Well, I realised that I haven’t been blogging for a while now. I think it’s because partly in my head I see it as a bit of a frivolity.
Anyway, firstly, there have been some big developments in the Policy/Work sphere. First off, Newcastle City Council has approved it’s first Citywide Climate Change Strategy. It’s quite a big feat, as it sets out a large number of work streams that we’re kicking off, but it’s by no means comprehensive. It does include both mitigation and adaptation measures though, which is great.
I’ve also been pulling together some ideas for a public event on writing a Movement and Accessibility plan for the council. The more I do event prep, the more I realise I love it. Although it’s a lot of work, the end results will be great, and hopefully will make a big contribution to people being able to access the city more easily, bringing health and environmental benefits too. Photos will be up here following the day, which is currently looking to be in January…
I’ve also been pushing ahead on trying to sort out a Wind Turbine or Solar Panels for the house. I had a site survey done with Aegis Energy, but it looks like a Wind Turbine might not be possible. I’ve written a letter to Eden District Council to see if an application might be rejected out of hand. The other alternatives are to approach the school, or consider solar p.v. I’m still not decided on the best way forward. I don’t really fancy a massive project, which the community route would likely turn into. But I also don’t love the idea of P.V. as much. Although it would definitely pay back through Feed-in Tarrifs, they’re likely to be rebalanced by the Government, and they’re not as green. The process for making them is not as environmentally friendly and they don’t produce as much power. Anyway, I’ve decided not to close off any avenues for now.
I’ve also made a bit of progress with the AlstonOpenData project. The dataset’s massively improved now, and I’ve decided that the best way to do the mapping is through Tableau Public, as it will take all the effort out of coding a web-portal. The downside is that I now need proper Lat/Long. co-ordinates for all the locations. A bit more work but the easiest thing might be if I take my phone and go take all the GPS co-ordinates in Alston. If you’re interested in a sneak peek of what the end product might look like, you can see my work through Tableau Public so far here….
Finally, I’ve begun to compile a list of tools that I use as part of my work. I’ll try and keep it updated as I go, but it’s listed on the menus as ‘what I use’. Until later, ta-ta!
Tags: climate change, Feed-in tarrifs, solar p.v., wind turbine, work
