modified lifestyle. lifestyle. modified

and energy of use efficient more insulation, improved

approach was geared to try to help them save money by by money save them help to try to geared was approach

to reduce their carbon footprint. However, the initial initial the However, footprint. carbon their reduce to

gy and and gy ener less use to them helping thereby fuels, fossil on

aware of their energy consumption and their dependence dependence their and consumption energy their of aware

The overall aim was to help householders become more more become householders help to was aim overall The

Project Aims Aims Project

of renewable energy schemes in the local area. local the in schemes energy renewable of

n n installatio the and saving energy of promotion the is these

s. One of of One s. project specific on more now is focus The with. cope

broad a canvas for the active membership of around 35 to to 35 around of membership active the for canvas a broad

Energy Agency in late September and early October 2011. 2011. October early and September late in Agency Energy too be to proved This lifestyle. and education transport,

es es March of Harmon Caroline by out carried was This training. energy, food, food, energy, – areas main five on concentrated first

he he t for facilities the provided kindly School and

, OTTG OTTG , Initially soon. fairly event similar a hold to plan we and

volunteered 11 but VHEA’s, 7 train to was target initial The

OTTG’s largest venture to date; some 200 people attended attended people 200 some date; to venture largest OTTG’s

s is is s Thi challenge. to and inform to designed were life-style

Achievements Achievements

and and energy renewable saving, energy food, on organisations

displays and seminars from local people and commercial commercial and people local from seminars and displays

community.

event called “How Green is our Oundle?” A variety of sta of variety A Oundle?” our is Green “How called event lls, lls,

xeine, infcn cags hud cu wti the within occur should changes significant experiences,

operation with the Oundle Festival of Literature, ran a maj a ran Literature, of Festival Oundle the with operation or or

January 2012. As people become more aware and share th share and aware more become people As 2012. January eir eir

I Mrh 01 OT, n co- in OTTG, 2011, March In . www.oundletransition.org.uk

their work after the project is completed at the end of of end the at completed is project the after work their

showing interest, and a website was created created was website a and interest, showing

l continue continue l wil assessors The process. on-going an of beginning

formally constituted on July 9th 2010, with about 100 peop 100 about with 2010, 9th July on constituted formally le le

a specific number of houses, this was seen as only the the only as seen was this houses, of number specific a

was was OTTG speakers, visiting and meetings open discussions,

ts to to ts visi and (VHEA’s) Assessors Energy Household Voluntary

and resource depletion. After a series of monthly monthly of series a After depletion. resource and

Although the specific project involved the training of of training the involved project specific the Although

sustainable lifestyle and their concern about climate change climate about concern their and lifestyle sustainable

invitation of Revd Tony Hodgson to share their interest in in interest their share to Hodgson Tony Revd of invitation a

In June 2009 a group of people met informally at the the at informally met people of group a 2009 June In

ool. ool. day-sch junior large a with school boarding independent

col n svrl oa piay col, n as a larg a also and schools, primary local several and school e e

the region with a large comprehensive school, a middle middle a school, comprehensive large a with region the

Northampton or London. Oundle is the educational centre of centre educational the is Oundle London. or Northampton

the town; many people commute to work in Peterborough, Peterborough, in work to commute people many town; the

dustry in in dustry in little is There people. retired of proportion high

ite a a ite qu with prosperous relatively is area The 10,000. around

urudn vlae. hs ie a oeal population overall an gives This villages. surrounding of of

acts as the commercial and cultural centre for the the for centre cultural and commercial the as acts

Oundle is a rural market town of about 6000 people which people 6000 about of town market rural a is Oundle

Background to the Community Community the to Background

this.

hours or more at the house and writing up often doubled doubled often up writing and house the at more or hours

inevitably took more time. Many assessments took two two took assessments Many time. more took inevitably

ut ut b indeed, helpful very be to proved This confidence.

