Last month saw the government introduction of the Feed-In Tariffs which offers businesses, householders and third sector organisations, the opportunity to make money while the sun shines (or the wind blows or the river flows!).  Payments are guaranteed for every kilowatt hour of electricity generated by wind, solar, hydro power or anaerobic digestion. 

One of our volunteers, Bill has has produced a factsheet to explain how this works in more detail (available from the resources section of this website or click here to download)

Our team of sustainable energy experts also offer a range of services to help you and your business generate an income from the Feed-In Tariffs (FITs), save money on your energy bills and help reduce carbon emissions.  

The Carbon Reduction Commitment* will be increasingly bearing down on business energy use in future years so now is the time to gain income from the FITs and cut energy costs. 

*The Carbon Reduction Commitment (recently renamed the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme) is a mandatory carbon emissions trading scheme to cover all organisations using more than 6,000MWh per year of electricity (equivalent to an annual electricity bill of about £500,000).

Tristan Haynes, our Technical Adviser, says:

"For a business there has never been a better time to evaluate its energy use and potential for renewable energy.  The government has designed the Feed-In Tariffs to deliver an approximate rate of return of 5-8% for well-sited installations.  As the tariffs are linked to inflation in nominal terms this rate of return could then be considered even higher at some 7-10%.  We have a track record with small to medium sized enterprises in the West Midlands and are keen to deliver even more benefits to our local businesses."

To find out more about the technical services offered, Low Carbon Enterprise (MEA's technical team) has its own website at lowcarbonenterprise.org.uk    

Our Technical Advisor, Tristan Haynes, has written an article for a ‘Staffordshire Business Magazine' ‘Going Green' feature which has now been published. This features our Top Ten Tips as to using energy sustainably in non-domestic buildings:

1. Recognise energy consumption as an issue at strategic level!
2. Make it somebody and everybody's responsibility - not nobody and anybody's!
3. An old Energy Manager's adage is that if you do not measure it you cannot manage it!
4. Consider installing ‘automatic meter reading' equipment if you have a lot of meters or they are hard to access.
5. However, if you do not know how to interpret what you measure then measuring it is useless!
6. Commission or learn to undertake an ‘energy audit' of your businesses use of energy
7. Automate (lighting and heating) controls where appropriate
8. Install the most efficient technologies where possible
9. Consider upgrading the building fabric
10. Consider renewable energy options

For the full article (available from late-April in the May/June issue) please see click on the image below

To discuss how we may be able to work with your business, large or small, to act on anything outlined in the article please contact any of the team at Low Carbon Enterprise in Shrewsbury on 01743 277105 or email info@lowcarbonenterprise.org.uk and don't forget to visit www.lowcarbonenterprise.org.uk for more information on our services!

Visitors: approx 200 Bulbs distributed: 350 TV PowerDowns distributed: 120 Insulation referrals: 5 CO2 saved (lifetime): 80,672 kg Retained economic benefit (lifetime): £40,487

This was a busy sunny day in South Derbyshire at the Rosliston Forestry Centre. There were lots of activities for children and we were inundated with requests to use the energy bike. At one point there was a crowd of twenty children all waiting and competing on the bike to see who could light up the six low energy light bulbs. We even got caught up in a debate with a nine year old boy about what was better for the environment, watching TV or making paper aeroplanes.

There was lots of interest in the alternative bulbs that are now available and plenty of willingness to change over remaining non low energy bulbs. We spent a lot of time also discussing the most appropriate renewable technologies for homes in the area - there seems to be a great deal of interest especially in solar photovoltaics. One in depth discussion revealed that a family were spending £115 per week on LPG to heat their home. Suitable alternatives such as heat from wood or solar hot water were discussed and installers recommended.

We also had interest in insulation for homes. Five families signed up straight away and another four took contact details for the future.

MEA has now launched our new updated on-line Carbon Management Tool

The website guides people through how to reduce the carbon footprint of their building, how to inspire behaviour change with those using the building as well as continually monitoring their energy use and reduction. The new update now has specific options for voluntary groups, individuals, small businesses, GP Practices, community buildings or schools. This means that groups who had little access to specialised interactive resources now have it. It also means that everyone can access it as individuals, and that everyone can understand their carbon footprint and be given real power to know what changes they can make and how much they will cost.

As part of the update, voluntary groups will also be able to print off reports detailing how much energy and money refurbishments will save. This is seen as vital in their requests for funding bids to improve local community facilities in this difficult financial climate. This valuable resource for voluntary organisations has been developed in partnership with Birmingham Voluntary Services Council (BVSC).

An important part of the update for voluntary groups is the new emphasis on behaviour change and the tool strongly encourages each organisation to make the following three important steps:

1. High level support within your group/organisation to make changes: be this through support to make physical changes to the building or in the encouragement of behavioural change.
2. An Energy Use Notice board - to display print outs of graphs of the building's energy use, breakdown of energy use, breakdown of heat loss, pledges of what we're doing to reduce our energy consumption, as well as other carbon reduction information. These are made by the print outs provided by the WeSave website.
3. The creation of an Energy Team or Eco Team - It is important to have someone responsible for the application of whatever measures or pledges for behaviour change which you decide to implement. 

Through many years experience at MEA of working with community groups and performing audits of community buildings and small businesses we see these three steps as the fundamental first steps in making real change in voluntary organisations.

You can register for the website at www.wesave.org.uk and for any queries please contact wesave@mea.org.uk .

The Bewdley and Wyre Forest Low Carbon Community (LCC) Project- Phase 2 kicked off with a follow-up workshop, held at Bewdley Development Trust, in March 2010.

A core group of energy champions from Bewdley and Rock shared their carbon descent achievements over the last eight months. Whilst most reported a reduction in their carbon footprint, mainly due to behavioural change, one attendee reported an 18% saving on his heating bills as a result of physical change.

Not only did these champions exchange tips and learnings, but they also found out about the newly created Energy Group, which is part of Transition Bewdley.

The second half of the workshop covered the Feed-In-Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive, and what it could mean to people who embrace renewable technology e.g. self-sufficiency, reduced bills and income generation.

To find out more about The Bewdley and Wyre Forest Low Carbon Community Project- Phase 2, please contact Sylvia@mea.org.uk