Become a low carbon community centre

Become a Low Carbon Community Centre A guide to reducing your centre’s carbon footprint

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As part of the Welsh Government’s Climate Change Challenge, three Welsh community centres took part in a friendly competition to find innovative and fun ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

The aim of the Challenge was to demonstrate that individuals and communities could have a positive impact on reducing Wales’ carbon footprint through their actions.

This guide is based on the experiences of the three centres – Pontrobert Community Centre in Pontrobert, Powys, Bridges Community Centre in Monmouth and Bloomfield Community Centre in Narberth. It provides three levels of actions you can take to help reduce your community centre’s carbon footprint, ranging from quick and easy tips to more complex ideas that you could put in place over time.

The good news is that the majority of the actions lie within level one which are quick, easy and inexpensive ways for a community centre to reduce its carbon footprint while saving money at the same time.

But what will really bring about success is getting your community involved. As well as encouraging car sharing schemes and purchasing local produce to its members, Pontrobert Community Centre held regular climate change quizzes and film screenings to help educate centre users about the difference they can make.

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So, for maximum success, before starting try to: •S ecure commitment from your centre’s senior team by agreeing low carbon objectives •C onsult centre users and key stakeholders of the process to ensure they understand what you’re doing and why •E stablish the current carbon footprint of the building and set targets.

Level 1 Easy does it... simple changes to reduce your carbon footprint •T alk – Centre staff and users will have probably noticed ways to reduce the carbon footprint of the centre. Talk to them and share ideas and also encourage them to think about how they can take lessons back to the local community.

•T each – Hold classes for your local community to tell them about climate change and show them how to reduce their carbon footprint. Bloomfield Community Centre held sewing classes to encourage the reuse of fabric into wearable items. Bridges Community Centre ran a cookery course to create meals on a budget with locally sourced produce.

• Recycle – Most materials can now be recycled, whether it be papers, plastics, metals or food waste, which can be composted.

Bridges Community Centre showed how mobile phones can be recycled, and also sent their old newspapers to a local company that recycled them for wall insulation.

• Go local – Buying locally produced food means it has not travelled as far to get to the shop, giving you fresher food straight from your area that supports local producers.

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• Switch off – Turning off lights and appliances so that they are not on standby can save a significant amount of electricity, and money! Aside from the carbon emissions generated from supplying electricity to this unused equipment, this is a waste of money as it costs the ‘average’ UK office £6,000 per year.

• See the light – Replace all light bulbs with energy saving bulbs.

• A kind cuppa – Only boiling enough water needed for your hot drink helps to stop wasting energy. Less water = less energy!

• Think before you buy – Take a good look at the packaging of products before you buy them and try to choose the ones with less packaging to save on waste.

• Pass it on – If your community has unwanted goods, instead of throwing them out, pass them on to others nearby who can make use of them. Pontrobert Community Centre passed their spare crockery over to their local family crisis centre, rather than throw it away.

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• Hitch a ride – Taking the bus and car sharing are simple and more social ways to get around whilst saving on carbon emissions.

Encourage staff and centre users to car share and display bus and train timetables in visible locations.

Information for visitors (on websites or leaflets) should also include details about how to reach your centre by walking, cycling and public transport. The local children of Bloomfield Community Centre use the centre’s community bus instead of their parent’s cars to travel and consequently, are reducing their carbon footprint.

Level 2 Step it up…take a bigger step toward reducing your carbon footprint • Friendly flush – Fit a water saving device in your toilet cisterns for water efficiency. Such water saving devices save approximately three litres of water per flush. That’s a typical cost saving of £3 per person per year – depending on the number of people using your centre, the savings could be significant if you’re on a meter.

• Top taps – Push down and water sensor taps help to save on water, instead of having a constant flow from a standard tap.

These taps are ideal for community centres and local work places, where they are in more frequent use. Pontrobert Community Centre reduced their water use significantly by installing push down taps.

