In particular, you may want to enter for the Environmental Business Award, which this year is sponsored by Severn Wye Energy Agency.

The award is aimed at any company in Gloucestershire which has demonstrated a commitment to sustainability in all aspects of its business

Severn Wye Assistant Chief Executive, Kaye Welfare explained: "This award isn't just for businesses whose work is primarily about the environment and the 'green' economy. It's open to anyone who has made a difference, either through their work or their working practice, to minimise their impact on the environment."

The closing date for the 2013 Citizen and Gloucestershire Echo Business Awards is Friday 2 August.

If you'd like to enter, visit: www.digital-thisis.co.uk/gloucestershire/BusinessAwards2013/

The full criteria is:

This award will go to the company which has demonstrated a commitment to sustainability in all aspects of its business – whether in the office, out on site, or in its dealings with customers and suppliers.

In particular, it will have shown a particular devotion to reducing energy consumption through either retrofitting, simple energy efficiency measures, installing or promoting renewable energy technologies, or behaviour change.

And for the last year, Gary Hardman has been helping people across Trowbridge and Melksham to reduce their energy use since he was employed as part of the scheme.

Now, the project is offering six new work experience opportunities throughout August and September as home energy advisors and a project administrator.

The aim is to provide up-to-date energy saving advice to householders as well as linking them to the appropriate support networks.

You can find out more about the roles here. And visit here to read more about the Achieve project.

Despite this, the unemployment figures remain high and there are still reports about the lack of people with the right skills to take on these new, green jobs.

And with youth unemployment in particular at such high levels, it is vital that young people are informed of the enterprising and exciting opportunities that are open to them – and also given the necessary support and advice to gain the appropriate qualifications.

In recognition of this, Severn Wye Energy Agency developed the Your Green Future events, aimed at inspiring 13 – 19 year olds with the number and range job opportunities available in the green economy.

An Awards for All grant in 2013, enabled us to work with the University of Worcester, Worcestershire Council, Rotary and STEMnet to run one such event at the University of Worcester on Thursday 6 and Friday 7 June 2013.

Prior to this we had surveyed over three hundred 13 to 19-year-olds in the area, and 94% said they would like to speak to more people about job opportunities. A remarkable 89% also would like to get involved in more sustainable activities.

It was therefore fantastic to see over 40 diverse businesses, 400 secondary school students from 26 schools, Rotarians and university students all come together to explore and learn about the issues of sustainability at the event. The young people displayed real excitement and enthusiasm in working together, and understanding in how they could develop their skills for their future employment. They came away inspired.

Severn Wye's Cecily Etherington organised the event: "Wandering around the event it was great to overhear everything that was going on. The exhibition hall was full of students questioning businesses about their work and the kind of jobs they offered."

Amongst them the MP for Worcester, Robin Walker, who was enjoying the posters the students had created envisaging news headlines in 2025:

‘Scientists have come up with an idea for solar energy panels to actually orbit the earth!’

‘Governments from around the world agreed to abolish all competition for global resources and embrace collaboration.’

‘Yemen launched missiles into Saudi Arabia…. Yemen told reporters that this is an act of war …… they believe that oil should be fairly distributed from countries with proven oil reserves.’

In the Green Innovation workshop, students with an imaginary £1,000,000 to invest were questioning engineers from Tata Motors and Worcester Bosch over the financial returns and environmental benefits of their products.

Elsewhere students were pitching their business plans, including one idea for a pair of trainers that created electricity for charging your phone, and another for recycled, dyed glass jewellery from India which saw workers receive 50% of profits.

Other groups of students were improving the sustainability of a settlement’s energy use and deciding which of the businesses they would hire to undertake the job.

Throughout this, the Rotary were doing a great job to ensure everything ran smoothly.

The feedback has been really positive. Ninety-one per cent of students left feeling more confident about the ways of getting a job. The Your Green Future events fairly and accurately demonstrate what young people are really capable of when given the opportunity, and also what sort of issues are really important to them. It also shows that they understand the modern world and what they need to do to be successful.

Severn Wye are hoping to run further Your Green Future events soon. For the latest news, check out our website: www.yourgreenfuture.org.uk 

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An edited version of this article appeared on the Big Lottery website, here.

 

Businesses will be able to find out more about what the Government are hoping will be a £14 billion market for home improvement. There will be plenty of information and advice, as well as networking opportunities, on offer for attendees.

