 This Water Saving Week, we are putting our water supply under the microscope and exploring the effect of our water usage on the planet. By saving water, we can save money, carbon and nature! In the UK, the average person uses 143 litres of water per day in England and Wales, 150 litres in Scotland and 145 litres in Northern Ireland. This is risky business, considering that London is drier than Istanbul and Sydney. What's more, our population is growing, but the amount of water we have is not. By 2050, if we keep using water as we are today, we will need an extra 250 million litres of water a day. It’s time we did something to make our water usage more efficient! Last week we showed you how to save money and water with your taps, but there are other wily water wasters we need to take care of… To help with this, most UK water providers offer freebies that they will post to your home.
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 The average home uses 330 litres of water a day. Multiply that by the number of homes in the UK and that’s more than just a drop in the ocean...
The good news is, there are simple ways to cut down your use and make sure you’re only using the water you need. Starting with your taps! This week we're bringing you top tips on how to fix leaky taps, fit water-saving gadgets and save some H2O.  One of the few benefits of the COVID-19 lockdown has been the reduction in pollution and the perceived improvement in air quality. Yet things may not have improved as much as we hoped. This recent report in the Guardian suggests that particulate matter (PM) remains stubbornly high, partly due to the start of the farming season but also due to flue emissions from our gas boilers. These gas flues pump out PM, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide, that seriously impact our air quality.
So what can you do about this damaging impact on your local environment...? Replace your gas boiler with an Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) that produces zero local emissions and only a quarter of a gas boiler's emissions globally (even less if you are on a green tariff!). ASHPs use heat from the air to produce even more heat for your home. They work in much the same way as your fridge, just in reverse. Why is a heat pump considered renewable heat if it runs on electricity? A typical heat pump will produce 3-4kWh of heat for each 1kWh of electricity it consumes. And until March 2021 there are some generous Government subsidies, the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), to help you invest in renewable heat. To find out more contact us: info@crewenergy.london.
Spending more time at home means we are using a lot more energy than usual. It also means spending more time thinking about how you and your family use your home, appliances, and energy.
Switching your appliances and lights off (at the plug) when they are not in use is one of the quickest and easiest ways to start saving on average:
CREW launched its eco-action games workshops with children in Merton and Wandsworth in 2019 to help them learn just how much energy we use around the house and (most importantly) how you are never too small to make a difference and cut out carbon! During these sessions, young people have shown us they are much keener and more willing than some of their grown-up counterparts to talk about climate change and take action, but perhaps they need some help implementing these small behaviour changes. During lockdown, we need YOU to welcome the fun and games into your homes on our behalf (these guests are allowed). That's why this week’s #MakeDoCREW craft is the ideal rainy weekend activity to keep kids occupied and engage them with sustainability: energy efficiency reminders!  Community energy cooperative CREW Energy awarded £99,162 from Power to Change Wandsworth- and Merton-based community energy cooperative CREW Energy has won a grant of £99,162 from independent trust Power to Change. The grant, part of the trust’s Next Generation Fund, will allow the coop to promote and fund community ownership of renewable heat to tackle three issues in our society: climate change, fuel poverty and air quality. This funding will support CREW in achieving their goals of education, outreach, community funding, delivery and maintenance of heat networks and renewable heating systems. More specifically, the project being funded aims to deliver renewable heat to three sectors: commercial buildings – with a particular focus on civic centres – shared ground arrays in blocks of flats and in domestic homes. The Next Generation funding will mainly support CREW Energy as it develops projects in these three areas, as well as training staff in assessing renewable heat needs and supporting them as they launch their first community share offer this summer.  It might be getting a bit too warm to talk about draught-proofing, but these measures are for the long term... Plus, #MakeDoCREW is all about making the most of your time at home. You'll thank us in the depths of winter!
By blocking gaps around windows and doors, you could save up to £25-£20 a year on your energy bills. You can buy everything you need to cut out draughts online and it’s pretty easy to install.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, a hugely popular awareness day that is marked by more than a billion people every year as a day of action to change human behaviour and create global, national and local policy changes[1]. In addition to this year being a landmark birthday, in light of the Coronavirus crisis, it will also be the very first fully digital Earth Day – a perfect opportunity to see what we can achieve when we can come together in spirit, if not in person. To raise awareness, we’ve put together a list of 50 small behaviour changes we can all adopt to help our earth today and every day. It’s our way of being #TogetherInAction even while we are apart.  There’s been a lot of information floating around on energy supply during the coronavirus crisis, so we have put together a short post to help you navigate it all.
