CONGRATS TO OUR SUMMER E-BIKE HIRE WINNER: CLARE WEBB*
*This competition is now closed but you can still enter for the chance to win future competitions!
Good Energy, the 100% renewable electricity supplier, encourages you to have your say on its proposed solar farm in East Dorset.
As you may know, Good Energy is a 100% renewable electricity supplier dedicated to helping the UK achieve a future that’s powered purely by renewables.
In addition to our first solar farm near Wool in Dorset, we’re committed to developing further renewable electricity generation capacity to help build energy security for the UK and tackle climate change. This is where our proposed solar development at Mapperton Farm, near Sturminster Marshall, comes in.
If it gets the go-ahead, this project will generate enough renewable electricity to supply around 6,000 average homes*, making a significant contribution to Dorset’s renewable energy targets.
This site itself is in a sparsely populated area that is naturally screened from view by the surrounding landscape. It is outside any conservation areas but it will also benefit from various measures designed to increase the wildlife value of the site.
The local area will receive a range of community benefits including a locally-controlled fund of £35,000 per year to support local initiatives. You can read more about the community benefits package here.
Our proposals are due to be considered by the planning committee at East Dorset District Council within the next few weeks. Local voices like yours could make all the difference to the future of this important project, so we urge you to register your support for our planning application.
You can submit your comments by registering on the Council’s planning website here or by e-mailing JBrightman@ christchurchandeastdorset.gov. uk quoting the application number 3/13/0681/FUL. Alternatively you can write to the planning officer as follows:
FAO James Brightman
Planning Applications (East Dorset)
Council Offices
Furzehill
Wimborne
BH21 4HN
We would urge you to make sure that your comments are submitted by Friday 12th June to ensure that they can be taken into account in the planning officers report.
Further information about the project is available on Good Energy’s website: www.goodenergy.co.uk/ dorsetsolar/mapperton-farm. I f you have any questions or comments about the project, please get in touch viamappertonsolar@goodenergy. co.uk.
Community and localised energy supply can benefit consumers, renewable generators and network operators. However, there are still many commercial and regulatory barriers to selling the energy you generate directly to your local community. In the context of increasing grid constraints, we need to look at how local supply can help overcome this barrier. So where do we go from here?
Sign the 10:10 petition to buy your power direct from local wind, solar and hydro here.
Join us for the Community Energy Markets Conference, 25 June, Bristol.
This conference will address the next steps for community energy markets. We will examine what local supply projects are currently in place, what issues they have faced and how policy or regulation can help solve these problems.
Sessions include:
Local residents, councillors and other members of the community have been invited to a public consultation for a proposed solar farm at Stapehill Farm, Uddens, near Wimborne.
The consultation will be held on Monday 18th May from 4 pm to 8 pm at the Betty Webster Room, Colehill Memorial Hall, Cannon Hill Road, BH21 2LS and will provide an opportunity for local people to view the proposals, provide feedback and meet the developers.
The proposed development, by Wiltshire-based Solstice Renewables, is for a 5 Mega Watt peak (MWp) solar park that would generate enough renewable electricity to supply the equivalent of 1,500 typical homes.
Giovanni Maruca, Director, Solstice Renewables, said: “Stapehill is a great site for a solar farm. The land is low grade and is currently used for grazing horses, so we can make a big difference to biodiversity and ecology. We’ll be sowing native grasses and wildflowers around the panels to encourage more wildlife and help stem the decline in pollinators like bees and butterflies. As well as transforming the site into a wildlife haven, we will maintain the land with sheep grazing around the panels so that it can be used for food production as well as generating renewable electricity.
“We’re looking forward to meeting people from the local community and welcome their suggestions for how the scheme could be improved. We’re also offering a community benefit fund of approximately £5,000 a year for 25 years – over £125,000 in total – plus £2,000 a year funding for educational support to local schools linked to the solar farm.”
The site is approximately 7.4 hectares in area and is currently used for grazing horses. It is located between Colehill and Ferndown, next to the A31.
