Boris has been busy!
London Mayor, Boris Johnson has been busy launching and promoting green initiatives all over London, some of which are his ‘baby’ and some of which are just good to be associated with. For a change, however, maybe it’s time to support him.
I can’t say for sure what his strategy is, but the result is the same – heightened awareness of the fact that London is ‘doing’ something; and that’s becoming more and more important as the implications of our energy wastage takes more prominence in the mainstream media and the inactivity/apathy of substantial segments in the commercial sector becomes a growing cause for concern.
Here are just a few of the things that London is doing.
Transport for London (TfL) is to replace traffic light bulbs with LEDs at around 300 junctions in the capital. The cost will be £2.4m but they will cut energy consumption by about 60% (saving about £200,000 per year) – that’s an ROI of 12 years or, in other words, an investment that originates from a sustainability standpoint; and the ROI is probably much shorter since the lifetime of LEDs means maintenance costs are significantly reduced.
Boris is proposing to work with Thames Water and other partners to identify ways to use sewage to provide renewable energy and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. A raft of initiatives is inherent in this plan and adds to the recognition that fresh water availability and sewage discharge are both growing problems that have been overshadowed by the carbon energy issue.
Boris has also announced funding to set up low carbon neighbourhoods in ten of the city’s boroughs with funding totalling £3m (each of the projects will receive at least £200,000). The hope is that as the boroughs cross-pollinate ideas and actions, the outputs can spread beyond London.
The Mayor of London’s Green Procurement Code has updated its website to pull together information for businesses seeking to go green through responsible purchasing as part of a raft of measures in place in London designed to help achieve City Hall’s target of cutting the capital’s carbon emissions by 60% by 2025.
Boris has come in for much criticism and ridicule since coming in to post 18 months ago and he hasn’t helped his cause by going into meetings and interviews unprepared and opening his mouth before engaging brain. However, when compared to some of the overtly politically motivated actions of his predecessor, perhaps it is time to give him the benefit of the doubt.
After all, some of these initiatives are hardly ground breaking or represent large chunks of the funds at his disposal to drag the City and its environs out of the carbon-dirty pit it currently inhabits. What they do, however, represent is a relentless campaign of doing ‘stuff’, however insignificant, that keeps this most important subject at the forefront of the minds of London residents and workers.
It is hoped that these on-going onslaughts have the desired effect and inspire the commercial sector to step up to plate, en masse, and create a template of co-operative actions that the rest of the UK will follow.
