Stoke Climsland Carbon Zero Homes

Cosy Nights

Over 40 people met at the Old School on 6th February to discuss improving domestic heating efficiency, regardless of boiler type, and the ‘truth and myth’ about heat-pumps. This meeting was arranged in response to interest on this topic from across the Parish, becoming a legacy action from the Carbon Zero Homes Project which was led by the Parish Council, and which was funded by a grant from the Community Levelling Up Programme.

The first speaker was James Fortune from local renewable energy & retrofit specialists, Dartmoor Energy. To everyone’s surprise, James explained that the first heat-pump technology was invented in 1834 in the form of a refrigerator compressor and the first UK installation of a heat generating system was as far back as 1945.
James went on to explain the efficiency advantages and science behind heat-pumps and the different forms they take. James concluded with tips on achieving a good installation and how to use it effectively.

You can find James’ presentation here

Andy Nevill followed with a specific case study of his own installation – an air-source heat-pump installed 2 years ago into a 19th century miner’s cottage. The biggest challenge was fitting under-floor-heating, but heat pump systems can operate in radiator only dwellings. Motivations were to achieve a healthy living environment, to save money and to reduce household emissions. They have measured a 90% reduction in energy use, a 96% reduction in emissions and a 64% reduction in energy costs and now have a healthier lived in environment.

You can find Andy’s presentation here

Jennie Stopford of Cornwall Council gave the audience the big picture of the Council’s program of decarbonising which stretches to 2045 when the objective, for example, is to have 30-50% of houses fitted with photo-voltaic solar panels. With regards to heat-pumps, Cornwall is leading all other counties in the UK with more than 5% of dwellings now fitted with one.

You can find Jenny’s presentation here

Kate Royston from Tamar Energy Community explained how they can support Parish households, including a free visit by one of their retrofit energy advisors to explain all the technical and funding options available, including grants and loans.

You can find Kate’s presentation here

Also exhibiting and taking part in a Q&A session chaired by Richard Davies, were Clare Moody from Community Energy Plus, Jack Morewood from University of Plymouth and Rob Tapson from Eco NRG.
Questions ranged from smart-meters, radiator and/or under floor heating combinations to on-going heatpump servicing.

Amongst the delegates were residents who already have heat-pumps installed, including one Luckett resident who had a system installed as far back as 2010. A bit like speed-dating, residents who had systems installed were matched with those considering if a heat-pump is right for them!

A huge thank you to Edah and her team of community volunteers who gave up their valuable time to refresh and support this meeting, including an amazing spread of canapes.

Scan the QR code here to access a handout from the meeting with contains lots of useful information, contact details and a link to the presentations.

Stay Cosy!

Tamar Energy Fest – Sat Nov 9th

08Nov8th November 2024

By Kate Royston

Tamar Energy Community (TEC) has been hosting the annual Tamar Energy Fest since 2012, and this year we look forward to welcoming you to Butchers’ Hall in Tavistock on Saturday 9^th November from 10:00 until 15:00. Do pop in and see us!

Our theme this year is “Cosy, Efficient, and Future-Ready”. We’re focused on supporting you with practical strategies for retrofitting homes to enhance energy efficiency, comfort, and resilience against rising energy costs and climate change.

With free entry, there’s plenty to interest you if you’re concerned about the climate and biodiversity emergency, carbon reduction, and energy efficiency—or simply looking to lower your bills.

Free, impartial advice will be available from our knowledgeable experts and exhibitors on retrofitting, energy management and more. You’ll also find information stalls, and interactive displays offering insights into effective strategies for reducing energy consumption and making informed home improvement decisions.

Our exhibitors will include Dartmoor Energy, NEA (National Energy Action), South West Water, Bramhill Builders, Fell Partnership, Kensa Heat Pumps and Metalectrique. We’re also being joined by Devon Wildlife Trust, Tavy Rail, Tamar Valley National Landscape, Tavistock Library and Transition Tavistock.

Whether you’re interested in implementing small changes or undertaking larger projects, Tamar Energy Fest provides a valuable opportunity to learn and connect with others committed to a sustainable future.

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday. Find out more here.

Retrofit Made Easy

Make Your Home Cosy, Efficient, and Future Ready

Retrofitting your home is more than just saving energy. It’s about creating a space that’s comfortable, healthy and kind to your wallet and the planet.

Retrofit - what does it mean?

Retrofitting – its about doing things to improve existing homes and buildings to make them as energy efficient as possible.