Severn Wye Energy Agency is hosting the event alongside the new Warm and Well Green Deal Provider and Cheltenham-based builders’ merchants, George Bence and Sons on Thursday 4 July.

Severn Wye's Neil Towler said: “The Government believes the Green Deal could create at least 65,000 insulation and construction jobs by 2015. So it’s really important that local installers are kept informed about this potential business opportunity. We want to ensure that businesses based in our area are supported and able to benefit from these opportunities.

"The event will set out the ways in which companies could get involved in the Green Deal – whether that’s working as the main contractor on Green Deal financed jobs, or working with Green Deal accredited installers as a sub-contractor.

“There are real opportunities for local, independent companies to boost their involvement in this work area, and this event will allow them to understand how Severn Wye and George Bence & sons, are working together to deliver this work in the region.”

The Link to Energy website is just one way Severn Wye is helping to bring a share of the energy market to local installers. The website lists more than 100 local installers who carry out energy work, allowing householders and businesses looking to make energy saving enhancements the chance to find local businesses.

Forest Green Rovers Football Club in Nailsworth will play host to the event, which will be open to businesses across Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. An evening buffet will be served.

For further information and to book your place, please call: 01452 835086, email: [email protected] or follow us on Twitter @linktoenergy.

You can download a copy of the agenda, here.

The one day course which will take place on a variety of dates in various venues across Wales, and will give people the chance to attain a Level 1 Award. The attendee will understand three main things:

1. Reasons for adopting energy efficiency behaviours and the effect on energy consumption

2. The measures and initiatives available to customers to encourage uptake

3. Understanding effective ways of communicating the information

As well as one day, attendees will also have to complete two short assignments and a short exam.

The course is aimed at anyone looking to reduce energy consumption whether you're working as an installer, you're in sales, or as an advisor for a local authority, housing organisation or charity.

The course costs £210 + VAT, however significant discounts are available for people living or working in Wales: A discount of 70% is available for SME’s of less than 250 staff (making the course £63 per person), and a discount of 30% is available for larger businesses (making the course £105 per person).

Severn Wye is running the course of behalf of the Energy Advice Training Consortium, which recently won a bid through Asset Skills to provide the training.

For more information please go to www.energyadvicetraining.co.uk/promoting-energy-efficiency-course.html, email: [email protected] or call 01452 835066.

The EATC, of which Severn Wye is a partner, is hosting three GDA courses over the next five months, with the first one starting on June 27.

The Green Deal is the Government's new initiative, which was launched in January, aimed at making buildings in the UK more energy efficient. Having a Green Deal Assessment is the first step towards improving your home or office.

The EATC was one of the first training providers to offer this qualification and have delivered two ‘go early’ courses for Asset Skills subsidised by DECC. EATC have so far successfully helped almost 100 Assessors to become qualified as Green Deal Advisors.

There are two types of GDA training: domestic, for those seeking to provide Green Deal Asessments for homeowners, and non-domestic, for those seeking to carry them out for other buildings, such as offices.

The domestic GDA course consists of three days training and one day of assessment. The non-domestic GDA course consists of four days training and one day of assessment. They also consist of online modules and an online portfolio system and ongoing support from trainers.

Severn Wye is hosting one of the domestic GDA courses at its offices in Highnam on the following dates:

• Thursday 27 June: Day one
• Thursday 4 July: Day two
• Thursday 11 July: Day three
• Thursday 8 August: Assessment

There will also be a series of non-domestic GDA courses which will takle place in the West Midlands throughout July, August and September. Another series of domestic GDA training will also take place in the West Midlands throughout September and October.

To become an accredited GDA, you first need to become a qualified Energy Assessor. If you are not already a DEA or NDEA then please look at the Energy Assessor page of the EATC website.

The standard price for the course is £1,250 (inclusive of all fees and assessment) plus VAT. However, discounts are available for booking multiple courses.

To find out more about any of these courses, or others the EATC are running, visit the EATC website and to book call: 01588 672351 or email: [email protected].

Monmouthshire’s action plans for sustainability, or MAPS, which is part of Severn Wye's Vital Villages project, is offering six communities the chance to develop their own action plans across a range of sustainable fields over the next 12 months.

The plans could cover areas such as: reducing energy consumption and small scale renewable schemes, local food and environment projects, increasing rural skills and green industry jobs, developing tourism potential or greener transport options.