• Insulate – There are many ways to insulate your building to save on heating costs and energy use. You can insulate hot water pipes and put an insulating jacket on your hot water tank to conserve heat.

Loft and cavity wall insulation can also be easily added to many buildings and will quickly repay their costs in reduced heating bills. An uninsulated building The Cli ma loses approximately 20% of its heat through Challen te Change ge has the roof and 33% through the walls. sh tacklin g clima own that te chan doesn’ • Stop the draught – Draught-proof ge t have t o t b h e a t a windows and doors. This is quick and the s cho can ma mallest of ch re, inexpensive but can reduce the need a ke a hu ge diffe nges and as for heating. rence, we hav ee they ca n be fu xperienced, n Vicki Tr too. ave Bloomfie rs-Milne, ld Comm unity Ce 5 ntre

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Level 3 Go for it... go all the way to help reduce your carbon footprint • Get A-rated – If your community centre has a fridge or any other white goods, consider purchasing an energy efficient appliance when you need to replace them. Energy efficient white goods are rated from A++ to G, with A-rated appliances being the most energy efficient. Top rated appliances are a great way to reduce running costs.

• Double Up – Replace old windows with double-glazing. This will need an up-front investment but it will cut the heat lost through windows by half. It will also reduce noise from outside and make your centre feel less draughty.

• Better boilers – There is now the option to lower carbon emissions by installing a condensing boiler, or a condensing combination boiler. These boilers are now seen as standard boilers, replacing solid fuel and electric heating systems, to cut heating bills and carbon emissions.

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• Let the sun shine – Solar The participating centres all took electricity using photovoltaic solar the Climate Change Challenge panels is a way of generating into their communities electricity from a renewable energy take to encouraging locals source therefore reducing your We ns. actio n carbo low in part carbon footprint whilst providing hope that more centres and free electric power. Pontrobert s Wale t ghou throu s communitie Community Centre is installing will now follow suit and take up photovoltaic panels and a new their e reduc the challenge to energy-efficient boiler as it continues rint. footp n carbo own its carbon reducing efforts.

John Griffiths, Environment Minister

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So what are you waiting for?

Put your best foot forward!

Any community centre in Wales can significantly reduce its carbon footprint by adopting many of these actions.

What is important, and perhaps the easiest thing of all, is to spread the word to your centre users and the local community about how they too can reduce their carbon footprint, whether it be at home, at work, or in their local area.

Many of the above points can be applied to people’s homes and workplaces; not just community centres.

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For more information on how your Centre can do its bit to reduce Wales’ carbon footprint please visit: • Wales’ Carbon Footprint www.walescarbonfootprint.gov.uk For more advice on how you can reduce your footprint • Carbon Trust Wales www.carbontrust.co.uk/wales They support businesses in Wales to reduce their footprint • Energy Saving Trust Wales www.energysavingtrust.org.uk They offer free advice to homeowners to help them cut emissions • Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water www.dwrcymru.com Advice on how to save water • Sustain Wales www.sustainwales.com Find out what others are doing across Wales • Waste Awareness Wales www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk For advice on how to deal with your waste • Freecycle www.freecycle.org A place where you can give away things you don’t need and also get free items from others • Freegle www.ilovefreegle.org Another place where you can buy items and sell anything you don’t need anymore

Deciding to cut your centre’s carbon emissions does not have to be a decision made only on a moral basis because cutting carbon also slashes your energy bills and saves money whilst enhancing your reputation within the community.

Non-domestic buildings account for nearly a fifth of the UK’s carbon emissions. Given that 60 per cent of the buildings that will be standing in 2050 have already been built, low-carbon refurbishment of existing buildings will be essential to hit carbon reduction targets.

If you would like to find out more about how community groups can help Wales reduce its carbon footprint have a look at the ‘Third Sector Action Highlights’ of the Climate Change Strategy for Wales.

This is available at www.wales.gov.uk/climatechange in the ‘Our Publications’ section.

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