Services

Hub Services:

Energy Saving Co-operative

The Energy Saving Co-operative helps you to “power down” by reducing the energy consumed in your home, workplace and community spaces.

• We give honest advice on which energy saving improvements make sense for you;
• Install through trusted local tradespeople, benefitting Oxfordshire communities;
• Provide fair and ethical finance for those who need it.

Because we are a co-operative, we buy on your behalf to deliver the greatest energy savings at the best price, and return profits to our members through dividends.

How it works: If you want to take the next step towards saving energy and money, or simply want to find out more…

1. Tell us about you, and your home, through our online customer questionnaire.
2. Our local experts will give you straightforward and honest advice on the best energy saving measures for you and your home.
3. We install the measures through trusted local tradespeople.
4. Your home is more comfortable, your fuel bills are lower, and so is your impact on the planet – plus you get dividends from the Energy Saving Co-operative.

The Energy Saving Co-operative is running this service in partnership with The Low Carbon Hub as a pilot project to retrofit 200 Oxfordshire homes in 2012. If you are interested, sign up now or contact our local representative, Tim Nicholson:

tim.nicholson@energysaving.coop  |  07798 725 077

Community Energy Service

If your community would like to see a community energy project happen, but you feel you don’t have the capacity, expertise, or funds to do it yourselves, or you would simply prefer to focus on other activities, the Hub team of in-house consultants can help you. They will:

• assess your project to see if it is suitable;
• organise the tendering process to find the most appropriate supplier;
• raise the finances necessary for your scheme;
• sort out leasing and planning permission;
• get the right legal advice and agreements in place;
• work out the best insurance for you.

We will work at scale with funders, installers and professional services to save costs and maximise benefits for local communities. The Hub will own the installations and most of the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) income from completed schemes will fund free Hub services to help your community, and communities across Oxfordshire, with other carbon reduction activities. In addition, community groups and/or buildings – churches, community halls, and schools – will get free electricity and receive a share of revenue from projects, and lower their carbon emissions. Your energy scheme will then contribute to our virtual People’s Power Station, see our Big Idea. If you are interested in this service, contact us.

Starting Up & Running a Climate Change Community Group

The Community Action Group (CAG) Project is a network of nearly 40 local voluntary groups in Oxfordshire at the forefront of community-led climate change action. CAG organise events and initiatives to raise awareness and take action on climate change issues, including waste and carbon reduction to provide solutions for people to live a more sustainable and less resource-dependent life in their local community. The CAG support team provides free hands-on, day-to-day help and advice, including guidance in setting up new groups, recruiting volunteers, funding and advice on running events. For more information contact Simon Kenton on 07793 647190 or email him direct on Simon.Kenton@resourcefutures.co.uk.

Hub Networking events:

We run networking events for communities throughout the year – a great place to meet other community leaders, exchange information, talk to our Hub advisors about your community projects, and attend workshops on key discussion topics. If you are interested in these events, join the Hub and get our newsletter, The Key, for details and keep your eye on our calendar of events.

Hub training courses:

The Low Carbon Hub is developing a series of learning programmes for communities from September 2012. We hope to offer programmes at a special subsidised rate. We are keen for our training programme to develop according to community needs, so would welcome suggestions from community groups for new courses and networking events. Here is a list of courses coming up:

Climate Change Condensed
Length: half-day | Dates: 30th June 2012

This course aims to inform and engage members of the public who are new to climate change, even if they have read a bit in the press. Topics covered include: the causes and impacts of climate change and need for adaption; the scientific and political consensus; what a low carbon society will look like; and, strategies to tackle climate change. The half-day format and close group work makes it particularly helpful for community awareness-raising and team-building. The course has also proved an inspiring tool for activists in need of updated information. If you are interested in this course, contact us.

If you want to be able to persuade friends, family and workmates that climate change is real and worth our attention, this course is for you. It focuses on ways to counter the main arguments that people often use to justify inaction, like “climate change is a natural phenomenon” or “it’s too late to do anything”. And it gives you some useful tactics and language to make your arguments more effective. If you are interested in this course, contact us.