The "GREENEST TOWN IN THE LAND" project gathered momentum this week, as Sir Bernard Ingham launched a scathing attack on Hebden Bridge Transition Town, renewable energy, and the companies that supply it in this week's Hebden Bridge Times. The grouchy ex press secretary to Margaret Thatcher, who regularly writes a column for the local newspaper, devoted his entire article of over a thousand words to pouring cold water on the group's latest initiative to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The "critique" was written as a reposte to an article in the previous week's newspaper, in which Bear (secretary of HBTT) explained how switching to a renewable energy supplier could help combat climate change and support the building of new green generating infrastructure. In his article Sir Bernard suggested that ordinary folk were being "conned" by the Transition Town group and the green electricity suppliers into switching to renewable energy. The article also contained a string of inaccurate claims about renewable energy providers and the way they do business, and even referred to consumers who sign up as "deluded". The outrageous article elicited a response from Juliet Davenport, founder and CEO of Good Energy, the UK's only 100% renewable electricity supplier. In it she gives a point by point rebuttal to each and every misleading assumption made by the veteran pro nuclear and anti renewables campaigner. In it she explains that; "Whilst renewable electricity might have been slightly more expensive in the era of cheap and plentiful fossil fuels, the new reality facing us means that is no longer the case. Using renewable energy allows suppliers to keep bills down by harnessing the wealth of renewable resources we have in this country, rather than relying on fossil fuels from abroad". She continues; "Nuclear power leaves us reliant on importing uranium from countries like Kazakhstan and Russia, and the complex nature of nuclear power plants make delivery problematic, unpredictable and expensive". Good Energy's response goes on to discredit Sir Bernard's remainig attempts to rubbish the renewables industry, and concludes by saying; "Renewable energy is the only fuel source that is delivering for households and businesses around the UK, and we're delighted to partner Hebden Bridge's campaign to become the "Greenest Town In The Land".
15 Jul 2011
"Greenest Town In The Land" project launched
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There's an exciting new project being launched at the Local Economy Showcase event on the 16th of July. Its called "greenest town in the land"
There's a lot of debate in and around Hebden Bridge about wind turbines, but using renewable energy doesn't mean we have to cover the moors with wind farms. Electricity is being generated from renewable resources all over the country, and we can buy it right here in our own neighbourhood simply by switching our supplier. We want people in the Hebden Bridge area to join us in an an unprecedented campaign to get fossil fuelled electricity out of our town.
The energy companies Good Energy, Green Energy UK and Ecotricity are the three leading companies in the UK which supply electricity generated from renewable resources. They have all agreed to work with us to help us become the "greenest town in the land" The idea is to get us all using electricity generated from renewables, reducing our Carbon Footprint and helping us to do our bit in the battle against Global Warming.
Here's how it goes:-
Over the last few weeks we have been making arrangements with the three energy suppliers. They all agree with us that it's important to get people switching to renewable supplies of electricity, and obviously each would prefer that it was they who would do the supplying. But we have come to an arrangement that each of the companies can be promoted by Transition Town Hebden Bridge on a level playing field, allowing potential switchers to make their own choice. Each of the renewable suppliers has something different to offer.
We are going to be asking householders and businesses throughout the area to switch from their existing suppliers, thereby reducing demand for the traditional polluting methods of generation which are driving global warming.
To find out more online click on "greenest town in the land" which will take you to a page where you can find out more about which supplier will be best for you. You can then make a choice, and by filling in the simple online form for your chosen supplier the job is done.
You will also find us from time to time talking to people in the street about how you can make the switch to a cleaner and more sustainable future for us all. We'll be giving you the information you need to make an informed choice, and we'll have paper forms to fill in if you don't want to do it online.
There's another benefit as well. Each time someone switches to one of these suppliers through us, Good Energy, Green Energy UK and Ecotricity will give a donation to Transition Town Hebden Bridge to help us carry on our work.
Find out more, and help us make Hebden Bridge and the surrounding parishes the "greenest town in the land"
10 Mar 2011
Water Turbine Project Begins
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The new pattern of monthly meetings has certainly energised the Energy Group. Plus the possibility of cash from Calderdale's Performance Reward Grant (PRG), with a deadline of 28th February, has concentrated our minds.