This is Solstice Renewables’ third proposed solar development in the area. A 20 MWp solar farm at Manor Farm, Verwood, was connected to the grid in February 2015 and a 7MWp solar farm at Bedborough Farm, near Wimborne, is due to begin construction later this month.
Do you want to save money on your energy bills? Are you thinking of installing renewable energy at home? Want to reduce your impact on the environment or encourage more wildlife into your garden?
North Dorset District Council’s Eco Homes Event may be the ideal opportunity to find out answers to your questions from those who have already done it.
Paul McIntosh, Sustainability Officer for the council, said: “Seventeen homes and projects with eco-friendly features will be open for people to visit over the weekend of 15 – 17 May and they are all viewable on the website http://northdorset.greenopenhomes.net/ Some homes are open to visit all weekend while others have specific open times or need to be booked – please check on the website or in the booklet.”
Booklets are being distributed in many venues across the district with details of the properties. You can also phone or email the project co-ordinator, Kathryn Flint, on 01258 484372 and kflint@north-dorset.gov.uk for help and information.
Venues include a Franciscan Friary, a water mill, farms and many private homes all linked by the desire to meet the challenges of the changing world of energy supply and sustainability.
There is something for everyone even if you have never given much thought to the energy you use in your home before. If you have, then this might be just the thing to spur you on to a new eco-friendly project!
We are absolutely thrilled that this Summer, 1 lucky winner will win 2 days FREE hire* of a state-of-the-art electric bike from Cycle Life based here in Dorchester, Dorset, just in time for the Summer holidays!
Whether you’re a local wishing to enjoy the e-bike experience, or a visitor on holiday in Dorset, you’ll be able to explore the stunning and varied countryside that our county has to offer – with all the thrills of off roading. From the rolling hills of the Wessex Ridgeway, or the woodland trails and heathlands near Dorchester at the birthplace of Far From the Madding Crowd author Thomas Hardy, to the World Heritage Site of the Jurassic Coast with it’s beautiful beaches and picture-postcard Lulworth Cove, not to mention lots of lovely villages and towns in-between.
This fabulous prize is being offered to Lets Get Energized subscribers by Dorset Cycle Life – the premier electric bike shop in the South West of England, where our very own e-bike enthusiast, blogger Simon Rayson, lends a helping hand.
Click here for Cycle Life’s recommended Dorset Cycle Routes >>
Find out more about exploring our county at the Visit Dorset website >>
*The winner can either choose 2 days hire for 1 person, or have 1 day’s hire of 2 bikes for 2 people to share the e-bike experience with a friend! Cycle Life also offer a comprehensive range of e-bikes for hire or sale if you so choose.
Why go electric?!
Electric bikes are booming. Cycle Life’s range of e-bikes will let you ride up slippery steep hills without a care in the world. Electric bikes are good for you, dependable, good for the environment, save you money, and most importantly, FUN!
Check out the video below for some more inspiration:
Our Summer prize draw competition ends at midnight on Sunday 2nd August 2015 and the winner will be announced on Monday 3rd August (here on our website, Facebook and Twitter, and the winner will be notified by email so make sure you check your inbox!).
Simply sign up to our e-newsletter, if you haven’t already, for the chance to win… best of luck :)
Congratulations to our Spring winner EMILY SECKER who has won a wonderful Wonderbag eco slow cooker!
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR SUMMER E-BIKE HIRE WINNER: CLARE WEBB*
*This competition is now closed but you can still enter for the chance to win future competitions!
Lets Get Energized comments:
"Good luck in the competition Alan! And if only we’d thought of those puns ourselves!!! :)
"
May 5, 2015 a 10:01 am
Alan Banks comments:
"What an electrifying experience. Looking forward to ‘charging’ around Dorset.
"
May 4, 2015 a 7:11 am
vince adams comments:
"What a wonderful chance to see for yourself how amazing electric bikes are
"
May 2, 2015 a 3:43 pm
Dorset Energized are one of a number of local organisations taking part in the West Dorset Election Hustings for local Environmental and Wildlife issues.
