In Transition Town Totnes’ Energy Descent Action Plan, they refer to community resilience indicators in general and for certain areas of life. I wanted to survey these to use to analyse key points of intervention in transition for my local area.
Food
key objectives
- build and increase the market for local food
- increase the physical and political infrastructure for local food growing, processing and distribution
- changes to land legislation, including planning laws to open up land for food production
- decrease the distance between producers and consumers
- utilise available resources for urban agriculture
- produce food with minimal imported materials in a sustainable manner
resilience indicators
- percentage of population with basic food production skills
- percentage of population who feels confident working with fresh produce
- percentage of food consumed locally which has also been grown locally
- number of people who feel they have good advice, skills and retraining in food production
- percentage of land (agricultural and urban) under utilisation for food production
- rates of obesity and chronic heart disease
- average body mass index
Energy
key objectives
- clear understanding and awareness of how energy is used
- major reduction in the use of energy at all levels of society
- severe reduction in the use of products with high embodied energy
- high priority for investment of time and finance in energy efficiency
- recognition of the vulnerability of conventional energy supplies
- development and provision of renewable energy supplies prioritised and brought on stream
- rapid reduction in the use of fossil fuel based energy
- equitable approach to the sharing of all resources
resilience indicators
- percentage of houses with insulation to passivhaus standards
- percentage of energy produced from local renewable sources to meet local demand
- percentage of buildings with solar hot water collectors
- number of people who feel well informed about energy issues
- number of people concerned about energy security/climate change
- reaching government target of reducing carbon emissions by at least 20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050
Housing
key objectives
- meet the current highest standard for sustainable buildings
- design to maximise natural lighting and solar space heating
- eliminate toxic or highly-engineered materials and energy-intensive processes
- be independent of fossil-fuel based heating systems
- design for adaptability and dismantling so as to allow the building to be subsequently adapted for a range of other uses
- where appropriate, integrate working and living
- ensure outdoor spaces are south-facing with the minimum of overshadowing so as to maximise the potential to grow food
- maximise grey water recycling and rain water capture
- build to address needs not speculation
- adhere to good spatial planning to benefit communal interaction and shared open space
- maximum use of locally produced materials (clay, straw, hemp, lime, timber, reed, stone)
- maximum use of used and recycled building materials, particularly those on site
- inclusion of water-permeable surfaces rather than hard-paving
resilience indicators
- percentage of houses that have been retrofitted to the maximum possible standard
- number of second homes that have been let through the ‘Homes for All’ scheme
- number of houses with solar hot water panels installed
- number of builders that have taken ‘Construction in Transition’ training
- heat emitted from buildings
- trends in fuel poverty
- average amount of energy produced by buildings