Schools from across the City Region are invited to join the School Waste Action Programme to Rethink, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle their waste.

The Eco Resource Network has launched the School Waste Action Programme, an exciting pilot which will be managed by a group of Merseyside based charities; Energy Projects Plus, Faiths4Change, Liverpool World Centre and Rotters Community Composting.

The project, supported by the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority and Veolia Environmental Services through the Community Fund 2013-2014, aims to make real difference to levels of waste produced in schools across Merseyside and Halton.

Up to 50 schools across Merseyside & Halton are being offered the opportunity to receive quality support to engage the whole school community to reduce waste, recycle more and even make money for school funds. There are three programmes on offer, all of which provide hands on support to enable schools to reduce waste.

The School Waste Action trial provides schools with a waste audit, waste action plan and trial recycling pilot scheme complete with a personal waste officer and in school workshops for all ages.

The ‘Sustainable Schools: Where teaching meets school business management’ workshop is available to Business Managers and teaching staff who are passionate about environmental education, and want to make a difference in their school. This practical workshop will provide learning and networking experience to help schools create and embed a sustainable procurement plan.

The Textile Challenge is a simple textile collection competition, involving an assembly and practical set up and support, a great way to engage families & boost school funds.

Carl Beer, Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority Chief Executive said: “We’re pleased to be supporting a project that is providing excellent opportunities for schools across the region to have a real impact on the efficiency of their waste and recycling activities.”

For more information and to register your interest, please contact Emma Ashcroft on emma.ashcroft@epplus.org.uk or 0151 637 3688.

Closing date for expressions of interest is 15^th November 2013.

Don’t miss the Retrofit Roadshow taking place at the ACC Liverpool on 3 September as all the key players from the region will be there. The Roadshow is a must for organisations looking to develop retrofit strategies; access the key players; capitalise on local retrofit opportunities; learn from best practice and see the latest innovations.

The government has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 and to achieve this ambitious target we need to retrofit 700,000 properties a year – that’s 13,000 per week!

Retrofitting is upgrading existing buildings with energy efficiency or renewable measures in order to reduce the amount of carbon emitted.  The Liverpool city region retro-fit market alone is estimated to be in the region of £50bn and five months after the launch of the Green Deal the North West is leading the way as the region with the most Green Deal assessments.

This is probably due to our many pioneering initiatives. Project Viridis is a great example where a consortium of social landlords have signed up to a programme of work which will retrofit 100,000 houses in Liverpool.  Alliance is the UK’s largest procurement initiative for social landlords with over 1,170 members. Set up by Fusion21, they have instigated solar, insulation and heating agreements that have delivered extensive home improvements, created jobs and saved ££s off householder bills.  Greater Manchester Low Carbon Hub (part of AGMA) is also looking to deliver a range of low carbon projects that will provide several opportunities for low carbon suppliers in the region.

Peter Owen, Chief Executive of Energy Projects Plus, will be speaking at Retrofit Roadshow about large scale retrofit projects delivered in Merseyside.

The event that will explore the domestic and non-domestic challenges and opportunities by addressing:

• The business case for retrofits
• How the regions are meeting the retrofit challenge
• Latest carbon reduction technology
• Funding mechanisms and legal issues (ECO/Green Deal)
• Pilot scheme learning and innovation
• Delivery of retrofit activity at scale
• Skills and training

This one day event will be packed with presentations, workshops and retrofit clinics with time set aside to network, plus a comprehensive exhibition of retrofit technologies.

Key note speakers include:

Opening Plenary (Cllr Tim Moore, Liverpool City Council)

How the North West is meeting the retrofit challenge (Maggi Howard, Project Viridis & Anne Parkes, AGMA)

Understanding what makes people tick (Dr Will Swann, Salford University)

Why retrofits make good business sense (Chris Foran, Peel Holdings Ltd)

Making funding frameworks work (Martin Orrill, British Gas)

Retrofit at scale: creating a legacy (Peter Owen, Energy Project Plus)

The Commercial Green Deal: making it work for your property portfolio (Christoph Harwood, Marksman Consulting)

Delegate prices are only £125 + VAT per person. Discounts apply for multiple delegate bookings and Public Sector delegates. To book your place visit www.retrofit-roadshow.co.uk/book or call 01743 290001.

10% Early Bird discounts apply for delegate bookings before the end of July, use discount code EBDRFR10 – places are limited.