All 5 political candidates for West Dorset will be answering your questions on:
Tickets will be available from Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester from Monday 16th March (max. 4 per person). Tickets must be collected from the school, they cannot mail them. N.B. the school will be closed for 2 weeks over Easter from 28th March to 12th April.
Tickets are FREE but donations will be welcome at the end of the event for the Dorset Badger Vaccination Project and Hardye’s students’ environmental projects.
Please share this post widely across the West Dorset area.
Please let us know what question you would like us to ask our local candidates re renewable energy by submitting your ‘COMMENTS’ in this post below…
We’ve got another fantastic prize for Lets Get Energized subscribers this Spring!
Wonderbag is a simple but revolutionary, non-electric portable slow cooker.
It continues to cook food which has been brought to the boil by conventional methods for up to 8-12 hours without the use of additional electricity or fuel. It’s said that “The Wonderbag Will Change The Way You Slow-Cook Forever”.
It’s simple: you can boil it, bag it, slow cook it, then share it! The Wonderbag is made from Polycottons inside and out, filled with polystyrene.
WONDERBAG How does it work vers2 from Heidi Otto on Vimeo.
The Wonderbag was designed by Sarah Collins, an amazing woman who has devoted her entire life to searching for ways to empower people in rural Africa, especially women.
Inspired by the San people who bury food in the ground while they are cooking she says, “I thought to myself, ‘This is the oldest technology in the world.'” Wonderbags were originally created for poor families in Africa, to cut down the amount of costly firewood they need for cooking. And for every Wonderbag purchased in North America today, one is donated to a family in need in Africa, and so drastically changes the life of the family who receives the bag and becomes a catalyst out of poverty.
Sarah’s goal is to sell one hundred million Wonderbags worldwide, helping over a billion people. “It empowers consumers, by giving them innovative ways to be part of the solutions that the world is looking for.”
The Wonderbag is an extremely well-insulated cooking bag that keeps anything – from meaty stews and vegetable curries to simple rice and soups – cooking for hours without using any power, saving time, money and reducing energy use.
It’s clever insulating properties allow food that has been brought to the boil to finish cooking without extra heat. This greatly reduces the use of additional energy, and means you can cook appetising, hot meals while saving time, energy and money. It’s ideal for home cooked hot dinners, camping, outdoor festivals and picnics.
This wonderful jazzy patterned purple Wonderbag (pictured above) has been very kindly donated to us by STIR Into Action who use their own Wonderbag at all their workshops.
The competition has been extended and ends at midnight UK time on 30th April 2015 and the lucky winner will be picked at random from all our e-newsletter subscribers on 1st May.
Simply sign up to our e-newsletter, if you haven’t already, for the chance to win.
Look out for the announcement of last month’s competition winner who can take advantage of STIR Into Action‘s Workshop on Renewable Energy Co-ops on 6th & 7th June 2015 in Bridport, Dorset. As soon as we have checked they are available for the weekend we can announce!
North Dorset District Council will be holding a special North Dorset Development Control (Planning) Meeting on the 17th March to make a decision about the proposed Wind Farm Devpt at Blandford Hill, near Winterbourne Whitechurch.
Now is the time though to contact District Councillors to show them there is support for this renewable energy development.
Details of Councillors who sit on the Planning Committee can be found on West Dorset pro wind`s website – here
Meeting venue and time now confirmed:
Talk by Charles Miller
Thursday 12 March 2015
Doors open 7pm for 7.30pm start
Bridport Town Hall, Dorset
Admission FREE
West Dorset Friends of the Earth group are delighted to invite you to this interesting and informative talk regarding fracking, presented by Charles Miller.
With twenty-five years experience in the oil industry worldwide, Charles Miller gives a brief outline of the Energy Crisis. He will then explains the problems with Fracking and safer and sustainable Energy solutions that other countries are choosing instead of Fracking, to protect their citizens and countryside and to keep energy bills from rising.
There will be time for your questions at the end of the talk.
We hope to see you there.
