Can our homes be made energy efficient, if so how would that work?
We need to cut the average amount of energy our homes use by 80% to deal with climate change and rising fuel bills. Carbon Coop have been having a look at the options and want to know what you think would work, what wouldn’t and why.

We are running two events with residents in Hulme and Moss Side:

Yard Theatre
Work for Change, 41 Old Birley Street, Hulme M15 5RF
6.30-8.30pm, Thursday 15th March 2012

Claremont Pub
124 Claremont Road, Moss Side M14 4RR
7.00-8.30pm, Thursday 22nd March 2012

Free, informal, food provided

The Carbon Co-op and residents in Hulme from Homes for Change (the Yellowbricks) and Bentley House (the Redbricks) and in Moss Side from the The Avenues Residents Association have been working with energy experts URBED on detailed assessments of the properties for both retrofit options (insulation etc.) and community renewable heating systems.

This is not a consultation about any planned developments, so don’t get your hopes up, we are just trying to build up models of how communities might take control of energy usage and want to find out what people think about both what is possible and desirable. Advice will be on hand though for anyone interested in taking the ideas forward.

Have your say, get involved, eat free grub!

Places are limited, RSVP: info@carbon.coop or call 0161 408 6492

Brookburn Primary School Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 8EH
11am-5pm, Sunday 18th March 2012

Carbon Co-op are teaming up with Ecospheric and Action for Sustainable Living to deliver an energy advice day at Brookburn School, Chorlton on Sunday 18th March 2012. All are welcome, please sign up here.

We’ll have:

- 15 minute  consultations with ‘Dr Carbon’ (North West retrofit expert Charlie Baker, owner of the Chorlton Superhome)

- Small scale workshops to introduce householders to the basic concepts of retrofit and energy saving

- Toys and tools to explore and engage with energy saving

- Stalls from AFSL and Ecospheric

Carbon Co-op have received funding to work with specialists URBED Co-op to develop and deliver a standard household energy assessment. We’re looking for 20 households to pioneer our approach before rolling it out city-wide.

What you’ll get:
- An detailed technical understanding of how you use energy in your house and where you can make improvements
- An in depth report you can pass to builders and contractors outlining the measures your house needs to meet 80& reduction, 2050 energy efficiency standards
- A cost benefit analysis of these measures outlining what will pay off and how much will it cost

What you need to do:
- Fill in this form CC_assessment_application_form and return to info@carbon.coop no later than midday on Tuesday 21st February 2012

Eligibility:
- You will need to be available for a house visit, preferably during the day between Thursday 23rd February and Thursday 1st March 2012
- You need to live in the Greater Manchester area (though we are not strictly limited by boundaries)

Households will be selected on the basis of a mixture of housing type and location and first come first served.

About Carbon Co-op
Carbon Co-op is a member-owned and run organisation that enables its members to work together to reduce household energy emissions. By deploying the leading expertise on energy efficiency and retrofit we enable our members to collectively reduce their carbon emissions, save money on fuel bills and address the causes of climate change.
More info here: http://www.carbon.coop

About URBED
URBED are an urban design co-operative based in Manchester, UK.

In 2010, URBED co-authoured a report for the SHAP consortia of housing associations, examining the capacity for a community-led approach to Green Deal. More detail can be found here:

The sixth Fuelling Manchester social takes place on Thursday 26th January at the Bulls Head pub nr Piccadilly Station.

The gathering is for all those of us involved in community renewable projects, be that: water turbine co-operatives; bio-mass and woodland management enterprises; waste-to-energy projects, solar energy collectives or those involved in community-focused.

We will be meeting at the Bulls Head Pub (on London Road in Manchester City Centre) for early evening drinks, with the first of us arriving at 6pm.

Some of the projects who have been invited include: Greater Manchester Tree Station; Torrs Hydro; Energy Savings Trust; Fairfield Materials Management; Carbon Coop;  URBED; Co-ops UK. But please feel free to pass this invite onto other community renewable projects you know of.

If you are interested in attending please get in touch or just turn up.

Chris Walsh.
On behalf of The Kindling Trust.

Jonathan Akinson
On behalf of the Carbon Coop.

Yes, Carbon Co-op is normally about selling insulation and solar panels but we’ve had so many requests that we are now offering People’s Republic of Energy posters for sale.

They are hand screen printed, A1 posters designed by Because Studio and printed by One69a.

We have a limited number available for £20 plus £3 p&p, click on the link below to order yours for Christmas! A proceeds to a good cause!

