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New Local Green Accreditation Scheme

Wed, 11 December 2013
Businesses and community organisations across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire are now able to access valuable support in cutting costs and going green.NEP Energy Services (NEPes) has launched the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Investors in the Environment (iiE) programme, a not-for-profit environmental accreditation scheme and support service.
 
iiE provides all the help, support, promotion and networking that is needed to help create smarter business practices, and ensure businesses gain recognition for their green efforts. The scheme will help businesses to increase resource efficiency, improve their social and environmental impacts, and win business from an increasingly green aware market place. While there is a cost for independent accreditation, all income will be used to subsidise support for local third sector organisations to improve their resource efficiency, cut costs and increase their chances of winning increasingly competitive funding bids.
 
The scheme helps organisations to develop a comprehensive Environmental Management System and action plan for continual energy, cost and carbon reduction. Members are then rewarded with a nationally recognised green stamp of approval; registered on a national green directory and provided with access to discounted resource efficiency goods and services.
 
 

£500,000 Fund to Help Community Energy Projects

Mon, 18 November 2013

Community energy projects are being given a boost today thanks to a new £500,000 Community Energy Peer Mentoring Fund announced by the Cabinet Office’s Centre for Social Action and the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

 

Up to £50,000 is being made available for each group who can demonstrate that they will use social action to mentor other smaller community projects and share skills to boost the number of projects across the country. The Fund will be administered by the Social Investment Business on behalf of the Government.

Currently, community energy groups work on a variety of different projects such as raising funds to get a solar panel on their community building or installing energy efficiency measures to help communities save money on their energy bills.  The new funding is designed to help new groups get off the ground so they can start saving money and generating energy in their community. It will also help existing groups to professionalise, develop business plans and scale up their work.

Minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd said: 'This fund will provide a real boost for groups doing fantastic work in community energy, and is key to our long term aim of helping other such schemes to spring up right across the country.'

Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said: 'This new fund will give aspiring communities access to the cash they need to help kick start hundreds of clean green energy projects. Not only can community energy projects boost local economies and drive forward green growth, they can also help save money on energy bills too.'

Caroline Forster, Director of Investment at the Social Investment Business said: 'We are looking for ambitious plans of social action to inspire new partnerships and encourage more communities to seed new community energy initiatives across England.'

To trial a new form of grant giving for this diverse sector, government will be keeping application criteria to a minimum and organisations will be invited to ‘pitch ideas’ to secure investment. Organisations can apply from today until 12 December 2013. Grants will range from £10,000 to £50,000.

Community energy organisations use social action to achieve a range of goals across the country, including: tackling climate change; helping people save money on their energy bills; generating energy; and clubbing together to get a better deal from energy companies.

The first tranche of money will be given out in February 2014 and organisations will need to spend their grants by March 2015.

 

Energy Saving: It’s a Social Thing

Mon, 4 November 2013
With energy bills rising again and the winter approaching, researchers from Keele University have found a positive way of helping householders to keep their energy costs down and houses warm. The Reducing Energy Consumption through Community Knowledge Networks (RECCKN) project team, which worked with households for two years on low-cost and low-tech approaches to saving energy, found that consumers are sceptical of the commercial motives of the Big Six energy companies, and are much more likely to trust advice that comes from friends, family, local companies and organisations, and the third sector.
 
Face-to-face discussion helps to cut through the often confusing range of offers and information with which consumers are bombarded, and the chance to ask questions provides the detailed advice and reassurance often absent from leaflets and other forms of written advice. As one householder commented, ‘It’s a minefield out there, so you end up doing nothing because there is so much choice’.
 

Project participants, including those from local communities, have contributed to a short video about their findings: www.recckn.org.uk/videos.htm. 

Buy Shares in Your Local Common

Mon, 4 November 2013

There’s still time to buy shares in a exciting new local woodland project: but only if you’re quick. Whistlewood Common, situated between Melbourne and Ticknall in Derbyshire, will feature fruit and nut tree and berries, alongside lots of wildlife friendly projects.

Melbourne Area Transition, the community group behind the project, recently held its first event to celebrate purchasing the land. The event in involved a bring-and-share picnic, the unveiling of the Whistlewood Yurt and a ‘beating of the bounds’. Great fun was had by all. 

The share offer for the project closes on the 8th November 2013 so check out the website now if you want to be involved:www.whistlewoodcommon.org. 

Age UK Notts Make Winter Warmer for the Elderly

Mon, 4 November 2013
A £17,500 grant from E.ON will enable Age UK Notts, to help older people in Gedling, Broxtowe, Rushcliffe and Nottingham City to keep warm and well this winter. The funding will allow the Charity to provide 150 free benefits advice sessions and 125 energy efficiency checks. These checks will help to maximise income, reduce energy consumption and lower spending on energy bills during the most difficult months for vulnerable older people. The scheme is open from now until March on a first come, first served basis. To find out more about how you could benefit from free energy efficiency checks call Age UK Notts on 0115 952 3509 or call 0115 844 0011 for benefits advice sessions.