His property at Rope Way, Hook Norton, will be open at 11:00 / 12:00 / 13:00 / 14:00 featuring: Biomass Boiler, Double Glazing, Floor Insulation, Internal Insulation, Loft Insulation, Low Energy Lighting, & Solar Water Heating. For further information please register on the site.

Dec 11 Agenda

See you at 8!

November meeting notes

The December meeting of Sustainable Charlbury will be at the usual location of the sofa area at The Bell Inn, Chalbury, on Monday 5 December at 8pm.

The meeting will be a short one as we get in full swing with our thermal imaging project.

We hope you can make it. The agenda will be published on Monday – here’s the minutes from the last meeting.

A free scheme has started to help residents find out where heat is escaping from their home, get advice on how to make improvements and save money on energy bills.
We have teamed up with West Oxfordshire community volunteer groups to give local householders the chance to take advantage of a free service this winter.
Using a thermal imaging camera, a trained volunteer can survey your home and capture images (like those pictured below) to show where energy is being wasted. Surveys will be carried out until March 2012, when you are using your heating.
You will receive a report with recommendations advising on cost-effective ways to prevent or reduce heat loss, such as draught proofing and insulation.
Ros Kent of Green TEA, a group set up by residents to raise awareness of sustainability in Eynsham, said: “We were very keen to be part of this. There will be three of our volunteers carrying out the surveys and that could really help local householders.”
The thermal imaging service is part of our commitment to improving sustainability, protecting the environment and helping to combat climate change.

Please sign up for thermal imaging via the form on the home page.

The Feed in Tariff rate for Solar PV will be cut from 12^th December 2011 as a result of changes proposed by Government in a consultation announced yesterday. According to the DECC press release of 31^st October: ‘The proposals, subject to consultation, would introduce a new tariff for schemes up to 4kW in size of 21p/kWh – down from the current 43.3p/kWh. Reduced rates are also proposed for schemes between 4kW and 250kW, to ensure those schemes receive a consistent rate of return.’  If you install solar PV and your FITs application is received by your FIT supplier (also known as FIT Licensee) on or after 12 December 2011, you could be affected by the proposals.

Full details available on the DECC website.

If you are considering solar PV, read the no-nonsense summary from YouGen.

The Energy Saving Trust has useful information

Centre for Sustainable Energy’s response.

On such a glorious autumn Sunday, and in such a glorious place as Charlbury, what could be more charming that to open your home to visitors!

According to Liz Reason, owner of the low energy home Lower Watts House. “After a very quiet 12-2pm, I thought we’d got Open Homes all wrong. But then they started coming!”

“We think we had between 25 and 30 visitors.  We simply lost count when a lot arrived within a few minutes of one another.  But it felt very worthwhile.”

Tim Crisp’s house is something of a landmark, perhaps you could even say, a ‘Hollywood Home’, but it too was purposely designed to be heated, and on such a day, bask in the afternoon sunshine.

“We’ve had a great afternoon. Lots of really motivated people, similar numbers to Liz, and all wanting to engage in interesting discussions about heating systems, house design, their own projects etc. [It] was a really enjoyable afternoon and I think a very worthwhile exercise.”

Frances Mortimer’s Cherry Tree Cottage is more of regular Cotswold country cottage, but features a very impressive heating system, including solar pre-heated, wood chip powered burner, all make more homely with a still-not-quite-dried out, hemp wall insulation…

“I think we had eight visits – from either individuals or couples – not bad all the way out in Fawler!  Two sets of people seemed really serious about getting a wood pellet boiler and finding out all about it.  Another was planning to get solar thermal and took details of our installer.”

“I thought it was a great thing to be part of” said Frances afterwards.
Madeleine Wheare demoed her solar panels on her period Charlbury home.

“I had my first visit at 3.10pm. I thought nobody was coming so I started to bake a cake.
It finally got in the oven at 6pm!”

“Once they started coming, I had a steady trickle of pairs of visitors who were interested and interesting.”

“I ran out of promotional flyers from Suscha and from my installer Witney Solar. I was ably assisted by John Kearsey who was able to handle a lot of the technical questions and explain the difference between my solar PV panels and his (on a house in Marlborough Place).”

“Just as I was taking my signs down at 5pm, another couple arrived, so we gave them tea and biscuits and a long chat showing them the computer monitoring system.”

“On the whole a very worthwhile afternoon. Beautiful weather helped a lot. Very glad to have been part of this excellent venture.”

To download and print a guide to the homes, and suggested route, click on the image.

We look forward to welcoming you…

David Shukman (environment and science correspondent for BBC News) will be speaking at St. Mary’s on (Thursday) 13 October beginning at 8:00pm.  His audio/visual presentation will be on some of the environmental challenges facing the world today.

Since most environmental tragedies occur in far-flung corners of the globe and only come to our attention via the medium of televised reports, Mr. Shukman is uniquely qualified to bring green issues vividly to life.  The event is being sponsored by CTC, UNA, SusCha, and CWAG.  Admission is free.