Low carbon communities

• About low carbon communities
• Low carbon community projects happening in Kirklees:
  • Hillhouse Greening the Gap
  • Adult learning
  • Community grants
  • Green Building Store - Future Passiv

About low carbon communities

Kirklees Council are working together with communities in Kirklees to help them lead low carbon lifestyles.

We have ambitious targets to reduce CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions across the district by 3  each year from a 2005 baseline (15  by 2011).

In December 2009 Kirklees Council also signed the Covenant of Mayors which commits the District to a 20  reduction by 2020. The Covenant of Mayors is a European Commission-led project which unites towns and cities across the continent with a common environmental purpose. It aims to allow local authorities to work together, sharing ideas and strategies to create energy-efficient and low-carbon cities.

Several projects are underway, including a project in the Hillhouse area of Kirklees, where residents and community centres are being fitted with Solar PV (electricity generating) panels.

Hillhouse Greening the Gap

Low Carbon Communities - Hillhouse area map

Low Carbon Communities Challenge funding was used to retrofit photovoltaic systems into privately owned terraced properties and four community centres. The community centres were also upgraded where necessary, with energy efficient boilers, loft and cavity insulation, double glazing and thermal efficient doors. Residents have also benefited with initiatives to help them improve energy efficiency both practically and through behaviour change.

The project has also been used to:

• Encourage private landlords to sign up to the Kirklees Landlord and Property Accreditation Scheme
• Create opportunities for training and development
• Reduce waste disposal and encourage minimisation by encouraging community engagement
• Develop partnerships within the public sector and charitable organisations
• Create a community fund to test the use of feed in tariff revenues. (The feed in tariff is a government scheme that pays people for creating their own green electricity.

Adult learning

Work is being done to integrate climate change into classes and modules at adult learning establishments, providing strategic and community grants to support low carbon community initiatives, and promoting council schemes that encourage low carbon living.

Tempted to Go Green is an interactive tutorial available at adult learning centres in Kirklees. This resource is an informative learning tool designed to help users develop their essential computer skills and raise awareness about important environmental issues such as climate change, energy use, waste and transport. It was launched at the Adult Learning Centre in Paddock Village Hall, May 2010.

• Adult education

Community grants

• Kirklees Council Environment Grants Scheme

Green Building Store - Future Passiv

Comfortable, cheap and saving the planet - new short film makes the case for Passivhaus low energy building in the UK.

Featuring Green Building Store's Denby Dale Passivhaus (external site) project, Future Passiv outlines the many advantages of the Passivhaus approach to low energy building. Future Passiv includes interviews with the owners of the Denby Dale Passivhaus and looks at the way in which Passivhaus design is really beginning to take off in the UK including housing associations, schools, offices and community centres as well as private homes. Future Passiv was filmed and edited by student film-makers and was made possible thanks to the kind sponsorship of Kirklees Council.