10.30-11.30am, Queen Victoria Statue, Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester

A new ‘country’ will have its flag unveiled at a ceremony in Piccadilly Gardens on Wednesday at 11 a.m. The President of The People’s Republic of Energy – a radical new energy campaign – will speak to his citizens from a recycled soap-box, before his officials unfurl the brand new nation’s flag to the people of Manchester. Their mission – to place the control of the UK’s energy in the hands of its people – is the idea of the Greater Manchester Carbon Co-op who are urging Mancunians to vote for them in a major national competition.

So please come down, join us and support the campaign!

The President’s speech, soap box and flag unfurling will be found in front of the statue of Queen Victoria on Piccadilly Gardens from 10.30am on Wednesday 23rd November 2011 (we even have permission from Manchester City Council!).

The People’s Republic of Energy is Carbon Co-op’s entry into energyshare, a competition to win £100,000.

You can vote for us here: http://www.energyshare.com/voting/
Closing date is 5pm, Saturday 3rd December 2011

About the project
The energy crisis is real and upon us. Faced with rising bills, growing energy insecurity and the requirement to tackle climate change it is time to organise, educate and take action! Carbon Co-op propose The People’s Republic of Energy, a campaign to democratise, popularise and role out a low carbon renewables and retrofit programme for Greater Manchester and beyond.

Using a campaign of people’s assemblies, popular education, direct democracy, carbon literacy and energy assessment training, we will equip an army of energy ambassadors with the skills to seed local self supporting groups and gather information on household energy usage in their neighbourhoods. Ultimately we will create a series of community energy plans and use EnergyShare funds to deliver a number of eco retrofit and renewables show houses around Greater Manchester.

This project builds on four years of work from the Carbon Co-op, a Manchester-based mutual organisation created to bring street, neighbourhoods and communities together in a bulk purchasing co-operative for low carbon, household technologies. With over 300 supporters the organisation has a track record of delivering retrofit work, creating innovative new community finance models and pioneering community engagement based around renewables and energy efficiency.

In more detail
Our project is divided into four discrete stages

STAGE 1: PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY
The People’s Republic of Energy will convene a day long assembly of over 300 delegates: individuals, organisations, businesses and social landlords at a venue in Manchester. The objectives of the assembly are to educate and inform attendees through the delivery of carbon literacy work, to engage in debate and discussion on how household renewables and retrofit work could and should be delivered and to train a series of community ambassadors in the Carbon Co-op’s Whole House Assessment Profile tool.

STAGE 2: COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT
We will develop the Carbon Co-op’s Whole House Assessment tool to enable community assessors to simply and easily gather information on a household’s energy usage and process this data using an easy to use, database-driven online tool.

After the assembly volunteer community energy assessors will work in their own streets and neighbourhood, seeding satellite groups and mapping out where energy is used in homes and communities. The Carbon Co-op’s Big Red Bus will tour Greater Manchester, acting as a mobile exhibition space to host information, talks and films, supporting the work of the energy assessors. We will facilitate Carbon Co-op workshops in these satellite areas, bringing friends and neighbours together in order to understand current energy usage and how this could be reduced. These volunteers will use hand held tablets to input information, with data centralised via the Carbon Co-op energy database.

STAGE 3: CREATING A COMMUNITY ENERGY PLAN FOR GREATER MANCHESTER
At a second People’s Assembly, using the data collected through energy assessments and using Carbon Co-op’s community action planning workshop, we will build up a house-by-house retrofit action plan for streets and communities in Greater Manchester.

Together, assembly delegates will make decisions on where best to deploy the EnergyShare resources, which areas will provide the best return on investment and what factors to prioritise.

STAGE 4: DEPLOYING RESOURCES
Based on decisions made at the second People’s Assembly, EnergyShare funds will finance four retrofit and renewables household projects in Greater Manchester. Forming a key part of the Carbon Co-op’s larger retrofit programme, these homes will act as eco-show homes, showcasing the latest energy saving technologies and hosting regular open days to inspire other households and communities.

Information from the assessments and retrofit work will help build and develop the Carbon Co-op model and Green Deal Pilot. Data will be used to inform the Greater Manchester Retrofit role out and build a housing archetypes pattern book to inform future retrofit roll-out work across the city region.

The whole project will be supported via a panel of retrofit practitioners and experts, providing up to date and practical advice on the decisions being made throughout the project relating to technologies, contractors and finance.