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News from Green Communities

Host your own Green Communities training course – last chance this financial year

During 2009, the new and improved Green Communities service has offered 67 local community groups across the country the opportunity to host their own free and bespoke training courses. So far our trainers have worked with communities all the way from Bexhill in East Sussex to Creggan in Northern Ireland.

Green Communities’ portfolio of training courses covers: learning about energy efficiency; getting your own project started; funding; conducting energy audits of community buildings, and much more. To find out more about our current training dates and course content, visit the training pages of our website.

The Green Communities team currently has a handful of training dates available in March, so if you think there are members of your community who would benefit from a free Green Communities training day, please get in touch with the team on: 0844 848 0077, or you can email: greencommunities@est.org.uk

Climate change for non-greens - the first step is the hardest!

Last month, Green Communities advisor Heather Crane attended the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) annual conference, which was entitled: ‘The first step is the hardest! Climate change for non-greens’.

The conference, which was held at Llandudno’s Venue Cymru Wales, was aimed at getting groups not yet fully committed to the green agenda on board. The day was a great success with over 120 community members attending, and a keynote address given by Jane Davidson AM, Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing.
Other speakers included Ken Peattie, Professor of Marketing and Strategy at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University; Green Alliance Director Stephen Hale; and Emily Harvey from the Keep Scotland Beautiful project, Stirling Going Carbon Neutral. All offered a great deal of food for thought on the challenges that climate change offers to the voluntary sector.

Especially interesting was the talk by Emily Harvey, who revealed the success they are having in persuading the residents of Stirling to cut back on their carbon footprint. Ken Peattie, meanwhile, focused on the problems of ‘marketing’ climate change worries to people who remain uninterested or unwilling to confront the issue. Both stressed the need to put the message across simply and to accentuate the benefits not only for the planet, but on an individual level – for instance that money can be saved by switching to low-energy light bulbs.

It was a fascinating day, enjoyed by all, and the WCVA and Green Communities hope that all the attendees put the advice given to them into practice!

Free expert support up for grabs

Green Communities Community Support Network service is still up for grabs for community groups who want technical support for their energy projects. This free service is offered to Green Communities members that want expert advice on issues such as: funding, renewable energy installations or community project development.

Recently the service supported Ardleigh House – a community association located in the London Borough of Havering – as their leased building was in a state of disrepair. With major refurbishment works planned for the centre, Ardleigh House wanted to ensure the work was done with energy efficiency in mind, so they contacted Green Communities. More than 1,200 people use the facilities weekly and the centre consists of three buildings; the main activity centre, the large hall and the small hall. The buildings were difficult to heat, draughty and had high energy bills which resulted in a carbon footprint of 77.9 tonnes of CO2 per annum. This could be accounted for by the lack of insulating properties of the building fabric and the proportion of time that the building is in use each week.

After conducting a feasibility study on the building, our technical expert advised that measures to be considered in the refurbishment included installing a new biomass boiler, installing solid wall and roof insulation, installing double glazing, improving draught proofing, and replacing lighting. As a result the community association will now be look into installers, obtain quotes for the recommended works and begin to research and apply to funders to support the project, along with the aid of Green Communities.

If you’d like to find out more about the Community Support Network service and what support it can provide, you can speak to an advisor on: 0844 848 0077.