newsletter

Issue 5 Summer 2009

Desperately Seeking Volunteers in this issue

To help us inspire, educate
and offer practical help to
individuals, private and public
sector organisations to help
them to understand climate
change and our wider energy
challenges - we constantly
seek volunteers.
We already have a small team
of dedicated volunteers. Some
use it to keep up their skills,
gain hand-on experience or
gain new skills. Karen Smith,
who works alongside the
Carbon Forum team, has just
completed her NVQ in Business
and Administration Level 3. Crunching the
This was provided by SBC recession pg. 2
training, and based with MEA.
The course was free as it was
funded by the government’s New business
Train to Gain Scheme. She’s handbook pg.3
now going on to do an Advanced
Adult Apprenticeship with MEA
We need people who are willing Exhibition opens
to help with events, research in Uganda pg 4
and office work. There is no
minimum time commitment
and all out of pocket expenses Award finalist
pg.6
are paid.

Ashden Awards winner! Renewables on

The world’s leading green energy
Awards scheme elected MEA
as one of the pioneering energy
projects from the UK, Africa, Asia
and Latin America chosen as
finalists for the Ashden Awards for
Sustainable Energy 2009.
farms pg. 8
MEA won £15,000 in the charity
category at a ceremony hosted
by HRH The Prince of Wales in
London in June. The prize money
will be used for project development
and expansion within MEA.

MEA’s Online monitoring used in seven counties

The word about our new on-
line monitoring tool is starting
to spread and we now have
people signed up in 7 different
counties across England and
Wales. Included in this are
people from community groups
from Somerset, Shropshire,
Leicestershire, Staffordshire,
Derbyshire, Powys and
Warwickshire.
Talking about this Simon from
MEA said ‘I hope this tool will
help show people how much
energy they are using and over
time demonstrate a trend in
reduction. By sharing it with
friends and neighbours in their
1.
own communities I hope this will
inspire people to make greater
changes than they have yet
considered’.
If you would like to get involved
individually or as a community,
then please call Simon on 01743
277106 or email him at simon.
mea.org.uk
 MEA Grants

Keep Shropshire Warm Crunches

the Recession
The County’s Affordable Warmth
initiative Keep Shropshire Warm
is offering all home owners
and private tenants the chance
of huge insulation discounts.
Having already assisted over
6000 households since it’s
launch in January 2008, the
Keep Shropshire Warm team
are pleased to announce that
continued help is available.
Project Manager Joanna Meakin
says “we are delighted to be
able to offer further reductions
off our already discounted
insulation. Any home owner
or private tenant that pays
their Council Tax to the new
Shropshire Council can get
Cavity Wall Insulation for just
£99. We are also offering Loft
Insulation for just £129.
This is going to prove to be a
massive help to householders in
a time when people are worried
about their finances. We would
suggest that the installation
of both measures can save a
household as much as £350
per year on their energy bills,
proving that it really does pay to
insulate”
Contact the Keep Shropshire
Warm Team on 01743 277123 or
visit www.keepshropshirewarm.org

£1m Green Energy Grants for Rural Businesses

Rural businesses in three counties
of the West Midlands are taking
advantage of new renewable
energy grants to save themselves
money and energy.
The £1 million “RE:think Energy”
initiative has just celebrated its
first anniversary. The two-year
scheme enables small & medium
sized enterprises in the Rural
Regeneration Zone (RRZ) to
capitalise on opportunities to install
renewable energy technologies.
The RRZ includes the rural areas

of Shropshire, Herefordshire and water and solar electricity.

parts of Worcestershire.
So far, grants averaging £10,000
have been awarded to over a
dozen different firms, ranging from
bed & breakfasts to farms. The
recipients have been investing in
technology such as - wood fuel
boilers, wind turbines, solar hot
2.
Funded by Advantage West
Midlands, managed by Shropshire
Council and run by Marches
Energy Agency, RE:think Energy
can offer grants of up to 50% of
the capital cost of investment for
installation of renewable energy
technologies.
 MEA Media and Publications

