news and events

On the 19th of June we ran a day long workshop for members of the Moorlands Together LSP in Staffordshire. The event was attended by representatives of Britannia, Staffs Police, The Peak District National Park, Staffordshire County Council, the Ambulance Service, and the Staffs Moorlands District Council, among others. The day began with an introductory presentation from Richard Davies and then we used our new EST Low Carbon Communities Workbook as the basis for calculating a reduction target and then choosing a set of actions which would be sufficient to deliver the required saving within the chosen timeframe.

 The event was a great success with very positive feedback from all the attendees about how useful they found the EST workbook approach. 

The Bioenergy Guide has been officially launched at the On-Farm Anaerobic Digestion Seminar which was held at Walford College on Tuesday 5th August. The event was attended by 80 delegates from around the country.

Richard Hammerton, editor of the Bioenergy Guide, attended the seminar together with MEA's Kate Millbank, manager of the new RE:Think energy grant scheme to give a presentation on the financial incentives available to support the installation of bioenergy systems.

Bioenergy technologies have real potential in the UK to provide a commercially viable, secure and environmentally sound replacement for the imported fossil fules which at present we all rely on. They also offer a major new commercial opportunity for farmers to add energy production to their commercial operations.

The Bioenergy Guide is intended as an introduction for the general public to the two main technologies, biomass and anaerobic digestion, which are suitable for development in the UK. It contains key information about these technologies and looks at how they may be best applied at domestic, commercial and industrial scales. 

We recently attended Birmingham City Council's first Climate Change
Festival, a large scale and ambitious event which shows how seriously BCC are taking the issue of climate change. On the Family Sunday we had approximately 800 visitors to the stall
and distributed 1200 low energy light bulbs and 360 powerdown units. This will
result in lifetime savings of 174 tonnes CO2 and £111,000.

Tuesday was schools day.
Each Teacher was given 5 Eco Vehicles Top Trumps Packs, an Eco Action Pack and a
'Funny Weather' Comic which is a light hearted but scientifically rigorous guide
to climate change. We also gave each teacher 10 low energy light bulbs and 1
powerdown unit to take back to the school for demonstration and
installation.

Our position on the site meant we had many
passing members of the public on this day and had more visitors than on the
Sunday! We distributed a total of 2240 light bulbs (including the 140 to
teachers) and 200 powerdown units. This will result in a total of 321.5 tonnes
Co2 saved and £126,556 retained economic benefit.

IN total then our visits had
over 2000 visitors and will result in lifetime savings of nearly 500 tonnes of
CO2 and just over £237,000 retained economic
benefit.

Saturday 26th July saw the Light Fantastic Trailer out in the blazing sunshine at the Britannia sponsored Leek & District Show, a popular event which had about 10,000 visitors. Despite the heat the energy bike drew a steady stream of enthusiastic visitors to the stall, and by the end of the day we estimate that we had had about 350 visitors to the exhibition.

We gave away 590 low energy lightbulbs and 120 Powerdowns, which together provide lifetime savings of almost £41,000 and 85 tons of carbon dioxide.

Shrewsbury based caravan and leisure
company Salop Leisure have generously supplied the Light Fantastic project with
essential items to get the exhibition on the road.

Managing Director Mark Bebb said "I
am delighted to support this local project, we have a commitment to be energy
efficient at Salop Leisure and it's good to help others to do the
same."

The Light Fantastic Roadshow,
operated by Marches Energy Agency, has been touring the West Midlands giving
away low energy bulbs and talking to people about energy
efficiency.

Project Manager, Sarah Meredith said "We've given away over 12,000 low
energy bulbs so far. Over their lifetime that will save 1,756 tonnes of CO2 and
nearly £750,000 off people's electricity bills and replacement lights. That's
just a month of events, so we are really making an impact with the
project."

Energy company E.ON are also
supporting the project, donating low energy bulbs from leading manufacturer
Megaman and Powerdown units to help householders reduce their energy
consumption.

A grant from Awards for All has
allowed completion of the exhibition and the Shropshire Aggregates Levy
Sustainability Fund has paid for a number of events this summer at local shows
and venues. The next events in Shropshire to be visited by the Light Fantastic
trailer are the Oswestry and Minsterley Shows on August 2^nd and
9^th.

Anyone who wants to know more about
Light Fantastic, booking events or volunteering, please call Sarah Meredith, Project Manager, 01743 277114 or
email sarah@mea.org.uk

The Light Fantastic Stall met with a very enthusiastic reception at the Bridgnorth Green Fair; many people stopped to try out the energy bike, have a chat and ask some questions about lighting and energy efficiency, and of course to receive their free lightbulbs. 

During the course of the day we distributed 800 lightbulbs and 100 powerdowns, which together account for lifetime carbon savings of over 115 tons, and lifetime cash savings of more than £45,000. 

On Sunday 17th August we took the Light Fantastic stall to the Chorley Show
near Bridgenorth. The Chorley Show is a unique summer show in that it
has for many years endeavoured to promote local produce, arts and
crafts and more recently really take responsibility for its
environmental impact. Last year we carbon foot-printed the whole show,
highlighting ways in which their footprint cold be further reduced.
They have taken many of our recommendations on board, with displays and
stall holders relying  lesson generators, the 70's classic (gas
guzzling) car show removed and an increased public transport provision
for visitors to the show.

Despite the weekend of rain and an angry looking sky,
the show was very well attended with over 2000 visitors. Our visit to
the show was funded by Defra's Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund
co-ordinated by Shropshire County Council. We had over 1000 visitors,
who took with them 1300 low energy light bulbs and 160 powerdown units.
This will result in CO2 savings of 187 tonnes and retained economic
benefit of nearly £81,000.

The Chorley parish community have a very active low
energy lighting project on going and will be distributing further low
energy light bulbs through out the community over the coming year.

One of the highlights of the Shrewsbury Summer Season is the famous Shrewsbury Flower Show, and this year we were there with the Light Fantastic trailer, giving out bulbs but not of the floral variety. Despite a gloomy forecast the rain more or less held off and it was a highly successful weekend for us.

Over the two days of the Flower Show we gave away 2780 bulbs and 360 Powerdowns, providing lifetime CO2 savings of almost 400 tons and financial lifetime savings of £160,000.