnings.  That is why the European Space Agency satellite was in place to photograph the break-up of the Larsen B ice shelf off Antarctica last March. This is sea ice that only makes the earth’s climate wetter. When the ice shelf suspended across the outer islands close to the area of this picture breaks up, as it is in the process of doing, sea levels worldwide will rise by up to 5 metres. Because we are so late in addressing this problem, which is associated with our use of fossil fuels and cutting down forests, we will suffer more environment and economic damage, even if we make a concerted effort to change our behaviour.

 

Learning from our mistakes by living sustainably

All of the problems illustrated in the diagram to the left (climate change, rising sea levels, flood, drought, famine, war, extinctions and resource depletion) exist at present but if we use our current knowledge of energy conversion and start to appreciate that energy works in the global economy like money does in the human economy, we can help to reverse a potentially catastrophic situation for our species.

Practical solutions

We have got to start living on income instead of capital. The ideas that are currently being explored by Stafford Borough, encouraging renewable energy from biomass and wind power and applying the principles of the ‘Waste Hierarchy’ may not appear spectacular but they are a sensible and practical starting point.

Living on revenue

Local companies such as Celestica, in Kidsgrove, have shown that what was previously waste can be turned into reusable raw materials or saleable goods. Government pressure and the shortage of landfill sites means that Councils, such as ours, have to find ways to recycle, reuse and reduce what was previously buried or burnt. It is up to us to turn this into a benefit rather than a burden.

Recycling wasted energy

We have released very large amounts of energy into the atmosphere, as a result of burning fossil fuels for over 2 hundred years at an ever increasing rate. It is mostly still available for our further use, in the form of stronger winds and bigger waves. We have the technology to harness this power and Stafford Chamber of Commerce, with the help of Staffordshire University, is assisting local businesses to be in a position to profit from the switch to renewable energy and greater fuel efficiency, which is now certain to happen.

Sustainable & affordable energy

It is possible to generate your own energy from renewable sources, as Sainsbury’s are shown to be doing by putting photovoltaic tiles on their new store in East London. However, the liberalisation of the electricity supply industry, which was started when I was working in the Department Of Energy in the early 90s, has meant that you can contract to buy electricity and even gas from renewable sources and thereby avoid the Climate Change Levy.

Technical problem - new energy store needed

Oil is the most useful store of energy that we have yet discovered and has transformed our mobility. Replacing it in this application is a technological challenge but not one that is insurmountable.

Research & market opportunities

Yesterday I saw how a company based here in Stafford had developed fuel cell technology that can extract useful energy at the same time as cleaning-up otherwise toxic gas. Celestica is reclaiming valuable lead solder that was previously buried.

Grants & Loans

ü      Clear Skies Initiative – BRE

§         Homeowners grants £500 - £5000

§         Organisations up to £100,000

ü      Major photovoltaic demonstration programme – Energy Savings Trust

§         Domestic & SME: 50% grants

§         Social & public housing: 65%

§         Commercial: 40%

ü      Energy Action loans – Carbon Trust

§         SMEs: £5,000 - £50,000

 

The Government has recently launched a number of schemes (of which the ones summarised above are an illustration) to encourage the more widespread use of renewable energy and I am sure that other measures will follow to facilitate the trend from living on Global capital to living on income.

Sustainable planning - act locally but give global benefits

Sustainable economic development is not some ‘tree hugging hippy nonsense’ it is necessary for our survival as a species. Staffordshire prospered as a result of the use of coal to power the first two hundred years of the industrial revolution. We now need to try to ensure that we also benefit economically from new demands and the technologies that will develop to satisfy them. That will be good for mankind and the locality and decisions taken within the local strategic partnership can encourage this process but only if we pay attention to the problems we are seeking to solve.

 

Paul Newman

Edited for 'The Renewable Way'

April 03

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