Features

Ashden Awards finalists: Low Carbon Hub

Published

9 years ago

June 9, 2015

Contributor

On June 11 the success of the renewable energy industry will be celebrated at the Ashden Awards. We asked this year’s finalists to tell us about them, their achievements and the changes they would like to see. Here we take a look at the Low Carbon Hub.

Tell us who you are?

The Low Carbon Hub is spearheading the change to a new energy system for Oxfordshire. We are developing renewable energy schemes with businesses, schools and communities to put local power in the hands of local people.

What does your company or organisation do?

The Hub is developing a decentralised, locally-owned renewable energy infrastructure for Oxfordshire that puts communities at the heart.

Give us some bullets on achievements, lives affected, emissions reduced, etc,

Low Carbon Hub: 2014–15

– raised £1.7 million into community energy projects in Oxfordshire

– developing 1MWp of renewable projects with local schools and businesses

– installing 4000 solar panels which will generate 865,000kWh of clean, green electricity each year

– these projects will provide enough electricity to power 260 houses

– create income stream of £26,000 a year projected for community benefit

– benefit 9,400 pupils

– and save 385 tonnes of CO₂ each year – that’s 23 party balloons of CO2 saved each minute!

What would winning an Ashden Award mean to you?

Winning an Ashden award is a huge accolade and would be an endorsement of our vision for a low carbon Oxfordshire. Our remit is for the county only but the Hub’s community benefit model and way of working is replicable and scaleable. An Ashden award would help tell our story to other regions and groups across the UK.

If you were in charge globally for one day, what one sustainable change would you make?