their knowledge and experience and to boost their their boost to and experience and knowledge their

hare hare s to order in pairs in worked VHEA’s the of many Initially

challenges. these surmount to as such was spirit”

m “tea the hours, working long with jobs, demanding have

group the of number good a that fact the despite However,

is now training others in the use of the camera. camera. the of use the in others training now is

picture seems far more convincing than many words! David David words! many than convincing more far seems picture

the assessors’ reports; one one reports; assessors’ the

invaluable complement to to complement invaluable

have proved to be an an be to proved have

near future. The IR surveys surveys IR The future. near

option of having one in the the in one having of option

have been offered the the offered been have

not had an IR survey as yet yet as survey IR an had not

householders who have have who householders

hours! The remaining remaining The hours!

write up took about three three about took up write

since each survey and and survey each since

considerable achievement achievement considerable

before having the opportunity to complete an assessment. assessment. an complete to opportunity the having before December 2011. This is a a is This 2011. December

the group having to go into hospital for a serious operati serious a for hospital into go to having group the on on start before early early before start

hr ws lo h ufrse polm f n mme of member one of problem unforeseen the also was There

despite being unable to to unable being despite

in the very busy weeks around Christmas and the New Year. New the and Christmas around weeks busy very the in

weeks, weeks, few last the in project, our by required as surveys, 21

wanted an audit couldn’t find the necessary couple of hours of couple necessary the find couldn’t audit an wanted

and enormous enthusiasm he has managed to complete the the complete to managed has he enthusiasm enormous and

more reduced by the fact that most householders who who householders most that fact the by reduced more volunteered to train to use this and with his technical abili technical his with and this use to train to volunteered ty ty

seset. utemr, rjc dlvr tm ws even was time delivery project Furthermore, assessments.

nr rd aea £00 i Nvme 21. ai Woo David 2011. November in (£3000) camera red infra d d

there was less than four months to complete the the complete to months four than less was there ud (e atce ls) hc eald h prhs o an of purchase the enabled which list) attached (see funds

a nt osbe o ei tann utl ae etme, s September, late until training begin to possible not was o o extra extra obtaining in successful was Flory, John treasurer, Our

three months later than the other seven in the scheme. It It scheme. the in seven other the than later months three

arranged an thermal imaging audit for the school. school. the for audit imaging thermal an arranged

Groundwork awarded the grant to OTTG some some OTTG to grant the awarded Midlands East Groundwork

le ivtn ter aet t a re seset Se als She assessment. free a to parents their inviting flyer o o

assemblies and commissioning the pupils to take home a a home take to pupils the commissioning and assemblies Challenges Faced / Lessons Learned Learned Lessons / Faced Challenges

assessment but also speaking on various occasions at at occasions various on speaking also but assessment

footprint.

hri hs lyd vtl oe ee nt ny on the doing only not here, role vital a played has Sherwin

within the community towards a decreasing carbon carbon decreasing a towards community the within delivered to the householders and the school. Camilla Camilla school. the and householders the to delivered

should provide a higher profile and increased momentum momentum increased and profile higher a provide should School, have been assessed. Reports have been written and written been have Reports assessed. been have School,

enthusiastic backers of the project. Their recommendations Their project. the of backers enthusiastic

42 houses and a local school, Glapthorn C of E Primary Primary E of C Glapthorn school, local a and houses 42

the experience very worthwhile, and have become become have and worthwhile, very experience the

made optional, depending on the householders’ interests. householders’ the on depending optional, made

The people whose homes have been assessed have found found have assessed been have homes whose people The

aclto o a oeal abn otrn pr esn wer person per footprint carbon overall an of calculation e e

more enthusiastic; it has been an exciting journey. journey. exciting an been has it enthusiastic; more domestic energy use, the sections dealing with travel a travel with dealing sections the use, energy domestic nd the the nd

knowledge has grown substantially and they are now even even now are they and substantially grown has knowledge use by the assessors. As the main focus was to be on on be to was focus main the As assessors. the by use

As the VHEA’s have conducted their assessments their own own their assessments their conducted have VHEA’s the As The group then created a customised set of documents for documents of set customised a created then group The

