I attended the Climate Change Forum hosted by Newcastle City Council. The council hosted the event at Newcastle City Helix. The new(ish) estate off of St. James’ Boulevard, which is home to technology and research amongst much more. I have issues with the Helix, as it is pretty hard to navigate around. You often can’t tell what a building is without being directly in front of it. This navigation issue meant I was late.
Upon arrival, Council workers informed me that there would be a tour to the Helix Energy centre. However, as it was uphill, I opted to forgo the tour. Instead, the workers talked me through how the energy centre works. This was a welcome off the cuff adjustment, but it would have been nicer to know in advance what this tour looked like so I could plan. So all the hot water used by the Helix for heating (and cooling) is produced in the Energy Centre. This is currently using gas powered boilers, with plans to convert to mine water over time. This centralisation reduces gas consumption and is a system that the council would be looking to extend over other parts of the city in due course.
The rest of the session was about the council’s Net Zero plans, and an opportunity for interested parties (in my group there were residents, students, university researchers, local councillors, and climate activists) to feed into the Heat and Energy Strategy. I advocated for the needs of disabled people on multiple fronts – difference in energy needs and usage, disability and the strong correlation with poverty and therefore costs, and also the need for accessible information to always be available. I hope to stay connected to the team at the Council as they develop the plan and also connect with Newcastle Climate Action as part of Difference’s commitment to Climate Action.