Low Carbon Lymm 

Local family the Barkers have practical reasons for cutting back on energy, ones that are common to many during this recession. The flourishing economy of their household in Warrington, took a knock when Louise was made redundant in December after 22 years with a tool hire firm. Earlier, husband Tim had negotiated a career break after 20 years in logistics management, to take on the restoration of a few classic Porsche 911 cars – a lifelong enthusiasm, but not one designed to bring in the family’s only income. The couple have two children in local primary school – Emma, 10, and William, 7 – who are undoubtedly going to play a role in encouraging the family’s planned 10% cut. Louise, echoing parents the country over, says: “They’re always warning us if they think we’re harming the environment – you know, we should compost that, Mum, or let’s recycle that, Dad.” The national curriculum is proving a highly effective agent of reform…

click here to view the full Guardian article

What can we do in Lymm to ‘nudge’ us into changing our behaviours towards our use of energy in the home and when we are travelling to work or on holiday? There is a wealth of information and advice on what to do but many of us just keep on doing what we have always done despite the fact that we can save money as well as energy and carbon if we make some changes.

Let’s have some ideas and discuss how they might work in Lymm. Some examples could include

• Energy ‘champions’ – people/households who have made big savings and are prepared to share their experiences of how they did it.
• Get a local ‘celebrity’ to support and promote a campaign e.g. for more cycling or using the bus
• Organise a competition between households and/or streets to reduce energy/carbon by the greatest amounts over a fixed period of time
• Initiate a promotional campaign to make it ‘smart’ to be low energy/carbon etc etc