The initiative is open to groups across Monmouthshire, whether they are an existing project wanting to move onto the next stage, or are just starting out.

To find out more and to complete an expression of interest form, visit the MAPS project page, or contact [email protected] or 01982 551006.

The event is being organised by European partners involved in the ACHIEVE and EC LINC projects, with the support of ManagEnergy. In the UK, Severn Wye manage the Achieve project, which covers parts of Wiltshire.

The workshop, entitled 'Discover concrete solutions on how to tackle fuel poverty within your territory!', aims to bring together agencies from across the continet to present the methodologies from their own projects, and to share their tools, recommendations and experiences on how to tackle fuel poverty.

Achieve aims to help low-income households by providing free home energy assessments, advice and installation of simple energy saving devices to residents living in and around the Trowbridge and Melksham areas of Wiltshire. The scheme also worked to lift people out of unemployment by taking on and training people from the local job centre.

The workshop will take place on Thursday 27 June. It will feature contributions from Lara Blake, policy officer at DG Energy and organiser of the Vulnerable Consumer Working Group and the Citizens' Energy Forum, and Christine Liddell, Professor of Psychology at the Psychology Research Institute of the University of Ulster and a specialist on fuel poverty and its effects on health.

You can download the programme for the event here (word) and here (PDF).

Achieve is an Intelligent Energy Europe supported project.

You can download the programme here and register here. For more information on the projects see also www.ec-linc.info and www.achieve-project.eu

Held at Forest Green Rovers football club in Nailsworth, the conference saw dozens of practitioners from a range of different organisations join forces to look at how best to deliver the Affordable Warmth Strategy.

Attendees on Wednesday set themselves the goal of reducing the number in fuel poverty, reducing cases of winter deaths and helping to improve domestic energy efficiency.

The conference was also a chance to find out about the relevance of the new Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO), make connections with other agencies, improve communication, and develop strategies for improving the situation for thousands of residents.

It is estimated that currently there are almost 50,000 households which are in fuel poverty across Gloucestershire andSouth Gloucestershire.

Kaye Welfare is Assistant Chief Executive at Severn Wye, and she was on the panel to take part in the question and answer session: "It was really pleasing to see so many people from such a range of organisations. We can all provide such different support often we don't know what's out there, so it's good to bring people together and see how we can help each other.

"Fuel poverty is a growing problem across the whole of the UK, so it's only by organisations working together as a team that we can tackle this problem."

As well councillors and officers from the local authorities in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, representatives from organisations such as Age UK Gloucestershire, the British Red Cross, Gloucestershire Rural Community Council, Stroud Foodbank, Civica and George Bence all attended the event.

Feedback from the event was excellent. Jennifer Taylor, Community Partnerships Manager at Cotswold District Council, said:

“The summit provided a valuable opportunity to make links with a range of organisations that we will be able to work with to reach those clients most at risk of fuel poverty, through joint promotional activity. By working together, we can help those people to access the right advice and support to keep their homes warm and their fuel costs down.”

The event featured a question and answer about the Green Deal and ECO, workshops to address gaps in support, stands of organisations offering help and plenty of opportunity for networking.

Cheltenham Green Doors brings together green groups and householders to showcase some of the alternative ways to reduce your carbon emissions and cut your fuel bills. Severn Wye Energy Agency are sponsoring the event, which will take place over the weekend of Saturday 22 and 23 June.

15 homes, gardens and community properties across the town are taking part in the event, opening their doors to the public and demonstrating the various ways they have improved insulation, energy efficiency and the environmental impact of their building or garden.

The event is an opportunity to see real examples of what people have done, talk to the householders about their experiences, the advantages and disadvantages, and get an unbiased view with no hard sell.

Over the weekend, there will be a chance to see:

• Solar hot water panels (generating hot water)
• Solar photovoltaics (generating electricity)
• A home built to ‘PassivHaus’ standard (where the heating and cooling requirements are reduced to the point where a traditional heating system is no longer essential)
• Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery
• Both internal and external insulation and various forms of draught proofing
• LED lighting
• Air source heat pumps
• Sustainable gardens

There will also be lots more from sun-pipes and wildlife gardens to triple glazing and rainwater harvesting at the event, which is being organised by Cheltenham Connect, Vision 21 for Gloucestershire and Transition Town Cheltenham.

For more details about the properties that will be opening their doors over the weekend, visit: www.transitiontowncheltenham.org.uk/ecohab.php