Welcome to FREE Energy Saving Kits for loan in High Wycombe  The Kits are available as part of a pilot scheme funded by the Wycombe Strategic Partnership. They will initially only be available from the High Wycombe central town Library on a three week FREE loan. The kit consists of an "Owl" whole-house wireless electricity monitor and a single-appliance electricity monitor. Rechargeable batteries and an easy-to-use guide booklet are included. The guide explains how to use the kit to save energy. Borrowers are free to keep any paper brochures that comes with the kit but the laminated guide and rechargeable batteries must be returned to the library with the two monitor devices. There will be a "Power Sheet" for users to fill in where details of household energy use can be recorded. The borrower keeps the Power Sheet for future reference. We gratefully request that all borrowers please fill in the Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire and return this to the High Wycombe central town library.
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Winter 2011/2012: Please contact us if you would like to benefit from a FREE energy survey of your home using a heat-sensitive camera. Click here to apply.
Update: Sunday 22nd August 2010 Thanks for everyone who has borrowed or reserved the Kits on the Launch Day (Saturday 21st August). The response has been phenomenal. The Bucks County Council intranet was not available on the launch day so reservations were made manually. This should be fixed soon allowing Online Reservations to become possible. The "Power Sheets" supplied in your Kit should be double-sided and in colour. You might get a single-sided version in black & white but this shouldn't be a problem. Our apologies about this but the original prints couldn't be located when the kits were assembled. If you need more Power Sheets please download and print the copy above or ask at the High Wycombe Town library. Note that this pilot is ONLY running at the High Wycombe central Town Library in the Eden Centre. You can neither borrow nor return these kits from/to other Libraries within Buckinghamshire. This project is unrelated to other, simlar, projects outside of Buckinghamshire. You may have read that Bucks County Council will eventually deliver a similar service from other Libraries but this is an unrelated exercise using different monitors. We will run our project in High Wycombe for as long as the Kits are functional - so this may be for several years to come. Watch this space!
Saturday 21st August 2010 - Library Launches Energy Saving Kits 
Our eagerly awaited Energy Saving Kits for Loan Project has gone 'live'. The official launch event kicked off on the third Saturday in August in the Library Foyer. For the day we took over the entrance area to the library with a combined Transition Town and District Council exhibition. On behalf of the Council we had the ever-wonderful Lesley Stoner (WDC Environmental Coordinator) who came along with her display of insulation materials and the "Small Change/Big Difference" pledge forms. From Transition Town High Wycombe we have (at various times) Julian, Paul, Frances and Mark. From SolaSave we were joined by Mark Simmons and James Ingram who were absolute troupers helping us through the day. At the 10.30am the official launch photo-op took place and Lesley Clarke (Leader of the Council and Chair to the Wycombe Strategic Partnership who funded the Kits) attended. The photographer wheeled us outside eventually so that the two Lesleys and Mark Brown had the official "handover" photo in a windy and increasingly wet Eden Centre. (Pictured above.)  The day was a much greater success than we had intended. Originally we thought it would be fairly quiet and we would do the photo-op then hand the Kits over to the Library from around 3pm. The exhibition was really just as an Energy Saving backdrop. As it turned out the demand was phenomenal. The first five kits had been largely reserved even before the photo-op occurred in mid-morning. Demand was so high we had to release the first three kits by 11am with the fourth a short time later. We grimly held on to the fifth and final kit until the end of the day so we at least had something to show to library visitors.
We had a steady stream of interested visitors through the day and it seemed like nearly everyone we spoke to wanted to borrow the kit. One story we heard several times were of people who had received free wholehouse monitors from their Energy Utility company but they were too complicated for them to use. Of these, several willingly borrowed our kits on the basis that our instructions were bigger, simpler and more colourful. Clear step-by-step picture-instructions seemed to be a valuable selling aid, as were the Powerdown gadgets donated by the EST. Lots of people wanted these gadgets! They generated lots of interest. Only on the day did we realise that in fact there were two types of Powerdowns in the box from the EST. Half were TV Powerdowns and the others were for Computers. Watch our for further news in the Bucks Free Press. Picture of Lesley Stoner (WDC Environment Officer), Mark Brown (TTHW Chairman) and Cllr Lesley Clarke (Chair to the Wycombe Partnership) is WDC copyright used with permission. Brief Project History  This project was suggested by Transition Town High Wycombe (TTHW) after we learnt that Penistone Friends of the Earth had done something similar. In 2009 TTHW joined the Wycombe Strategic Partnership to work with the Environmental Sub-Group. The lending of Energy Saving Kits was one of seven projects then proposed to the partnership. One of the others was a local food directory. The Energy Saving Kits then won funding (only £500) for a small pilot in early 2010.
 TTHW went into discussions with Bucks County Council Library services in April before the project was given the green light. TTHW researched how similar projects had been executed and spoke to a representative of Leicestershire County Council. From there we selected the Micro-Owl whole house monitor and peripherals. All the hardware was purchased in May 2010. At this time we contacted the Energy Saving Trust who have helped out with a box full of giveaways. In May & June all the paperwork was compiled to deliver the project. This was printed for us by the Wycombe District Council's own Print Unit and delivered in early July.
