news and events

Carbon Forum’s Top Trumps project has been hailed as an ‘exemplar European project’. On Wednesday this week, Kris McGowan, Carbon Forum Team Leader, was invited to speak to delegates from across the West Midlands who are currently planning their own pan EU projects. Kris gave tips and advice, inspiration and assistance to the help steer applications from the University of Birmingham, Staffordshire University, Herefordshire Council and the Birmingham and Coventry Chambers of Commerce.
 
The Eco Vehicles Top Trumps pack was developed by Kris in 2008 and distributed to over 2500 school and to individuals across the globe. The pack is now out of print and has become somewhat of a collectors item. We will shortly have the pack available electronically for use. In the meantime you can view the Green Driving Guide that accompanied the pack here: http://www.carbonforum.org/content/guide

We have just 20 copies left. Visit our shop now!

Our Carbon Forum team are busy planning the follow up to the highly successful Light Fantastic project. The new updated version will be called ‘Fantastic Home’. Fantastic Home is a mobile exhibition, which visits communities and schools. It showcases energy efficient technology and techniques, behavioural changes and renewable technology. It will have interactive elements such as a carbon countdown game for children, the energy bike and interactive aspects throughout the display. It will signpost visitors to local information and grants as well as carry generic information on all aspects of energy saving and generation. It will also be able to sign people up for home visits from professional energy efficiency installers and well as give away free energy efficiency items.
 
Fantastic Home is designed to bring these elements to people, rather than relying on people seeking them out. Its purpose is to actively show visitors practical measures that they can take themselves. It provides an engagement and education opportunity for many thousands of people that will not be reached by traditional means at the disposal of stakeholders.
 
Fantastic Home will allow people to touch, feel and interact with technology and techniques that may otherwise be surrounded in myth and mystery or simply be outside of their sphere of experience. It will enable people to fully appreciate the costs, benefits, savings and logistics of taking action on reducing and generating their own energy.
 

MEA were commissioned by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) to deliver household energy training to Area Energy Champions of the Cooperative Food Group. The result was informative, engaging and stimulating advice and training. Twenty sessions were delivered to the Area Energy Champions, District Energy Champions and Operations Managers across the UK – from Belfast to Broadstairs, Inverness to Nottingham. The training was delivered to them with a view to cascading the training to the store managers, store energy champions and ultimately to all Co-op retail staff.
 
The basis for the training was the understanding that through undertaking energy saving measures in the home, staff would be able to apply these techniques in the work place, and in some cases vice versa. The Co-op group has an overarching ambition to cut energy use by 25% by 2012 and has made significant in-roads to achieving this target. However, they acknowledge that they are only going to be able to do this with the assistance of a motivated and fully trained group of energy champions.
 
The training thus developed was delivered to twenty groups of Area Energy Champions numbering 258 participants. Each, now fully trained in home and store energy efficiency, will between now and autumn be cascading the training to all staff. They are tasked with assisting the Regional Energy Managers delivering on the 25% target reduction in energy use. It is the opinion of the trainers that this is now well within their grasp.
 
The training was well received and appreciated by both the Regional Energy Managers (who delivered it in tandem) and the attendees, some of whom were quite skeptical of the impact that they could have. All are now ‘energy literate’, fully trained to achieve major savings, both in the home and in store.
 
On the store energy side we had a rather hilarious ‘airing dirty laundry’ session revealing several energy gaffes – a suspended ceiling that was removed to reveal another lighting rig full of working and lit T12 tubes; a water heater left permanently on but not used for three years, two floors above the trading floor and lastly; a spare extractor fan that was turned off to save the store £5,000 per year. It was also useful to note that although many stores have been refitted recently and had upgrades, most of the energy savings that have been made in this district have been through the housekeeping actions of the energy champions network, not through the installation of clever kit.
 
Some of the attendees were experienced energy champions. Their previous work in this area had brought them into contact with the Energy Saving Trust before and some had undertaken measures in their own home. Many of the age old myths were busted, like timing your heating rather than leaving it on all day – one energy champion had saved over £500 in the last quarter by doing so!
 
We hope to work with the EST and Co-op again in the near future and wish the Co-op the best of luck with achieving their targets – we are sure they can do it.
 
Here is a selection of the feedback form the project:
 
“I just want to say a big thank you for the vital role you played in delivering the training in a very professional and knowledgeable manner, whilst being amiable and engaging with the district and area energy champions.”
 
“Thanks for all your hard work and effort in delivering this project in so many different area. I now happy that my whole region has been covered from Scotland to Ireland and the IOM.”
 