Low Carbon Communities for Business Handbook

MEA have launched a new
publication summarising their
experience of working with small
businesses in Shropshire over
the past 3 years. As well as
summarising our achievements,
it is intended to assist others
to focus in on what sustainable
energy measures are likely
to be appropriate to certain
businesses from the outset.
Over the period from 2006- Haynes, said “the guide draws I hope this guide can offer
2009 the team produced on our experience of working some kind of starting point for
energy reports for over 100 with a wide range of businesses individual small businesses or
businesses and helped of different sizes across different those working with them”.
implement capital projects sectors. It is often hard to know Download the guide from the
which have been estimated at where to start in looking at the news section of our website
saving over 200 tonnes of CO2 businesses use of energy and (www.mea.org.uk) or contact us
and approximately £50,000 in hard to know what to expect for hard copies.
energy costs per annum. from measures designed to
Our technical advisor, Tristan reduce energy consumption,

SECHURBA Project Website Goes Live!

A website for the SECHURBA project is now up and running SECHURBA - Sustainable
providing people with background information on the project, plus a Energy Communities in Historic
detailed look at the different European communities and buildings URBan Areas, will be looking at
being studied. how older buildings, and those
that are listed and in conservation
areas, can be made more energy
efficient and should be seen as
part of a low carbon solution,
rather than an obstacle.

The website will be regularly

updated with details of the
buildings and communities that
are being studied. Information on
regulations regarding planning
and conservation issues and links
to other organisations involved in
the protection of historic buildings
will also be available.

The website is at:

www.sechurba.eu
3.
 MEA Events

Carbon Footprinting Stall,

Nottingham
We ran a busy and successful
carbon footprinting stall at
Midsummer Energy on Sunday
28th June, with a nearly
constant steam of people
queuing up to calculate their
footprints throughout the
day. Issues raised during the
day included how to allocate
emissions from work-related
activities, especially for self-
employed people, the dilemmas
resulting from having family
living abroad, and how to
improve the efficiency of solid-
walled houses. All completed
footprints were posted up on the
display boards, and people were
keen to compare themselves to
others - even to the extent of a
husband and wife competing to
get the lowest footprint!
We also handed out a number
of free information sheets on
renewable energy and carbon
footprinting, and many visitors
took additional blank footprinting
sheets to share with family or
friends, or to complete at a more
leisurely pace at home.
carbon footprints
20 calculated
visitors to stall
80 (approx)
43,700 highest footprint (kg)
4,703 lowest footprint (kg)

MEA’s Ugandan Climate Change exhibition opens

MEA’s Carbon Forum team
have spent four months
developing a Climate Change
exhibition for the Uganda
Museum in Kampala. It consists
of seven zones with posters
and display cabinets including
a model of two future climate
change scenarios - one with no
action on climate change and
the other with a combination
of adaptation and mitigation
responses.
The zones were: Climate
change science; Climate
change and the home;
Transport and climate change;
Climate change entrepreneurs;
Renewable energy; Climate
change and the land; The future
All of the work was done
remotely from here in the UK
and we even turned down an
invite to fly out for the opening.
“I just wanted to write to
say thank you for all the
work that you put in to the
exhibition at the Uganda
Museum. It officially opened on
Wednesday evening to a big
crowd, including the Minister
of Environment, the Minister
of State for Environment, the
chairman of the Parliamentary
Forum for Climate Change, and
numerous MPs.” Isabel Turner,
Foreign and Commonwealth
Office.

4.
Green Drinks
At June’s Green Drinks we lined
up another speaker - Mandy
Stoker of E4Environment
in Shrewsbury and chair of
Shropshire Environmental
Network talked about the Green
Achiever Scheme - a scheme
that lets businesses show off
their green practices using a
‘Green Achiever’ logo.
Green Drinks is held at 7.30 at
the Loggerheads, Shrewsbury
on the first Wednesday of every
month.
More information about Green
Achiever can be found on their
website:
www.greenachiever.co.uk

Light Fantastic
Our Light Fantastic exhibition trailer has been booked for a series of events in Dudley over the summer.
The first of these was a great success!

