News
Waste Not Want Not Event, Chesterfield
Thu, 22 October 2009Waste Not Want Not Event
22/10/09 – Energy Saving Week
Chesterfield Borough Council
Visitors 22
Bulbs 30
Powerdowns 20
Lifetime CO2 4435 kg
Lifetime cost saving £4,639.60
We were able to assist a number of council staff and members of the public with their enquiries on low energy lighting and renewable energy.
Many visitors were interested in a wider range of bulb styles such as candles and spot lights and were very eager to hear about new developments in LED technology.
The Chief Executive, Huw Bowen and the Mayor Adrian Kitch tried out the Energy Bike and were interested to see how this demonstrated the energy saving of the Compact Fluorescent Bulb.
Light Fantastic, Swadlincote Flood Fair
Wed, 21 October 2009
South Derbyshire District Council
Light Fantastic, Swadlincote Flood Fair
21/10/2009
Visitors: approx 350
Bulbs distributed: 680
Powerdown Units distributed: 200
CO2 saved (lifetime): 98,631
Retained economic benefit (lifetime): £62,098
Wednesday 21st October the Light Fantastic visited Swadlincote and was situated in front of the Town Hall where the Floor Fair was located. Despite threatening weather, the rain never came and we had a steady flow of interest throughout the day. Many of the people who came to visit the trailer were then directed into the town hall.
Two representatives from South Derbyshire District Council were on hand to give expert local advice. Most people had low energy light bulbs of some kind and some had all but the most difficult ones changed. We were able to show these people the range available to them and direct them to stockists of LED’s GU10 replacements and candle type bulbs.
Younger people of the town enjoyed the energy bike and carbon countdown game, with a bunch of teenagers taking up the challenge to light up nine low energy light bulbs – it was actually quite easy as they only added up to 56W, less than the 60W incandescent bulb in the case.
We were also able to assist people with insulation and renewable technology enquiries. Several people have been thinking about solar thermal, and we were able to give them detailed technical advice, as well as advice on photovoltaic installations and one enquiry about domestic wind in a semi-rural location.
Light Fantastic, Big Wheel, Nottingham
Sat, 26 September 2009
Nottingham City Council
Light Fantastic, Big Wheel, Nottingham
26/9/2009
Visitors: approx 1200
Bulbs distributed: 2520
PowerDown Units distributed: 160
CO2 saved (lifetime): 361,157 kg
Retained economic benefit (lifetime): £131,326
The Big Wheel is essentially a re-branded green event, and what an impact the difference has. There was a massive turn out to the event will all cross-sections of the community attending. We managed to secure a great location near the entrance, and this had an instant impact – we were busy from the word go!
Luckily we had two volunteers as well as the two staff from the Council to assist. We had queues for the light-bulbs, general assistance and for the energy bike. We were able to help a number of people out who had changes all but their halogen and dimmer switch bulbs, but largely most people had not got to this stage yet.
The Council officers also brought along a number of giveaways, cloth bags, water saving devices, pens, food savers and staple less staplers. This was just as well as the PowerDowns had all gone by 11am and the bulbs by 12.30. We were able to get children to commit to being energy monitors for their own homes as well as also distributing carbon foot-printing and tops sheets. Matt from the council commented that he had spoken to more people in the morning, in more depth than he had at all the year’s previous events put together.
In the afternoon we were able to give more in depth feedback and assistance to visitors, promoting energy monitors and dealing with some tricky questions about LEDs (one of which was answered by my twelve year old son!). One visitor would not change to CFLs on health and safety grounds as they did not come on quick enough and he might end up falling down the stairs. It was pointed out to him the health and safety issues with getting on a chair 15 times to change incandescent bulbs and also that he could opt for a higher wattage CFL. He left happy with this solution.
We also dealt with many enquiries about solar panels – thermal and PV. We also promoted feed in tariffs which were unknown to most.
All in this was a fantastic event, with a great attendance. Many left very switched on.
Light Fantastic, Erewash Canal Festival
Sun, 6 September 2009
Erewash Borough Council
Light Fantastic, Erewash Canal Festival
6/9/2009
Visitors: approx 700
Bulbs distributed: 1480
PowerDown Units distributed: 120
CO2 saved (lifetime): 212,303
Retained economic benefit (lifetime): £81,553
Spread over a large area, it was hard to gauge numbers at this event, however we had a steady stream of interest and at times people were four deep at the trailer. The energy bike was again very popular, today we set them a challenge of lighting up five low energy bulbs including a very flash GU10 LED. The event turned out to be so busy that we had given away all the PowerDowns and bulbs by around 13.00.
It being a canal festival (but not a boat in sight!) we had a lot of interest from boat owners wishing to change lights over to LED and power their boats on PV. Interestingly the consensus was the wind turbines were not effective enough at such a low level to generate consistent electricity. One chap was even hoping to power his washing machine and dishwasher with a PV array…I suggested some alternative solutions!
We had a visit from the mayoral party who disappointingly did not want to jump on the energy bike, but were very interested in the PowerDowns and wider use of low energy lighting.
The biggest shock of the day was to find that a number of people in the borough appear to be incorrectly on Economy 7 metres, or have been mis-sold inappropriate tariffs by their suppliers. We were able to advise on how to seek out alternatives and switch their tariffs.
Having given most of the energy efficiency items away in the morning we were able to concentrate on giving detailed advice to individuals and families.
Kay Kent was representing the council at the event and her assistance and grants advice was invaluable.
Light Fantastic, Stapleford Carnival
Sat, 5 September 2009
Broxtowe Borough Council
Light Fantastic, Stapleford Carnival
5/9/2009
Visitors: approx 700
Bulbs distributed: 1440
Powerdown Units distributed: 120
CO2 saved (lifetime): 206,589
Retained economic benefit (lifetime): £79,900
This was a large and well attended event which was slow to build but had a busy afternoon. The energy bike was particularly popular with the children and some dads, and we could have made a mint charging for rides on it! It was useful to have the EST stall next door as there were able to help a few people out with boiler grant enquiries.
We had a visit from the local Labour MP who received a bespoke training session on low energy lighting – he has had a number of queries about this issue recently and wasn’t really sure how to respond. We spend ten minutes going through the issues and he was sent away with factsheets and further information to help with his responses.
The local church were also very appreciative of advice and help and were given bulbs to hand out to their congregation on the Sunday following the event.
There was particular interest in the LED GU10 that we had on display and a number of people had changed most of their bulbs and just had the ones on dimmers and GU10s left to change. They were grateful to hear of places to source their replacements bulbs.
Finally it is interesting to note that as a more of the increase in understanding and willingness to change bulbs over, were had a curiously large number of enquiries from people wishing to change lights on their cooker hoods and in their fridges. Lyco and Efficient Light will be getting a lot of curious enquiries.
Saturday 5th was a great show and Andy and Marice’s assistance was invaluable.