March Newsletter

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A whole lot of Wandsworth love this month with some updates on our work with Wandsworth Council, Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce and Wandsworth Youth Climate Action Commission. Plus a whole new community we've opened up to! Grandes noticias… our energy cafés are extending even further and are now available in Spanish. With our very own Colombian Energy Café Manager, Katherín, at the helm, along with the help of a few more Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking volunteers, we can now offer our energy advice to the Latin American community! Navigating your energy bills can be difficult enough for native English speakers, let alone when English is your second language. So, we are proud to be empowering yet another community by supporting them with their communication and/or energy needs! Our first session was held on 21st February at IRMO (Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organization) in Brixton, where even staff were surprised to hear you can request priority services, such as your energy bill in another language, if English is not your mother tongue! We discussed how to keep bills down, when and how to switch providers and how to apply for the Warm Homes Discount scheme and the aforementioned Priority Services Register (with our own translated forms to facilitate the application process). Now that Katherín has donned her superhero part-SELCE, part-CREW hats, she can even follow up with Thinking Works and conduct home visits in Spanish. The first session was such a hit that we were invited back the following week where we helped 11 attendees sign up for home visits and switched 2 people's bills there and then, saving one lady hundreds of pounds a year on her gas bill. This initial step was just the first of many. We have joined forces with SELCE, again with help from Katherín, on the Faith and Power scheme: designed to combine energy advice with faith groups to help them save money and energy. On Sunday 1st March we went along to St George's Cathedral in Southwark for one of the biggest Latin American masses in London and will be holding a follow-up session this Sunday 8th March. ¡Nos vemos allá! Your March energy-saving tip   Heat can escape through different areas of the house, mainly through doors, walls and windows. But did you know that 15% of heat loss in the average home is through draughts? Minimising these escape routes for heat can help warm your home quicker and keep it warm for longer.  DIY draught proofing around windows and doors could save you, on average, between £25 and £35 per year. Find out how to DIY draught-proof your home Wandsworth Youth Climate Action Commission This Valentine’s Day, CREW Energy helped local students make their feelings known… with a love letter to the planet.  We attended a day of environment-focused activities and workshops organised by Wandsworth Youth Council to run an EcoAction Games session as part of their sustainability programme. The day focused on primary and secondary school children and the actions they, and their schools, are taking to mitigate the climate emergency. We saw presentations from the children on recycling initiatives, rewards for walking to school, energy-saving behaviours and more. Later, the children from schools across the borough split off into groups to take part in workshops centred on sustainable fashion, reducing food waste and… over with us – energy saving around the house, through games!  We began trialling the use of the games back in November 2019 as an effective means of educating young people around key environmental themes and energy-saving behaviours. We have since been approached by a few venues in South London looking for friendly, fun activities for school-aged children. So far, ‘Play Your Eco Cards Right’ has proven the most educational (certainly the most surprising figures!) with some astonishing takeaways. Our next games workshop will be part of SPINE Festival at Mitcham Library, on 10th March 2020. Find out more about EcoAction Games With climate firmly on the political table, especially with the recent court ruling against the third runway at Heathrow Airport, local councils are stepping up their efforts to tackle the climate emergency. We are delighted to announce that we are supporting Wandsworth Borough Council in achieving their climate goals.   Wandsworth Council made a pledge last year, where it declared a climate emergency, setting the targets to become a carbon neutral organisation by 2030, zero carbon by 2050 and the greenest inner-London borough. CREW is working very closely with Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce to develop a 'green rating' for local businesses, auditing buildings and processes in line with climate targets. We welcome this collaboration and are looking forward to making the borough a greener place to live. Stay tuned for updates! That's all for this month! But if you're interested in more CREW news...   Sign up to the mailing list