The first phase of the Energy Neighbourhood project started in October 2007 and sought to demonstrate how significant savings can be made, both in money and carbon, through simple changes in behaviour.
Actions such as not overfilling your kettle when you boil it, turning off the lights when you leave a room or regularly defrosting your fridge-freezer, can all add up and make a significant impact on fuel bills and ultimately the environment.
As well as this, Energy Neighbourhoods is a competition. Households can compete against their friends and neighbours, communities against other communities.
The second phase of the Energy Neighbourhoods project will start in the autumn of 2011 and GreenDependent will take part in managing the competition in Hungary.
We look for households who are interested in setting up an Energy Neighbourhood. By taking part, they are able to save energy, save money, improve the environment and even win prizes!
An Energy Neighbourhood is a group of 5 to 15 households who have accepted the challenge of reducing their energy consumption by up to 20% over six months. The group ideally lives in the same neighbourhood or the members know each other from a club, society or residents group, etc. Each neighbourhood will have its own energy master - a householder who will hopefully lead the neighbourhood to glory! The energy master will be able to advise people on how to save energy and will be there to collect the participants meter readings. The energy master will be given full training and provided with the appropriate tools to aid success.
More information on the project is available from: http://www.energyneighbourhoods.eu/gb/