Boost comfort: Say goodbye to draughts, damp and cold spots. Enjoy a comfortable home all year round.

Cut energy bills: Lower your energy use and watch your bills shrink.

Increase value: Energy-efficient homes are more attractive to buyers and renters.

Future-proof your home: Adapt to changing environmental standards and live more sustainably.

Improve health: Better ventilation and temperature control mean a healthier living environment for you and your family.

Confused about where to start with energy-efficient home improvements? We’re here to help!

Step one: Book your free home visit and meet your local retrofit advisor to better understand your home’s needs.

Step two: Receive free, expert information provided for you on your retrofit options, funding and grants.

Step three: Discuss next steps which may include a more detailed technical survey and plan as appropriate. Between now and the end of March 2025 we’re able to offer generous subsidies on the usual price (subject to availability!)

Our expert advisers will help you chart the best course for your home’s energy future.

You can download our Retrofit brochure here.

If You Have Any Questions

A good place to start is to watch the animation from the Stoke Climsland Carbon Zero Homes project. You can find it here: https://www.stokeclimslandparishcouncil.org/stoke-climsland-carbon-zero-homes-project-animation/.

We hope you enjoy it.

Another valuable resource is the ‘Devon Retrofit Guide’. You can find it here: https://www.energysavingdevon.org.uk/document/devon-retrofit-guide/

As part of our Autumn programme in 2025 we have two events you may find of interest. Come along and see us:

Tamar Energy Fest

Sat. Nov 22th 2025 from 10:00 to 15:00
Butcher’s Hall – Tavistock

Okehampton Energy Fest

Date to be announced from 10:00 to 15:00
Charter Hall – Okehampton

More about our Exhibitors

New Generation Energy – Renewable Energy Solutions

Designing, supplying, installing and maintaining bespoke renewable energy systems for the past nine years with an emphasis on customer satisfaction and an ethos of ongoing support and maintenance for our current and future client base.

Established in 2007 by Andrew Metcalf and based in the South West we have installed hundreds of renewable systems, from small photovoltaic arrays to large commercial biomass boilers and are MCS accredited for all our technologies.

Lendology cic – Lending decisions for people, by people

Lendology CIC disrupt traditional lending with our decisions powered by partnerships and people, enriching homes, and lives through affordable finance.

Working in partnership with West Devon Borough Council, we lend council funds to homeowners for home repairs, improvements, renewable energy measures and to improve the energy efficiency of homes.

Unlike other mainstream lenders, Lendology doesn’t use algorithms or credit scores. People make lending decisions for people. They believe that everyone should have access to a home that is safe, warm, and suitable for their individual needs and works across the community to enable this, reduce fuel poverty and establish the link between health and homes. If you are worried about the rising cost of energy, we recommend taking action now to ensure your central heating is working and that your home is as energy efficient as possible.

Lendology will be available until 14:00 on Sat. 12th November.

Lovely Savings – A Utility Warehouse Partner

Lovely Savings, a Discount Club helping families and small businesses save money on their essentials

Devon Wildlife Trust – Protecting wildlife for the future

Established over fifty years ago by a small group of volunteers, Devon Wildlife Trust is the only charity that exists to protect all wildlife in Devon and to safeguard Devon’s unique natural environment.

NEA – National Energy Action – Action for Warm Homes

From October, with the government’s price freeze in effect, National Energy Action predicts 6.7 million UK households will be in fuel poverty. It means they cannot afford to live in a warm, dry and safe home. National Energy Action is the national charity working to end fuel poverty in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Find out more about the challenge we face, the difference we make, and the difference you can make.

Transition Tavistock – Working towards a sustainable future for Tavistock and District

Local travel as it could be?

Our meetings share views on how easy it is to use sustainable transport around the Tavistock area and to nearby towns – and ideas on how it could be better and more inclusive. Frequent, well-connected public transport in all directions; easy to walk, use a wheelchair or cycle to reach facilities; leading rather than lagging in the shift to low emission vehicles for both personal and business travel? What changes would you make?

We’re keen to involve individuals, groups and businesses who want to shape this vision for mobility, influence decisions and encourage low-carbon travel habits. Whether your concern is potholed pavements or diesel fumes, cycle safety or bus routes, get in touch on travel@transitiontavistock.org.uk.

Tavistock Neighbourhood Plan

Have your say on the future of the parish of Tavistock

A Neighbourhood Development Plan gives the residents of Tavistock and surrounding areas a say on how the community develops, how land will be used and how we can protect what’s important to us. We can address topics like affordable housing, community infrastructure, protecting green spaces and more.

