Reading School has benefitted from a series of grant-funded interactive workshops imagining sustainable futures. In the workshops, led by local Social Enterprise Design Nature, pupils explored the potential for more renewable energy in the future and devised Action Plans as to how to get there.

The workshops focussed on design challenges and innovations, allowing students to get creative in thinking about sustainable futures in their school and wider communities. Topics explored included waste management, food production, transport, renewable energy solutions, education and the potential for generation in space.

Five workshops were held for Year 8 pupils, with a total of 150 students reached by the programme.

Innovative ideas from pupils included putting solar panels on wind turbines, creating greenspaces for growing food near schools, generating energy through gym equipment like rowing machines, and even shortening school days to reduce energy use!

The workshops were funded by a grant from Reading Community Energy Society and aimed to grow awareness of renewable energy and climate issues in the local area as well as combining creative design and teamwork with science subjects.

The initial workshops acted as a pilot project that Design Nature is keen to expand to other local schools. Mark Mason, Co-Director of Design Nature, said “We are very much looking forward to what 2023 will hold for us and would be keen to roll out ‘Renewable Futures’ further”.

A ranking of the solar energy capacity of councils in England, Wales and Scotland puts Reading borough in the top 20% of council areas. The analysis, which uses government data published this autumn by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, puts our solar energy capacity in 70th place out of 363 councils, with an installed capacity of 1.84 kilowatts/hectare.

To take the top spot, Reading would have to increase capacity more than four fold to beat the current leader, Swindon, which has an installed capacity of 8.32 kilowatts/hectare.

Despite Reading’s high ranking, the dataset shows that solar energy capacity increased only modestly in Reading Borough between 2020 and 2021. In 2020 Reading had a solar energy capacity of 7.2 megawatts (MW), climbing just 3% to 7.4 megawatts in the following year.

The full dataset spans the last 8 years and shows that the largest increase in solar capacity and generation in the borough was between 2014 and 2015, with more modest gains thereafter.

To mitigate the effects of climate change and keep within a safe global average temperature rise, renewable energy projects need to be scaled up phenomenally. A flagship report by the International Energy Association looking at pathways to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 says that for solar power the global deployment needed “is equivalent to installing the world’s current largest solar park roughly every day”.

Would you like low cost energy from a renewable source installed for free right on your roof?  Reading Community Energy Society is actively looking to expand our portfolio of buildings on which we install solar panels for free.

With rising energy prices and businesses being squeezed by increasing costs, many of us are looking to renewable energy generation for solutions.

Reading Community Energy Society provides and installs solar panels on roofs around Reading at no cost to the building owner.  The building user then purchases the electricity generated at a price lower than current rates.

Our roster of buildings includes business parks, churches, schools, the University of Reading, and a leisure centre to name a few.  And we’d love to add you to the list!

The most viable buildings typically have a large, unshaded, roof space of at least 50 square metres. South facing roofs in a good state of repair are perfect, as are buildings that would themselves use most of the electricity generated.

Buildings can be used for any purpose from commercial buildings such as factories, technology centres and retail stores, to schools and colleges, offices, museums or care homes.  Ideally the building user should have high daily electricity consumption throughout the year to be most suitable.

For more information about the scheme visit the Future Projects page on our website, and to inquire about the scheme and your building please email info@readingenergy.coop.

We welcome applications throughout the greater Reading area and look forward to hearing from you!

Reading Community Energy Society (RCES) will say goodbye to our founding Chair, Tony Hoskins, and we welcome Tony Cowling, who will take up the position later this year.

Tony Hoskins has chaired the society since its inception 6 years ago, helping it get off the ground and flourish into the success it is today.

Reading Community Energy Society was a new concept at its inception, and one initial challenge Tony Hoskins faced was evaluating the best benefits that the society could bring to all of its stakeholders; building owners, shareholders, and the community grant scheme. This challenge again became apparent in 2019 when the government changed its Feed In Tariff, which previously subsidised the electricity generated by the society’s solar arrays. Tony and the board had to rethink the society’s business model and change its focus to equipping solar arrays to high daytime consumption buildings.

