better generation

British Gas yesterday launched its Green Streets programme, where £2 million has been made available, in order to be invested in pioneering community-scale microgeneration energy projects. Community residents are encouraged to participate by contributing their ideas on how to save as well as produce energy. A further incentive is the fact that whichever of the 14 selected communities from around the UK achieves the largest cuts in emissions and energy usage, as well as engaging the wider community, would win a £100,000 to spend on a local environmental project of their choice. The competition will run for a year and British Gas hope that the winning candidate will provide them with a suitable template for future sustainable development projects.

The participating communities were chosen out of 100 communities across the country, ranging from an Oxfordshire village to a community in Nottingham.  The shop’s solar panel will be used to generate energy for two local churches. The Meadows Partnership Trust community group in Nottingham, on the other hand, plan to convert an abandoned pub into an eco restaurant powered by solar thermal and solar photovoltaic panels. Each project will be given ample technical support in the form of engineers and field experts for the length of the programme. Maybe they could even get one of our very own Power Predictors to get them started. Progress will be monitored by a think tank known as the Institute of Public Policy Research, who will set goals and targets for participants to meet the competition criteria.