Energyshare is a new social network for renewable energy projects

Lucy Conway, from Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust, an Ashden Award winner in 2010, emails to say she's working on a new project called energyshare:

energyshare is a new initiative which aims to celebrate renewable energy projects across the UK and support thousands more to get started. energyshare is a social network where groups can connect with others on a similar renewable energy journey, get access to a range of funding information, plus get advice and support for projects.

energyshare on facebook
energyshare on twitter

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Best Ashden Moments 2010: Mike picks his trip to the Isle of Eigg

For the eighth in our end-of-year series, where members of the Ashden team choose favourite moments from the year, Mike Pepler, UK awards manager, picks his trip to the Isle of Eigg.

When I visited the Isle of Eigg in February, I didn’t know whether they’d make it through to become a winner, but I was excited to be visiting them and seeing the work they’ve done.

The idea of a community taking responsibility for its own energy supply, as well as supplying their own water and a proportion of their own food, was very inspiring. To me, the people of Eigg are leading the way – showing the rest of us what we should be aspiring to.

The end result would look different in every community, of course, but the overall goal of supplying as much of the community’s needs as possible from the local area is one that is sure to help improve energy security and reduce CO2 emissions.

See also:
Simon picks the publication of Power to Our Neigbourhoods
Carla picks the moment AIDFI won BBC World Challenge

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Energy Saving Week: how Ashden winners tackle energy saving in communities

This week is Energy Saving Week, so it's a good time to ask the question: how do you stimulate change across communities and businesses to make real reductions in energy use?

Ashden winners have been grappling with this issue and producing innovative results. Take the 2010 winner Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust, an impressive example of community-led change. The Trust was bought out by the community in 1997, and its efforts have led to a staggering 47% reduction in energy use.

They’ve achieved this by producing about 90% of their own electricity through renewables, offering incentives to install insulation and other energy-saving measures in the home, and, crucially, getting the community to monitor and keep their energy use below 5kW in homes and 10kW in businesses.

Communities also play a big role in the work of 2009 winner Marches Energy Agency (pic). They followed the Low Carbon Communities programme which helps communities to understand the issues (through fairs and presentations), and then to pursue, with access to grants and technical assistance, clear carbon-reduction targets. This has led to 1,400 technical installations in homes, businesses and community buildings across six local areas saving around 1,715 tonnes of CO2 (about 5% of the overall community use).

Tomorrow we profile two Ashden winners who work to reduce the energy use of businesses. Over the rest of this week, we’ll be writing more about the experiences of members of the Ashden awards team who are retrofitting their homes.

See also: A trip to the Isle of Eigg

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‘Communities of interest’ within business is a key driver for New Green Deal

Not enough is heard about the role of individuals and communities in driving down demand or, indeed, creating their own energy for the success of the government's new 'Green Deal'. This was the key idea I took from today’s series of talks at the Energy Solutions Expo and it was the message behind the session led by Tim Lunel, of the National Energy Foundation (NEF).

Tim said communities are not just those within streets and neighbourhoods, there are also ‘communities of interest’ within organisations, businesses and charities. There's a great example of measures taken by a ‘community of interest’ at Lunel’s own organisation, NEF, which practices what it preaches: NEF's buildings reach impressive standards of energy efficiency, consuming less than half of the industry best practice level. When people come together to act, it appears, they are capable of doing more collectively than they can on their own.

Ashden Award winners are also doing just that. Take the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust. Through community-led initiatives, they have managed the demand and supply of renewable energy, reducing the islanders carbon by 50%. You can download a full case study and film of their work from our website.

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