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COMMENT


COMMENT Are we in the Endgame yet? T


Fiona Russell-Horne Editor-in-Chief - BMJ


he Committee on Climate Change UK issued a report last week in which it reckons that, by setting – and meeting – a pretty ambitious target, the UK can end its contribution to global warming within 30 years. The Committee wants to see the UK reduce its greenhouse gases emissions to zero, yes zero by 2050. To those of us who were old enough to have seen this century in with alcohol, half way through this one might seem millennia away, but it is, scarily, only 30 years. The thousands of students who marched and the activists of the Extinction Rebellion knew this.


The Committee reckons that now, 10 years after the Climate Change Act was set in law, it’s time to get fiercer with the targets. And they are right. If we are to have any hope at all of saving the planet, we need to start doing something now. We all do.


The Paris Agreement, signed by the UK and much of the rest of the world, (and now reneged upon by one notable participant) in 2015, set out a commitment to curb dramatically the polluting gases that cause climate change. Global average temperature has already risen by 1°C from pre- industrial levels.





This universe is finite. Its resources, finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It needs correction.


Josh Brolin INFO PANEL


Builders Merchants Journal Datateam Business Media London Road


Maidstone Kent ME15 8LY Tel: 01622 687031 www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net


EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief: Fiona Russell Horne 01622 699101


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Assistant editor Elizabeth Jordan 01622 699186


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Production Controller: Kirsty Hood


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Publisher: Paul Ryder 01622 699105


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david.harman@talktalk.net ”


So. Things are going to have to change. We know that because the saintly Sir David Attenborough has told us so on the telly, let alone Lord Deben at the Climate Change Committee. We should know that we are going to have to need to be rethinking how we generate power, heat our homes, feed ourselves, clothe ourselves, travel and, importantly, deal with our waste. According to the report millions of homes will have to make the switch to low-carbon heating, people will need to eat less beef, lamb and dairy, and dispose of waste more efficiently. The move to reduce our emissions from transport is moving ahead. Two years ago the government pledged


to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2040. Now, the Committee has said this needs to be 2035 at the latest, and earlier if possible, especially since electric cars are expected to be cheaper than conventional cars by 2030, cheaper to run and with significant benefits for air quality. However, the game-changer in terms of heating our homes is going to be trickier to manage. Low- carbon heating is going to have to be less of a nice-to-have and more mandated. However, it all has to be done with an eye to how people live and where they live. The best low carbon options for someone living in an Edwardian terrace might not be the same as that for someone with a detached house in a cul-de-sac in Surrey, or for residents of a city high-rise.


We will also, and I’ve said this before, need to think not just about how we deal with the housing we need to build in the future, but also that which is already built.


What’s the best way of reducing our energy use in the home? Turn down the heating and make the energy we use go further. What’s the easiest way of making sure that householders use less energy to maintain their homes to a temperature that they feel comfortable with? Use more, better, insulation.


Insulation really should be seen as the low hanging fruit in this situation. It is far easier to ensure that there is more than the recommended minimum levels in your loft than to replace a perfectly functioning boiler with a heat pump or whatever. It’s also an easier concept to grasp for most common-or-garden householders. However, it won’t, by itself, save the planet. We do need a cultural shift in thinking, but we could all start by nipping down to our local merchant and putting some more insulation in the loft, turning down the thermostat a notch and putting another sweater on.


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© Datateam Business Media Ltd 2019. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photo-copying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the express prior written consent of the publisher. The title Builders Merchants Journal is registered at Stationers’ Hall. Suppliers have contributed towards production costs of some photographs in this issue.


www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net May 2019


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