Category Archives: Energy

You’re retro-fit (but my gosh, don’t you know it)

Retrofit Conference @ Salford Quays, 24-26 January Last week, I attended the UK’s first conference on how to sustainably retrofit the existing house stock. It was a three day affair held at the Lowry in Salford although I only made … Continue reading

Posted in academia, AGMA, Energy, Event reports, GM Climate Strategy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Who can you (energy saving) trust?

MCFly got in touch with the Energy Saving Trust Advice Centre in Manchester today following rumours that their funding was being drastically cut in March. The manager I spoke to declined to comment and informed me that the query will instead been … Continue reading

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Job Alert: Freelance Domestic Energy Officers

Action for Sustainable Living is looking for self-motivated Freelance Domestic Energy Officers to deliver its Domestic Energy Programme in partnership with Housing Associations from Feb 2012 to Sept 2013. It involves delivering daytime and evening training-the-trainer sessions to Housing Association … Continue reading

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INTERVIEW: John Ashcroft and Manchester’s bid for the Green Investment Bank

MCFly met up with John Ashcroft, the man leading Manchester’s bid to host the Green Investment Bank, to talk about the rainy city’s chances and whether it can see off competition from London Manchester is one of over twenty cities … Continue reading

Posted in Energy, GM Climate Strategy, Manchester City Council | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Training: “Community-led renewables”

MCFly asked Liz Boylan of Neighbhourhoods NW to tell us about a new programme to help people learn how to get their community involved in renewable energy schemes. “Developed in partnership with the Energy Saving Trust, this course is aimed … Continue reading

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The sun also… sets on solar panel scheme

Plans to install solar panels on 3,000 roofs across Greater Manchester have been cut to just 600 roofs. Move follows the government’s decision to slash the feed-in-tariffs on December 12th. Manchester City Council’s Director of Housing Paul Beardmore today told … Continue reading

Posted in Adaptation, Energy, Manchester City Council | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Carbon Co-op’s reaction to not winning a hundred grand

First the bad news – Carbon Coop, which made the finals of a competition with £100,000 funding for community-based energy savings to be won, fell at the final hurdle. But there are other irons in the fire… Manchester Climate Monthly … Continue reading

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Event Report: Greening the Green Deal

How do you solve a problem like .. leaky buildings? Most of the houses and offices we will be living in the year 2050 – when our carbon emissions are supposed to be 80% lower– are already built. But how … Continue reading

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Fuel poverty is no laughing matter

But there’s a letter in the Guardian (see below) and this photo (minus speech bubbles, naturally) was published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change flickr account and I couldn’t help myself*… Gaurdian letter – “Government goes cold on … Continue reading

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Manchester climate academic quizzed at House of Commons

Two climate change academics spoke on Tuesday 29 November to a group of MPs at the House of Commons. Dr Alice Bows of Manchester University’s Sustainable Consumption Institute (1) and Leeds-based Dr John Barrett presented their work on “embedded carbon” … Continue reading

Posted in Energy, Food | Tagged , , | 6 Comments