Best Community Initiative

in association with Aviva

WINNER Settle Hydro

The small North Yorkshire town of Settle now has its own source of renewable energy – a 165,000 kW turbine in the river Ribble. Amazingly, the project was conceived and run by two volunteers in their spare time. “One day” says Ann Harding, “we looked at the river and thought we must be able to make energy”. They raised £410,000 from grants, loans and investors (including Take That’s Jason Orange) and went live in December 2009. The electricity is sold to the National Grid, with profits divided between shareholders and community projects. The scheme will save 3,200 tonnes of carbon and has now advised 300 other communities about similar projects. http://www.settlehydro.org.uk/

Haddenham in Transition – Heat, Camera, Action!

Heat, Camera, Action! offers people infrared thermal images of their houses, businesses and community buildings, for free. The project aims to catalyse action to reduce energy use, by showing people where heat is escaping from their properties. It was set up by volunteers from Haddenham in Transition, in Bucks. They borrowed an infrared camera and built a team of 20 volunteers who surveyed nearly 200 local properties in seven towns and villages. They also ran events about climate change in each location. In December 2010 they secured a £2,500 grant to buy their own infrared camera, and will take “before and after” images to show the effect of energy-efficiency measures. http://tinyurl.com/6cdczpu

Brakes Group – FareShare partnership

Catering supplier Brakes, in Greater Manchester, now recycles twice as much surplus food as it sends to landfill, after forging a partnership in March 2010 with FareShare. This charity provides meals for vulnerable and homeless people in locations such as Aberdeen, Liverpool, Leicester and Brighton, using unwanted food from the catering and retail sector. Between March and October 2010 Brakes donated food equivalent to 800,000 meals, worth £350,000. The food is “in date” and fit for human consumption, but has exceeded industry shelf-life limits. Brakes cut 1,100 tonnes of CO2 emissions and saved £23,000 in landfill costs. It now leads the food service sector, with just 0.2% of its fresh produce going to landfill. http://tinyurl.com/6e4ks84

Carbon Leapfrog

Carbon Leapfrog channels free professional support into low-carbon projects. It connects lawyers, accountants and management consultants to community-led initiatives, to build management infrastructure and raise capital so they can become self-financing. Carbon Leapfrog began with six pilot projects that received 4,000 hours of support worth about £1m – such as the Bathampton Hydro Scheme near Bath, which will generate 400 mWh of green energy annually. These projects achieved carbon reductions that Carbon Leapfrog estimate to be 30,000 tonnes a year. It now has 20 projects receiving several millions pounds worth of support, such as one developing wind energy in Falmouth, Cornwall. http://carbonleapfrog.org/project-latest/