Gazeley looks at going green on renewable energy for residents

30 Sep 2020

Gazeley looks at going green on renewable energy for residents

Residents in Gazeley are being invited to a virtual meeting to find out how they could benefit from switching to renewable energy.

The pilot initiative is part of West Suffolk Council’s work to help tackle climate change and support communities to go green.

Local Councillor, James Lay, will be presenting with West Suffolk Environment and Energy Team Leader Officer Andrew Oswald on the benefits of various forms of renewable energy and technology to reduce bills and impact on the environment.

EDF Energy will also be talking about an offer to install state-of-the-art, hybrid air source heat pump to be used with people already using LPG or oil-fired heating systems.

The pump is designed to turn existing oil or LPG heating systems into a hybrid system. This reduces the use of the oil or LPG system and reduces the cost of fuel bills as well as people’s impact on the environment. A sustainable hybrid heat pump worth £8,000 is being offered for just £99 for first 20 homes.

The meeting is being held virtually on Zoom Friday, 3 October from 6.30pm to 7.30pm. Interested parties will be able to then see one of the pumps in action in a socially distanced way.

Zoom login in details: Meeting ID: 955 5483 7231 Passcode: 904692

West Suffolk Council has declared a climate change emergency and agreed a road map of initiatives to protect and improve the local environment and be carbon neutral by 2030.

Councillor John Griffiths, Leader of West Suffolk Council, said: “Tackling climate change and protecting our environment is a priority for West Suffolk Council. We have a track record of reducing carbon in West Suffolk and ambitious plans to be a net-carbon zero Council by 2030. One of the first actions we made as West Suffolk Council was to set up the Environment and Climate Change Taskforce whose recommendations now form a road map to take us to 2030. I applaud local members such as Cllr Lay coming forward with initiatives to help their community reduce their impact on the environment.”

Councillor James Lay, Local Member for Newmarket West and member of the taskforce, said: “This is an exciting opportunity and I hope as many people as possible take this chance to find out more about renewable energy and look at what is on offer. People can tackle climate change and potentially save money too. We are the first village in West Suffolk to be offered this in this way to help protect the planet by reducing CO2 emissions from our heating systems. Gazeley is a pilot and if successful we can look at how we roll this out further across West Suffolk District. We have more than villages and hamlets who all use oil to heat their homes and could benefit from the help of a hybrid system to reduce Global Warming.”

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