THE Coventry Times today launches its Go Green series.
For the next six weeks we will bring you features about the biggest environmental issues affecting Coventry people.
It comes as Coventry City Council launches its own draft Climate Change Strategy, which seeks public views on a raft of new measures.
As well as plans to tackle transport emissions (see front page) the council has outlined a variety of other schemes they believe could help tackle climate change.
Among those already hitting the headlines is a proposal to cover the entire city centre – loosely defined as the area enclosed by the Ring Road – with green roof technology.
City centre businesses could be invited to put up grass roofs – using a specially adapted plant called sedum.
Sedum is a low-lying grass, or succulent, growing to around 10cm in height which will reduce the city centre heat effect, provide insulation and provide an absorbant layer to protect against heavy rainfalls and flooding.
It will also provide what the council calls a ‘visual amenity’ for visitors and shoppers and provide a habitat for wildlife.
The term green roofs also encompasses solar panels and photo voltaic plates which convert the sun’s energy into renewable electricity.
Green roofs are one of the mainstays of the authority’s plan to reduce the impact of rising temperatures on health in the city centre through heat and poor air quality.
The council also plans to issue a series of city-wide alerts should soaring temperatures lead to health dangers for vulnerable groups like children and the elderly.
These include:
Poor air quality alerts in the event of heatwaves which increase levels of dangerous ozone at ground level.
Emergency evacuation plans for city schools if temperatures reach critical levels which could exacerbate medical complaints such as asthma.
Stricter monitoring of business premises to ensure workers are not subjected to excessive heat.
More green spaces are also planned for the city centre and surrounding built-up areas to provide shade and lower temperatures.
The council has set itself the ambitious target of reducing green house gas emissions across the city by 67 per cent by 2050 – seven per cent more than the government plan. It has also outlined a series of strategies it wants to implement now.
These include making all of Coventry’s schools energy efficient and educating pupils on environmental issues in an ‘eco schools’ plan.
Several sites have already implemented green measures such as the newly-built Aldermoor Farm Primary School in Stoke Aldermoor, which uses a ground source heat pump to provide energy.
The council has also said it will analyse the results of an aerial thermal survey of the city as a whole which it conducted in March as part of a plan to pick out greenhouse emissions hotspots.
Currently 43 per cent of emissions in Coventry are produced by our own homes.
Leading Coventry’s new green agenda is Conservative cabinet member for climate change, councillor Gary Ridley.
He said: “All ideas put forward in the Climate Change Strategy are open to public consultation.
“We want people to contact us and tell us what they think.
“The measures we put in place now will probably only take effect in 50 or 60 years’ time when the majority of people at the council will not be around.
“This document is about ensuring Coventry is still a liveable place for future generations.”
In the coming weeks the Coventry Times will uncover what else could be in store for the city as we face up to a global challenge to reduce our impact on the Earth.
To see the council’s Climate Change Strategy for yourself visit: www.coventry.gov.uk/climatechange.
If you have any Green stories you would like covering, contact RICHARD ASHMORE on 024 7650 0389 or email richard_ashmore@mrn.co.uk
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