Our autumn energy advice and retrofit programme

24Sep24th September 2022

By Kate Royston

Are you interested in energy saving and improving the energy efficiency of your home or business?

Come along to one of our events and have a chat …

You may be thinking about options for saving energy and improving the energy efficiency of your home (retrofitting), but not sure where to start.

Here at Tamar Energy Community we’d like to see what we can do to help. We’ve arranged a number of events to meet you and have a chat, with information stands to browse.

We’re kicking off in Great Big Green Week with an information display in Tavistock Library, available from Sat. 24^th September through to Sat. 1^st October. You can also find us on the 24^th Sept at Tavistock Farmers Market (tbc) and the Okehampton Coffee Morning.

We’re going online on Fri. 30^th Sep (19:00) with a discussion about retrofitting your home (or business) in practice. You can book via Eventbrite. Here’s the link: https://Retrofitting-Your-Home-In-Practice-Sep22.eventbrite.co.uk

Our first Energy and Retrofit Fair in Okehampton will be at the Ockment Centre on Sat. 22^nd October (10:00-14:00). You can find out more here: https://tamarenergycommunity.com/okehampton-retrofit-and-energy-fair-2022/ ; and our annual Tamar Energy Fest will be at Butchers’ Hall in Tavistock on Sat. 12^th November (10:00-15:00). You can find out more here: https://tamarenergycommunity.com/tamar-energy-fest-2022/

Do come along!

If you would like to host our information display in a community space local to you, get in touch and we’ll see what we can arrange. Email hello@tamarenergycommunity.com.

Tamar Energy Fest 2021 on Sat. Nov 13th

14Sep6th November 2021

By Kate Royston

This year’s Tamar Energy Fest will be held on Saturday Nov. 13th in Butchers’ Hall, Tavistock.

The event is on the last day of the COP26 climate conference, so we feel its apt to embrace its theme of ‘Together for Our Planet’.

Find out more here.

If you’d like to get involved we’d love to hear from you.

We’re keen to hear from exhibitors able to share advice and support to for our journey’s towards low/zero carbon healthy homes, businesses etc. and/or support low/zero carbon lives.

We’d also love to hear from you if you’d like to help us organise and run the event and/or work with us in other ways.

You can download a Booking Form here as a word doc or here as a pdf.

If you have any questions or you’re able to get involved please email hello@tamarenergycommunity.com.

Retrofitting your Home. What’s it all about?

13Sep6th November 2021

By Kate Royston

We’re being encouraged to improve the energy efficiency of our homes. What does this mean for me in practice?

We held a Zoom talk in late September to discuss the topic and to learn more about the practicalities of retrofitting your home, and the importance of taking a whole house approach.

You can download the presentation here.

We’re working with Devon County Council and our Community Energy colleagues across Devon to launch a Retrofit Service for Devon in spring 2022. This will provide a ‘one front door’ approach for retrofit advice and support.

If you’d like to know more, please drop us an email to hello@tamarenergycommunity.com.

It would also be helpful if you could take a few minutes to complete this Retrofit Devon householder survey to help us understand more about about what the levels of interest in retrofit across the county. You can find it here: Retrofit Devon householder survey (typeform.com).

Interim Devon Carbon Plan is published – please have your say

24Jan24th January 2021

By Kate Royston

The consultation of the Interim Devon Carbon Plan is now live! The plan is a collaborative roadmap to creating a net-zero Devon where people and nature thrive and is Devon’s response to the global climate emergency,

The time has now come for your chance to offer further thoughts and feedback. You are asked to take part in the Interim Devon Carbon Plan consultation, which lasts for 10 weeks until 15th Feb 2020.

Devon Climate Emergency (DCE) partnership wants to hear your views on key actions which outline some of the transformational changes which are required to create a thriving net-zero Devon.

You can also get involved in a series of Webinars looking at different aspects of the plan.

You can download the Webinar poster here and register for Webinars here.

The Interim Devon Carbon Plan will be updated to a final plan after the Citizens’ Assembly, now in 2021 due to Covid-19.

The actions cover a broad range of topics which will allow us to build back better. Addressing the climate and ecological emergency is an opportunity to create a fairer, healthier, more resilient and prosperous society.

DCE is requesting feedback from Devon’s citizens to indicate to what extent they agree with the proposed actions.

Have your say at www.devonclimateemergency.org.uk/interimcarbonplan or request a paper copy and consultation questionnaire from your local library from January 1st.

