Communities
We believe that communities are the key to a clean energy future for Oxfordshire
At Low Carbon Hub we work with community groups across Oxfordshire which have a focus on low carbon and sustainability actions. On this page you’ll find information on how we support communities, and how you can get involved.
The Low Carbon Hub supports communities around Oxfordshire to make this work possible.
Mim Saxl
Low Carbon West Oxford community group member
Find a community group near you
There are lots of community groups around Oxfordshire working on low carbon and sustainability, which are always looking for passionate individuals to get involved in their work.
This includes the community groups which are part of the Low Carbon Hub network, as well as others working more broadly on climate change and sustainability (beyond energy) which are part of the CAG Oxfordshire network.
Working with community groups
We offer support and advice to communities across Oxfordshire interested in energy and their community. You can contact us via our helpdesk with your questions, or check out the help and support pages.
If you are an Oxfordshire-based community group who has a focus on energy you can also join Low Carbon Hub’s low carbon community group network. You can find out more here.
If your community group is already part of the Low Carbon Hub community group network, then head to our page for community members.
Community building energy assessment funding
The grant programme to fund community building energy assessments has proved extremely popular and we have fully allocated our current round of funded energy assessments.
VCSE funding opportunity
Are you a charity, community organisation, or social enterprise, with a building where you are offering help to those struggling with rising living costs?
If so, you may be eligible for some central government funding to get a free energy assessment.
The Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise Energy Efficiency Fund, is providing fully funded building energy assessments to organisations with charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes who are running frontline services.
This is only available until August 2024.
There is also follow-on capital funding to help implement the recommendations from the assessment of between £2k-£150k per organisation, which will be awarded during two funding rounds in April and July 2024.
Who is eligible?
Organisations need to be providing these types of services: providing food, warmth, housing or financial advice, improving employability or helping those with physical or mental health issues, or helping alleviate poverty.
To check your eligibility and apply for funding go to the Groundwork website.
Community building energy efficiency checklist
Do you run a community building in Oxfordshire? Are you worried about the amount of energy you use? If you’re interested in making improvements to your building to save energy, then use our simple energy efficiency checklist for community buildings to start on your journey to saving energy.
Get advice from our helpdesk
We’re here to help if you have any questions about saving energy or developing your own community-owned renewable energy project.
If you’re a social enterprise elsewhere in the UK, or the world, and are interested in replicating Low Carbon Hub’s model for community-owned decentralised energy, we’re also happy to share information about our ethos and business model. And we’d love to learn about your experience too.
Community Energy England also has resources for Low Carbon Community groups and an active forum for community energy practitioners which can be found below.
ProjectKirtlington Village Hall: solar panel battery
In 2019 Sustainable Kirtlington undertook a project to install 32 solar pv panels onto the roof of Kirtlington Village Hall. They initially applied for one of our Low Carbon Hub large grants, which allowed them to carry out an initial feasibility study, to see if the Hall roof was suitable for having solar pv panels installed.…