These provide up to date information (October 2009) on the measures that Dorset residents can incorporate into their homes, businesses and community buildings.

by David JC MacKay (FRS Professor of Natural Philosophy, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge)

-Available to read online or download for free at www.withouthotair.com

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“This remarkable book from an expert in the energy field sets out, with enormous clarity and objectivity, the various alternative low-carbon pathways that are open to us. Policy makers, researchers, private sector decision makers, and NGOs, all will benefit from these words of wisdom.” Sir David King FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government, 2000-08

“a cold blast of reality … a must-read analysis … I found MacKay’s book by turns exhilarating and terrifying. His calculations are always thought-provoking even when his assumptions had me banging the table in disagreement. My objections often faded as his analysis unfolded.” 19 June 2009 – Science magazine -

Dartmouth Wave Energy Ltd presented Searaser (Wave Renewable Energy Converter) at a community meeting hosted by Transition Weymouth and Portland, 34 people attended.

Further info: www.dartmouthwaveenergy.com

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• TIME: Started 6:30pm until 10pm ish
• VENUE:The Colliton Club (upstairs in the Dorset Room), Colliton House Colliton Park, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1XJ
• (it’s at the top of Dorchester town opposite County Hall)
• TRANSPORT: Attendees considered cycling, walking, train-ing, bus-ing and lift-sharing
• REFRESHMENTS: Purchased at the bar

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Welcome & Introductions

Sharing Energy Tips

Things we might like to do as an energy group? eg LED lighting bulb library and co-operative…other ideas

Upcoming Community Energy Conference (Pete West)

Any other business

Literature and stuff was shared… energy efficient bulbs were given away fro free (courtesy of DEAC)

A good mix of 7… 9… 12! people attending – the room can hold a lot more!

Please email if you would like to attend future meetings:- energy(at)transitiontowndorchester(dot)org

Transition Town Dorchester’s first energy ‘open space’ event was voted a great success by participants. It featured an introduction to peak oil and climate change by Toby Booth, who looked forward to Dorchester’s very own Energy Descent Plan, and brief talks by Cllr Nicki Barker, energy advisor Emily Bullock, and Renewables Development Officer Pete West. Nicki surprised us by advocating the River Frome as a prime target for a heat exchanger, Emily challenged the audience with quiz questions which we were too polite to answer (or may be we just didn’t know?), and Pete tempted everyone with success stories from Denmark and Austria.

The ‘open space’ discussion method introduced by Marion got top marks from all participants, and generated lots of laughter, earnest technical exchanges, and some ideas for possible projects. Everyone seemed to have time to have their say, and there was also plenty of time to network over the exceptional peanut cookies and tea laid on by Tess. Prize idea of the day is that we need a recipe page on our website please!

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Question: Are you aware of the energy return on energy invested to our future as a community? How can we have sustainable, renewable energy, when the hardware/production relies on oil?

Responses

• Technologies will use less energy
• Prioritising the use of oil – eg for public transport over private car use
• Energy crisis will catalyse innovation and development.
• Biomass crops should not be grown on food producing land
• We need to be looking at what sort of future we want and then plan how to get there, instead of stumbling forward, accepting compromises and short term solutions, like nuclear power.

Responses

• Ground Source Heat Pump – need 100m length of piping – not realistic
• Air Source Heat Pump – no-one had any strong info
• Wind – possible but many considerations
• 12V system for shed lighting might be possible with small (40cm-1m as used on boats eg Rutlands) best bet was to invest in community scheme where wind conditions were more favourable
• turbines need 10x clear distance as their height to capture ‘clean wind’
• turbines have to hunt (frequently change direction) to meet turbulent wind
• think of community as ‘communtity of wind-power enthusiasts’ not confined to geographical
• £1000 invested in a community scheme would pay dividends many times greater than same investment in small turbine
• less than 20kw is really only for show/education
• electricity prices will continue to rise – more than £1/unit within 5 years
• investing in wind turbines as a way to hedge rising costs
• fairly striaght forward to work out how much to invest in to cover personal use
• double rocs (renewable obligation certificates) now available for microgeneration
• is this as well as or instead of feed-in-tariff?
• Solar HW – worthwhile but much longer pay-back times
• Must have S-SW facing roof approx 50-55 degree pitch

Try REIC reic.co.uk or orgs like energy4all.co.uk

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Responses

• heard that >15miles was no carbon benefit back-of-envelope caculation gave 1.5% per tonne-mile ie. >66miles would have simple ERoEI<1 (energy return on energy invested)
• Mainly SW winds in Dorchester
• Ideal places south of Poundbury
• Have small farm of 10-15 x 20kw/50kw turbines or a line of them on the embankment
• Vertical axis turbines now available which are suited to turbulent sites but they only capture 1/3 of the same wind that a conventional turbine would

Responses

• A web-based calculator for a whole community, like the actonco2 one, to measure the carbon footprint of a whole community
• Figures etc available to see if it is going up or down and ideas of how to improve
• Pledges, and then periodic reminders to see if targets have been reached
• What are the barriers to improvements?
• An area on the website for problem solving

Responses

• The answer to this consisted of diagrams!
• You need two coils in the water tank, one from each heat source. They can run separately, or together, on a warm January day.

Responses

Cavity walls

• One person recommended : Yes, use polystyrene balls instead of mineral fibre (no condensation), but ensure no wires in cavity.
• Other options: look at practice in Pembrokeshire (also zone 4, like Dorset, for exposure / dampness risk); look at Sempatex for insulation on inside leaf of wall.

