Date: Thursday 20th May
Two sessions - 2.30pm and 6.30pm

The makers of Sempatap, an insulation material applied to internal walls, have agreed to offer a free training session for decorators and DIY enthusiasts to be held at 8 Sydenham Ave Liverpool L173AX on Thursday 20th May. There will be two sessions at 2.30 and 6.30 and a maximum of 10 people will be able to take part. We are hoping to organise for a local handyman's store to stock this product which otherwise has to be trucked up as individual orders and we will publicise the names and contact details of tradespeople who have this training. Tea and coffee will be provided.

Please contact me if you're interested on dinah.dossor@talktalk.net

A workshop sponsored by the Avenues Neighbourhood Network (TANN) and Transition Towns Liverpool South
Date: Tuesday February 9th
Time: 9.15 – 4.30
Venue: St. Agnes Church Hall, 1, Buckingham Avenue, L17 3BA (at the junction with Ullet Road)

This free one day workshop will cover sustainable methods of heating and insulating old and listed buildings, in conservation areas such as Toxteth Park and Avenues and in neighbouring areas of traditional terrace housing. Led by a trainer from the Energy Saving Trust (EST), it will introduce the concepts of energy auditing, look at methods of insulating solid wall buildings and consider the impact of heating systems and controls. Other speakers will cover available renewable energy options.

The workshop will hopefully lead to some local initiatives to reduce our impact on the planet’s climate, and the trainer will provide some advice on how this can be achieved. Participants will have the opportunity to explore effective ways of making these developments happen in their locality, finding project partners and sourcing funding. There will be opportunities for discussion and networking during the day, with a view to some initial project planning later.

Lunch (including vegetarian/vegan options) is provided and refreshments will be available during the morning and afternoon sessions

9.00 – 9.30: Arrival and refreshments
9.30 – 12.30: Morning session
Introductions of the delegates and speakers: (Beverley Davidson, EST)
Brief overview of local housing stock and energy use (John Garrett)
Introduction to energy auditing (EST)
Identification and improvements to heating controls (EST)
Heat loss and insulation in old and listed buildings (EST)
Q&A (EST)
Making it happen (part 1)\\
12.30 – 1.15: Lunch
1.15 – 4.30: Afternoon session
Making it happen (part 2) – to include finding project partners and sources of funding (EST Beverley Davidson and Heather Gott)
Overview of relevant renewable technologies; solar thermal, solar photo-voltaics, ground source and air source heat pumps (Bill Tyrer, David Hunt)
Q&A
Local initiatives – discussions and conclusions

This workshop has been arranged by two local organisations:
TANN (The Avenues Neighbourhood Network) www.tann.org.uk and Transition Town Liverpool South ww.transitiontowns.org/Liverpool-South/Liverpool-South 

22nd June at Static Gallery

16 people attended this meeting at which a Solartwin representative made a brief presentation and answered our questions on solar water heating systems and I'm sending a brief report on some of the points which were made. No doubt others will add to this if I leave anything important out. Solartwin has a website www.Solartwin.com which will offer further information. Could those people who want to take this forward please respond and we can form ourselves into a group to take advantage of the available grants. I think it's worth carrying on our correspondence through TT S since this will be our community group if enough people are interested, and we may pick up new transitioners for this project.

1. Financing solar thermal installations; if community groups get together to order several installations (4-6 people minimum) the North West Development Agency, through its Foundation Scheme, will fund 50% of costs and Solartwin will offer a further £400 reduction per order on top of that. This will bring the costs down from around £3299 (standard cost) to £1650.
2. Savings; these vary according to other sources of heat used and the escalating price of these but we could expect an annual saving of around £200 at current prices.
3. Planning permission is not needed even in conservation areas.
4. Viability for your property is established by the company doing a phone question and answer session plus a Google Earth survey. South facing, West facing and East facing roofs are good- anything with north in it not viable. Pitch is not very important. Installation can be done on slate, tile and concrete roofs or in other places.
5. Warranty; Solartwin offers a 5 year system warranty- apparantly a relatively good deal compared to other companies who's warranties may be longer but do not cover the whole system.
6. Efficiency; in the UK we receive 1000 kw hours per year weatherwise. Thin cloud as well as sunshine will activate the system and Solartwin offers advice on how to manage heating systems to gain mazimum benefit.
7. Maintenance; Solartwin system uses no antifreeze and therefore cuts maintanance costs; generally existing cylinders can be utilised and there are ways of using solar together with Combi boilers. Pipework (silicon) is protected against birds and rodents.
8. Ethical company policy is followed; including that Solartwin will not proceed with installations where the customer will not benefit.

I personally was impressed by Chris's presentation and answers to questions and I'm keen to go ahead if we can get the necessary numbers. Dinah

Tuesday 10 March - 7pm - Aigburth Cricket Club, Southwood Road (next to St Michael's station)

The Energy Saving Trust gave some useful tips on how to make our homes greener and less expensive to heat - and afterwards people exchanged ideas on things they have tried in their homes - with such great ideas, that we've decided to put up a new 'energy tips' section on the website! (Coming soon) We've also decided to have a meeting on renewable energy for the home. More information soon.