Green schemes county tour
Environmental schemes which could help businesses and communities avoid the hardship of rising fuel costs were showcased during a tour of Shropshire projects.
Environmental schemes which could help businesses and communities avoid the hardship of rising fuel costs were showcased during a tour of Shropshire projects.
Members of the Rural Regeneration Zone board visited the Environmental Technologies Centre in Shrewsbury, also known as the Pump House.
The centre is home to 17 companies and organisations with up to 100 staff, all involved in environmental technologies.
It was created by transforming a former Victorian waterworks and pumping station on the banks of the River Severn into a base for the businesses, showcasing the very latest eco-friendly features.
Using around 70 per cent less CO2 than a standard office building, features include exceptionally high levels of insulation, a wood pellet biomass boiler heating system, a full mechanical ventilation and heat recovery mechanism and a rainwater recovery system.
It was officially opened earlier in the year by Liam Byrne MP, Minister for the West Midlands, and the project received £500,000 from the RRZ.
Peter Pawsey, chairman of the RRZ, said: "With fuel costs at an all-time high and looking set to continue to increase for the foreseeable future, energy is set rise even further up everybody's agenda.
"The rural west of our region has a key role to play, and is already leading the way, in developing renewable and sustainable solutions to the energy challenges we all face.
"Effectively, the work of partners within the Rural Regeneration Zone is three-pronged - they are aiming to reduce the demand for energy, to encourage low carbon sources of energy and to develop more local energy production and supply."
Three main funds are available across the zone, which geographically covers most of Shropshire, all of Herefordshire, and western parts of Worcestershire.
One already well established programme is the Low Carbon Communities project, which is acting as a pilot project for similar ventures throughout the UK. The project aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions within three communities in Shropshire - Ellesmere, Cleobury Mortimer and the 'floodplain community', a collection of small villages and farms near Oswestry.
Working with the Marches Energy Agency and Shropshire County Council, individual plans for households, businesses and community buildings are drawn up and capital funding is made available towards effecting such savings.
Another scheme involving the Marches Energy Agency is the RE:think Energy Initiative which covers the entire zone.
This project, launched earlier this year, will make available capital grants for businesses that want to install renewable energy technologies such as ground source heat pumps, photovoltaic cells and biomass boilers.
It also enables businesses within the zone to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the growing low carbon economy through the manufacture, supply and installation of renewable technologies and services.