You can download a copy of the ‘Have Your Say’ poster here.

Community Solar Share Offer

On Sept 14th at Tamar Energy Community (TEC) we launched our community share offer to raise £290,000 from the community to support our ‘Solar Roofs’ portfolio of renewable energy installations across the Tamar Valley.

On Oct 27th, due to the overwhelming interest in our share offer, the TEC Directors have agreed with our loan provider, the Low Carbon Society, that we can repay a further £32,000 of our loan. This additional repayment will reduce our ongoing interest payments and leave a loan balance at the end of Oct 2020 of £10,000.

This will bring the total Community Solar Share Offer sum to be raised to £322,000.

The share offer has been re-opened this afternoon. We anticipate that the additional opportunity may be subscribed for quickly.

The extended offer will be publicised nationally from Thursday morning if not fully subscribed; and the share offer will close by Saturday October 31st.

To enable as much benefit as possible to be retained locally, anyone with an interest is encouraged to find out more as soon as possible.

The offer aims to raise £332,000 by 31 Oct 2020 to support TEC’s existing portfolio of community-owned rooftop solar arrays. These Solar Roofs are generating green energy from the sun, in and around the Tamar Valley. Any excess income is transferred to TEC’s community benefit fund which is used to help address energy efficiency and fuel poverty in the area.

The share offer provides an opportunity for co-ownership of the Solar Roofs portfolio, and receiving a fair return for your investment. You can find out more here or click on the image below.

From just £250 local people can support community-owned, low-carbon energy generation whilst targeting a financial return of up to 5%, subject to the risks set out in solar share offer document available here.

In 2016 and 2017, TEC installed six arrays of solar PV panels on the roofs of local schools and businesses in the area. These Solar Roofs generate over 250,000kWh of solar electricity per year – the equivalent to the annual energy demand of around 70 average UK homes. What’s more, the electricity generated by the Solar Roofs is expected to displace over 230 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Surplus income from the solar energy generated from the installations is reinvested into the community, through TEC’s community benefit fund. This funding helps the disadvantaged in their community to tackle fuel poverty through energy efficiency and clean renewable energy initiatives. It’s expected this surplus income will be over £200,000 in total over the next 18 years, with a projected minimum of £5,000 per year. TEC’s first round of community grants has already been deployed to local Energy Hardship Funds to provide support to households during the COVID-19 crisis.

“Our community solar has enabled us to save 50 tonnes of CO₂ to date and provides an everyday example within the school of the benefits of renewable energy. We work with our pupils to encourage them to save energy and have a thriving Eco Committee.

We’ve been able to invest the savings on our energy bills into other areas of the school.”
“The community benefit contribution to our Hardship Fund is particularly welcome at this time” Pete Hamlyn, Headteacher, Carbeile Junior School, Torpoint.

Funds raised via the share offer will repay some of the existing loan funding that was secured to fund initial installation costs of the solar panels. Investors will be granted membership of TEC, giving them the opportunity to get involved in shareholder voting and having a say in the future running of the community.

Let’s localise energy

Power from the sun for a greener planet and local community benefit

We’re excited! Our Community Solar Share is now open

16Sep25th September 2020

By Kate Royston

On Sept 14th at Tamar Energy Community (TEC) we’ve launched our community share offer to raise £290,000 from the community to support our ‘Solar Roofs’ portfolio of renewable energy installations across the Tamar Valley.

There is a lot of interest in community investments at the moment, and this share offer will be marketed nationally from 28th September.To enable as much benefit as possible to be retained locally, anyone with an interest is encouraged to find out more between now and the 28th September.

The offer aims to raise £290,000 by 31 Oct 2020 to support TEC’s existing portfolio of community-owned rooftop solar arrays. These Solar Roofs are generating green energy from the sun, in and around the Tamar Valley. Any excess income is transferred to TEC’s community benefit fund which is used to help address energy efficiency and fuel poverty in the area.

Launched today, the share offer provides an opportunity for co-ownership of the Solar Roofs portfolio, and receiving a fair return for your investment. You can find out more here or click on the image below.

homes. What’s more, the electricity generated by the Solar Roofs is expected to displace over 230 tonnes of CO2 per year.

It’s expected this surplus income will be over £200,000 in total over the next 18 years, with a projected minimum of £5,000 per year. TEC’s first round of community grants has already been deployed to local Energy Hardship Funds to provide support to households during the COVID-19 crisis.

Let’s localise energy

Power from the sun for a greener planet and local community benefit