Posted on March 21st, 2024 by Dave Locke
DDCE is delighted to announce that we have successfully secured a grant from the Midland Net Zero Hub’s Community Energy Fund to conduct a feasibility study on Bakewell Golf Club.
DDCE is always searching for community engagement projects, and Bakewell golf club appears to us, to be a perfect opportunity. They have 51 social members and 188 playing members, with ladies, men, and junior sections, drawn from a large cross section of local society. Most of the members are from Bakewell and adjacent villages. The clubhouse is an iconic building built in 1899 and is used for many social occasions including weddings and funerals, as well as being a popular eating house for the public. The main buildings, however, are burning 4,500 litres of heating oil every year, and consume 44MWh of electricity p.a. Without any intervention we expect this oil use and grid electricity consumption to continue indefinitely.
Bakewell Golf Club like many local businesses has limited resources and needs to make decisions that are financially viable to ensure its continued existence.
DDCE will seize this opportunity to engage this community on issues of mutual importance, and to offer solutions that are sustainable, healthy and practical. The feasibility study will cover the heating and ventilation of three building archetypes that are typical and widespread in homes and businesses throughout the district. It will also consider where and how we can supply electricity, and heat using renewable sources such as solar panels and wind turbines, biomass and heat pumps given that in many homes about 50 or 60% of energy is used for space and water heating ?
This study will provide opportunities for deep discussion within the whole local community, as every facet of the study will be used to good effect in further community engagement projects. In addition, DDCE wants to identify opportunities for community ownership of ground based solar arrays, and / or one or more wind turbines within the extensive grounds of the golf club. PV might also be installed on the buildings.
Our chosen consultants are T4 Sustainability Ltd. who are based in Ilkeston and have a strong track record of innovative projects in our region and well beyond.
During the investigations, we plan to ensure a transfer of knowledge to at least one trainee engineer drawn from our community.
As part of the feasibility study, we have engaged another not-for-profit organisation called Change Agents to run 3 Climate Essential Workshops. These workshops will expand our community engagement and help us recruit local people to invest time, energy and/or money to support community energy projects that will secure our energy supplies and reduce energy costs.