“Thank you very much for the great job you have done in our first two energy champion training sessions.”

“My belief is that we have really set the champions we have worked with up with the tools to go and continue the cascade process of a sustainable, self perpetuating package which will benefit all the recipients at home, at work and for the general good of the environment.”
 
“Thanks a lot Kris, I enjoyed it and learnt a lot.”

Event: West Bridgford Summer Gathering
Date: 15th May 2010
Client: Rushcliffe Borough Council
Venue: West Bridgford Park
 
Visitors: 425
Bulbs distributed: 310
 
CO2 saved (lifetime): 44,280 kg CO2
Retained economic benefit (lifetime): £11,724.20
 
We were fortunate with the weather which was dry, sunny and cool. Phil Newcombe, from MEA, worked with Jenny Parrington from Rushcliffe Borough Council, and MEA volunteer Nick Ward, to answer a host of sustainability queries across a range of technical and service delivery areas.
 
Most visitors already had low energy light bulbs in some of their fittings but not all. Many had struggled to find spotlights and GU10 replacements and we were able to direct them to online retailers as well as outlining the costs and savings associated with the bulbs.
 
There was some confusion amongst people about the different types of solar panels and we were able to advise and give them factsheets and discuss the new feed in tariffs. 
 
Customers interested in improving their loft and cavity wall insulation were signposted to the Council’s preferred installer with whom they have a management agreement.
 
The energy bike was popular with the whole age range of girls and boys, many of whom seem to find it an edifying exploration of electricity generation and energy conversion.
 
Some children also enjoyed playing the giant energy descent Snakes and Ladders game.
 
A very busy and fun day had by all!

LAEP Communications Pick n Mix
Nottinghamshire County Council
Light Fantastic in Schools, Sutton Bonington Primary School
27/05/10
 
Visitors:                                                                    Approx. 48 pupils and 4 staff
Bulbs distributed:                                                120
CO2 saved (lifetime):                                           17140.8kg                         
Retained economic benefit (lifetime):          £4958.40
 
We provided two one-hour workshops on climate change: one to Year Five and one to Year Six. Both classes engaged well with a powerpoint presentation and discussion about climate change. They had watched a play about recycling earlier in the week and were able to link some of what they had learnt from that with what we were teaching them. They also explained some of the activities they have being doing to gain Eco School status. They really engaged in the workshops and asked lots of questions as well as supplying their own thoughts on how we should tackle climate change. Using manure to generate electricity was a popular option with the first group as were cars powered by hydrogen which they had seen on Top Gear!
 
The children got a chance to see a mini PV panel and wind turbine in action powering small lights and a buzzer. Towards the end of the session each child was given the chance to have a go at powering a lightbulb using our energy bike. We even managed to entice one teacher on to the bike – who was immediately surrounded by her entire class egging her on to power a lightbulb!
 
We will be sending the school 120 lightbulbs to distribute to each child who attended to take home.

Event: Severnside Housing Community Fayre
Date:   22nd May 2010
Client: SHA
Venue: Sundorne Sports Village
 
Visitors: 150
Bulbs distributed: 230
 
CO2 saved (lifetime): 32,868 kg CO2
Retained economic benefit (lifetime): £9,038
 
The very hot weather worked for & against us as the sun kept some of the older & younger visitors inside in the shade. Sarah Meredith, from MEA, worked with volunteers Ashley Green and Simon Meredith during the day to answer a host of sustainability queries across a range of areas.
 
Many visitors already had some low energy light bulbs but not all. Some had struggled to find spotlights and GU10 replacements and we were able to direct them to online retailers as well as outlining the costs and savings associated with the bulbs. There was also a lot of interest in new style LED lighting.
 
We had an enquiry from a community group looking to improve energy efficiency in a hall in Harlescott and were able to refer them for a feasibility study. We also handed out 40 reusable shopping bags and some room thermometers to our visitors.
 
The energy bike was popular with the whole age range of children and some adults. Younger children also enjoyed playing the giant energy descent Snakes and Ladders game. A very busy and fun day had by all!
 
Feedback from Severnside:
 
Thank you so much for your support and the information and goodies you gave away.
 
Your feedback is very important to us and suggestions are welcomed, many of these events enable us to use ideas and planning is always made in conjunction with our residents. Also a big thank you to everyone who came along and hope to see you again at another event that we hold in the future.
 