“I do”, Will You – event in Dorchester, Dorset on 4th March 2015
Communities Living Sustainably in Dorset are holding an event in South Street, Dorchester.
The theme of the event is telling the world what you love about the world/the environment and saying what you do to assist in making the world a greener, friendlier place:
There’s more info on the CLS website – and a chance to take part in a competition and to post your own photos.
Last month in our prize draw we were offering 1 year subscription to the fantastic inspirational living magazine STIR so…
CONGRATULATIONS TO DAWN CANNING who has just been picked as our latest winner! Dawn can enjoy 4 copies of STIR delivered in print, straight to her door, for FREE!
This month we’ve got another great prize for all our subscribers…
6th & 7th June 2015, 10am – 5pm
Chapel in the Garden, Bridport, Dorset
Stir To Action presents a six-month programme of training workshops in Bridport, Dorset to build the co-operative capacity of local communities. These workshops introduce participants to new tools, innovative strategies and the practices that can enable us to face up to climate change, financial crises and the other social problems we currently experience.
Renewable energy co-operatives have taken off in the UK over the last few years as people work together to take power generation back into their own hands. Sharenergy is a co-operative helping people around the UK set up renewable energy projects funded by community share offers – from solar roofs to £1m wind turbines, from community heating to hydro projects. In these workshops, facilitated by Jon Hallé, you’ll learn all about the renewable energy technologies and what it takes to make them happen. Bring your ideas, learn from what is working elsewhere, and take the next big steps to getting power to the people set up in your area.
Jon Hallé has been working with renewable energy co-ops since 2003 and has been involved with many successful new models (and some instructive failures). He is a cofounder (with Eithne George) of Sharenergy, which has supported over 100 community renewable energy projects, including the UK’s first heat co-op, Scotland’s first 100% co-op owned wind turbine, and plenty of other interesting projects across the technologies and scales. Before that he was a programmer, waste oil biodiesel maker and environmental activist.
Lunch is included sourced from local co-operative food producers and members of the Landworkers Alliance, and it will all be cooked in a Wonderbag non-electric slow cooker.
This workshop place is worth £75 and we hope will inspire our lucky winner to take some of these alternatives back to your own community or organisation!
The competition ends at midnight UK time on 28th February 2015 and the lucky winner will be picked at random from all our e-newsletter subscribers on 2nd March.
Simply sign up to our e-newsletter, if you haven’t already, for the chance to win!
10% off all STIR Into Action Workshops
Lets Get Energized e-newsletter subscribers can also enjoy 10% off all STIR Into Action workshops! Once you’ve signed up to enter the prize draw and join our mailing list (if you haven’t already) simply quote ‘Energized’ before booking. View their full range of workshops from Ethical Tea Blending, to Citizen Journalism to ‘Craftivism’ at: http://stirtoaction.com/workshop
Dorchester Town Council and Charminster Parish Council have voted in support of Slyers Lane Wind Farm in Dorset, as consultees.
Good coverage in Dorset Echo on January 7th of Dorchester 2015’s meeting – even if voting numbers not accurate – 8 (not 6) councillors in favour to 3 opposed.
Stinsford Parish Council Meeting – Monday 12th January, 7pm at the Old Library at Kingston Maurward College, Stinsford near Dorchester (main building).
If you are a resident in Stinsford, or know someone who is, come along and give your support.
Online comments and letters received in mid-January will still be included.
Go to: www.westdorsetprowindgroup.org.uk
Two clicks to the planning application and add your comment. Takes 10 minutes.
For Facebook users, join West Dorset Pro Wind Group for up to date wind energy news at: www.facebook.com/groups/1419225865025391
vince adams comments:
"What amazingly good news that the Councils are finally supporting local energy initiatives. The Slyers Lane project is excellent will provide a huge amount of energy and at very little cost to the landscape.
Come on people wake up, its our future we are fighting for not a silly nimby reaction.
