Show the Love – February 14th 2017

06Feb6th February 2017

Help protect the places and life you love from climate change.

Show the love with us … Tuesday 14th February … Local Matters, Elbow Lane, Tavistock.

During the day … 10.00 to 15.00 … Family friendly opportunities to get creative.

In the evening … 19.30 to 21.30 … Green Drinks with a Crafty Twist

Come along and show your love for our environment by making a green heart display.

Why? To raise awareness of the things we love and want to protect from climate change for future generations.
How? – depends how creative we get. We’ll provide paper & colours – feel free to bring pictures, material, ideas….

Show The Love is organised by The Climate Coalition, the UK’s largest group of people dedicated to action on climate change and limiting its impact on the people, places and life we love at home in the UK and around the world, including the world’s poorest countries. It includes over 100 organisations such as RSPB, National Trust, WWF, The WI and Oxfam.

See http://fortheloveof.org.uk/ for pictures of last year’s activities and an inspirational Michael Morpurgo / Jeremy Irons video.

We look forward to seeing you at Local Matters, Elbow Lane, Tavistock PL19 0BX.

If you have any questions please email hello@tamarenergycommunity.com or call 07969 569 444

Our Energy Advice Service

13Dec13th December 2016

By Kate Royston

Tamar Energy Community now has a freephone number (0800-233-5414) that you can access for free and impartial energy advice … or call into Local Matters between 11:00 and 13:00 Mon. to Sat.

Download a flyer here.

REPAIR IT – Sat 12th November – Local Matters – 10:00 to 12:30

11Nov11th November 2016

By Kate Royston

In a fix with your broken electrical items and gadgets? Time to get them fixed for free at a special event to be held to be held at Local Matters, Elbow Lane, PL19 OBG on Saturday November 12^th.

Download a poster here

Recycle Devon is putting on a series of REPAIR IT events across the county for householders to bring along their broken electrical appliances, including computers, to be fixed by local menders at no cost and the West Devon event takes place in Tavistock.

Organised in conjunction with Transition Tavistock and Tamar Community Energy, the event will run from 10:00 to 12:30 and repairs will be carried out on a first come, first served basis so please be prepared to wait. Please note that they won’t be able to fix CRT TVs or monitors, electric blankets or microwaves, for safety reasons.

Kate Royston, from Transition Tavistock, says ‘Local businesses and community members with the right technical knowledge are amazingly supportive of these events and contribute their time voluntarily. We’re delighted to have IT repair business; Western Web Computer Services and electrical repair whizz Myles from Yeltv on board alongside a number of skilled local people, for the Tavistock REPAIR IT.

Emma Croft, Re-use Project Co-ordinator added, ’Research shows that more than 75% of the small electrical items that come into recycling centres could be back up and running if they were repaired. These events are designed to help householders waste less and enable them to save money and resources by not having to replace something broken.’

Get in touch with Emma on 07966 566435 or via emma.croft@devon.gov.uk; or Kate on 07969 569 444 to find out more.

Recycle Devon is a countywide waste communications campaign which represents a partnership of 10 authorities across Devon including Devon County Council, 8 District Authorities and Torbay Council.

Devon County Council’s Re-use Project promotes re-use of durable household items – specifically clothes, electrical goods, furniture and bicycles through a programme of community and third sector engagement.

The REPAIR IT events have been funded by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Distributor Take Back Scheme.

Are you batty about Bats?

27Apr12th May 2016

By Kate Royston

Did you know that bats make up nearly 20% of all mammal species in the world? Add to that their amazing flying, navigation and sensory skills and you’ve got a truly fascinating little creature on your hands. Bats are also essential to our ecosystem keeping insect populations under control and (for fruit eating species), helping to pollinate plants and disperse seeds.

If you’d like to find out more about this brilliant mammal come along to the Town Shop to speak to one of our bat experts. You can even borrow a bat detector to track down your own batty bat.

£20,000 RCEF grant secured to help capture solar energy for our community

12Apr12th June 2016

By Kate Royston

Tamar Energy Community (TEC) is thrilled to have secured a £20,000 RCEF grant which will enable us to pay for the detailed feasibility work for our ‘Solar Roofs Project’.

RCEF is a £15 million programme, delivered by WRAP and jointly funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC). It supports rural communities in England to develop renewable energy projects which provide economic and social benefits to the community. For more information on RCEF, visit www.wrap.org.uk/renewables

Our ‘Solar Roofs Project’ is TECs first community scale project to generate energy locally, funded and owned by the community. The project will install solar panels on a number of roofs across the area from Callington to Buckland Monachorum, including four local schools and colleges and three community facilities. If successful, the project will have a capacity of just under half a megawatt hour of power – sufficient for over 130 homes (equivalent).

