News
Renewables call to regenerate local rural economy
03 December 2007
Investment in local renewable energy schemes could cut carbon emissions and help regenerate the West Midlands’s rural economies, one of Europe’s leading renewable energy experts has told a conference of housing experts.
Soren Hermansen, co-ordinator for the Danish Renewables Island project, was speaking at the Delivering Sustainable Housing in the Rural West Midlands conference organised by Shropshire Housing Group in partnership with Shropshire County Council and Marches Energy Agency for local housing experts.
He told the conference that local biomass, solar and wind projects have meant that Samso’s 4,300 island inhabitants are now a 70 % Renewable Village. Many of the technologies, he said, could be applied in rural areas such as Shropshire and Herefordshire, and could make a real difference within 10 years, bringing in new jobs, lower energy bills and slashing carbon footprints.
He praised existing local initiatives, including the biomass district heating scheme being installed by South Shropshire Housing Association (SSHA) at Rocks Green, Ludlow, and said much more could be done to invest in Renewable Energies in rural communities.
Other speakers included Steve Fowkes from Shropshire County Council on Delivering Carbon Reduction in Shropshire Communities; Paul Sutton, SSHA Managing Director on Delivering a Sustainable Building Strategy and Mike Webb, Director of Econergy Ltd on Meeting the Challenge of Sustainable Heat.
The conference also saw a cheque for £100,000 presented to Paul Sutton, Managing Director of South Shropshire Housing Association, by Ray Flynn Partnerships Team Leader for the Rural Regeneration Zone, on behalf of Advantage West Midlands. The money is a grant from AWM’s Rural Regeneration Zone towards the Rocks Green biomass heating system.
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