Some VHEA’s found that they lacked sufficient expertise to understand and advise on older boilers and complex electrical systems and recognised the need for further training. Although a standard set of documentation was created by the group for use by those conducting the surveys, it was decided that each person should write their report in a style that most suited them and the client. This put considerably more pressure on those writing the reports, but tuning the report to each person’s circumstances proved very worth- while. Energy monitors have been particularly successful. Some people wanted to use them for more than the month and It has been difficult to access younger couples with children have bought their own. The group had a dozen monitors at or people of a lower economic status and yet these are the their disposal, and realise that they could have done with very ones who it is felt might find an assessment most more. The eco-kettles were not so popular. The main helpful. recommendation for an eco-kettle is that it enables you to The majority of those visited were already “energy aware” , boil just one cup of water. However, contrary to the group’s especially those who have lived through the more frugal expectation, a good number of households that were 1940’s and 50’s. The visits helped to prioritise what they audited already had a kettle that would do just that. might do next. So improvements will be incremental, not The response to leaflets and posters has been disappointing, dramatic. (is offering something “free” a cause for suspicion?). Initially the reports spoke of “suggestions” and Members of OTTG delivered leaflets to houses in the town “recommendations” and the householders, while pleased to and handed them out at local markets. People were also receive them, did not appear to be taking them up quickly. contacted individually via Volunteer Action drivers and Be- As experience and confidence have been gained, the frienders, through Oundle School Community Action, wording has become more direct and persuasive, through churches and at retired people’s events. Yet despite highlighting the need for action! It is hoped that the follow- this widespread publicity less than 25% of clients up visit will provide an increased incentive! approached OTTG directly. Most have come from one-to-one contact with the VHEA’s.

In the Future? List of Grants OTTG’s plan is to continue conducting household energy audits The grant of £3898 from the Growing Climate Friendly and IR surveys for the foreseeable future, meeting the need Communities included £1000 for “equipment” beyond the wherever it declares itself. energy monitors. Sophie Harton, the project supervisor, suggested that OTTG could put the £1000 towards an infra-red On the follow-up visits it is hoped that the survey can be camera. extended, in some cases, to include the overall carbon footprint per person which would include travel etc. In late November 2011, OTTG heard that the Community Foundation had granted them £2000 from their OTTG hopes to make the public buildings in Oundle more energy “Surviving Winter Fund” to enable them to purchase the efficient. The Town Council has asked the group to do energy camera. surveys of their buildings and will publicise their work, and there is a prospect of working further with local schools This then released a grant of £500 from the Oundle Town Council and £110 from Cllr. Rupert Reichhold’s “Member A lot of new estates are planned in the Oundle area. The energy Empowerment Fund”. surveys have highlighted how difficult and expensive it is to retrofit buildings. OTTG will focus on trying to influence all new Earlier in the year OTTG had been successful with their entry for building to be of the highest possible standard in terms of “Improving your Patch Awards” given by the Northamptonshire energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources. Environmental Forum. They won the East Northamptonshire Award and the County Award, amounting to £550. Broadening the range of publicity methods is of high importance. Possibilities are to make use of the local radio The total of all grants awarded is £7058. station run by Oundle School and to arrange for minibus groups to visit “show homes” which some councils and housing associations have produced as inspiring and instructive examples of just what can be done to retrofit a basic house to a very high standard. Contact Information J.W.Flory, OTTG Treasurer, 2 Rowell Way, Oundle PE84HX Tel: 01832 273811 Email: [email protected] A.G.Rayden, OTTG Secretary, 27 Lower , Peterborough PE8 5AE Tel: 01832 205287 Email: [email protected] Further Reading Oundle Transition Town Group: www.oundletransition.org.uk Plan LoCaL: www.planlocal.org.uk Planning for Climate Change: www.planningforclimatechange.org.uk Climate East Midlands: www.climate-em.org.uk Groundwork East Midlands: www.eastmidlands.groundwork.org.uk