Tony Hoskins has been instrumental in facilitating the roll out of the society’s two rounds of share offers – where investors put money into the society with guaranteed returns. He’s especially pleased with the smooth running of the second share offer that has almost 100% of investors coming from the local area.

Not one to sit on his laurels, Tony Hoskins also spearheaded recent partnerships with Wokingham Community Energy and Chiltern Hills Community Energy. He said: “The one thing of which I am most proud is probably encouraging the board to extend RCES’s geographic coverage – Reading is not an island and we should not take an isolationist attitude”.

The society is in safe hands with new chairperson Tony Cowling, who has been on the board since the inception of RCES. Tony Cowling is the formal chair, but will share the role with Mike Landon, another current member of the board.

Tony Cowling and Mike Landon hope to guide the expansion of the society’s portfolio of solar panels by finding and developing new sites, as well as continuing the work of the community fund that awards grants to local organisations and promotes the society’s valuable work.

Tony Cowling said: “It is a great honour to be appointed as the new chair of Reading Community Energy Society. It’s exciting to see renewed interest being shown by local organisations following the energy price hike, and we are in an excellent position to continue to expand our portfolio”.

On behalf of all the members of RCES it just remains to say a big thank you to Tony Hoskins for all his hard work and input into the society!

Reading Community Energy Society (RCES) has recently awarded a grant to fund a vegetable growing project at Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre in Emmer Green. The school used the grant of £500 to purchase vegetable planters in a project spearheaded by Year 8 student Callum Potter.

Callum and the Estate Staff built trugs and planted vegetables in them including lettuce and leeks, as well as mint, oregano and sage. The produce is now being used in the school kitchens to feed Highdown Students.

Estate and Facilities Manager Michael Jones said “Thank you Callum for the hard work and thank you RCES Community Grants scheme for your support”

Being smart with where we grow our food is imperative for the future of the planet, as the expansion of land for agriculture is the leading driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss . And encouraging a love of vegetables is a great thing too. Swapping out beef and lamb from our diets would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by an incredible 20%.

Reading Community Energy Society grants are used to support local sustainability initiatives throughout Reading, and funding ranges from £100 – £5000. If you would like more information please see the links on our website or contact grants@rva.org.uk.

True Food Co-op in Emmer Green has slashed the amount of electricity used for lighting their shop by 65% after upgrading to LED lighting.

The not-for profit community shop received a grant from Reading Community Energy Society to help undertake the project, completed in August 2021, and they haven’t looked back.

Chair of True Food Co-op, Francis Jakeman, said:

“We have been delighted with the new LED lighting as it is so much brighter than before. There are no more dark corners where customers can’t see what they are looking for; and knowing that the new lights will last so much longer gives us one less thing to worry about!”

Switching to LEDs lowers energy bills as well as carbon emissions and can be done at home too. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that swapping to LED lights at home could save you £30 a year on your electricity bills.

True Food strives to minimise their environmental impact in all activities including through energy efficiency, product sourcing and reducing packaging waste. They even have solar panels from Reading Community Energy Society on their roof.

For more information on the True Food Co-op visit www.truefood.coop.

Reading Community Energy Society is celebrating its 5th anniversary in July. Since the first share offer was released on July 15th 2016 the society has raised enough funds to install solar power systems on 22 buildings across Reading including Reading Central Library and the University of Reading. The average electricity produced by all the solar panels is enough to power 128 homes for a year ¹.

The Society is run by a board of 9 directors and aims to accelerate the uptake of community owned renewable energy in Reading and the surrounding area.

The society makes consistent returns for shareholders by providing electricity at discounted prices to building users and by selling excess power to the grid. Additional funds are put towards Community Grants which have so far supported 6 projects in the local area. For example, last year the grants provided funding to insulate Reading Sea Cadets’ training building and an off-grid solar panel system at Path Hill Outdoors.

Community energy also helps to lower Reading’s carbon emissions, a vital step in minimising the worst effects of climate change.

Chair of the society since its inception, Tony Hoskins, said: “These past five years have been an exhilarating journey. At the start, the board had some excellent aspirations and since then the team has delivered all of their aspirations so far. But the journey is not ended – with Councils in our area declaring climate emergencies, we are actively contributing to delivering solar installations to reduce the emissions.”

