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Hawkesbury Sustainable Energy Action Group
Minutes of Meeting held 2 October 2007 at The Fox
Present: Angelo Sauro (Chair) Minutes copied to: all present
Jon Boyle other group members
Deborah Boyle Hawkesbury Vision Project
Steve Robertson
Jane Robertson
Ralph Pidsley
Items discussed and actions agreed:
The reasons for people’s interest in this group were discussed and included a general interest in conserving resources, sustainable planning, the desire to find out what other places are doing in this area and exploring practical things we can do and the impact they might have.
There was much discussion about the team’s remit and objectives and possible starting points, which included encouraging householders to use less energy (eg with low energy light bulbs and better insulation)and collecting and sharing information on how to reduce energy usage and where to get help. Angelo suggested launching a demonstration project to show what can be achieved in terms of energy reduction and alternative sources of heat and power. One possible contender for this treatment is the village hall, which will shortly need to replace its heating boiler and is a very visible and public building that would attract a lot of local attention. Other suggestions included the heating system for the school pool. Angelo agreed to raise the suggestion with the Village Hall committee. Action AS
All agreed that to be effective, we need to show results in a relatively show period.
Some discussion was had on the potential for use of wind turbines linked into the national grid via a local green energy company, although no immediate action is felt to be appropriate at this stage on this issue. We agreed that if it is to be considered further we should ensure that the solution we adopt will directly benefit the local community, eg through providing a local power source.
An outline vision statement for the group was developed, being a long-term aim to reduce the impact on the environment of energy use in the parish of Hawkesbury. To achieve this we believe we need to act on two levels: a) to help people save energy and b) to develop a major sustainable resource project
We agreed to find out what other communities have done to reduce their carbon footprint Action All
Ralph highlighted the offer of help given to Parish Planners by the Co-operative Development Agency and Social Enterprise Networks who have previously advised on renewable energy schemes and other community enterprises, and offered to invite them to our next meeting to help develop our ideas. Action RP
Other actions agreed:
AS to talk to HURG about their current plans to ensure we are not trying to cover the same ground;
JB to circulate information on forthcoming IEE meeting on domestic generation;
All to start collecting information on home insulation, energy saving, grants, etc for local circulation.
Next meeting will take place at the Fox on 30 October at 7.30pm