Monday 12 March 2012

YOUNG ASHBURTON ECO-ENERGISERS ASSIST ASHBURTON FUTURES


BBC Spotlight film the Eco-Energisers

Youngsters from Ashburton Primary School got involved in an Energy Audit on an Ashburton home, wielding a thermal imaging camera to seek out the building’s hot and cold spots.
Ella Laity and Lloyd Bickham, both 10, are part of the primary’s Eco-Energisers group – exploring ways to make the school and its operation more sustainable.
Said Lloyd: “We make sure the school is energy efficient and we’re trying to make the whole town like that and make sure that we are all energy efficient – to help save the world.”
Camera on-camera:
The Western Morning News
photographer captures the
Eco Energisers and the
thermal imaging kit
Raj Patel, of Ashburton Futures – the Transition group for Ashburton that commissioned the energy audits – said: “The Eco-Energisers have been real agents of change. They’ve been really thinking about sustainable issues in the school and how they can take that practice out into their homes and the community.”
Fraser and householder Chris
The Year 6 children took part in an Energy Audit at the Beverly Gardens home of Chris Elmes.
Chris’s two-bedroom home was built in the 1970s and he’s lived there for 35 years. He admitted that other than double glazing, he didn’t do much about energy saving.
But the Energy Auditors Ruth Leonard-Williams and Fraser Durham, of consultancy Anahat Energy, found that Chris could do a whole lot just by changing his ‘ancient’ boiler.
Chris Elmes watching his Energy Audit
Said Ruth: “His boiler is ancient and really inefficient. He needs to upgrade to a modern condensing boiler that is 90% efficient, saving him 20-30% on gas bills.”
Ruth making energy-saving
calculations
Thanks to the Energy Audit, Chris is now very keen to act. “I’m actively thinking about a new boiler now, and remortgaging to get a combi boiler, and getting rid of the tank and the immersion heater.
“I had been thinking about it but today I’ve made a definite decision to change it. I’ve made up my mind because the audit’s changed my thinking.”
The energy audits have been arranged as part of an Ashburton Futures initiative called MASHFFF – Making Ashburton-style Homes Fit For the Future.
At the beginning of this year, Ashburton Futures qualified for £24,000 of Government funding to find out the best ways to eco-improve a range of properties in Ashburton whilst sharing the knowledge with the community as widely as possible.
The energy audit findings are being shared at a Results Reception, to be held in Ashburton Town Hall on March 30, from 6.30pm to 9.30pm, plus a series of short films of each audit has been made and is being published on YouTube.