Author: DEG

A large number of residents in Gwynedd suffer from fuel poverty and do not know where to turn for advice. Prosiect Sero Net Gwynedd (Gwynedd Net Zero Project), which has been funded by the UK Government, enables our Energy Officers to help individuals and families across Gwynedd either in community hubs, through a home visit or over the phone.

The DEG Energy Officers:

• raise awareness of the benefits of saving energy
• give practical help on reducing costs and energy consumption in the home
• give advice to improve the energy efficiency of their homes
• advise what grants are available
• provide energy saving equipment (for example LED bulbs)
• giving everyone who is eligible the opportunity to join the service and priority list with their water, electricity and gas suppliers.

Since last year, Wales & West Utilities has funded a two-year project that enables DEG and Adra to build on the success of Prosiect Sero Net Gwynedd. The project is about supporting individuals in community centers or in their own homes to reduce energy consumption and therefore improve their financial wellbeing, decarbonise their homes and get practical advice on the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.

How much do you know about Carbon Monoxide (CO)? 

Carbon monoxide is a gas that is released when any burnable fossil fuel including coal, oil, wood and gas, does not burn properly.

You can’t see it, smell it or taste it and around 40 people die from carbon monoxide poisoning in the UK every year, and thousands are injured.

Exposure to CO leads to many symptoms that can be mistaken for other illnesses such as cold or flu, as well as feeling sick, chest or stomach pain, headache or feeling tired.

Ensure that any fossil fuel powered appliance is serviced annually by a registered gas safety engineer. Smoke alarms do not detect CO so ensure you have a CO alarm within 3m of all fossil fuel burning appliances and that it is tested regularly.

Read more about Carbon Monoxide here.

Free advice and support

Over the past year, we have been fortunate to work with and support different centers in the community. We created warm winter packs containing locally sourced items where possible and distributed them to some individuals in Porthi Dre and Arfon Food Bank. We have also visited the Warws Werdd on several occasions to distribute information packs and LED bulbs to their customers.

Energy officers will be in Caernarfon Library between 9:30am and 12:30pm on the following days:

• April 16
• May 14
• June 11 

Come along for a chat and a cuppa, and take an energy saving information pack and LED bulb home with you.

Alternatively, if you have any questions, suggestions or would like to arrange an appointment with an Energy Officer either by phone or at your home, contact us on ynni@deg.cymru or 07495237679.

Celebrating 10 Years of DEG!

On the 13th of January, we reached a special milestone – DEG turned ten years old (it sounds better in Welsh, because “ten” in Welsh is “deg”, as well as “fair”)!

It’s hard to believe that we have come so far. We started with the hope of kick-starting conversations about sustainability and bringing more people to work in green jobs. Now we can say we’ve worked with over 150 community groups across North Wales, employ 14 people in green jobs here in Caernarfon (not to mention the other jobs that have been created through our partner organisations) and have been part of hundreds of conversations with the public about the future they want to see.

What has changed since we started? When we started back in 2014, words like “sustainability” and “renewable” weren’t in such wide circulation – today, it feels like awareness of the environment and the impact we have on our planet has grown massively.

Locally, over the last 10 years we have seen things like the Abergwyngregyn, Bethesda and Llanberis Hydro Schemes develop, and we have helped communities to save on their energy bills and to use energy more efficiently. We have seen communities become more keen to generate their own electricty; Cyd Ynni, which is still a key part of our work, was created almost 6 years ago by bringing 5 groups together to look at how they can support each other with their community energy projects.

Being part of our community is very important to us, so we are very proud to have been able to do things to “give back” – things like donating £2000 to the Banc Bwyd over Christmas 2022, raising over £7500 to donate food boxes for the vulnerable around town during the pandemic, or more recently offering our time to help the O Law i Law shop to be warmer.

So what else is happening at DEG? 

Cartrefi Clyd: Catrefi Clyd is part of our Energy Service, which offers advice on renewable energy, improving energy efficiency, and reducing carbon emissions, as well as offering retrofit and energy assessment for both domestic and non-domestic buildings.

Cartrefi Clyd will support the decarbonisation of homes, mainly through retrofit assessment of residential buildings: looking at how to make existing homes more energy-efficient. DEG will be working across Gwynedd, Ynys Môn, Conwy and Denbighshire. Cartrefi Clyd offers advice and support throughout Wales on how to keep your home warm. https://www.cartreficlyd.cymru/

Prosiect Sero Net Gwynedd

DEG is a partner on Prosiect Sero Net Gwynedd, funded through the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund, working with Adra, Cyngor Gwynedd, Grŵp Cynefin and other community organisations Partneriaeth Ogwen, Ynni Llŷn, Cyd Ynni, Yr Orsaf, and MaesNi. We lead on the part of the work addressing and alleviating fuel poverty in Gwynedd, with the added aim of decarbonising Gwynedd. 

The project’s Energy Officers, who are currently being recruited and trained, will provide tailored advice on how to reduce energy use and improve efficiency in their homes, supporting them in applying for appropriate benefits/grants and offering immediate support (e.g. fuel vouchers) depending on the situation.

If your community has a building – such as a village hall or a sports club – you can get in touch with us about our energy assessments: this is where we come and visit your building and provide you with a report and tips on how you can improve energy efficiency, lower your bills and reduce your carbon footprint. 

