A new guide on bioenergy will stimulate the production and supply of this low carbon energy source across the Region.

This ‘Guide to Bioenergy Funding and Support Mechanisms in the West Midlands' was produced by MEA in December on behalf of Bioenergy West Midlands to provide an easy to use resource for potential adopters at one or more stages of the crop to market chain, including energy crops and forestry, the supply chain, and to provide heat, power or transportation. Bioenergy West Midlands has been established by Advantage West Midlands, Harper Adams University College, Defra, and the Government Office for the West Midlands to assist in the development of a dedicated regional bioenergy supply chain.

Officially launched at the annual Bioenergy West Midlands conference on 16th December by Richard Davies, Director of MEA, it will be soon become available on the websites of both organisations as a download and will be updated as new case studies and funding schemes develop.

The guide was part-funded by Bioenergy West Midlands and MEA

MEA launched our Affordable Warmth initiative "Keep Shropshire Warm" just over a year ago. Here are the statistics outlining its success to date:

• Households assisted with grants: 3294
• CERT Funding brought into Shropshire: £1.81million
• CO2 Saved (t/annum): 3623.4 equivalent to 48311.9 Gerbils apparently!
• Retained economic benefit (£s/annum): £362340
• Households potentially removed from Fuel Poverty: 816

A further 1400 households have received advice regarding energy efficiency/affordable warmth, tariff switching, winter fuel payments, increased benefit take up and how one insulates a bath (I kid you not, Jo was asked the question yesterday). The CO2 savings do not include any from lifestyle changes due to our advice.

Between KSW and the Carbon Forum, we have trained over 250 professionals and community members to be our eyes and ears on the ground, referring vulnerable households to us. We have had no less than 47 press releases and 5 radio appearances.

All in all a very busy 12 months but definitely a successful 12 months.

A conference was held in November in Montreuil, near Paris, to mark the end of a three year domestic energy project, Eco n'Home. The project has developed a best practice model for providing a personalized energy advice service to households, which was then piloted in almost 1,000 households across Europe.

Eco n'Home, which was supported by the ‘Intelligent Energy Europe' programme of the European Commission brought together expertise from ten organizations from six European countries. It has proved highly successful in terms of helping individuals and families reduce their energy usage in their homes and transport, in turn reducing their CO2 emissions. Marches Energy Agency has been the lead UK partner on the project and has delivered the advice service in over 50 households across Shropshire, achieving an average reduction of 1.2 tonnes of CO2 emissions in these households.

Eco n'Home's final conference was a great success with almost 200 delegates from across Europe attending and a number of key note speakers including Mark Hinnells from the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University and Françoise Bartiaux, from the Catholic University of Leuven. The Eco n'Home team presented the project's findings to conference delegates including how the advice service was carried out, the results obtained and the lessons learnt. As the project was developed to be replicated by other energy agencies, a number of recommendations were put forward for potentially interested organizations and this led to discussions on how such a service could be implemented on a wider and longer-term scale.

For more information on the Eco n'Home project and the conference, please visit the project website at http://www.econhome.eu.

The Carbon Forum team is the second from MEA to be rewarded for its commitment to climate change mitigation by being accepted into the European Commission's Sustainable Energy Europe Partnership as an official partner, joining Project Carbon. This Partnership is one of the main instruments within the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign - "A European campaign to raise awareness and change the landscape of energy". It is designed to involve and support institutions and organisations, decision-makers and sustainable energy stakeholders across the European Union. The Campaign supports and promotes actions in the following five main campaigning areas: sustainable energy communities; market transformation; promotional, communication and educational actions; demonstration and dissemination projects; and cooperation programmes.

This success was announced on 19^th November 2008. As a partner, Carbon Forum will continue to raise awareness of key issues and demonstrating to others, throughout the EU Member States, how barriers have been overcome and problems solved. This transfer of know-how can convince and assist local populations and organisations when taking the first steps towards sustainable energy use.

Carbon Forum follows Project Carbon to become the second project in Shropshire and third in the West Midlands to join the Partnership.

Sustainable Energy Europe 2005 - 2008                                                                                              

A European Campaign to raise awareness and change the landscape of energy

An initiative of the European Commission, Directorate General for Energy and Transport

Community organisations across Shropshire are being urged to take advantage of a new grant scheme that could make dreams of solar or wind powered buildings a reality.

As part of its ongoing commitment to tackling climate change, Shropshire County Council is putting its hand in its pocket and offering to help local groups improve the sustainability of their buildings.

The Big Lottery is currently running the ‘Community Sustainable Energy Programme', which offers funds to not-for-profit organisations like schools, charities and faith groups for the installation of renewable technology on their buildings. The first step is a feasibility study, which examines the best way on installing the technology on a given building.

Feasibility studies can cost thousands of pounds, and under the Big Lottery fund a grant of 75% of the cost is available, with the community group expected to find the other 25%. However, Shropshire County Council is offering to pay most of this cost, limiting the amount of money the community group needs to pay to only £50.

The funding from Shropshire County Council for this scheme is limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. All community groups in the county should consider the ‘Community Sustainable Energy Programme' and by doing so take a giant step in reducing their carbon footprint by using solar, wind or wood burning technologies. You can find out more by contacting us on 01743 277119, email danny.lenain@mea.org.uk or logging on to communitysustainable.org.uk

The Big Lottery is awarding grants for feasibility studies and for capital installation projects. Funding of £1 million is available for feasibility studies and £8 million for capital projects. Eligible technologies include wind turbines, solar, heat pumps and wood fuelled boilers.