Six Weeks Meeting Report - Meeting Houses and Climate Change

Six Weeks Meeting is responsible for the maintenance, improvement and occasionally construction of the meeting houses within the areas of the Monthly Meetings that provide funds for this work. Our meeting houses have a practical purpose to provide attractive and functional places for the Meetings that use them. They are also physical representations of our beliefs, and historically they have been expressed in simple thoughtful designs. At a time of changing climate and continuing fossil fuel use, there is a case to be made for considering how we use, maintain and build our meeting houses. How fit are they for the challenges of future climate change, and do they express our beliefs on this issue?

Peace and taking away the occasions for war
The roots of war have many different reasons, including hate, intolerance, and differences in beliefs. Historically, wars have also been fought over access to resources, particularly when there are shortages. According to some researchers, half of all the oil and other hydrocarbon fuels likely to be found have now been used up, over the period of the last century. The next century is therefore likely to see greater conflict over access to oil and natural gas, particularly with the increasing demands for fuel from emerging economies in India, China and Brazil. This will affect Britain, as we are no longer self sufficient in oil and gas, the North Sea resources being rapidly depleted. The arguments between Ukraine and Russia over gas supplies in early 2006, and the four fold increase in the commercial price of gas at that time may be an early taste of further disagreements to come.

As Quakers, we actively work to promote peace and understanding between peoples and to take away the occasions for war. There are two ways we can help prevent potential future ‘oil wars’ – educate ourselves and others on the consequences of excessive fuel use and to minimise our own use personally and corporately.

As oil and other fossil fuels become more scarce, nations will wish to defend their supplies more strongly. Will this mean some countries defending oil supplies using nuclear weapons?

Not harming others.
Quakers believe that of God in everyone and that everyone is valuable. Climate change is now accepted as fact by most scientists, as reported in the recent BBC Climate Chaos series. The science reported in these programmes can be summarized as follows:

•   Climate change is happening now – the last ten years have been the hottest on record
•   Extreme climate events are becoming more common
•   The climate change happening now is due to the carbon dioxide released by the burning of hydrocarbon fuels (oil, gas, coal) to date.
•   The warming of the planet will continue for the next 25 years or so due to the carbon dioxide released to date – any further CO2 released in the next 25 years will make matters worse.
Serious reductions in the production of CO2 must happen now to prevent an acceleration in global warming and climate change which could become self perpetuating.

The consequences of global warming include:
•   A rise in sea levels following the melting of the polar ice caps, melting of glaciers and the physical expansion of the worlds oceans on a warmer globe.
•   Increased numbers of and more severe hurricanes, tropical storms, monsoons and typhoons with consequent flooding of coastal cities.
•   Many low lying areas and countries, including many Pacific islands and coastal counties like Bangladesh are likely to become permanently flooded or uninhabitable with consequent large migrations of people as environmental refugees.
•   Western cities will also be at risk – London may need to be protected by the Thames Barrier at every tide, not once every two years which it was originally designed for. The heatwave in Paris in 2003 which caused the death of many old people is likely to be repeated.

As Quakers we have a duty to respect others and to prevent harm to them. To minimise the effects of global warming – we must reduce or eliminate our own fossil fuel use, and educate others on the consequences of unsustainable fuel use.

Climate change and Six Weeks Meeting.

SWM is responsible for the maintenance and improvement where appropriate of the meeting houses in its care. Buildings are responsible for 40% or more of the CO2 emissions in Europe. If we reduce significantly the carbon dioxide emissions associated with our meeting houses, with the aim of making them carbon neutral in the short to medium term, we will be playing our part to minimise the future effects of global warming and to keep faith with those people who are likely to be harmed by rising temperatures.

It will also be in our own interests to reduce CO2 emissions – it will reduce our fuel use before rising fuel prices take a larger slice of total budgets.