You can get advice on reducing energy use in your home by getting in touch with one of our Energy Officers today – contact Gwenno, Energy Officer at gwenno@deg.cymru or Bharadwaj Raman, our Energy Service Coordinator at b.raman@deg.cymru

GwyrddNi

GwyrddNi has brought together 6 community initiatives and over 500 people and school children to imagine and move towards solutions to one of the biggest problems we face – climate change – and to create sustainable, decarbonised communities with thriving local economies. Over the past three years, our facilitators worked with a group of residents from five areas (Dyffryn Ogwen, Dyffryn Nantlle, Dyffryn Peris, Pen Llŷn and Bro Ffestiniog) and with schools to create a set of Community Climate Action Plans (you can see them here).

We are very happy that GwyrddNi has recently received a second round of funding from The National Lottery Community Fund’s Climate Action Fund to continue for another four and a half years – so we have been busy preparing for the Community Action Phase since late last year! The task now will be to bring the ideas in the Community Climate Action Plans to life. Read more on the GwyrddNi blog here.

Having employed 5 new people to complete the team, we are certain that a lot of exciting things will start to happen over the coming months: from a pickling shed in Dyffryn Nantlle, a Climate Festival in Dyffryn Ogwen and a bike hire and repair scheme in Pen Llŷn, there are many things in the pipeline.

Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales

DEG is part of a partnership led by Aberystwyth University that recently received over £5 million in funding to research and explore solutions to rural challenges.

Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales, the Local Policy and Innovation Partnership for Rural Wales, connects researchers, communities, and policy-makers to support inclusive, sustainable development (read more here).

Researchers and policymakers will work with communities from across rural Wales to explore innovative solutions to a range of major challenges faced by rural communities, such issues as the “rural premium” on poverty.

Funded by UKRI, the research partnership aims to fill evidence gaps, explore innovative solutions, and enhance the use of research to support effective policies to foster a ‘wellbeing economy’.

It will focus on the challenges of building a regenerative economy, supporting the net zero transition, enhancing health, wellbeing and access to services, and empowering communities and culture, including Welsh language revitalisation.

We’re very proud that our Director, Grant Peisley, will be leading the Net Zero Thematic Group.

The next 10 years

So what will the next 10 years look like? It’s hard to say of course, but one thing that is important to us at DEG is to make sure that we have learned something before rushing forward. That is why we will spend a lot of time in 2024 on measuring the true social impact of our work over the last decade. By talking to our partners, staff, and others who have been part of our work, we will get a better picture of how much we have really helped – and that will help us decide how we go about the next decade!

Whatever happens, we will aim to carry out meaningful work that creates local benefit, that puts people at the centre of positive change, building their skills and confidence to make those changes, and to bring environmental, economic, community/social and cultural benefits.

But, in the meantime, we’d love to hear your ideas too – is there an energy project you’d like to see near you? Send a message to phil@deg.cymru with your ideas. Other ideas or thoughts? We are keen to hear them – send a message to post@deg.cymru with your suggestions!

UPDATE: Applications are closed. Emily-Louise is studying the role of the Welsh language in community action groups and community engagement, working alongside GwyrddNi – read more here.

The School of Arts, Culture and Language (Bangor University), supported by the ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership for Wales (Wales DTP), and in collaboration with us, Datblygiadau Egni Gwledig (DEG), invites applications for funded PhD study in the Bilingualism Pathway, commencing in October 2023, on the topic of The role of Welsh in community action enterprises

Applications are welcomed by 3 February 2023 (12:00pm GMT).

This project’s specific research question “What are the effects of treating Welsh as secondary during decision-making processes in bilingual community groups located in primarily Welsh-speaking regions?” will be addressed through standard (socio-)linguistic methodologies (surveys, interviews, observation, discourse analysis). Cognitive Discourse Analysis (Tenbrink, 2020) will be used to address speakers’ concepts and thought patterns beyond those explicitly formulated in the content of what people say, reflected by the way it is said. Resulting insights will be collaboratively translated into guidelines and recommendations for community actions in bilingual contexts.

Click here for the full information pack. For a discussion prior to applying you are welcome to contact Prof Thora Tenbrink t.tenbrink@bangor.ac.uk.

Caernarfon Social Enterprise Datblygiadau Egni Gwledig (DEG) has donated two thousand pounds to the Arfon Food Bank this Christmas. 

In making the donation DEG are keen to raise awareness of their local food bank’s unwavering efforts locally. 

“In an ideal world a Food Bank wouldn’t exist” says Grant Peisley, Director at DEG. “But unfortunately they’re needed more than ever and so we’re very pleased that we’re able to offer our support this year. 

“We provide energy advice to people across Gwynedd so we see first hand how hard it is for so many at the moment, and we know that the food bank really is a lifeline. Hopefully our gift will make Christmas a little easier for some of our neighbours in the area this year.” 

The Arfon Food Bank opened ten years ago in 2012, and during the last year, as food and energy prices have soared the number using the food bank has increased by 76%. 

Trey McCain from the Arfon Food Bank said: “As we all face challenges this Christmas our service has become even more important, and gifts like these are crucial to ensuring that we can support people who are facing a very real cost of living emergency this Christmas and all year round. Of course, the reality is that we can only share what we receive. A heart-felt thanks to DEG along with other groups and individuals in our area who enable us to do this work.” 

DEG is a social enterprise that ensures any profits go to support the community locally. In the past they have bought 300 oak trees to be planted in communities across Gwynedd, and have also sponsored some of the area’s football, rugby and cricket teams.