In a nutshell, our group's aim at this stage is to make our village community buildings more energy efficient. If we can get funding we will use the buildings to demonstrate how many ways there are, and how easy it is, to save householders money and deliver the kind of reduction in carbon and energy use that we need across the country.

We competed in the launch round of Energyshare and came fourth in the 'large' category. Although we didn't win we are proud of what we achieved.

We want our children and grandchildren to look forward to a bright and sustainable future - but what do they want? We asked Harbury School children what they want the world to be like in 2050. These are some of their replies:

No pollution ~ No smoke in the air ~ No oil in the sea ~ Clean air, clean rain ~ A peaceful world ~ No war ~ Lots of flowers and butterflies ~ More bees – more honey ~ More recycling ~ Vehicles powered by electricity ~ Every house has a solar panel ~ More home-grown food ~ Litter free.

And so we had to start somewhere. Doing something is better than doing nothing. Doing something with someone else is better than doing it on your own. And doing something in a group, and with other communities is better still...

Welcome to Harbury's Project

Our Energyshare project aims to:

• Reduce the running costs of Harbury’s community buildings by making them more energy efficient. This will help to ensure that our community buildings remain viable if energy costs continue to rise.
• Demonstrate a wide range of very practical technologies and encourage villagers and visitors to use them at home.

Our aspiration is for:

• Insulation for the library and Harbury pre-school building (Wight School), including underfloor heating pipes.
• Loft and cavity wall insulation at the Rugby Club.
• A new modern efficient boiler in the church – either a biomass boiler (woodburner) or a pair of highly efficient condensing gas boilers.
• LED lighting in the church and library.
• Solar panels for the Rugby Club.
• Interpretation guides to explain what is being achieved, what energy is being saved and generated.
• A display panel to show what the village hall solar PV array is generating.

The project is supported by Harbury's Home Energy Advisers.

Harbury is a very lively village of about 2500 people with many clubs and societies. As a result the projects would be on display to the many visitors to the village.

How Our Group Started

The Harbury Energy Initiative began over a pint... of blood. At the local blood donation session. David Bristow and Bob Sherman, possibly slightly light-headed from loss of blood, decided that they had had enough of talking green and wanted to see it happen for real.

At that time there were few solar panels to be seen in Harbury, little positive discussion of carbon reduction, nowhere obvious to go for advice, and a general feeling that climate change was perhaps a politically inspired myth and individual effort insignificant in delivering any worthwhile benefit to the planet. Villagers talked about wind turbines and electricity generation from other sources than the grid but in terms of some remote technological wonder beyond their means and their reality. Something needed to happen to change this inertia and that something was the Harbury Energy Initiative, which came into being in January 2010.

A small steering group of 8 discussed and determined a programme of influencing opinion and inspiring change. First step was to ensure we were properly connected to the village's leadership and we requested approval and support from the Parish Council. No problem there. Two councillors were already on the team making sure we had a good link. Our first appearance, only two months after we formed, was in support of a Parish Council event to raise awareness of energy efficiency and new technology. From that we were able to bring together a larger group of enthusiasts, all linking into other village activities and networks. In all we had a group of talented and committed people all able to bring their professional skills to play in achieving our goals:

• To reduce the village carbon footprint.
• To promote behaviour change to more sustainable living.

Another key partner for us has been the school. Children are wonderful ambassadors for great ideas and so they have been for us. You can read more about them in the report below on our Green Memories Green Future event. They need little encouragement - but a lot of guidance! - in promoting a greener world. Cajoling their parents into action will help to deliver the strategy!

Energyshare and Harbury

Energyshare appeared like a shimmering and unfocused mirage in the desert at Ecobuild 2011 through a chance conversation with some British Gas employees. The fund was yet to launch at that stage. When it came clearly into focus and turned out not to be an illusion, we decided that this might well be a way to bring our aspirations to reality.

We are fortunate enough to have members of HEI with experience of efficient buildings, energy solutions and fund raising. Having generated some momentum and lots of interest in the village in the first phase we concentrated on developing a bid aimed at village buildings that are used by both residents and incoming visitors, technologies that deliver energy efficiency and thus savings and new energy generation methods that would provide cost reductions and even income. We had too many ideas, of course - so in the end we had to prioritise rigorously, and our final choices for this bid are listed above.

A key element of this will be demonstrating to users of the buildings what they could do at home and firing their imagination. Individual small efforts, we hope to show, when combined can make a significant difference.

Find us on www.energyshare.com/harbury-energy-initiative. You can also meet us on Twitter: @Harbury Energy and on Facebook on the Harbury Energy Initiative group pages.

Green Memories - Green Future Event

In October 2011, Harbury School and Harbury Energy Initiative put on an all day event.

More information and photos of this event (pdf)

Harbury Energy Advisers

The Harbury Energy Initiative is working with Act on Energy, Warwickshire's Energy Efficiency Advice Centre, to provide a free Home Energy Check to help you find ways to save energy in your home, save money on your fuel bills, and cut your CO2 emissions.

We are not experts, just people from the village who are concerned about energy, and we do not gain any financial benefit from our work. We may be able to offer some suggestions and some contacts, but you will need expert advice if you want to have any major work done.

We start by asking some questions about you and your home – you do not need to answer any of these questions, particularly the ones about your circumstances, but they will allow us to give better advice. For example, depending on your age and whether you are on benefits, some insulation may be available free.

Interested? Contact David Bristow on 612536