The training has equipped me, and other people from around the county as h.Energy Savers, to work with small groups of 5 - 6 local people (friends, neighbours, community members) in order to start to address the energy efficiency needs of our households.
The training was free of charge, and was provided by Hal Gillmore and Mary Popham of Transition Town Totnes.
I help to get things going in my neighbourhood and go to the meetings to give any support needed as the group works through ideas from the workbook but it is NOT my meeting and the workbook is NOT a text book which has to be followed to the letter but more of a general guide, full of good ideas. I like that :-)
As the h.Energy Savers website says
Previous experience suggests that householders working together in this way will save an average of £570 per annum and reduce carbon emissions by 1.3tonnes, whilst learning more about issues such as water use, waste, transport and food.
In addition to this the project hopes to generate up to 250 home energy assessments, carried out by accredited Green Deal Assessors. These homes will then be regarded as 'Green Deal Ready' - i.e. eligible for finance to support their recommended energy efficiency measures once the Green Deal provider network locally is established (work to develop this network is continuing alongside the h.Energy Savers project).
I know this pattern of engagement works as it is how the Master Composter and Master Gardener schemes work and I know they work really well!
I really believe we need to be building more sharing and resilient communities around us all as the impact of Peak Oil and other issues begin to really hit home. I already try to help with this as a Master Gardener and Master Composter and the other things I try to do and this looks like a good way as well.
I really enjoyed the day of training ( although it was a very long and tiring day's work!) I am very excited to be a part of this.
Watch this space!
Sounds interesting, I guess the only trouble is if you set something up and pople move on. Well done for being a part of it though
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