Most people who visited the stall had not undertaken many measures yet to reduce their energy use
and everyone was very positive and appreciative of the service we were offering. We were able to sign
post some people to cheap or free insulation. We also had a number of enquiries about solar water
heating and met a guy who is going to re-roof his house with solar tiles.
The energy bike went down a treat as well with the young and old having a go. We set up three low
energy light bulbs against a standard incandescent and people were amazed that it took the same
energy to power both.
• Visitors: 600
• Bulbs distributed: 1200
• Powerdown Units distributed: 240
• CO2 saved (lifetime): 173,208kg
• Retained economic benefit (lifetime): £90,383

5.
 MEA Action
Finalist in Homes and Communities Awards
Each year the Homes &
Communities Agency (HCA)
(the Government’s national
housing and regeneration
body) celebrates projects that
have combined innovation
and dedication to improve
communities, making them
more sustainable.
They identify 9 categories
which target priority areas in
the delivery of sustainable
communities and MEA’s Low
Carbon Communities Project
is one of 3 finalists in the
“Reducing Carbon” Category
that recognises achievements
in Improving sustainable
living in existing homes and
communities.
Carbon Crushing Community Projects Kicking Off
Community members in
Newcastle under Lyme are
about to kick off their second
round of energy saving projects,
following ‘Carbon Crush II’
- Newcastle’s version of MEA’s
carbon college scheme. Ideas
generated by the group include
a touring energy education
station, DIY solar hot water
family fun days, a Newcastle
Cycle Hub scheme (inspired by
the Paris scheme illustrated to
the right) and, building on last
year’s Carbon Crush community
project, a new larger-scale
rainwater collection system.
Between March and May 2009,
Newcastle Carbon Crushers
This is what they say about us: measurable carbon reductions
in communities through
Low Carbon Communities,
sustainable energy measures
West Midlands.
over a defined period of
Low Carbon Communities
time. The scheme operates
is one of only two schemes
by supporting communities
in the awards to be highly
to cut carbon emissions in
commended by judges.
existing developments through
Developed by environmental
changes behaviour and the
social enterprise the
use of appropriate low carbon
Marches Energy Agency, the
technologies.
scheme set out to deliver
have been joining in with a
series of energy workshops
through MEA’s Carbon College
scheme. The group have been
finding out how to cut carbon
emissions and, with help and
inspiration from MEA staff, have
been coming up with a huge
number of ideas for community
projects that can help people
save energy, cut bills and reduce
the town’s carbon footprint.
Four ideas have been selected
to take forward.
Nancy Davies, MEA Project
Manager for Carbon College
all be a huge asset to the
said ‘I wish the project team
all the best in setting up their community in Newcastle’.
exciting projects. They should
6.
 MEA goes East!
MEA is expanding it’s
operations into the East
Midlands as part of a
new alliance with local
authorities in the area.
The Nottinghamshire and
Derbyshire Local Authorities’
Energy Partnership (LAEP)
has just signed a two year
Service Level Agreement with
MEA with the aim of achieving
significant carbon savings in
local communities.
The agreement will see
existing services enhanced
and successful projects from
the West Midlands being
rolled out across the area.
The arrangement is funded
through subscriptions from
the local authorities and
will provide ‘membership’
Walking the Talk
On Monday 8th June 2009
our Technical Advisor, Tristan
Haynes, reached his final
destination of Varazdin in
Croatia for the 3rd STSC
meeting of the RADAR project
after approximately 31 hours
and 40 minutes of travel entirely
by public transport.
The carbon emissions from the
journey are estimated at less
than 60kg whilst flying would
and ‘climate change
communications’ services to all
subscribers.
We are delighted to welcome
Rina Jones and Jessie
Marcham who will be working
for MEA in Notts and Derbys,
both of whom have been co-
ordinating activities with all
twenty local authorities in the
area over the last few years.
MEA will provide a number of
‘membership’ services to all
the local authorities, including
a workshop programme to
share expertise, highlight
best practice and help
resolve problems, and regular
communication of current
policy and information. MEA
will also look for funding for
projects that will cut carbon
have resulted in over 300kg; the
same amount emitted by heating
your home for about 3 weeks in
the winter!
Regarding his decision to ‘let
