UP! - North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

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The technology for using alternative
renewable sources of energy already exists.
Hydro-power, anaerobic digesters, solar
panels, ground and air source heat-pumps,
bio-fuels and wind turbines may once have
sounded like science fiction but they are all
now practical methods of providing our
own local energy.
Keith Richards, CEO of Thames Valley
Energy, believes it’s time to move these
technologies into greater everyday use.
“They have already proved they work, and
with wider application and support they
will improve in quality and performance. We
can’t afford not to, because our fossil fuels
are finite.”
Keith is not advocating a blanket move to
alternative energy use. “In some cases it will
not be economically viable, or perhaps not
in the best interests of the AONB landscape,
but I would urge adoption of alternative
energies wherever appropriate.”
Keith Richards is already doing his bit.
When his own home burnt down, he took
the opportunity to replace it by building a
zero-carbon sustainable family home within
the North Wessex Downs AONB. Electricity
and heating for the traditionally styled
cottage are provided by solar photovoltaic
and thermal panels and a multifuel burner.
One year on, Keith says energy bills have
Biomass power from straw bales
reduced by up to 90%. His ‘green’
investment should pay off by 2016, when he
will move into profit by supplying excess
electricity to the National Grid (case study
details at www.tvenergy.org).
Government-supported guaranteed
renewable energy tariffs are making such
microgeneration an attractive financial
proposition for many people. “There are
many microgeneration systems including
ground and air source heat pumps, solar
and small-scale hydro, and wood fuel heat
and energy systems that can often be easily
accommodated into the AONB and will not
harm the landscape,” says AONB Planning
Advisor Andrew Lord.
Is it too far-fetched to imagine that
alternative energy might one day supply a
whole community? Apparently not. A
feasibility study has already been put
forward for Brightwalton to implement a
wood-fired district energy scheme that will
supply the local school, church, village hall,
and social and private housing in the
village. “People like to buy locally produced
food; why not enjoy local heating as well as
local eating?” suggests Keith Richards.
Not that the AONB is behind the times.
There are increasing numbers of farms and
homes in the AONB using solar power for
hot water and electricity. Biomass burners
also provide heat and hot water at the
Northmoor Trust at Little Wittenham and
heat for the Living Rain Forest, Hampstead
Norreys. There has been a fairly well
concealed wind turbine at Faccombe for
many years.
The North Wessex Downs AONB has
historically been a good source of wood
fuel and there is a strong re-emergence of
this market for domestic log burners and
new log, wood-chip or wood-pellet boilers.
Sheepdrove Organic Farm near
Lambourn champions sustainability and
self-sufficiency by using solar heating to
reduce fuel needs for its farm offices and
conference centre; heat exchangers within
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