Hot topics include:
How to take advantage of a free energy audit and access a grant of £500 (This only applies if you are a business registered in Huntingdonshire).
How to save money on water bills- talk to an expert from Anglian Water.
How to cut waste and save money- talk to a waste management expert.
1:1 grants advice, talk to one of our experts and find out what funding opportunities are out there for SMEs.
Take a guided tour of the green house, retrofitted from an E EPC rating to a B EPC rating. See renewable technology and refurbishment in practice.

Date: Wednesday 30 May

Time: 4.30-7.00pm

Venue: St Ives Green House, 1 St Audrey Lane, St Ives

For more information open the link below:
Grow your business the smart advice event
For more information on the Sustainable Efficiency East project and the FREE one to one support the project can offer please visit: www.see.gb.net
To avoid disappointment book today, call Huntingdonshire District Council on 01480 388315 or 01480 388304

The front garden at the Green House at 1 St Audrey Lane, St Ives is a drought garden which was kindly designed and planted by local Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal Winner Marney Hall and her team. Marney will be coming along to the St Ives Green House on Saturday 28th April to give tours, talks and details of the plants and designs she used to create the beautiful garden.

The free 45 minute tours will take place on the hour from 10.00am – 4.00pm and will include a list of drought tolerant plants. Everyone who books a place on a tour will be able to pick up a free bag of compost on the day.

To book a place call 01480 388315 or 388304.

Saturday 24 March, 10am – 4pm at the St Ives Green House

Your chance to get up-to-date with what’s happening with the Feed-in-tarriff.  Find out more about the renewable energy systems and how to achieve a Passive House standard.

You can book a 1:1 session with our experts by calling 01480 388315 or 388304, or just call in and have a look around.

Representatives from Aran Serives and independant energy expert Peter Chisnall and Allan Sharpe will be on hand to offer advice.

The event took place on Wednesday 29 February, at the St Ives Green House and provided attendees with the necessary tools and advice to help identify and assist vulnerable households who require help and support in increasing the energy efficiency of their homes.

Presentations were given by Huntingdonshire District Council’s Environment Team, Homeshield, the Citizens Advice Bureau and NHS Cambridgeshire who spoke about the services they provide to assist householders out of fuel poverty.
If you were unable to attend and which to find out more, copies of the presentations given can be found here    

After two very successful Green Heart Awards in 2010 and 2011, Huntingdonshire District Council is once again looking for applications for this year’s Green Heart Community Awards.

Other people’s projects can be both inspirational and motivational and that’s why we want to find out more about the excellent environmental community projects happening in Huntingdonshire.

We want to find out about what has motivated the people of Huntingdonshire to take environmental action, what has been helpful to make their projects successful and what challenges they have faced and overcome along the way.

These awards recognise those community groups and individuals who are getting together and making a real change in their community by reducing their environmental footprint. From energy projects, waste and recycling schemes to sustainable growing schemes and environmental awareness raising events, to getting ideas off the ground, there are people out there who are making a difference, people with bright, innovative and scalable ideas.

From Monday 20 February, you can nominate yourself, a community group or even your local school under one of the seven main categories:

Best primary school
Best secondary school/college
Young green achiever of the year
Green volunteer of the year
Best wildlife or nature initiative
Best energy saving initiative
Best waste, reuse or recycling initiative

An awards ceremony will be held where four short-listed nominations for each category will be invited to attend, with winners being announced at the event

Representatives from community groups may nominate themselves or be put forward by a third party, and anyone can enter as long as they can demonstrate that they have managed, or been involved with an environmental project that has engaged and benefited their local community

Councillor Darren Tysoe, executive councillor for the Environment said: “The Green Heart Community Awards are a chance for us to reward the people of Huntingdonshire who have been making a really difference to improving the environment of our district. We want to hear from schools, businesses, community group and individuals about the inspirational projects that have been taking place over the past 12 months. Once again, the green carpet will be rolled out for the awards ceremony in June”

You have until 27 April to get your entry to us.  Download your entry pack at here

Are you thinking about insulating your home? Want to know more about the different typres of insulation available? Come and talk to our experts on Saturday 25 February from 10am until 4pm at the St Ives Green House.

Huntingdonshire District Council is offering the opportunity of a one year tenancy at its ‘Green House Project’ property in Manor Farm Road, St Neots.
The property is being offered at a competitive rent of £650pcm as there will be a requirement for the tenant to undertake some monitoring of the environmental performance as part of the on-going project.
The property is a part-furnished 3 bedroom semi-detached house, close to the town centre and railway station. Available end of March 2012.
If you are looking for accomodation for a limited period (one year tenancy which may be renewed for a further year) and if you think you have the environmental credentials to be part of this ground-breaking project, please contact the Environment Team at HDC on 01480 388388 for an informal chat, or to express an interest and request an application form.

 Email: greenhouseproject@huntingdonshire.gov.uk for futher details

Those who register on or after 3 March will qualify for the higher rate until 1 April, when it will drop to 21p/KWh.

Solar PV systems are a great way of generating your own electricity and gaining an income from the electricity you have generated. Solar PV captures the Suns energy and converts this energy into electricity. A typical home solar PV system will help you reduce your environmental footprint and could save over a tonne of CO2 per year.

At the current higher rate a typical solar PV system with an installation size of 3KWp can save you around £670 per year, which is made up of the generation tariff at 43p/KWh, export tariff of 3p/KWh and the savings you will make on your electricity bills.

Time is of the essence and there are many options that need to be considered and we are sure you have many questions you would like to ask, so why not visit the St Ives Green House to see a solar PV system in situ and learn more about the changes to the feed in tariff.

The Green House is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and two Saturdays throughout the month. Visit the Book Your Visit page to learn about our opening dates and times

Additional information saving energy visit the Energy Saving Trust

Date: Wednesday 25 January 2012
Time: DROP IN event from 4pm – 7pm, tours of the house start at 4.30pm and 6pm
Venue: St Ives Green House, 1 St Audrey Lane, St Ives, PE27 3XF
Cost: FREE (to private sector organisations based in the East of England with
fewer than 250 employees)

We can offer you support and advice on the topics below:
• Free support to give your premises an energy audit. If savings can be made you can take advantage of a £500 grant to implement changes. (This only applies if you are a business registered in Huntingdonshire).

• One to one grants advice, talk to our experts and find out what funding opportunities are out there for SMEs.

• Experts in construction training, SmartLIFE, can give you advice on how to up-skill staff to take advantage of the growing construction retrofit market and Green Deal opportunities.

• Take a guided tour of the green house, retrofitted from an E EPC rating to a B EPC rating. See renewable technology and refurbishment in practice. Guided tours will run for an hour starting at 4.30pm and 6pm.

• SEE offers a free diagnosis of working practices; highlighting opportunities that can help reduce costs and improve business practices through resource and energy efficiency.

If you would like to register your interest contact: Huntingdonshire District Council on 01480 388315 or 01480 388304

Support for domestic istallations will be rolled out during the second phase of the RHI. This start date is yet to be confirmed.

The scheme will see solar thermal installs receive 8.5p/kWh, biomass boilers receive 7.9p/kWh and heat pump installations receive 4.5p/kWh.

Ofgem will be responsible for administrating the RHI scheme and handling all applications for potential participants.

Full details of the RHI scheme can be found on the DECC website.