The Reading Climate Festival ends on Friday and has provided a lot of food for thought for all of us through more than 30 events.
It culminates on Friday with Show Your Stripes Day and Professor Ed Hawkins giving a talk at Reading Town Hall.
Hopefully if you have attended any of the events you will have already considered what changes you might be able to make. And now we are helping residents to make another environmentally-friendly choice that has the added benefit of saving you money on energy bills.
This week, the Council has launched a new initiative so you can buy solar panels for your home in the cheapest and easiest way possible.
This will help you save on energy bills, cut carbon emissions, and boost local renewable energy generation – and also save money on your installation costs compared to going through the process on your own.
I know not everyone will be able to afford solar panels with the cost-of-living crisis still biting, but the great news is that it is free to register and there is no obligation to go ahead with an installation, so you have nothing to lose in at least finding out more.
The scheme is there to help Reading’s homeowners feel confident that they are paying the right price for a high-quality installation from pre-approved installers, and last year residents of Reading were among nearly 900 across Berkshire who took advantage of the offer and had over 9,500 solar panels fitted.
More information can be found at www.solartogether.co.uk/reading or on our website at https://www.reading.gov.uk/solartogether/
We are able to provide you with this opportunity thanks to a group-buying scheme in operation with other councils in Berkshire, along with independent experts iChoosr, to help as many residents as possible make the transition to clean energy through competitive rates on solar panels and battery storage.
This initiative will help you take more control over your energy bills through cheaper and more environmentally-friendly energy in your home, while at the same time helping us towards our goal for Reading to be carbon net zero by 2030.
You may remember that in Reading we declared a climate emergency in 2019, and as a Council we have been working with local organisations to aim for a net zero carbon Reading by 2030. Some of our progress in this area include:
• 51% reduction in the borough’s carbon emissions since 2005 – the eighth largest reduction across 374 local authority areas in the UK
• 74% reduction in the Council’s own carbon emissions in 14 years
• Target to reduce the Council’s use of fossil fuels by 50% met two years ahead of schedule
• 68% reduction in emissions from waste since 2015/16, largely due to a reduction of rubbish going to landfill
• Reading has featured on the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) global environmental A list, for three successive years, with only 25 other UK councils appearing in 2023.
Other measures we’ve taken to reduce the Council’s own emissions include the installation of heat pumps and solar panels in its two new leisure centres in Palmer Park and Rivermead, increasing the number of electric vehicles in our fleet and installing solar panels and energy efficient systems in schools.
We will continue to work to do more in terms of climate action, but we need everyone to play their part to achieve this – the council, residents, businesses and organisations – and the Solar Together scheme is a great way for you to join in.
Cllr Liz Terry is the leader of Reading Borough Council and ward member for Coley