Other home improvement issues:

• water conservation, hard to get information on options for e.g. rainwater flushing of loos without major works like digging up whole garden to bury a storage tank. A contact was suggested who could be commissioned to advise via the LETS group.
• solar thermal in conservation areas , hard to get planning permission. Needs moral support by a group doing it?
• Community action on housing stock

People need to know :

• what to do first
• the payback time
• cost etc.

Advice must be independent e.g. Dorset County Council or an authorised advisor

…project with volunteers? or should it be a business opportunity ? Could look at examples e.g. Heatseeker thermal imaging; Transition Town Lewes energy project.

• This is a good time because council has set example on public buildings, people have seen village halls
• recession and fuel prices is making people rethink how they use their money.
• Attitudes have shifted on recycling; it has become normalised – so attitude change is possible.

• seek advice from Transition Towns Lewes and Chepstow on their insulation projects
• approach the community partnership at district level (incl for funds?)
• ask Dorset Reclaim how they work (example project with mix of funded and volunteer resources)
• find out how Reading used ‘Heatseekers’ thermal imaging van to inform people – was there greater take-up?

This local energy event, and the actions arising from it aimed to help:

• Anyone wanting to reduce their carbon foot-print, energy consumption and stay warm through energy efficiency measures
• Families and people looking to save money by reducing their energy bills
• The wider Dorchester community to investigate local micro-generation options and rebalance the take-up of grant funding for energy solutions to make sure Dorchester gets it’s fair share
• Provide access to energy information
• By giving out free energy saving light bulbs from Dorset Energy Advice Centre

13:30 Doors open – 14:00 Welcome introduction – 14:10 Energy experts – Pete West to speak on renewable energy and Emily Bullock on energy efficiency – 14:40 Questions, general discussion – 14:55 Introduction to ‘open space’ – 15:00 Tea – 15:20 Open space discussion – 16:20 Gather up main points, summarise, next steps / future dates – 16:45 Finish

The Venue was – Dorset Youth Association (maximum capacity 60), Lubbecke Way, Dorchester

This event was free; donations to Transition Town Dorchester were kindly received and help to provide future events.

Firstly a Big Thank You must go to David at Kingston Maurward College (KMC) for making our visit a very informative and interesting one and of course thanks to those that made it out for the visit too!

The afternoon began with a walk to the field containing the coppice, made up of 10 varieties of Willow, and a detailed Q&A about its running with questions being answered by David. He went on to advise the crop was planted in April 08, and has since grown to heights between 6 and 12ft, so not a bad start considering the summer weather!

The willow arrives in Rods, sourced from Lincolnshire, these were planted using a hand operated machine which cuts a length of willow rod and subsequently plants it.

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A total of 7000 rods were planted, with the recognised average being 10,000 per hectare. David advised that the planted willow has a potential 25 year lifespan. Any early cuttings can also be used to plug gaps in the initial planting.

Surprisingly, David advised during the preliminary stages of planning KMC were required to complete an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in order to get permission to plant, this being due to the potential changes in local habitat and the possibility of the willow trees being unsightly to those living along the A35xnot something one would expect when wanting to plant lots trees!

Harvest usually takes place after 2-3yrs, though David implied there have been thoughts of an initial harvest in spring 09 which helps increase the amount of re-growth for the next harvest. In a full harvest yields can be around 10t per hectare.

At present harvesting would most likely be done using a fingerbar mower, though in later years this may not be possible due to the size of trunk on the willow. Any early cuttings can also be used to plug gaps in the initial planting.

This has also thrown up an issue for KMC in that most large scale coppicing takes place in the North/North East and this means most of the machinery required for cutting/processing the coppice may need to be transported to Dorset, the implication of this being a greater carbon footprint than desired. Such machinery can harvest and process the willow all in one reducing the need for multiple handling/processing and can therefore potentially improve/reduce carbon inputs.

This has spurred David and his colleagues to consider the future of coppice in Dorset and the South West and the potential of KMC to become a base for the harvesting/processing equipment making it easier for other farms in Dorset to source the required equipment needed without increasing their carbon inputs.

The need to balance carbon inputs is of course very important as any imbalance of such as from transportation (whether it be transporting harvesting equipment or transporting the final cut product) then takes the coppice from being carbon neutral to carbon negative which then negates the whole ethos behind the idea of coppicing!

…Ok, so on to the Biomass Boiler, a Kalorina 2206 made by Tatano. This model has a min output of 53kW and a max of 70kW and is currently providing heat to three homes on campus.

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The boiler is capable of burning several types of fuel, from cereals like wheat and barley (the husk and not the straw) to logs and wood chip. However the start up has to be done using the current chosen fuel, wood pellets. These pellets are of low moisture content (5-10%) and are a by-product of the timber industry so are a great form of reuse from a waste stream. The pellets are fed to the boiler from a 1.5t hopper via a pair of augers.

David advised the main issues regarding the boilers use is the timing of the augers in relation to the demand of heat required with a secondary issue of too much being fed into the boiler resulting in too much smoke and subsequent complaints from locals.

Though it worth pointing out this has been resolved and it has been burning cleanly and efficiently since. One issue regarding different fuel types apart from having to start up on wood pellets are the residues, as cereals are found to have higher tar content and can tar up the boiler meaning higher maintenance implications.

To close the visit off we had a brief discussion regarding energy and I was keen to point out some facts relating to energy production in the UK, mainly bad ones, but also some encouraging points too!

All in all a great informative afternoon was had by all who came and should anyone have any question regarding energy, whether it be relating to reducing the amount needed in the home to producing your own renewable energy then post a question on our website here and I’ll endeavour to answer it!

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