One of CREW's main services is our energy cafés, where we offer advice on how to save money on your energy bills and access grants and discount schemes. During the coronavirus crisis, we are unable to hold our physical face-to-face cafés, but we are keen to offer our advice nonetheless! One of the biggest energy issues we have identified is the mighty prepayment meter, which must be physically topped up at a local shop or Post Office. Generally, one of the most important points to make here is that your energy supply won’t be disrupted during the crisis, and all suppliers and network companies are still working to the same rules and obligations Ofgem have put in place. Secondly, no-one on a standard credit meter, which you pay each month by direct debit or each quarter by cash or cheque, will be cut off during the crisis. That said, if you have a prepayment meter, you may be anxious to hear what help is available if you are unable to leave your house to top up your prepayment card.  Source: https://blog.arcadia.com/led-vs-regular-lightbulbs-do-they-really-make-a-difference/ If you're looking for a simple #stayhome project but a more long-term investment, now might be a good time to start replacing your light bulbs. Lighting accounts for 15% of a typical household’s electricity bill, so bulbs have an important role to play. These days, there are lot of different light bulbs available and we've come a long way from the traditional incandescent kind, which produced only 5% light, with the other 95% being lost as heat! Their carbon footprint was so high - producing more than 15,000,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year - they were banned in the UK in 2018. Without a doubt, the most energy and cost efficient solution available is the LED light bulb. Switching from halogen to LED can save up to £3 per year and around 5kg of CO2 emissions PER BULB! This #MakeDoCREW craft is one you can get the kids involved with! It's also a creative way to upcycle some old clothes and prevent them from going to landfill. You can be as bold as you like, match with your room decor, or personalise for children's bedrooms. One of the best and cheapest ways to keep out cold air is to use a draught excluder. These handy cushions stop draughts from getting under the front door and into your home. You can also use them on internal doors to make rooms even cosier. What’s more, they’ll help you cut your energy bills. DIY draught proofing around windows and doors could save you on average between £25 and £35 per year.   As we stay home to support our communities and the NHS, some of us may find ourselves with a lot more time on our hands. If you're in search of a productive new hobby, why not take that extra time and put it into a project that will benefit your pocket and the planet? Especially as we're spending a lot more time in the home, using more energy!
Draught proofing and minimising heat loss in the home is an essential to help keep heat inside and save money on your energy bills. Heat can escape through different areas of the house through:
Minimising these escape routes for heat can help warm your home quicker and keep it warm for longer. This week, we're showing you how to fit radiator reflector panels.  Fun playing a range of sustainability-themed games!
In November 2019, CREW Energy volunteers and Devas Club staff engaged the youth club’s younger members (8-12 years old) through a range of EcoAction Games on themes of sustainability and energy saving. This was a trial use of the games as an effective means of educating young people around key environmental themes and energy-saving projects, funded by the London Community Energy Fund awarded to CREW Energy and Devas in late 2018 by the Greater London Authority. Since, we have honed our EcoAction games skills at the Wandsworth Youth Climate Action Commission and will be continuing along this thread at SPINE Festival 2020.  20-26 January 2020 is Big Energy Saving Week, a national campaign run by Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice Scotland, Energy Saving Trust and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to raise awareness around our energy usage and habits. To mark the occasion, CREW would like to invite you to attend one of our free energy advice events in Morden and Islington.  Addresses and maps below  Have you seen information about our energy cafés but aren't sure they’re for you? We get it. Offering free advice could seem suspicious to some, let alone free cake. But, firstly, you should know that our energy advice sessions are entirely volunteer-led and grant-funded; our lovely trained energy advisors are just people helping people and being kind to the planet along the way.
We also know talk of fuel poverty can throw some people. And while this affects 11% of the UK population, it’s important to know that our energy cafés are suitable for everyone and anyone. More specifically, anyone who pays energy bills, and/or who would like to reduce their carbon footprint. Fuel poverty is just one (albeit important) aspect of the scheme. How does it work? Come along to one of our drop-in sessions at your local library or community centre. No appointment necessary – all you need is your latest energy bill. Our trained energy advisors can then sit down with you to provide personalised, impartial advice and support on switching energy tariffs, energy-saving measures and small behaviour changes – all over tea and cake. The service is free and could save you hundreds of pounds.  We about sustainable and renewable technology a lot, so we thought it was high-time we showed you that we know our stuff, while also giving you the insider knowledge to decipher the jargon. This month, in our ‘tech spot’, we’re breaking down heat pumps.
 Last month we announced our UKPN Power Partners funding for 22 energy cafes across Lambeth, Merton and Wandsworth throughout winter 2019/2020. This funding covers training of our new energy advisors, followed by two successful energy cafes held at Morden Library throughout November.
Responding to the climate emergency and reducing fuel poverty will only be solved through communities coming together to share time, experience, knowledge and enthusiasm. CREW Energy is excited to partner with Sustainable Merton on projects within the borough. Below we feature the work of Sustainable Merton and details of how you can get involved.   Last month, we gave a behind-the-scenes intro to our energy cafes. But what does it mean to our volunteers? Here’s a first-hand account from CREW Energy Adviser, Maureen
 Electric vehicles have become an important part of both the fight against air pollution and the move to a low-carbon economy, which is essential for reducing the effects of climate change. EVs aim to replace road vehicles, which use internal combustion engines (ICEs), by instead charging a battery which then delivers power to the motor
 Our energy cafes aim to help people get more value for their energy spend. They are run by volunteers trained in giving energy advice and the concept was part of CREW’s very raison d’être.
 Photo credit: @LDN_environment July was a big month for the community energy sphere, with Community Energy Fortnight (22 June - 7 July) and London’s very first Climate Action Week (1-7 July). Throughout the two-week period, CREW members darted from event to event telling Londoners about our ongoing projects and hearing updates from our fellow community energy groups. In particular, we spoke about our LED lighting project at the Community Energy Annual Conference and attended the London Climate Action Week launch. We took the opportunity to spread the word on social media but, in case you missed it, below are our reflections on London’s first celebration of climate action. Sadiq Khan invited a range of organisations working hard to make London a greener, more sustainable city to the launch event of London’s first ever Climate Action Week. Following the Mayor’s declaration of a climate emergency earlier this year, Londoners have been encouraged to attend one of the hundreds of events around the capital to learn more and take action at a community level to tackle climate change. CREW Energy attended the reception at the London Living Room in City Hall to hear both HRH Prince Charles and Sadiq Khan make impassioned speeches to move beyond the rhetoric and start taking meaningful action on climate. This was followed by interesting panel discussions from a range of climate activities and sustainability champions on how to lead change at a community, city and national level. We left feeling both inspired and informed, with greater conviction that CREW Energy can play a meaningful role in helping London become the world’s greenest, cleanest, low carbon city.  We've decided to re-brand with a new logo, name and slogan for 2019. "Community Renewable Energy Wandsworth (CREW)" will no longer be the name for the cooperative. As we've developed, both in our internal capability and in response to wider trends in the renewable energy industry, we've developed a capability beyond just installing renewable energy.
We are the first community energy group in London to complete an LED replacement project under a lighting services agreement. We offer a range of technological solutions to help community groups, businesses and home owners save energy and become more efficient. We are also launching a series of energy cafes throughout 2019 to help people reduce their energy bills, make their homes more efficient and lift out of fuel poverty. Therefore we've decided to drop the acronym from our name and simply become "CREW". This reflects both that we offer more than just renewable energy services, and that we are also not confined just to Wandsworth, but want to work with partner organisations all across south-west London. So from 2019 we are CREW. With a fantastic new logo thanks to a friend of the group and a new slogan - "Clean Energy - Community Power'; we look forward to going on a journey together to achieve more across a wider swathe of London. We hope you like the new brand!  In December 2018 CREW were awarded £12,500 by the GLA's London Community Energy Fund (Phase 2) to develop our latest LED and BMS project with Devas Club.
CREW were one of 18 community energy projects that have been awarded a total of £182,000 in this second phase of the London Community Energy Fund, covering projects across 13 different London boroughs. The successful proposals include developing solar projects in time to still benefit from the Feed-in tariff (due to end in April 2019), installing electric vehicle charging points, adding battery storage to solar PV panels or even developing a community off-grid hybrid renewable system. CREW will now be working closely with the Devas Club to transform the energy performance of the building by summer 2019  CREW have joined up with Devas Club for our next project. CREW will be helping Devas to become a more sustainable centre, saving money on their energy bills and carbon emissions. We will replace all of their lighting to LEDs, similar to our DRCA project, and also instal a Building Management System (BMS) to help manage the energy performance of the centre.
As per our standard offering, we will manage the project from start to finish, providing technical scoping and design, financing and installation support. CREW will be working with Devas to find the most cost effective way of completing the works, with payment made through the savings on future energy bills. Devas Club is a Battersea institution, serving young people and the community since 1970. They offer a range of services including a dance studio, a recording studio and a silk-screen workshop. The main floor also houses several social areas, a computer suite, table tennis hall and an art room. The upper levels provide a large gym with weights room, and several meeting and rehearsal rooms. There is an enclosed Basketball court on the roof. By integrating into the broader community young people feel part of that community. A Community Café is run on two weekdays and local groups regularly hire space.  Last weekend saw the UK's solar output surpass all other forms of power generation, equivalent to almost 28% of supply by lunchtime on Sunday.
Data from the government and National Grid-backed Sheffield Solar PV_Live Project shows how renewable energy has become a consistently high contributor to the UK's energy mix throughout 2018. Have you considered installing solar PV on your household, business or community organisation? CREW Solar is a group purchasing scheme which gives homeowners the opportunity to install a solar PV system at a discount. Find out more here. Meanwhile, if you're interested in how CREW can help your organisation generate low cost renewable energy and a range of other measures for saving money, take a look at what services we offer. |
