Ms M Brookes, Oxfutures Project Leader, Oxford City Council and Dr Simpson from the Low Carbon Hub gave a presentation on the project including funding and the partners’ roles. This covered the focus of the project; funding; and targets. There was a launch event for the Oxfutures project on 24 January 2014.
The Low Carbon Hub helped develop projects with community and public buildings and with larger scale residential projects. Recent projects included helping Oxford Bus Company to fit large-scale solar panels. Schools, community, and commercial buildings around Oxfordshire could benefit from the hub’s expertise. While the hub was not actively sourcing new projects it was always open for discussions with groups who had projects to take forward within a reasonable timescale.
Dr Keith Richards from Thames Valley Energy gave a presentation on the use of woodfuel and biofuel, the supply and demand in Oxfordshire, and the development of a strategy to make better use of the supply, and answered questions.
In summary, the supply of woodfuel, especially chippings, is plentiful and the supply chain good but the demand within the county is less than the supply. While there are large-scale projects to use wood to generate electricity which could utilise some of the supply, local small scale heat or heat and power schemes would make best use of the supply, economically and environmentally. Pelleted wood was easier to store and manage for heating systems than chippings, but chippings were easier and cheaper to manufacture and could be used in many locations.
The partnership agreed that:
· each council should consider the opportunities for using chipped woodfuel in their own estate.
· each council should work on encouraging residents and businesses to use local supplies; encourage suppliers to meet the ‘Oxlogs’ standard, and encourage more planting of trees for woodfuel.
Mr Andrew Bowe, Implementation Officer at Cherwell District Council gave a presentation on the development of the Bicester Eco-Town and examples of best practice in the project.
He explained the development of the long term vision for the new and existing parts of Bicester and the multi-agency work to promote a project covering much more than just new housing. Demonstration projects for retrofitting existing buildings, the re-use centre, and community events helped promote sustainable choices. Work with developers to design zero-carbon housing (Code level 6) was on-going and planning permission for the north-west of the site was in place. The cost of a house should be close to normal market values and have lower running costs.
The partnership noted the presentation and the work on developing the eco-town.