Sat 17th Oct - Eco Energy Fair

The Eco Energy Fair was held in Hove Town Hall last Saturday 17th October. Organized by the Transition Energy Group, approximately 200 people came to visit an exhibition of 26 companies and organizations committed to help with energy savings, renewable energy and reducing carbon footprint.

A visitor learning how much power she can generate by cycling

We had a wide range of local organizations and companies, including:

• Brighton & Hove Council, with the Home Energy Efficiency, Energy Efficiency in Schools and Sustainability Team departments represented.
• Well-known nonprofit organizations active in providing information and advice on climate change, energy savings and renewable energy (BPEC, RSPB)
• OVESCO, the energy services company founded by Transition Lewes
  
• Several installers of solar energy (Southern Solar, Suntrader, Eco Hi Solar, Aquarius Solar Heating, Eco Save Technologies)
  
• Several green architects and consultants for eco refurbishment of homes (BBM Sustainable Design, Bright Green Homes, Arch-Angels Architects, Maria Hawton-Mead)
• Green transport companies and organizations (Sustrans, The Big Lemon, Smart, Bike for Life)
  
• And even green plumbers! (Blue2Green Plumbing)

The list above is by no means exhaustive.

The Eco Energy Fair was opened by Sarah Lewes, award-winning environmental journalist. She reminded visitors of the 10:10 challenge and proposed that everybody write on a small piece of paper one need and one offer they could make, with the purpose of seeing if they could be matched up. Afterwards, we made a few good matches, like helping somebody find a good quote for a solar thermal installation.

During the day we had several talks:

• Ian McKay, sustainable architect, talked about a carbon descent plan for the built environment and how we can use buildings to support a more environmentally benign way of living in our city
• Maria Hawton-Mead, sustainable building consultant, talked on the principles of good eco-home renovations with examples.
• Dave Spear, installer of solar panels, talked about integrated solar thermal & photovoltaic and long-term seasonal thermal storage

Visitors listen to Ian McKay

Feedback from visitors and stallholders alike was very positive. 88% of visitors agreed that they had learned more about energy efficiency and renewable energy from their visit. A few examples of the actions they said they would take as a result of the visit were:

• Do lots of low cost energy solutions at home
• Fit free lightbulbs
• Talk to the Council about solar panels in Council accomodation
• Stay in touch with local companies
• Join Transition Brighton & Hove

All in all, it was a wonderful day and visitors, stallholders and volunteers alike went home very happy!