The Liverpool City Region (LCR) Collective Switch will give householders from across the region the chance to join together to get a better deal on their gas and electricity supply, and save hundreds of pounds on their energy bills each year.

The scheme is organised by Wirral-based charity, Energy Projects Plus, together with the Liverpool City Region local authorities.

Anyone can join the LCR Collective Switch. Those who have never switched their energy supplier or who haven’t switched in the last 12 months, are likely to benefit most from the collective switch. Working together makes it safe and easy to switch supplier and householders could typically save £189 per year on their energy bills.

More than 1 in 5 households across the City Region are currently living in fuel poverty. This scheme aims to help those people to reduce their fuel bills whilst enabling them to keep warm in their homes.

The LCR Collective Switch is backed by Halton Council, Knowsley Council, Liverpool City Council, Sefton Council and Wirral Council. It’s free to join and householders will be able to see how much they would save before they decide if they want to switch suppliers.

The Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, who leads on low carbon issues for the City Region, said: “People in our region are concerned by rising fuel prices but many aren’t on their energy supplier’s best tariff. The LCR Collective Switch scheme aims to cut through the confusion and make it easy for people to switch their tariff and get a better deal on their energy bills. We hope that everyone will join in and see how much they could save by collectively switching.”

The scheme will be launched on 15^th April when householders will be able to register online or by phone. You can find out more and express your interest in joining the switch at www.LCRenergyswitch.co.uk  or by calling the local Save Energy Advice Line on freephone 0800 043 0151, where residents can also get free and impartial help and advice about saving energy at home.

Energy Projects Plus hosts the ‘Fuel Poverty Across Liverpool City Region’ conference to help shape action on fuel poverty across the City Region.

On Thursday 21 March, Energy Projects Plus hosted a fuel poverty conference at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, bringing together stakeholders from across the City Region to develop a strategic approach to affordable warmth.

Fuel poverty, the inability to keep warm at an affordable cost, is a significant issue across Liverpool City Region with more than 1 in 5 households suffering.

It is recognised that coordinated cross-sector action is vital to tackle this problem and Energy Projects Plus works closely with Liverpool City Region authorities to ensure that fuel poverty is kept firmly on the agenda.

With support from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Joe Anderson, the Mayor of Liverpool and James Jones, the Bishop of Liverpool we recognised the extent to which fuel poverty impacts on other policy areas such as health and wellbeing, financial inclusion and child poverty and sought to identify ways forward for the City Region.

Key speakers included Councillor Tim Moore (Cabinet Member for Transport and Climate Change, Liverpool City Council), David Colbourne (Chair of the Northwest Carbon Action Network), Niall Cooper (National Coordinator for Church Action on Poverty) and Dr Janet Atherton (President of the Association of Directors of Public Health).

We also facilitated a series of highly interactive workshop discussions to share knowledge, identify barriers to improvement and cover key influences on fuel poverty, including household energy standards, household income and fuel prices.

Energy Projects Plus Chief Executive, Peter Owen said; “Feedback from delegates has been extremely positive and highlights the commitment across a wide range of organisations and sectors to tackle fuel poverty. There has also been support to update the previous Merseyside Affordable Warmth strategy and extend it to the City Region, which we will look to take forward with local authorities and other sector partners.”

Energy Projects Plus is pleased to announce that we have recently achieved ISO14001 status.

The charity underwent an external assessment in October, and on 7^th December we were formally presented with a certificate to recognise this great achievement.

ISO14001 is one of the environmental standards that an organisation can be awarded after being externally assessed by accredited assessors. It specifies the requirements for an environmental management system and applies to those environmental aspects of an organisations operation over which the organisation has control and can be expected to influence.

Energy Projects Plus has taken itself through the process of setting up an Environmental Management System (EMS). Initially the EMS Team was set up to chart the organisation through the process that led to the awarding of the environmental British standard 8555. We achieved BS8555 in 2010 and it was renewed in 2011. However, it was decided to work towards the higher ISO14001 rather than continue with BS8555. The EMS Team had to consider all aspects of the organisations activities, such as energy and water usage, procurement, travel, recycling, financial investments and legal compliance. In all cases looking at mechanisms to be put in place, maintained and improved upon to reduce our environmental impact.

The achievement of ISO14001 status by Energy Projects Plus is a significant milestone in its history. As an environmental charity it is important that we lead by example and our ISO14001 accreditation shows that we are doing just that.