• Online consultation for residents to vote on how they could heat their homes or travel in the near future is being launched in Peterborough

• Results to inform Local Area Energy Plan for Peterborough’s target of achieving Net Zero carbon emissions by 2030

• The vote is open for four weeks until 28^thFebruary

zerocarbon.vote – an online consultation tool for residents to vote on which type of low carbon heating they may want in their homes – is being launched in Peterborough. 

In July 2019, Peterborough City Council declared a climate emergency and announced plans for the city to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2030. As part of these efforts, changes will need to be made to the way people in Peterborough heat their homes and potentially travel.

Reducing carbon emissions could bring a number of vital benefits for Peterborough including reducing fuel poverty, improving air quality, stimulating the local economy and providing jobs to the local area.

Running between 31^th January – 28^th February, zerocarbon.vote is a survey run by Energy Systems Catapult, an independent not-for-profit organisation established by the UK Government to accelerate the UK towards Net Zero and capture the economic opportunities of clean growth.

The survey is being backed by Peterborough City Council. 

The survey results will help inform the creation of a Local Area Energy Plan (LAEP). This is a pioneering approach to developing robust Net Zero strategies for local places is data-driven, collaborative and cost effective. LAEPs model the unique characteristics of the local area, including: the type of building stock, heating technologies, existing energy networks, electrification of cars, as well as local spatial constraints and opportunities.

The LAEP process collaborates with a range of stakeholders including local authorities, distribution network operators, businesses and communities.

The zerocarbon.vote consultation, will feed into the LAEP process by asking for the views of Peterborough residents about home heating and transport, including:

• Setting out future low carbon home heating options,
• Helping people understand how different heating systems work, how much they might cost to install and run, and whether they are disruptive to install,
• “Voting” on their preferred home heating option.

It takes less than 5 minutes to complete the survey with only a couple of questions.  There’s no sign up required and any information people provide is anonymized, and not provided to any third parties other than helping Peterborough City Council’s transition to Net Zero.

Richard Halsey, Capabilities Director at the Energy Systems Catapult said: “Peterborough will be one of the first cities in the UK to engage with their local community about how to decarbonise their city.

“Each local area is unique and the right decarbonisation strategy will depend on the geography, building types, businesses and industry, energy infrastructure, energy demand, resources and urban growth plans.

“zerocarbon.vote is a quick and easy way to help people engage in the steps needed to decarbonise their homes and local area.

“This survey will help to inform residents about the types of technologies and systems that may become available in the years to come and how – in turn – their views might inform the Local Area Energy Plan for Peterborough. “

Councillor Nigel Simons, Cabinet Member for Waste, Street Scene and the Environment for Peterborough City Council, said: “The next few years are going to see big changes in the way we live as we embrace the move to net zero. For example, the way we heat our homes will change, fossil fuel-based gas heating may be replaced with lower carbon alternatives and the way we travel from A to B may change.

“To be successful in any transition we all need to work together, and it is therefore vital to understand how our residents want to see this change implemented. So, we need to hear from them.

“It is easy and quick to vote, taking less than five minutes, so I urge everyone to get involved. Change is coming, and by having your say now, residents can help inform where we will focus our efforts and funding in making Peterborough net zero by 2030.”

Peterborough residents can visit www.zerocarbon.vote to have their say. The consultation will be open until the 28^th February.