1970s house

Hockerton houseThis five bedroom home has a highly efficient condensing boiler, but was found to have uninsulated cavity walls which means that heat is quickly lost.

The energy advice also found that more insulation in the loft would also have a big impact on heat retention and keeping residents warm.

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Please note that payback periods corresponded to energy prices and available subsidies for energy saving measures in 2012.

Measuring sustainability

Measuring Sustainability Measuring sustainability is really important but is fraught with difficulty. Working with my colleague Dr Geeta Lakshmi and fellow investor Joddy Chapman we have created a short video with Dr Anjan Ray which debates some of the issues […]

Annual report 2015/16

Today SHOCK Directors reported progress on its sustainability objectives to its AGM.

Environmental: In the last year our wind turbine has produced 315,071 kWh of zero carbon power and our PV arrays produced 50,363 kWh, displacing the emission of 168 tonnes of carbon dioxide from fossil fuelled power stations

Economic: 7% interest was paid on share capital held in June 2016, the Society invested in two new PV arrays, and provided 44 days of paid work for local residents.

Social: £1,972 was set aside for the village’s sustainability projects; the offer of £200 for energy and water saving measures remained open for new applicants from the parish; a subsidy was offered for a local organic food box scheme.

There are now 81 members of the Society. If you are interested in joining, as and when shares are made available for transfer by existing members, please contact us. Please note priority will be given to local residents.

AGM 2016 & community biogas talk

Our AGM for members is at 4pm on 10 September at Hockerton Housing Project.

This will be followed at 5pm by a talk open to all on the potential for community biogas, led by Davide Poggio who is a research fellow working with the ISABEL project – an EU-backed initiative to promote, support and develop community biogas.

He will outline the vision of ISABEL as a platform for connecting local initiatives and promoting sharing and learning in order to co-design innovative solutions for sustainable communities. He will also give an overview of the possible technical solutions which enable the local treatment of biowaste and the production of energy and food.

We will be interested to hear the potential, and how the balance is made so that waste is usefully repurposed, without the undesirable consequence of incentivising its production.

If you are not a member of Sustainable Hockerton but would like to attend the talk, please contact us.