2019: CREW in review

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A fantastic year of firsts, funding and friends   While 2018 might have seemed like a tough act to follow... 2019 was by far CREW's biggest year to date! Prior to this, we had completed two projects in our organisation's lifespan, in 2019 we delivered four. Equally, before 2019, our energy café numbers sat around the five mark, whereas this year we totted up three times that, with even more in the pipeline for 2020. Figures aside, we spent 2019 nourishing new and existing partnerships, delivering projects and holding energy cafés and educational sessions on energy-saving and usage. CREW also grew and grew, thanks to our new volunteers: Amy, Jamie, Ollie, Yunus and Katherin who’ve each made a huge contribution to the team. We've had an amazing year and we hope you've enjoyed keeping up-to-date with our newsletter. Time to dive into some details! New year, new projects... Our projects carried over from 2017 and 2018 brought with them strong case studies, which led to successful funding bids and, soon, more and more projects across London. Hence how 'Community Renewable Energy Wandsworth' became 'CREW Energy' with our first projects north of the river! Most notably, our combined 2019 Islington projects are forecast to save an annual total of 112,500 kWh of energy, 30 tonnes of CO2e and £12,850 across three community buildings: Our most recent introduction of Hydromx into the central heating system at The Parent House will even save a huge 25% on heat. ... and new funding and community partners Find out more about our projects here Energy cafés got a Power Partners boost November and December bore the fruit of our UKPN Power Partners funding – our energy cafés. We held more energy cafés in the last two months of 2019 than we did in the whole of 2018, with impressive results!  This funding enabled us to reach the people of Wandsworth, Merton and Lambeth on a wider, more effective scale that will stretch into 2020. It also meant the arrival of yet more volunteers in the form of energy advisors, and a new community partner in Thinking Works, who handle in-home energy surveys on our behalf. In addition, we combined our services with the Warm and Well scheme in Merton to further fight fuel poverty. A year of firsts   As you can see, 2019 was a big year for many reasons, most of which were CREW firsts. We gained momentum this year that we're hoping will spur us on to even bigger things in 2020! Here are just a few that we'd like to shout about. First... Community Energy London Director appointed £126K in funding raised (not including up to £100K from the Next Generation fund) Community energy project in London to use a Building Management System Community energy project in London to use Hydromx Nomination for a Community Energy Award CREW solar panels fitted Projects outside Wandsworth What's in store for 2020? CREW is only just getting started! Our energy cafés are still in full swing, with sessions already lined up for January (meaning continued outreach across Wandsworth, Merton and Lambeth) along with another training course for our energy advisors. Jamie, our newly appointed CEL Director will be building close ties with Community Energy London and other community energy groups throughout the capital to see how we can work together. We'll also be mentoring community energy groups in Newham and Redbridge to offer them support and advice. Last but by no means least, we are through to the research and development round of the Power to Change 'Next Generation' funding application. Having already been awarded up to an additional £100k of funding, if successful, we would have the means to implement a business model, which would positively impact CREW's structure and organisation. All things considered, all that's left for us to say is a huge thank you to everyone who played a part in our 2019! CREW wouldn't be the same without you cheering us on. We look forward to sharing even more exciting CREW news with you in 2020. In the meantime, keep an eye out for updates on social media and subscribe to our monthly newsletter. Sign up to the mailing list