July 2014 Newsletter

A round up of news and views

District heating - Thanks to funding from Wiltshire Council, we have produced a short video to explain the huge financial and environmental benefits of installing district heating for off-gas grid dwellings in the Marlborough Area. This is part of our on-going effort to reduce vulnerability to fuel poverty for tenants that currently depend on expensive oil and LPG to heat their homes. Landlords who retrofit one large biomass boiler to supply hot water to heat several adjacent dwellings can expect a payback of at least 3 times the cost of the original installation, over a 25 year period, thanks to the government's Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive. You can watch our informative video here...

Keeping our fuel bills down - You are invited to take part in a day trip on Saturday 9th August, organised by Wiltshire Community Land Trust, to Worth Matravers in south Dorset to visit community-owned renewable energy schemes, find out more, here...

Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking - The government is going ahead with its plans to invite bids from fracking companies, despite 'vehement opposition' from environmental groups. Only 10% of Britain. i.e. areas that are covered by national parks, may not be fracked. Although the general public are largely in favour of fracking, according to last year’s YouGov survey, they don’t want it happening in their own backyard! It is therefore unsurprising that 74 per cent oppose the proposed changes to the trespass law. Click here... to find out where licenses have been granted for exploration so far, and click here... to learn about the fracking experience in the USA. According to Greenpeace, more than than three quarters of the Conservative Party’s target seats have already been licensed for fracking exploration. Our own MP, Claire Perry has said, "shale gas is a promising new potential energy source which could reduce our reliance on imported gas and help lower household energy bills. Moreover, it has the potential to create thousands of jobs, bring in billions in tax revenues and secure our energy supply for the future, keeping energy costs low for households and businesses", click here... to read her letter in full.

Thanks

The Transition Marlborough team