"
January 14, 2015 a 5:35 pm
A very happy new year to you all, from everyone at Dorset Energized and Lets Get Energized! We hope you enjoyed a lovely Christmas break, and are ready to make 2015 a super year for the development of renewable technologies, and green living…
To help you get 2015 off to a great start, this January, we are offering an annual subscription to the fantastic inspirational living magazine STIR – that’s 4 copies of STIR delivered in print, straight to your door, for FREE!
STIR started as an online magazine and has now launched as a quarterly print magazine that features articles and interviews on the international co-operative movement, the emergence of the commons and collaborative networks, and other community-orientated alternatives in technology, agriculture, food, sports, energy, education and other important aspects of our lives.
The competition ends at midnight UK time on 31st January 2015 and the lucky winner will be picked at random from all our e-newsletter subscribers on 2nd February.
CONGRATULATIONS TO LAST MONTH’S PRIZE DRAW WINNER LYNN DOE who has won a £30 Ecotopia voucher…
Simply sign up to our e-newsletter, if you haven’t already, for the chance to win!
nPower have the highest average complaints in the industry, whereas 100% Gloucestershire based green energy suppliers Ecotricity have the lowest industry complaints and impressively for the 5th year running (receiving only 0.86 complaints per 1000 customers in 2014) which is great news, although of course we are not surprised as many of our Lets Get Energized team are happy customers for our home energy supply!
Click here for a summary of the the Which? energy supplier complaints league table >>
Ecotricity have also announced that they have cut switching times to 17 days and are extending their 22 month price freeze until April 2015.
Ecotricity founder Dale Vince says;
“The energy industry is, slowly, changing for the better – switching is getting quicker and more people are changing suppliers looking not just for better prices, but also for better service. These latest figures demonstrate that, despite the mass migration away from the Big Six, which is itself often due to poor customer service – the Big Six are getting worse.
“We know that customer service is a key driver of switching; we publish this league table each year because Ofgem won’t do it, for some reason. The online switching sites, which Ofgem regulates, also refuse to give prominence to customer service, focusing solely on price. Both could do better, and people need to know if they are jumping out of the frying pan into the fire – when it comes to leaving their old supplier for poor service.
“Ecotricity has had the lowest number of industry complaints for five years running and we also topped the 2014 Which? energy customer satisfaction survey – we do that by treating people how we would want to be treated, by answering the phone quickly, resolving complaints as they arise, and using a customer service team based here in Gloucestershire who answer the phone themselves, with no automated call waiting. These are basic things that so much of the industry just gets plain wrong.”
While Ecotricity, along with First Utility and SSE, have now cut switching times to 17 days (including a 14 day cooling off period), the rest of the industry has yet to do the same and still take up to 35 days to switch customers – they have until the end of the year to cut switch times according to Ofgem’s new regulations.
If you want to switch energy supplier and enjoy competitive fixed prices as well as top customer satisfaction, it couldn’t be easier to switch to Ecotricity and literally takes less than five minutes.
To help you celebrate the switch to green energy this Christmas, they will also give you a £50 voucher to spend at John Lewis, if you switch through Lets Get Energized.
Switch online at: www.ecotricity.co.uk/letsgetenergized or call Ecotricity free on 08000 302 302*.
*If you sign up by phone make sure you quote ‘Lets Get Energized’ to get your £50 John Lewis voucher…. Enjoy!
Great news! We’ve got another £30 Ecotopia voucher to win in our December Prize Draw! The prize will be in the form of a unique online voucher code you can use until the end of June 2015.
Plus if you spend over £50 your delivery will be free too.
The competition ends at midnight UK time on 5th January 2015 and the lucky winner will be picked at random from all our e-newsletter subscribers on 6th January.
CONGRATULATIONS TO LAST MONTH’S WINNER JASON LYLE who has also won a £30 Ecotopia voucher we hope he will enjoy spending this Christmas!
Ecotopia is about harnessing the power of shopping, to change the world.
Their eco-friendly products range from; organic food, eco cleaning and natural bodycare, to energy saving devices, or you can choose some lovely gifts for the home and garden such as their grow your own kits and seed bombs, to a funky range of organic t-shirts and clothing for men, women and children.
