Biodiesel
North West London has a high concentration of food processing businesses,
most of which generate large quantities of waste vegetable oil. ES has
set up a small processing plant to turn some of this waste oil into 'biodiesel',
which can be used as a straight substitute for normal diesel but has lower
emissions and is CO2 neutral. ES supplies fuel to Brent Community Transport's
minibuses and is also talking to Brent Transport Services and Brent Parks
Service about biodiesel use. ES is also Coordinator of BioDieNet, a 3-year
project funded through the European Union's 'Intelligent Energy Europe'
programme, involving 17 partners in 10 European countries examining the
feasibility of localised biodiesel production from used cooking oils.
In London the project will hopefully result in 3 or 4 biodiesel production
plants each making use of waste oils from one part of the city and supplying
transport fleets with the finished biodiesel in the same area, thus minimising
the environmental impacts of the whole process.
Echo Action - Energy Conscious Households in
Action
The
ECHO ACTION project began in Italy in March 2005 as Cambieresti? (Would
you change?), where 1250 households in Venice chose to revise their lifestyles
with particular emphasis on energy consumption in light of the growing
awareness of our collective personal impact on the environment, and was
supported by the City of Venice in line with the European Union directive
on climate change.
ECHO ACTION is now running in six other European countries, including the United Kingdom, where here in London two organizations: Energy Solutions in North London and SEA/ Renue in South London are facilitating the project and working to bring about the spirit of the original project through specifically involving citizens in experimenting with new lifestyles, changing consumption habits, strengthening community ties and relations whilst highlighting the actions and relationships between the individual and collective groups.
14 other European cities, including London and the other families across Europe, are engaged with the project, providing the opportunity to communicate and share experiences and ideas or to simply explore what other people in other parts of Europe are thinking, feeling and experiencing in light of these changing times.
The main themes covered are Domestic Energy use and Transport which will be addressed through Echo Actions aims, which are;
- bringing about new and re-enforced relationships between households through the formation of working groups,
- where networking, information and idea sharing can be of benefit to all participants, and
- through new and re-enforced relationships between technology suppliers, financial institutes and local authorities.
ECHO ACTION is supported by Intelligent Energy Europe, Transport for London, and Lambeth Council (for SEA/ Renue in South London) and Brent Council in North London.
To find out more: Link to www.echoaction.net Includes project updates across all participating cities & useful links and downloads