Helping a Bristol community trust take sustainable approach to tackle rising energy costs
Greener Energy Futures sets Southmead Development Trust on path to becoming a low carbon organisation whilst also curbing the impact of rapidly rising energy costs.
10th May 2023 – A leading Bristol-based environmental consultancy, Greener Energy Futures, has completed a major project enabling Southmead Development Trust to save tens of thousands in annual energy costs and set it on course for achieving Bristol City Council's 2030 Net Zero target.
Greener Energy Futures, whose clients include Experian UK & EMEA, Avon Fire & Rescue, Redrock Consulting, and Diocese of Bristol, undertook an audit of the Trust’s existing energy consumption and developed a strategy that would enable it to achieve its vision of becoming a low carbon organisation and overcome the more immediate challenge of rising energy costs.
Simon Pyne, founder and Managing Director of Greener Energy Futures, said:
“Southmead Development Trust is a charity that over a period of almost 30 years has developed one of the most important, inspiring, and impressive community hubs for the people of North Bristol.
“The Trust faced two major challenges: a lack of available budget to support its unswerving commitment to significantly reduce its carbon footprint, and the urgent requirement to cover a £36,000 hike in its annual energy bills.
“Despite the Trust having limited funds available, we explored various options and identified a number of grants they were eligible to apply for and in this way successfully received funding to the tune of £31,000 to kick-start savings.
“This enabled them to implement a raft of recommended changes that would effectively enable the Trust to immediately combat a doubling of their annual energy costs.
“At the same time, we were able to create a clear plan that would ensure the Trust continues to reduce its carbon emissions and stay on track for achieving its goal of meeting Bristol City Council's 2030 Net Zero target.”
““We know that to create a fair society we need to create a sustainable society. We also know we need to do this quickly using precious resources. In our local community we need to take every opportunity to decarbonise and sustain our essential community services and buildings. Working with Greener Energy Futures over the last 2 years has been instrumental in use starting to turn this vision into a reality. One of the biggest challenges was to know what to do first and understanding the technologies available. Working closely with their expert installation partners, GEF have helped us to identify how we can achieve this cost-effectively and have helped us prioritise and design changes in conjunction with existing organisational goals. For example, we’ve improved the comfort and accessibility of our Centres through insulation and lighting measures. Overall, saving over 132 tonnes of carbon emissions and £37,000 of energy costs is a big win for our organisation, community, and the climate. We look forward to continuing our work with Greener Energy Futures to deliver further carbon, cost and comfort improvements for our community””
Among the changes implemented as a direct result of the Greener Energy Futures programme were the installation of better insulation within the Trust’s building, lighting upgrades, and the installation of renewable heating systems. A battery storage unit was installed that captures excess energy generated from the solar arrays the Trust already had in place, in addition to a sub-metering to monitor usage.
“With limited funds but a determination and public commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, we were able to help Southmead Development Trust tap into various funding options that they were unaware of,” said Simon.
“This in turn has enabled them to implement a substantial and long-term sustainable carbon reduction strategy and one that is already delivering significant reductions to the Trust’s operating costs each year.”