Ecoptia say, “We spend our money where we have a chance to make a difference. Money makes the world go round after all… and it’s our choice which way round it goes. The things we buy can reinforce the status quo, or support a better way of doing things. Everything you’ll find in Ecotopia supports a better way of doing things – whether it’s Fairtrade, organic or sustainably sourced – there’s a social, ethical or environmental benefit inherent in everything we sell. We’re here to help you ‘Shop your Principles’”
Sounds great to us, so make sure you enter and good luck : )
Check out the online Ecotopia shop on www.ecotopia.co.uk
You can find this group at www.westdorsetprowind.org.uk as well on Facebook : West Dorset Pro Wind Group
Find out what is happening with Blandford Hill Wind Farm at Winterbourne Whitechurch, West Dorset Wind Farm near Tolpuddle and Slyer’s Lane Wind Farm between Charminster, Charlton Down and Stinsford all of which have submitted planning applications.
There is also information on how you can contact us and how you can help lend your support.
Two things are going on right now
Parish Council Survey on Slyer’s Lane Wind Farm Charminster and Charlton Down residents only.
Public Consultation on Slyer’s Lane Wind Farm Important part of the planning process. Expected to start in the coming week or so
A LOCAL CAMPAIGN BY LOCAL PEOPLE FOR WIND ENERGY IN DORSET
UPDATE: Slyer`s Lane public consultation has now started – View Here
Switching to a green energy supplier is one of the simplest things that anyone can do to invest in renewable energy to be part of transforming the UK’s energy landscape for local, natural, sustainable energy – whether you are a homeowner or tenant, have a family or share a student flat!
At Lets Get Energized we are passionate about renewables and sustainable living which is why we recommend the UK’s only two 100% green electricity suppliers – Good Energy and Ecotricity.
We want to show you just how easy it is to switch and how good it will make you feel, which is why all our team use green electricity ourselves at home! Some of us have been supporting green energy for years and others have signed up recently after being inspired by working with us.
Ecotricity take the money their customers spend on their electricity and gas bills and turn it into new sources of Green Energy. When they talk about green energy they mean 100% Green Electricity made from the wind and the sun, and ‘Green Gas’ – that comes with a ‘Frack Free’ guarantee.
People are really beginning to turn against the Big Six energy companies, to question where their energy comes from. The reaction to fracking plans in Balcombe is evidence of that, and at Ecotricity they have ensured that none of their gas will come from fracking, and their electricity is always 100% Green. And they don’t just supply green energy, they make it themselves with their rapidly growing fleet of renewable energy parks.
As the Big Six Energy companies continue to increase prices by as much as 10%, Ecotricity have also frozen their prices until next year.
And they have a Price Promise too – that they will always be cheaper than the standard Big Six electricity tariff in your region and the standard gas price from British Gas wherever you live.
As a not-for-dividend company, with no shareholders or investors to keep happy, Ecotricity are free to dedicate their money to their mission – changing the way energy is made and used in Britain.
Switching energy supplier is one of the easiest and single biggest things you can do to make a change…
As if switching to a green energy supplier was not rewarding enough in itself, we are very pleased to announce that Ecotricity have just updated their sign-up offer so that you can celebrate switching to them by treating yourself to a shopping spree at John Lewis with a £50 voucher. And unlike most organisations that take a referral fee for sign-ups – we are giving the whole offer directly to YOU!
It couldn’t be easier to switch to Ecotricity and literally takes less than five minutes.
Switch online at: www.ecotricity.co.uk/letsgetenergized or call Ecotricity free on 08000 302 302.
When you sign up make sure you quote ‘Lets Get Energized’ to get your £50 John Lewis voucher…. Enjoy!
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CONGRATS TO OUR SUMMER E-BIKE HIRE WINNER: CLARE WEBB*
*This competition is now closed but you can still enter for the chance to win future competitions!
Kathryn Flint comments:
"There is still time to book for the weekend. Just give me a call on 01258 484732.
Thanks for sharing this LGE team. "
May 15, 2015 a 3:31 pm