SeSaME's Story
SeSaME stands for Sedgeberrow Sustainable and Manageable Energy, and Mike Parker (Chair of SeSaME) has been active in the field of sustainable energy locally and has chaired the group for the last 10 years.
SeSaME members and villagers, with the aid of consultants Sharenergy, will use the funds from the Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) to explore ways of identifying how the community can move to low-carbon energy sources, create a village energy map, produce an energy information booklet and undertake community energy research.
"Consultant funding for local energy feasibility studies will significantly help the village's move to low-carbon energy. Delivery and collection of the survey by volunteer villagers will be key to a successful return for Sharenergy's work," said SeSaME co-ordinator and chair Mike Parker.
Useful Learnings from SeSaME
Engagement is key, as is looking for funding and talking to other groups locally who have done similar things - there's no point reinventing the wheel.
We worked with the Midlands Energy Hub to get our application in shape before submitting it and that was a really useful process. Community engagement was through a group that we had already formed and had been running for 10 years. This worked well as the decision-making mechanisms were already in place and we didn't waste time setting up new committees and such like.
What worked well for us was having a good list of companies and consultants that worked in the areas of energy mapping and master planning - this made gathering quotes less of a drawn-out process.
We couldn't have done much about Covid-19, but do try not to overestimate the number of people willing to be actively involved in community carbon reduction.
SeSaME's Metrics
Energy savings.
Number of people reached.
Number of houses retro-fitted.
