TCW (The Converging World) has been working with the local community group Sustainable Backwell for a couple of years. Last autumn we supported them to secure around £40,000 of LEAF funding from the government Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) for an energy assessment project. The work revolved around assessing the potential for saving energy and generating it locally in the village of Backwell, near Bristol.

The work has now been completed and here are some of the project’s achievements:

• 95 household energy surveys carried out by 6 home energy visitors using our newly developed home survey tool. This tool is currently trialed with another community group before we roll it out to more communities. It allows communities to easily collect house condition data from their community and to use this to work out the potential savings through insulation or energy efficiency.
• Energy modeling of potential savings identified through surveys.
• A wind turbine feasibility study carried out by Communities for Renewables.
• 40 home energy performance certificates (EPC).
• 3 community building EPCs.
• 12 Energy Roadshows with local schools and other groups.
• 3 events: Project launch, Backwell Green Doors and Big Green Energy Day.
• 8 Think Energy email newsletters.

A thermal imaging camera purchased. This is a great resource that will be used by TCW/Backwell to identify energy loss in houses during the colder months.
The project was featured on BBC Points West and on the front page of the North Somerset Times.

The next steps for the community of Backwell are to take their feasibility study to the next stage and to secure funding for developing the wind turbine. If you would like to find out more about this project or get some ideas about how you might be able to take similar action in your community, Chris Richards, the project manager from Sustainable Backwell (sustainablebackwell@yahoo.co.uk), or Tim Barker, from TCW (timbarker@theconvergingworld.org), are more than happy to share their experience with you.