Three great renewable energy projects that ecolibrium supports through our Energy Revolution programme have shared updates with us about their work in 2020, which has in part been made possible through the balancing donations from our community of members.
Solar for Schools received donations from ecolibrium members in 2018 and 2019: so far this year (2020) they have put this support to good use, installing solar panels on seven new schools, bringing their portfolio to a total of 59 schools and adding 3.8MW of on-site renewable capacity to their portfolio. In the classroom they ran energy literacy workshops in 14 schools across the country before visits had to be suspended due to COVID-19 closures. Find out what pupils learn HERE.
This year Solar for Schools launched a new national campaign to encourage more young people to push the clean energy revolution forward, by teaming up with us to take their own schools solar in 2020. To make action even more attractive, the Community Benefit Society is offering additional donation-based rewards for each student driven project that is successful in getting the full way to installing solar panels at their school.
To join the campaign and team up with fellow activists at Solar for Schools, students can email shannon@solarforschools.co.uk with their interest and the name of the school that they would like to take solar.
The Schools Energy Cooperative received ecolibrium donations from 2019. In 2020 so far, with the support of ecolibrium and its other members, they have installed solar panels on 11 schools and one College – with a typical solar installation on a primary school providing about one third of the school’s electricity needs. In total they have now installed solar arrays on 81 sites representing over 3MW of generating capacity, with an expected output of more than 2.6 GWh each year. This will save about 1,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually compared to electricity generation from gas, and would power around 900 typical UK homes.
Finally, an update from The Big Lemon who provide affordable and environmentally sustainable bus services in and around Brighton. Originally running all the buses on recycled waste cooking oil from local restaurants, The Big Lemon launched the UK’s first solar-powered electric bus in 2017. Thanks to recent investments, including donations from ecolibrium’s members, they now have nine zero-emissions electric buses, and plans to move to a fully electric bus fleet this year.