The British Gas Green Streets Project

Background 

Bradford on Avon beat off stiff competition to become the South West contender in the British Gas Green Streets competition. This will support energy efficiency upgrading for over one hundred homes in the Bradford on Avon community area.
 
The project will also support energy efficiency upgrading of three community halls, Fitzmaurice and Holt primary schools, and help towards the installation of photovoltaic panels to generate electricity at Christchurch school.
 
A final report of the project can be found here.
 

 

Current Progress

Participants collecting energy equipment provided free by British Gas

 

British Gas engineers have now completed the property assessments and agreed recommendations have been implemented for many late Summer / Autumn 2010. Some households have already had loft and cavity wall insulation installed, as well as the first Smart Meters (these are among the first in the country). Nearly £12,000 worth of small-scale equipment, from energy monitors to standby savers has been distributed to the 100+ households involved - picture left.

 

 

 

The photovoltaic (PV) panelspanels which use energy from the sun to produce electricity have been installed at Christchurch and will be reducing the school’s electricity bills.The photovoltaic panels will also give a yearly cash boost of approximately £1,600 to the school through the Feed-in Tariff.

In October 2011 a further 30 panels were installed on the same roof, more than doubling the school's PV generating capacity.  This is how it looks now:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Insulation at Fitzmaurice and Holt schools has now been installed. Insulation has also been completed at Holt Village Hall, the Lambert Centre and United Church hall. Upgrading of lighting at Holt school, Holt village hall and the United Church hall will be carried out by a local electrician soon. A total of £16,000 will be spent on making the five buildings more energy efficient, with a long-term reduction in carbon emissions as well as cost savings.

The assessments have encouraged residents to find out more about energy efficiency and energy generation. Solid wall insulation is being investigated as are various types of biomass stoves. As more information becomes available we will post it here, but for now learn more about internal solid wall insulation and balancing the needs for loft insulation and storage by downloading these notes Solid-wall Insulation and Loft Insulation and Storage.

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