I’m wearing a nice, new hat this morning for my latest Green Girls Global post. This is my Towns-4-Towns Coordinator hat, which is the role I now perform part-time at the national charity, Action for Market Towns (AMT).

Go go Settle Hydro

My latest venture for AMT working with North Yorkshire County Council is to organise a study tour to the new community hydro electric scheme in the market town of Settle, North Yorkshire.

The project has been an eventful one and if you come along on 11th November, the team behind it promises to bring you ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but mostly just Fabulous’ of pulling off such a scheme.

The Archimedean screw

The £410,000 Settle Hydro scheme consists of a 50kW Archimedean screw at Settle Weir, close to an original waterwheel and using part of an existing millrace. It will generate about 165,000 kWh (units) of electricity a year – enough for around 50 average houses, saving 80 tonnes of carbon per year or 3,200 tonnes of carbon over an expected lifetime of 40 years. Construction started in June and the first electricity is expected to be generated in November.

Find out how the local community has issued shares, raised loans and obtained grants to get this wheel turning.

Whether you’re interested in starting a sustainable energy project in your own town or just want to find out more about community projects in general, head to Settle on the 11th to listen, learn, ask questions and meet likeminded folk.

What next?

The day starts at 10.30am and finishes at 4pm – see the full Settle Hydro Study Tour Programme for more details.

The train station is just 2 minutes from Victoria Hall, our base for the day.

Download a booking form for this all-day event and return it as soon as possible to guarantee your place to Dawn Dowds at dawn.dowds@towns.org.uk.

Tickets will include a delicious lunch and refreshments and are:

• £15 for Action for Market Town (AMT) members
• £25 for North Yorkshire (non-AMT) attendees
• £35 for other attendees from outside the county

The study tour will go ahead come rain or shine – as Ann Harding, one of the Directors of Settle Hydro says:

It might rain, so it might be a bit muddy. But we LOVE RAIN – complaining about the weather is banned! Rain=Water=Electricity=Money. If it ain’t turning it ain’t earning.

We look forward to seeing you in Settle!

Katie

One of our lovely GGG readers sent me the link to this video by Greenpeace:

The Convenient Solution (please click this link for the video)

As the UK government are beginning to introduce the idea of nuclear power again, this video discusses how this will not stop climate change. Greenpeace tell us how the renewable options (i.e. sun, wind, wave & tidal) alongside combined heat and power (CHP) plants can produce twice as much energy as nuclear and quicker. Now, surely there’s no question that this is the way forward?

The video also talks about waste which is something we can all address in our own homes without waiting for the government to wake up.

The video is only about 9 minutes long so watch it and pass it on.