Philip Ditchfield persuaded inhabitants of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, to become part of his 100 Solar Project, a community renewables buying group. To date, 185 households have registered, and 30 Marlow families now generate electricity through photovoltaic and solar thermal cells. "We've had calls from all over the country," he says. "I hope people outside of our seven-mile radius around Marlow will start their own scheme."
To this end he's compiled a best-practice document at transitionmarlow.org. He analysed 10 renewable energy companies using his procurement expertise before settling on freesource.co.uk. "We have enough homes to leverage a 12% discount, so everyone got a rebate after six months. But I'm still aiming for 100 homes, which would mean a rebate of 20%." This could "save 80,000kg of CO2 each year.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk