Energy Sense: We all use energy every minute of the day. Some things are essential like eating, breathing and moving! Most uses of energy can be modified to reduce consumption, reduce wasted energy and importantly create energy in a sustainable way.
Energy: Buildings and Transport
Our houses could be more efficient with better insulation coupled with controlled ventilation giving more control over our usage. Our housing stock is one of the worst in Europe for leaky, badly insulated buildings. Government has recognised this and will provide, in many cases, grants to help cut energy waste, improve people’s comfort and save them money all at the same time. A well insulated property with solar panels and a heat pump will use very little precious energy with little of the pollution that fossil fuels emit. The earth is warming and the need to reverse this is now a matter of urgency.
In this category, we aim to provide links to some of the organisations and projects who are there to advise and help the public in this important field.
Check out our Resources for more information.
As part of our mission to connect community groups with support and inspiration, we’ve been expanding our base of mentors to encompass a wide range of knowledge and experience - read on for an introduction to a few of them.
The year got off to a flying start with a Change Makers event that proved so popular we had to change venue! Almost thirty attendees joined us in Totnes to understand more about the possibilities of using thermal imaging cameras with community groups.
Our recent Christmas Celebration gave us the chance to hear about some of your proudest achievements from 2023, and was also a reminder of how much has happened for Sustainable South Hams in the last year! Read on for a round up of where we’re at now, what we’re looking forward to, and the wide range of things we’ve been up to.
Transition Streets - a community-focussed initiative supporting social cohesion, carbon reduction, and energy saving; Incredible Edible Totnes - supporting local and accessible food growing in public spaces; Totnes Climate Hub - a public space for creating community support and local responses to our global challenges; REconomy Project - a project inspiring economic regeneration locally; Time to Breathe - a meditative space for personal wellbeing support
We connect with like-minded individuals and organisations within the PL:21 area to collaborate on projects beneficial to the community, and our goals of addressing climate change, reducing fossil-fuel dependency, and increasing local economic robustness. Our key areas of interest are: Food; Energy; Transport; Community; Ecology and Economy. As the groups have evolved and expanded some have become separate while still working closely with PL:21.
We now have a number of well-established projects, including the Marsh Composting Centre, a school garden, a hedges and woodland group and the 4B's. We have more than 200 members. SSB works closely with South Brent Parish Council who declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency in 2019. The Trustee group is presently reviewing strategic priorities and is currently focussing new effort around transport and energy projects.
Providing tools to help people understand their own carbon footprint
Moor Imagination Collective intend to develop a community hub in Buckfastleigh
Transition Streets is an award-winning project that brings neighbours together