Severnside’s report on their website: http://www.severnsidehousing.co.uk/main.cfm?type=N&Object=2800
 

Richard Hammerton in the Carbon Forum team is expanding the delivery of accredited training courses. In addition to the Level 2 course developed for Accord Housing Association in partnership with Walsall College he is now developing a Level 3 course for the MEARS group (building construction professionals). Fitters, plumbers, electricians and installers from the group will be trained to be energy and climate aware as part of Accord's Fit for the Future project. They will receive two detailed sessions each on energy efficiency and climate change. As the course is accredited they will get nationally recognised Qualifications Credit Framework (QCF) Level 3 credits.

Representatives from the Marches Energy Agency visited Bolsover yesterday (16th June 2010) to give information and advice about climate change and home energy efficiency. Employees of the Bolsover district council, as well as the general public, were give the opportunity to work out their individual carbon footprint using a simple carbon footprint calculator.
 
On average the people of Bolsover were doing well with their efforts, nearly everyone we spoke to was doing something to reduce their carbon footprint, however they still had an average carbon footprint of 11,212kg. There is always something that could be improved to get those footprints down even lower and the 5-section carbon footprint calculator showed each individual the area that could best be improved for them; Be it using air travel less or buying more locally produced or organic food.
 
Using energy efficient light bulbs was a popular method that people reported already doing in their home to keep their carbon emissions down and we aimed to encourage this by giving out free energy saving bulbs to all that wanted them. Each bulb gives out 100 watts worth of light using only 18 watts of electricity!
 
We received queries about energy monitors for the home, local wind farm plans, low flush toilets and energy saving lighting. Many people were keen to look at our light bulb library and were pleased to see that a new range of energy efficient lighting is being brought out. There was some discussion about issues people were having with the traditional low energy bulbs and we were able to give advice on these issues.
 
Over all, the carbon footprint calculators were very popular and often people were pleased to learn that their efforts were having a significant impact on their carbon emissions.

Kris McGowan delivered the final Co-op training session last Thursday. On behalf of the Energy Saving Trust, Kris and his team have been delivering training up and down the country to Area Energy Champions who in turn have been delivering the training to Store Managers and Store Energy Champions. Fiddlers Ferry generates 2,000MW (Mega Watts) of electricity which is enough to power nearly 2 million homes and businesses in Manchester, Liverpool and the surrounding areas. The setting focussed the training on the task in hand – it is only 37% efficient and when you add to that the 30% transmission losses of the national grid and the inefficiencies of domestic and commercial buildings, only approximately 15% of the energy available in the coal is actually utilised. The Co-op have a target of reducing their energy use by 25% by 2012 and only through the assistance of the energy champions are they going to achieve that. This last session was a special one for the Operations Managers, to see what one of the training days was all about. The training sessions came about as the result of a joint co-operative & EST collaboration that will ultimately see the rollout of this training to all Energy Champions nationally. The training day demonstrates the importance of taking action to reduce energy consumption at home and how that can be replicated in store. We showed just how important the Area Energy Champions are in achieving our goal of helping all co-operative staff save money and energy both in store and in the home. Results are already being realised. One climate change sceptic who came to a session earlier in the year was inspired to tackle in-store energy straight away – in four weeks he has a achieved a 30% reduction in energy use in the store through implementing new routines and identifying energy wastage. Another store which had a £1million refit was not achieving energy savings – the energy champion identified that a new T5 lighting rig had been fitted, but the old inefficient T12 rig not removed, but just covered up. This action will save that individual store thousands of pounds and significantly affect its CO2 footprint. On average, lighting counts for approximately 20% of energy use in store. All District Energy Champions have participated in one of the sessions, as have the Area Energy Champions and Retail Skills Trainers. Once trained, the Area Champions pass on a condensed version of the training to all Store Energy Champs and an even further condensed version to all Store Managers – covering over 3000 stores nationwide. The Energy Saving Trust have been incredibly impressed by the Champion’s enthusiasm and commitment as you can see below “Of all the organisations I’ve worked with, it’s hard to think of any who have a more enthused and effective network of internal champions” Rob Bell, Head of Development at the Energy Saving Trust The feedback from the 21 training sessions has been very positive: “My belief is that we have really set the champions we have worked with up with the tools to go and continue the cascade process of a sustainable, self perpetuating package which will benefit all the recipients at home, at work and for the general good of the environment.” Nick Cairns, Regional Energy Manager

Marches Energy Agency now has a facebook page. If you have a facebook account follow the link and become a fan of the page to receive our news updates and more.
 

 
 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marches-Energy-Agency/115423861823046