What are we doing now?

Dorset Low Carbon Neighbourhoods aims to tackle the 22% of Dorset’s carbon emissions which come from people’s homes. It involves various work strands.

• Organising annual Dorset-wide Open Greener Homes events
• Identifying and Supporting Renewable Energy Development Projects in Dorset
• Engaging with stakeholders in the energy sector in Dorset to advocate changes needed to enable the transition to net zero carbon by 2050.
• Engaging with the Local Authorities in Dorset in pursuit of making progress on their Climate Emergency strategies and plans.

● Our Dorset Greener Homes Project enables visitors to view homes where the owners have made significant green changes to their homes and lifestyles, to demonstrate what can be achieved and to give viewers an idea of what it is like to live with these changes. Many of the homes are open all the year round, by appointment, while all are open for a day over two weekends around September. This annual community engagement project is designed to inspire people with practical ideas to reduce their carbon footprint.
We are always on the lookout for owners of houses, public buildings, or businesses who would like to show interested members of the public what they have done to improve the ‘green’ credentials of their home or community premises. This could include solar PV, solar thermal, heat pumps, switching from gas to electric boilers or electric radiators, EV chargers, power storage batteries, triple glazing, loft or wall insulation, etc.

● Promote Solar Roofs, involving negotiating a discounted price with a trusted local installer. We will use our network of members to publicise meetings where the installations can be explained, and we monitor the uptake of contracts signed.

● Working with community energy projects, such as those proposed in Loders and Martinstown including a rapid increase in solar installations, heat pumps and improved insulation on domestic properties. Geothermal and inshore wind power generation will also be looked at in some of these projects.

• Support for Wessex Community Assets to train assessors, designers and installers for retrofitting homes, leading to a Retrofit One-Stop-Shop to design and commission work on leaky homes. Use Jenny Morisetti’s expertise in historic buildings.

The Energy Team hold meetings occasionally to share ideas, progress a range of current projects, and arrange talks and online events by external speakers, please get in touch if you are interested in getting involved.