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Light Fantastic, Rosliston Forestry Centre, 24/04/10

Tue, 27 April 2010

Visitors:                                               approx 200

Bulbs distributed:                                  350

TV PowerDowns distributed:                  120

Insulation referrals:                                5

 

CO2 saved (lifetime):                             80,672 kg

Retained economic benefit (lifetime):      £40,487

 

This was a busy sunny day in South Derbyshire at the Rosliston Forestry Centre. There were lots of activities for children and we were inundated with requests to use the energy bike. At one point there was a crowd of twenty children all waiting and competing on the bike to see who could light up the six low energy light bulbs. We even got caught up in a debate with a nine year old boy about what was better for the environment, watching TV or making paper aeroplanes.

 

There was lots of interest in the alternative bulbs that are now available and plenty of willingness to change over remaining non low energy bulbs. We spent a lot of time also discussing the most appropriate renewable technologies for homes in the area – there seems to be a great deal of interest especially in solar photovoltaics. One in depth discussion revealed that a family were spending £115 per week on LPG to heat their home. Suitable alternatives such as heat from wood or solar hot water were discussed and installers recommended.

 

We also had interest in insulation for homes. Five families signed up straight away and another four took contact details for the future.

 

Renewables Workshop, LAEP A+I Group

Mon, 22 March 2010
Renewables Workshop
LAEP A+I Group
22/03/10
 
Eight attendess, one was from Warm Front, the other seven from the LAs. Attendees very happy with it. Left them all with a handout they can keep on their desk for when they get enquries from the public - they all liked this. We did an activity where they thought of questions the public might ask them and practised answering them in pairs then fed back to the whole group. Also, added in a short presentation about planning permission, grants and feed-in tarrifs. We began the session by getting them to write down question the public had or might ask them on post-its. At the end they all felt that they could now answer those questions.

Carbon Foot-print Stall, Greening Campaign

Sat, 20 March 2010

Nottinghamshire County Council

Carbon Foot-print Stall

20/3/10

This was one of about 20 stalls at a Greening Campaign launch in West Bridgeford. Overall event was very busy. Did nine footprints over the three hours of the event. We took the lightbulb library along and this proved popular with lots of questions about halogens and LEDs: spoke with 30 or so people.

Renewables Workshop, Gedling Officers

Fri, 19 March 2010

Gedling BC

Renewables Workshop

19/03/10

For 12 officers at Gedling BC, most of them from Planning. They found the activity around how to install renewables in different areas of a borough useful. 

Indoor Light Fantastic, Chesterfield

Fri, 12 March 2010

Light Fantastic, Green Up, Chesterfield

12/03/2010

Chesterfield Borough Council

Visitors:                                                                approx 75

Bulbs distributed:                                                88

CO2 saved (lifetime):                                          12,569.92kg                                             

Retained economic benefit (lifetime):               £3636.16

The Light Fantastic in Chesterfield on Friday was part of a larger event called Green Up: we were one of about 15 stalls.

The weather was against us from the start so it wasn’t as busy as it might have been but there was a slow, steady flow throughout the day.

In addition to giving away 88 bulbs to 44 people I spoke to around another 30 who didn't want the bulbs as they already have lots from energy company or from '5 for 10p offers' at Morrisons! Probably confirmation that we're doing the right thing in moving to Fantastic Homes later this year.

I used our Light bulb Library as a way to talk about moving onto other kinds of energy saving lightbulbs and this worked well: most people were unaware of the range of bulbs available. The three most common queries (the most common being first) were:

  • Lots of people were complaining about how often the have to change their halogens and I was able to show them our lower wattage halogens and our LEDs. The LEDs will last longer and both will use less energy.

  • The 25 watt (150 watt equivalent)  daylight bulbs were popular too:  I had quite a lot of older people with bad eyesight come to the stall and complain about low energy bulbs. I explained that although the packaging on our free bulbs says that an 18 watt bulb is 100 watt equivalent, they could replace a 100 watt bulb with one of the 25 watt ones: this would still give them a decent energy saving and it would give them more and better light (these bulbs are designed to emulate daylight). Several people found this information useful.

  • Some people asked about dimmer switches and I was able to show them the options in our library.

I gave out fact sheets on low energy lightbulbs and pointed out the listings of websites which sell more unusual and hard-to-find energy saving bulbs.

There were a couple of enquiries about insulation and renewables, but I would imagine that most people who had this kind of enquiry went to one of the other stalls dedicated to these products.