We were already aware of some potentially good sites in town for generating electricity from the abundance of water constantly flowing through the area. After all, the town was built on water power, there having been dozens of mills operating in the area in bygone years. One of these sites is the disused leat which used to feed the millpond area below Windsor View in Hebden Bridge. The Energy Group, in partnership with Blackshawhead Environmental Action Team (BEAT) and Power From The Landscape project at the ATC have put together a bid for £120,000 to install a turbine generator in this stretch of water, with loads of potential benefits:
- to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced for the electricity we use to take advantage of the 20-year "Feed In Tariff" scheme, which means that thousands of pounds of profits would be generated each year to be re-invested in local sustainability projects, such as installing energy saving measures in hard to heat homes throughout the town. This in turn will help provide more employment locally
- to use the site for educational purposes and to raise awareness about renewable energy technologies, such as is already happening at the ATC and Gibson Mill in Hardcastle Crags.
18 Oct 2010
Project Focus
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We are busy writing the energy section of our energy descent plan, the basic focus of our plan is to reduce the amount of energy we use as a town and to produce what we do use using renewable energy sources. To work out the best way forward is going to involve lots of research and consultation with other groups but in the meantime we are focussing on two particular projects:
Project A: Insulation show houses
Firstly and most importantly, we need to reduce the amount of energy that we use. Most research suggests a reduction of about 50% on current usage is what we should be aiming for. The most effective way to reach this target is by insulating our buildings. Because of the types of houses we have in Hebden Bridge we will mainly need internal insulation. We are currently identifying typical Hebden Bridge homeowners who would be willing to have internal insulation put into their homes and open their hiomes while the work is being carried out to show other people that it's (hopefully) not too disruptive and worth it in terms of money and energy saved.
** if you would like your property to be part of this project let us know using the contact form on this page
Project B: Community Share Energy Company
The second project that we are focusing on is assisting a local group to set up a community share solar installation company. We will have more details on this in our next post.
10 Jul 2010
Our Draft Mission Statement
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The Energy Group is part of Hebden Bridge Transition Town, which seeks to cut Hebden Royd's contribution to global warming and increase the community's resilience to the effects of rising energy costs, and is the 223rd official Transition initiative in the UK.
The Energy Group is one of several groups within the organisation, and is set up specifically to look into how the area's future energy needs can be met in accordance with the overall aims of Hebden Bridge Transition Town. Specifically, The Energy Group seeks to achieve the following:-
- To research the area's current and future energy requirements, and establish how these can be met in a sustainable way with the minimum use of fossil fuels involved in the process, whether by direct use or by importing energy produced by their use from elsewhere.
- To raise awareness amongst the local population of the importance of using energy wisely, and of the relationship of it's use to global warming.
- To encourage and enable the local population to use energy produced from renewable resources, and to encourage and enable energy providers to deliver energy derived from such resources.
- To network with all groups in the area involved in the production, distribution or politics of energy, whether statutory bodies, businesses, or third sector / voluntary organisations, so that resources and skills are shared and partnerships formed, thereby increasing the spread of knowledge and reducing unnecessary duplication of work.
- To instigate and support projects within the area which seek to achieve the above aims
- To write the Energy Section of the Hebden Bridge Energy Descent Action Plan, which is a central part of the work of Hebden Bridge Transition Town.
- To seek funding to enable all of the above aims to be achieved.
09 Jul 2010
Mapping Groups
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We are currently mapping what energy related groups are doing in the valley, we feel that one of the most imortant things to do at this stage is to find out what everyone else is doing and how best we can work together and support each other. We will be posting up a list of groups here soon that we hope to be working with in the future. If you are doing any kinkd of energy project in the valley then let us know.
09 Jul 2010
A Great Beginning
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The energy group is having its first proper meeting this week, first off we are having an audit of the skills that we already have in the group so that we can begin to move forwards and divide up tasks and put a plan together for the next few months.
The Launch was a real success for the energy group. Lots of great new people have joined putting us in a strong position to do all of the work and research necessary to begin our energy descent.
The broad discussions that we have had so far have been based around what we need to do to produce our own energy using renewable sources, how we can cut back on the amount of energy we use as a town and what we need to do to make sure the energy group is sustainable and successful.
What has become clear early on is that some people want to work on the big plan which will inevitably involve lots of meetings and others will be focussing on practical projects to make sure there are visible results of our work all around town.
We will regularly update this page with all of our news, projects and resources so keep us bookmarked if you are interested in Hebden Bridges energy future.