Previous minutes from Six Weeks Meeting have encouraged Meetings to consider greening their meeting houses, and to consider measures to reduce energy use. Whilst many improvements have been made, a step change in our approach to our buildings is necessary in order to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions and by our actions express our beliefs through our buildings.

I believe that there is consensus amongst Friends that we (individually and corporately) should reduce our carbon dioxide emissions. However, the process of doing this can seem daunting with practical solutions appearing difficult to implement.

Practical steps.

I have three suggested actions for Six Weeks Meeting:

1. Form a SWM subcommittee on sustainability and climate change – briefed to suggest policy and to write an additional chapter for the SWM handbook. To consider the involvement of Meetings with Eco-congregation Awards and Building Research Establishment BREEAM/ AECB/ Ecohomes XB assessments as appropriate. To agree an increasing scale of technical improvements to the fabric and services of Meeting Houses for including in the regular cycle of works following quinquennial inspections. For example:
•   Basic works (easily done without major disruption) including:
    * Minimum loft insulation to current Building Regulations standards where readily achievable – 250 to 300mm thick glass fibre or equivalent
    * Low energy electric bulbs with dedicated fittings to be used where replaced
    * Cavity wall insulation to be installed in appropriate buildings
    * Secure cycle parking provision
    * Effective and easy to understand energy efficient controls for heating and hot water.
•   Intermediate works (more disruptive)
    * Building fabric insulation levels to AECB silver standard for new construction
    * Insulation of solid wall buildings where appropriate and achievable
•   Low/zero carbon works
    * Building fabric insulation levels to AECB gold standard for new construction
    * Installation of micro generation technology where appropriate and planners permit - solar hot water panels for wardens accommodation, photovoltaic panels for electricity, micro wind turbines, etc

We will need to be mindful that many of our meeting houses are attractive historical buildings and we should ensure that any energy saving works do not adversely affect their architectural qualities. These works would also need to comply with the relevant planning and building regulations legislation.

2. How do we pay for this? There are three possible ways amongst others:
•   Make CO2 reduction works an essential part of the works to be undertaken following quinquennial surveys. Quota payments from Meeting Houses remain as now – the cost of building works increase and meetings receive the benefits of lower bills immediately.
•   Instigate a starter fund for environmental improvements to meeting houses. SWM could set aside a fund of money for additional works to save energy and reduce CO2 emissions. This money is spent on environmental improvements on condition that the savings accrued are paid back to SWM for a fixed period, say 3 or 5 years. The net financial impact on the preparative meeting is nil in the short term, after which the PM enjoys the savings. The starter fund is therefore repaid for use on further improvements with the aim for meeting houses to become carbon neutral as soon as possible. (This method of funding step changes in reduced energy use has been tried with great success over the last few years by Woking Borough Council. This council now has some of the most energy efficient buildings in Britain and 10% of all installed photovoltaic panels in Britain - achieved without increasing council tax.)
•   Seek grant support for new technologies from government initiatives (eg the Low carbon buildings programme), utility companies, etc.

3. Ensure familiarity with current sustainable low CO2 constructional and refurbishment practice is an essential criterion for the selection of architects and surveyors appointed by SWM. Knowledge significantly greater than the current building regulations is required, and preferably state of the art, particularly for new buildings.

Glossary

Eco-congregation awards – Eco-Congregation is an ecumenical programme helping churches make the link between environmental issues and Christian faith, and respond in practical action in the church, in the lives of individuals, and in the local and global community.

AECB – the Association for Environment Conscious Building – a group supporting ecological engineers, architects and other building professionals. AECB silver and gold standards describe energy efficient building construction that goes beyond the minimum standards established in the Building Regulations.

BREEAM – Building Reseach Establishment Environmental Assessment Method. A method of assessing the environmental credentials of buildings and their design and improvement. A version of this (Ecohomes) is mandatory for all new housing subsidized by the government, and goes beyond the minimum standards established in the Building Regulations.

Ecohomes XB – the existing buildings version of Ecohomes.

Peter Ranken
3 October 2006