Renewable Energy Installation Grants: Gloucester City residents can now take advantage of grants of up to £1000 towards up to two different types of renewable energy installations for their households.  For more information, click here.

Water Butts:For information on opurchasing a water butt, click here click here.

• Climate Change Strategy
• What is Climate Change
• What might Climate Change mean for Gloucester?

What is Climate Change?

Most of us will have heard about Climate Change and the Greenhouse Effect... but what exactly is it?  What does it really mean for our everyday lives?  What can we at the City Council do about it?  Perhaps more importantly, what can we all do about it?

The science is now well understood.  Energy from the sun falling as light warms up the earth.  Some of this energy is radiated back in to space as heat, but some gets trapped in the earth's atmosphere. Some gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) are very efficient at trapping this heat.

Carbon dioxide levels have remained relatively steady for at least the last 100,000 years. However, since the industrial revolution, with the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas, levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has now almost doubled - and is currently increasing at an alarming rate.  As the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, more heat is trapped, and the warming of the earth leads to climate change.

What might Climate Change mean for Gloucester?

What are the implications of Climate Change for Gloucester?  The most likely outcomes for Gloucester over the next century will be:

• Winters up to 30% wetter
• Flooding up to five times more frequent
• Droughts as often as once every three years
• Worsening summer air pollution
• More storms and gales and resulting damage to property
• Loss of wildlife habitats and species
• Social unrest through increased migration
• Higher average temperatures will create a greater need for cooling in offices and homes along with a higher probability of extreme temperatures
• Drier summers, putting a greater strain on water resources and wildlife, and also farmers to diversify crops
• Rising sea levels, leading to more coastal erosion and greater risk of flooding
• Increased heat stress to the elderly and infirm - the weather conditions causing such events will become more frequent

As your local authority Gloucester City Council propose to act in three areas:

1. As a community leader
2. As a regulator and;
3. As a user of fossil fuels ourselves.

One of the main ways that we are acting is through writing and implementing the Climate Change Strategy for Gloucester - see above.

Further Links and Information

Vision 21 - www.vision21.org.uk

Climate Change Communication Initiative - www.climatechallenge.gov.uk

DEFRA - www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange

Energy Saving Trust - www.saveyour20percent.co.uk

The Carbon Neutral Company - www.carbonneutral.com

Severn-Wye Energy Agency - www.swea.co.uk

Carbon Trust - www.carbontrust.co.uk

Last Updated 11/08/2008