the train take the strain’, Tristan
said “it strikes me as slightly
hypocritical that the whole point
of these projects is to reduce CO2
emissions and yet most partners
still fly to several meetings a
year from all over Europe; even
7.
across the LAEP area.
All subscribing authorities
will also receive a
‘communications’ service
which will provide support and
tools to communicate climate
change and sustainable
energy to communities, local
authority staff, businesses
and other organisations and
individuals. A whole range of
innovative and exciting MEA
tools will be available for
authorities to choose from to
meet their particular needs.
In addition to subscription
based services, we have
already begun to roll out the
first stages of our Low Carbon
Communities project and the
grant funded scheme ‘Banish
the Inefficient Community
when they are within fairly easy
reach by train!”
Although he admits that flying
would have been much quicker
and slightly cheaper Tristan
spent the time catching up with
work on the long train journey
and updating a ‘travel blog’ using
his netbook. Tristan added, “I
always find trains one of the
most productive environments
to get work done on anyway!”
 MEA Technology
Biogas Energy for Farm in Shropshire
The RADAR project is working
with communities in seven
European countries to look
at generating energy from
residues from local agricultural
and forestry activities.
In the UK, MEA have been
looking at developing a farm-
Wind Turbine Unveiled at Shropshire Dairy Farm
A Shropshire dairy farm has
become one of the first in the
West Midlands to install a wind
turbine which can help provide
the majority of the electricity to
power the farm.
The Hole Farm in Halfway
House between Welshpool and
Shrewsbury, is a 110 acre dairy
farm with 140 cows run for the
last 25 years by John Hudson.
The 15 kilowatt win turbine is
based ‘biogas’ facility with the
residents of Cleobury Mortimer
in South Shropshire following
on from their ‘Low Carbon
Community’ project in the
town. The draft feasibility study
has found that there should
certainly be sufficient food
waste from caterers and food
around the height of an oak
tree and it is hoped will enable
John to generate 26,000 of the
38,000 kilowatts of energy his
farm uses each year saving
more than £2,000 a year.
The £40,000 turbine has been
supported by the Re:think
Energy programme which is
funded through the Advantage
West Midlands Rural
Regeneration Zone.
8.
processing industries within an
eight mile radius of the town to
co-digest with local agricultural
wastes and provide over a
third of the town’s electricity
requirement. This will also deal
with commercial waste in the
area saving local businesses
money.
RE:think Energy is delivered
by the Marches Energy
Agency and Shropshire
County Council and works with
businesses to support and fund
businesses keen on exploring
environmentally friendly energy
improvements.
energy for farm in Shropshire
The RADAR project is working
with communities in seven
European countries to look
at generating energy from
residues from local agricultural
and forestry activities.
In the UK, MEA have been
looking at developing a farm-
based ‘biogas’ facility with the
residents of Cleobury Mortimer
in South Shropshire following
on from their ‘Low Carbon
Community’ project in the
town. The draft feasibility study
has found that there should
certainly be sufficient food
waste from caterers and food
processing industries within an
eight mile radius of the town to
co-digest with local agricultural
wastes and provide over a
third of the town’s electricity
requirement. This will also deal
with commercial waste in the
area saving local businesses
money.
Wonderful Copenhagen!
The second meeting of all
the partners involved in the
SECHURBA project took place
in Copenhagen last week and
was deemed a great success
by all.

Our hosts - the energy

consultancy firm CENERGIA,
kindly arranged for us to have
our meetings in the iconic
Copenhagen City Hall - which
will be one of the project’s case
study buildings. The Hall which
was built in 1903 and was one
of the first buildings in Denmark
with electric light but also with
an advanced heating and
ventilation system based on
warm air and natural ventilation.
Heat was delivered by
steam through a tunnel to
the basement of the building
and today this is provide by
Community District Heating
system, as is most of
Copenhagen.

Marches Energy Agency is a

registered charity, #1070942

Main website:
www.mea.org.uk

MEA team websites:

www.carbonforum.org
www.projectcarbon.org
www.lowcarboncommunity.org
www.keepshropshirewarm.org
switchboard: 01743 246 007
email: info@mea.org.uk
The Pump House, Coton Hill,
Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY1 2DP

9.