By the end of June we had secured the kind assistance of Mark Simmons at SolaSave who kindly agreed to gift the project the first 250 white Kraft bags that the Kits will be lent-out in. Four kits were delivered to the Library in June with the fifth following in early July. With all the physical elements delivered to the Library, Mark Bateman was appointed to represent the Library in running the project internally. The first public lending was then agreed to start on Saturday August 21st. At this point the publicity run started. The project went live as planned, on time and under-budget in 2010. A brief report about the launch is shown above. The response was amazing with demand completely outstripping supply. However, don't worry, the Kits will be available of their three week loan for as long as they will last. However we expected the TV and Computer Powerdown gadgets to go very quickly! About the Partners | | About Transition Town High Wycombe (TTHW) | | | | 
| TTHW is part of the global Transition Network. Feel free to browse THIS web site via the Home page to learn more about us. We are a voluntary community action group focussed on building a low-carbon, localised and more resilient community. It is about action, not words. The Energy Saving Kits project is an important demonstration of TTHW's commitment to community action & partnership. |
| | About the Wycombe Strategic Partnership | | | | 
| The Wycombe Partnership is the local strategic partnership for the Wycombe district area, bringing together the local public, private, voluntary and community sectors. Their role is to make Wycombe district better economically, socially and environmentally. Learn more here. |
| | About the Energy Saving Trust | | | | 
| The EST are an independent, UK-based organisation focused on promoting action that leads to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions - a key contributor to man-made climate change. They are the source of free advice and information for people across the UK looking to save energy, conserve water and reduce waste. Learn more at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk |
| | About SolaSave Ltd | | | | 
| SolaSave Ltd is High Wycombe's first Solar Panel installers. They are MCS (Micro-Generation Certification Scheme) approved for the installation of Solar Hot Water and Photovoltaics. (This means you will be eligible for the Clean Energy Cashback if you use SolaSave.) SolaSave is working with Transition Town High Wycombe to promote energy saving and renewable energy in the town. Learn more at www.solasave.co.uk |
| | High Wycombe Library Services | | | | 
| We would like to thanks Liz Sawney, Mark Bateman and Helen Gorham of the Wycombe Library for their hard work, advice, support and assistance. |
Boiler Scrappage Scheme  In the 2009 Budget the Government introduced new inventives to get everyone to replace their old innefficient Boilers and replace them with modern efficient ones. This effects up to 125,000 households in England with a G Rated Boiler. These households can now apply for a £400 voucher off the price of a new A rated boiler or renewable heating system such as a biomass boiler or heat pump. For example, that's around 20% off the cost of a new gas boiler fully installed, inclusive of VAT!
According to the Department for Energy and Climate Change this is good news for 130,000 installers of this equipment. The UK also has over 25 boiler manufacturers who will benefit too. The measure should cut household energy bills by £200 to £235 per year and save some 140,000 tonnes of CO2. This is the same as taking 45,000 cars off the road. Vouchers have been issued since the 18th January on a first come first served basis. Householders must register by telephone on 0800 512 012 or on the Energy Saving Trust's web site at www.est.org.uk. Learn more by following this link. Note that you can apply for BOTH a grant from the Low Carbon Buildings Program and the £400 voucher.
Factsheets In July 2009 we launched our first two Factsheets to follow on from the "Oil & Food Factsheet" generated for the FOOD Group. The Energy Group are no promoting our work on local biomass for heating with a Survey of local Firewood suppliers and a general factsheet of how to buy firewood:
High Wycombe's Energy in Transition  All the evidence we have proves to us that the last 200 years of cheap and abundant fossil fuels have supplied the energy for the generation of a highly mobile, complex, well-fed, inter-connected and inter-dependent industrialised societies. It has lead to amazing economic growth, an explosion in population and damage to our atmosphere. That period is about to come to an end. It is not sustainable. We have over-shot. Everything is about to change. High complexity equals high fragility. ‘Big’ and distant will break down. Small and local will last. Hence we need to rebuild resilience into our Business Community through a process of ‘relocalisation’.
The only alternative is to collapse. The Business Community is the solution. The future is bright for those who accept this paradigm change. We have just 20 years to bring about this dramatic shift. In this future energy and food will be highly priced and highly prized. Everyone will be trying to generate as much of their own as possible and rely upon the ingenuity of the Business community for their basic economic needs & security. This is a step-change from where we are today. Few Businessmen or women even think beyond the next Financial Year let alone know build a sustainable local Business less reliant upon long distance transport or high energy product systems. We have a lot of work ahead. You cannot wait for someone else to do it for you because it is US who have to change. It cannot be imposed and there are no acceptable alternatives. Accept it. Join. This page is dedicated to the Businesses of High Wycombe. The visionaries, the entrepreneurs, the shop keep, the farmer, the technologist, the financier, the recycler, the biofuel specialist... we need you all. Are you a Business in Transition? What are you doing to change? Are you expanding into Renewable Energy or Local Food? Do you install condensing boilers, biomass systems, solar panels, Photovoltaics, wind turbines or ground heat pumps? Do you invest in low energy solutions? Do you work in permaculture, preserving legacy seeds for future sale, provide organic growing solutions, grow biomass products or supply allotment owners? Are you a Business cutting your energy usage, reducing your transport needs, investing in local infrastructure or persuading employees to use local transport? | 