The project will benefit our community in several ways, providing:

local people with an investment opportunity with a competitive rate of return
reduced cost electricity to the organisations who have the solar panels installed on their roofs
a community benefit fund to support local projects
part time employment for a TEC administrator
support for learning about local energy generation as part of the school curriculum
a reduction in the amount of energy that needs to be imported from outside the community, and a contribution to our local and national electricity generation needs
work for local businesses who will do the installations and ongoing maintenance.

Transition Tavistock’s study on the local energy economy (Tavistock and District Local Economic Blueprint) estimated that £40m per annum is spent across Tavistock and its southern linked parishes on heat and power. With much of this being spent with national and international companies, the more we can generate locally, (as well as reducing how much we use), the more money we keep within our local economy (http://www.transitiontavistock.org.uk/working-groups/tavistock-and-district-local-economic-blueprint/).

TEC’s professional partners to deliver the detailed feasibility work are Communities for Renewables (www.cfrcic.co.uk/) led by Jake Burnyeat and Rosie Gillam and Plymouth Energy Community (www.plymouthenergycommunity.com/) led by Jon Selman. Our TEC team is led by the two Kates (Royston and Dibble).

Kate Royston, TEC’s coordinator said “A lot of people have invested a lot of time to help make this project happen, and we’re excited to see it getting off the ground. We’d like to thank Devon County Council and RegenSW for their help from the Devon Accelerator Fund which helped pay for our initial work in the autumn and, importantly, to WRAP and the RCEF fund which will help pay for the next steps. We hope that as many people as possible, locally, are able to benefit from this community project.”

We’ll keep everyone informed of progress through the project, particularly via facebook (Tamar Energy Community) and twitter (@TamarTec). Please like and follow us! Or come along to the Transition Tavistock Food and Growing event at Tavistock College on Sat. 5^th March (afternoon) and have a chat.

For further information please contact Kate Royton (kate.royston@transitiontavistock.org.uk; 07969-569-444).

Tool share at the Town Shop – would you like to be involved?

06Apr12th June 2016

By Kate Royston

With the imminent launch of the Tavistock Town Shop we’re keen to hear your ideas for what the shop should contain. One of the latest proposals is to create a tool sharing facility where local people could borrow tools they otherwise may not have access to, to complete home improvements and DIY. We could also make the most of local expertise and share the knowledge of local people who have ‘been there and built it’.

If you think this sounds like a great idea or have tools or expertise you’d be willing to contribute we’d love to hear from you.

And if you have any other ideas for the shop please let us know that too!

Wadebridge electricity prices slashed

20Mar8th April 2016

By Kate Royston

The South West Grid is struggling to cope with ‘growth in renewables’ and hundreds of householders in Wadebridge are being offered cheaper electricity when the sun is out – the Wadebridge Sunshine Tariff.

Kevin Smith from community group Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network (Wren), which is running the scheme, said: “We want to shift electricity usage to when solar generation is at its greatest.

“And it’s likely that this shifted use of electricity during the day will be offset by corresponding reduced use of electricity in the evenings.”

The rate in Wadebridge in Cornwall will be slashed from 18p a unit to 5p a unit between 10:00 and 16:00 during the pilot scheme from April to September.

Find out more about the Sunshine Tariff in Wren’s booklet, here.

Read the full report here.

When the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow…

15Mar8th April 2016

By Kate Royston

Researchers from Harvard University in the US have developed a battery that uses a common food additive to enable abundant solar and wind power to be stored cheaply and safely in homes and offices.

Such batteries could be used to save and store surplus wind and solar power, which could then be used at times when neither form of renewable energy can deliver.

Read the full report here

Beyond wind, solar and hydro: A look at the less talked about forms of renewable energy.

10Mar8th April 2016

By Kate Royston

Most electricity in the world is produced using steam to push turbines, which generate power by transforming kinetic energy into electricity within a generator. Electricity is thus inextricably linked to movement and to heat, and there are many resources on our planet with which we can produce renewable energy beyond the near-ubiquitous solar, wind, and hydro.

Read the full report here

New geothermal energy fund warmly welcomed by Eden and EGS Energy Ltd

07Mar7th April 2016

By Kate Royston

The news that funding is to be made available for the development of geothermal energy in Cornwall has been hailed as a major breakthrough by the Eden Project and its partner EGS Energy Ltd.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has just released a call for proposals for £10.6m of funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

Alongside Cornwall-based EGS Energy, the Eden Project has been actively campaigning for funding for its planned geothermal power plant on its site, a former China Clay quarry at Bodelva near St Austell. It would be the first of its kind in the UK.

Read the full report here.