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Energy Meters

Woking LA21 has recently carried out trials with several portable Energy Meters for measuring electricity consumption of household plugged-in appliances. The results showed that some equipment (PC´s, microwaves, washing machines and televisions) were consuming power even when apparently switched off.

We now have 20 devices, bought by Woking Borough Council, which we intend to make available on a loan basis to interested community organisations. For more on this see energy Meters on the links at the right, or here.

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Are you ready to be a new energy pioneer ?

The Energy Savings Trust has awarded funding for a 2-year project to promote energy efficiency, alternative sources of energy and encourage uptake by householders in the borough.

The Woking Solar Frontier scheme provides free and impartial advice to Woking residents on a range of energy related topics and easy ways to take action on them. Promotional activities may include public access to households that have solar water heating systems. There are plans to set up an approved scheme for installers of renewable energy systems for the home

The project, is being managed by the Energy Centre for Sustainable Communities (ECSC), promoting the project in partnership with Woking Borough Council, Woking LA21 Group and local businesses.

Open days are to be held late summer/early autumn to show locally installed examples of solar hot water. Contact details below for more information.

http://www.wokingsolar.org.uk/

For more information please call 0800 783 2503 or mailto:john.wyles@ecsc.org.uk

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Gardening For Life - New Wildlife Surveys

The new Garden Wildlife Watch was announced at our March 1st public meeting on gardening in the future when Steve Berry from Natural England spoke on the importance of gardens for biodiversity. (for report of meeting click here).

The survey form was published in the centre of Woking Magazine at the end of March 2007. It had four parts:

• April bird survey
• Bird species seen last year
• Selected animals and insects seen last year
• Garden practices

We plan to repeat the survey each April so that we can monitor changes in the biodiversity of Woking´s garden as the climate warms and awareness of environmentally friendly gardening practices. We hope as many people as posssible will join in the survey. For further information click here for the Gardening For Life pages of this website.

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Change LAB (Changing Lifestyles, Attitudes and Behaviours) project

This is a Surrey project, taken up by the EU, which has obtained funding to spread ideas and experience between EU participants. Woking LA21 has been interviewed about the Gardening For Life project, which has been selected to be passed on to EU partners as an example of a successful project for ChangeLAB. Now Surrey ChangeLAB has set up a project at the Byfleet Primary School, in partnership with Three Valleys Water, aiming to encourage water conservation within the school and local community. Ailsa of LA21 is helping and if successful, it is possible that this type of project would be developed across the Woking Borough.

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Running a Community Garden

There is a growing amount of interest in undertaking such a project. Some of the initial steps involve :

• Determining the amount of interest in creating and maintaining such a garden.
• Finding the key person(s) to run such a project.
• Finding a candidate piece of land.

If you are interested in contributing to this project please contact : la21@woking.gov.uk