More installations and grants are planned for the future and the society is always happy to hear from anyone interested in finding out more.

¹ Based on an average household electricity consumption of 3,578 kWh
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/946968/sub-national-electricity-and-gas-consumption-summary-report-2019.pdf

Chiltern Hills Community Energy (CHCE) has been recently established by Henley Town Council’s Climate Emergency Working Group in order to meet their renewable energy objectives, covering a wide area of Henley and beyond. Working in partnership with Reading Community Energy society (RCES), CHCE’s first steps have been to identify suitable buildings (public, community and commercial) where solar panels could be installed, offering favourably priced electricity to the users. RCES will provide financial, technical and administrative management on behalf of CHCE and surplus income from electricity generated will go into a community fund to be used for energy efficiency projects.

Chair of the Working Group, Tony Hoskins said “This is an important step to address climate change for this area. Whilst Covid 19 remains the key issue for the moment, the impact of climate change will not go away and we need to act now to ensure we can start to mitigate its effects. We called the group “Chiltern Hills” because we recognised Henley is not an island – if we can help reduce emissions in the areas around Henley that will be to the benefit of us all. Our focus is on large, high daytime energy consumption buildings within the whole RG9 postcode. These include public community buildings (education, cultural, sports, medical and social care, emergency services and council buildings), as well as commercial and industrial buildings. If any private building users want to discuss this opportunity, they can email me aahoskins@aol.com . Once we have explored the opportunities for solar panel installations, we will then look at other forms of renewable energy”.

A member of the working Group, Jackie Walker, who lives in Bix and Assendon Parish, said “We have already started to look for buildings outside of Henley’s boundaries that could be suitable for CHCE to approach. I am pleased we are taking this more inclusive approach of covering the area to include Henley’s neighbouring and nearby parishes, providing access to the collective benefits offered by CHCE”.

We were pleased to welcome Molli Cleaver, President of Reading University Students’ Union, to our 2020 AGM, to hear about her work to support and encourage the University to become greener.  Below is a transcript of her speech:

What sustainability means for our students

 Good evening, my name is Molli and I am the President of Reading University Students’ Union. We are separate to the University but work very closely on collaborative projects that aim to enhance the student experience and make the University a better place for staff, students and the local community. Part of my job is to be the lead on sustainability at RUSU, ensuring it is embedded and considered in all of our actions. I’ve been asked by Dan [Fernbank] to come and talk to you this evening about what sustainability means for our students.

I want to start by saying sustainability is at the heart of the University and RUSU; recently I think this has been driven by the student desire to live more sustainably and for our campuses to be more environmentally friendly. As a student at the University of Reading who graduated in July, I’ve certainly noticed that sustainability has become a higher priority for our whole community and I’m going to speak for the next few minutes about what we are achieving together.

Click here to read the full presentation.

Following its successful first year of operation, RCES is extending its portfolio of buildings to cover a radius of 10 miles from the centre of Reading. As a consequence, the Society is seeking owners and users of suitable buildings to have renewable energy facilities (such as solar and possibly other technologies) installed on their buildings at no cost.

Building owners and users will benefit through:

• RCES purchasing and installing the renewable energy facility at no cost to the building owner;
• The building owner/tenant will be able to purchase electricity generated at a preferential price, guaranteed for 20 years;
• Demonstrably supporting the uptake of low carbon technologies, and supporting local community initiatives through the Community Fund
• Optionally, invest in the scheme itself, to benefit from the projected shareholder returns

Buildings that are particularly suitable for partnership with RCES include:

• those medium or large buildings (with suitable roof space of greater than 100 m² requiring an installation of over 10kW)
• those that have a single occupier and a single electric meter
• those using most of the electricity generated
• roofs that are largely south-east to south-west facing and unshaded, of a construction that will enable safe installation of these panels.

The buildings that are most likely to fit into these criteria include schools and colleges, offices, museums, medical centres, care homes and leisure centres, as well as commercial buildings such as factories, technology centres and retail stores.

Download further information here or contact us