News

Add CAfS to your Christmas list

By |2021-11-29T14:05:50+00:00November 29th, 2021|Homepage, News|

With Christmas around the corner it’s likely that some of us will be buying a few gifts for loved ones, which may be bought through online platforms. If you are buying this way, you can help us fight climate change in Cumbria by donating to CAfS while you do so. Gifting your time or talents to another is obviously the most eco conscious option, however if you are searching for a specific item second-hand then lots of local charities have online shops on ebay and you can set CAfS as your favourite charity to donate to when using PayPal [...]

Community Climate Grants to move towards a Zero Carbon Cumbria 

By |2021-11-25T10:32:43+00:00November 25th, 2021|Homepage, News, Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership|

A new Community Climate Grant fund of £100,000, backed by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, has been launched by Cumbria Action for Sustainability this month to help local community groups fight climate change.     Groups can now apply for grants ranging from £200 to £10,000, for projects and events to raise awareness of the urgent need to stop climate change and to reduce carbon emissions from energy use, land use, waste and transport.    The grants are part of the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership’s ambitious emission reduction programme to make Cumbria carbon neutral by 2037.       CAfS chief executive, Karen Mitchell, said: “The aim of the climate grants is to help communities to reduce carbon emissions. Thanks to [...]

Seeds of Resilience

By |2021-11-08T15:10:56+00:00November 8th, 2021|Homepage, News, Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership|

On Sunday 7th November members of climate action groups from across Cumbria came together with local residents for a day of discussion and celebration at the National Trust’s Footprint building in Windemere. The event, entitled ‘Seeds of Resilience’, was organised by CAfS and the National Trust as part of the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership to mark COP26 Nature Day and to reinforce the message that everyone can take positive action locally to contribute towards global efforts to reduce the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Said Cumbria Sustainability Network Coordinator Helen Attewell, ‘The event brought together members of [...]

Young people capitalise on COP26 to raise climate concerns

By |2021-12-16T15:23:43+00:00November 5th, 2021|Climate politics, Homepage, News, Youth, Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership|

Young people in Cumbria have seized on the momentum generated by the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow to present their environmental concerns to leading figures within the county. They presented the outcomes from a recent successful Cumbria Youth Climate Summit to Councillor Celia Tibble (Cumbria County Council Cabinet Member for Environment) and Karen Mitchell (co-chair of Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership and CEO of Cumbria Action for Sustainability). The meeting, which took place at Cumbria County Council’s Kendal offices, coincided with Youth and Public Empowerment Day at COP26, the United Nations summit that brought together heads of state, climate experts [...]

Ask us about new grants for heat pumps

By |2021-10-28T19:21:51+01:00October 28th, 2021|Home energy efficiency, Homepage, News|

The newly announced government grant of up to £5000 to help householders replace an old boiler with a heat pump is already generating a lot of interest. And the CAfS team are ready to answer your questions. With a grant of £5000, if you can install an air source heat pump for £7000 then there’s just £2000 to pay, to swap out your old gas boiler and replace it with a heat pump - right? For some households, it could be that easy. But, even in these cases, there are some important differences between an oil or gas boiler and a heat pump. [...]

COP26 – what we can dare to hope for and what it means for Cumbria

By |2021-10-28T18:14:27+01:00October 28th, 2021|Climate politics, Homepage, News, Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership|

In a few days' time, world leaders will arrive in Glasgow for the UN climate summit, COP26. When the negotiations draw to a close two weeks later, will countries have made the commitments needed to keep global temperature rise within the crucial 1.5 degrees limit? Speaking to school children this week, the prime minister said: "I am very worried because it might go wrong and we might not get the agreements that we need and it is touch and go. It is very, very difficult, but I think it can be done." Whether the PM was managing expectations, or [...]

Electric Battle Bus rolls into Burneside

By |2021-10-21T15:48:20+01:00October 18th, 2021|Electric vehicles, Homepage, News, Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership|

The good people at Burneside Community Energy (BCE) hosted the only Cumbrian stop on a UK tour of film makers documenting low carbon initiatives in a big, blue zero-carbon bus. The government-funded Zero Carbon Tour stopped by to feature the successful partnership between BCE and James Cropper PLC, which has seen a range of solar PV arrays installed at the firm's plant. BCE held an event showcasing their success and welcomed representatives from multiple organisations involved in Cumbria’s sustainability efforts.  The Zero Carbon Tour is a project from Planet Mark, a team of sustainability certifiers. They are embarking on a [...]

Youth Climate Summit 2021

By |2021-10-01T11:50:38+01:00October 1st, 2021|Homepage, News, Youth|

Calling all Cumbrian schools! The Cumbria Youth Climate Action Summit is being held online on Friday October 15 2021, from 9:30am – 12 midday. We’ve been hard at work behind the scenes getting together a great programme, with a steering group made up of young people in Cumbria helping us plan workshops that will help inform and empower your students. These workshops cover a range of topics which you can choose from, from getting your voice heard and COP26, to making your school carbon zero, to what opportunities there are in the Fellfoot area. The event will be held [...]

Fantastic take up at the Ambleside to Zero Climate Action Day

By |2021-12-14T16:49:31+00:00September 27th, 2021|Ambleside to Zero, Homepage, News|

Last Thursday 23rd September, as part of the Great Big Green Week, we supported Ambleside Action for a Future to hold their Climate Action Day. This public event was to both support local businesses and residents to cut carbon and was packed with information, advice and projects to get involved with. Excitingly, the event was featured on ITV news which gave a great overview of what it was about. Business support Businesses were able to have face to face conversations with Sarah Smith, manager of the Low Carbon Lake District Grant scheme, who explained how to apply for the [...]

Free retrofit advice consultations now available

By |2021-09-27T15:47:26+01:00September 27th, 2021|Cumbria Green Build Festival, Draughtproofing, Home energy efficiency, Homepage, Insulation, News|

As autumn progresses, many of us think about ways to make our homes warmer, more comfortable and cheaper to heat. And this year, we might also be thinking about better levels of controlled ventilation.  If you are wondering whether your home needs more insulation, improved ventilation and windows, or a new heating system, it is good to know you’re making the best use of your money to achieve your specific priorities.  Thanks to funding from Energy Redress, CAfS is able to offer home owners in Cumbria a free telephone consultation to answer your questions about retrofitting your own home.  All you need to do [...]

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