Innovations - A scheme to save energy and cut costs

Vivienne Riddoch, Regeneration & Renewal, 8 August 2008

Under the programme, 'EcoTeams' of six to eight people meet once a month for about five months to discuss and agree on environmentally beneficial action that they can take in their local areas.

To set up EcoTeams, Gap works with councils to recruit volunteer leaders who it trains and sends back into their communities to enlist a group of people. On average, EcoTeam members save £148 a year on household bills and reduce waste by 20 per cent, according to the charity.

A University of East Anglia research project into Eco Teams was funded by DEFRA's Environmental Action Fund. The scheme is now being rolled out nationwide and will be funded by local authorities. While EcoTeams can be set up in any community, a variation of the model, EverGreen, focuses on deprived areas.

Trewin Restorick, CEO of Global Action Plan, answers our panel's questions.

Q: Why did you choose to use volunteers rather than pay people for their work?

A: Participants' financial savings were bigger with this model than with others we tried, where we either employed people in the community working alone, or provided councils a guide on how to run a similar project themselves. We think this was because leaders recruited friends and neighbours, who got involved for social reasons. They weren't necessarily committed environmentalists at the start.

Q: What kind of resources are required?

A: We provide training and a database to record the environmental savings made by EcoTeams. Each team passes its results to the council to add to the database. Because the database records seasonally adjusted energy consumption, this could help councils that have signed up to the two Defra-led national targets on tackling climate change.

Q: Do local people who aren't members of one of the Eco Teams have any say in what the teams do?

A: The teams are certainly more effective when they reflect local priorities. With EverGreen EcoTeams, we found that people wanted to talk about more than energy efficiency. For example, we've been working with the elderly residents of a housing association in London. They've been interested in growing their own food, but some have problems bending, so we've built raised beds for them. We also set up a project where the residents visit a local school and teach the kids how to cook using the home grown produce.

Q: Can we get any other regeneration benefits out the programme?

A: The volunteers go out into the community and meet neighbours, and that builds community cohesion. When we've asked people what they enjoy about the initiative they say that they've got to meet new people. Research shows that, once people start to make changes in their lives, they keep going and you see new community schemes develop. In Nottingham, for example, an EcoTeam decided to work with local shops to reduce the use of plastic bags.

THE PANEL

Questions were compiled with help from Dan Bolton, urban regeneration consultant at Lambert Smith Hampton, and Graham Duxbury, director of development at environmental charity Groundwork.

Contact us If you know of an innovative scheme that merits closer scrutiny, email Adam Branson at adam.branson@haymarket.com.