Programme, Greenways to work study visit, 18/10/ /10/2010

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1 Programme, Greenways to work study visit, 18/10/ /10/2010 Our request to our transnational partners, the County Board of Ostergotland, was for a study visit which would inspire and inform the delivery of our project in Cumbria and would link to the delivery strands of energy efficiency, recycling and renewable energies The city of Linkoping has the same population as Carlisle, where the GreenWays project is based, and the surrounding area in Ostergotland comprises of hills and many lakes to the south and hills dominated by forests in the north making it a comparable area to Cumbria. An excellent visit that provided inspiration, technical detail and national, regional and local policy across climate change, low carbon transport infrastructure, behaviour change, renewable energy, forestry and recycling. It was informative, well organised and gave an opportunity to exchange ideas on planning and energy use. It demonstrated the tremendous gap that exists between Cumbria s approach to climate change and the success of Ostergotland; it also highlighted a series of opportunities for action that could be pursued. Phil Davies Monday 18 October 09:00 11:00 Municipality of Norrköping Presentation of the municipal scheme called Public Secure Employment the scheme is for people with some form of limited working ability or, for some other reason, have fallen out of the job market. The purpose of the scheme is rehabilitation, to give people the opportunity to test their working ability and hopefully return to some form of regular employment. The presentation was followed by a woodland visit to see examples of green low skill jobs undertaken by the participants of the scheme, in the Municipality of Norrköping. Cumbria Woodlands - delivering training in woodland management and forestry, from low skilled practical training e.g. chainsaw use and small tree felling through to woodland management for farmers.

2 11:00 12:30 Visit to Prio1 Prio1 is a Social Enterprise with a for-profit business model. They work with renovation and repair of donated furniture for the purpose of selling. Their workforce is generally made up of people who have fallen out of the job market, long-term unemployed persons and persons with limited working ability. There are strong links between this model and that of Impact s furniture reuse projects. The recycling strand of the GreenWays project - the objective is similar to Impact s furniture project but the approach to training was very different. The Swedish enterprise could benefit from a structured approach to delivering and accrediting the skills acquired by the trainees who currently learn on the job and do not have evidence of their training to take to an employer :30 Bicycle tour and visit at Cyckelstället (The Bicycle place) The Cyckelstället is a non-profit association that, among other things, collects abandoned bicycles, repairs them and then sells them. The bicycle tour was a novel way to learn about and discuss low carbon transport options with our Swedish colleagues. We were shown the city infrastructure which encourages residents to cycle rather than drive. We were also given an insight into biofuel production which fuels the cities trams and taxis. This visit was Inspirational to the project as a whole; it was particularly relevant to the renewables strand of the project which we continue to develop. Low level skills training with the Cyckelstället project is similar to the training provided within our Introduction to Recycling and a unit about refurbishing bicycles could be developed. It was interesting to see the capacity that a city like Linkoping had to change transport use / travel behaviour through infrastructure cycle ways and cycle parking areas.

3 15:30 16:30 - Presentation of the project Climate Smart Households and other TEMP projects The presentation was given by the Municipality of Linköping at the town hall; projects such as these are initiated by the municipality. The content of this presentation was surprising to our group for although we hadn t yet experienced the extent of Sweden s approach to district heating and energy management etc we understood them to be very advanced in comparison to the UK. This was an area of climate change development that the UK is perhaps more advanced in understanding behaviour change. We have completed many studies in the UK, though we are less good at implementing their findings. Nevertheless the presentation was very interesting. The press reported on the attitudes to climate change held by the households who took part in the project and the GreenWays project could learn from this. There may be lessons for the Swedish to learn from our own Energy Savings Trust or from Impact s team. GreenWays internal team, currently delivering energy awareness training to frontline staff so that they can disseminate this information to low income households struggling with fuel costs. Tuesday 19 October 09:00 11:30 Visit at the Swedish Forest Agency Maria Gustavsson who heads the SFA gave an informative presentation on how the agency strives to maintain and develop sustainable forest policies, and to inform and educate forestowners in how to be a part of the bio energy production. This was an excellent overview of forestry resource, production and harvesting. At 75% coverage in Sweden v UK 11%, many of the issues are worlds apart, though there are clearly similarities too as the focus on informing and educating is just as relevant in the UK. GreenWays to Work partner Neville Elstone from Cumbria Woodlands delivering the renewables part of the project focusing on woodfuel. Neville thought It was great to hear about the scale of the forest industry and management and utilisation within this highly forested country. I was somewhat frustrated by the presenters resistance to answer specific

4 questions, for example how did they engage with private forest owners, it would have been great to hear how states and organisations undertake this type of work. 13:30-14:30 Visit at the East Sweden Energy Agency The East Sweden Energy Agency is an independent, non-profit organisation that is an information hub for sustainable energy management and ways to reach an economic, lowcarbon growth. An excellent presentation by kerstin konitzer; very relevant and an inspiring vision. A useful model of synergy to bring back to Cumbria. The project as a whole, the message was one of collaboration and shared knowledge which is key to the success of our programme and working with partners to achieve profiled outcomes. 14:30 17:00 Visit at the LKF - the public municipal real estate company A presentation of their energy efficiency commitment and work on the field. The outstanding achievements of LKF were inspiring. Highly useful demonstration of facilities and energy management systems. Very transferable to Cumbria.

5 16:00 Konsert & Kongress (Concert & Congress hall of Linköping) A visit to a public building in Linkoping to view various energy saving measures e.g. how district heating works for this building and the success of solar panels of the roof. Wednesday 20 October 09:00 10:30 Visit to Cleantech Presentation by Gert Kindgren, Chairman of Cleantech which is a coalition of various energy companies, founded and funded by the municipality and the University of Linkoping. The environmental technology sector in the twin cities of Linkoping and Norkoping encompasses a range of companies and is strong in terms of waste handling, recycling, renewable fuels, product development and services as well as research and education. The business community is represented by large, established industries with strong R & D as well as innovative small and medium sizes companies. These are companies with eco cycle thinking and environmental commitment as a driving force for developing new technologies and products in the environmental and energy area. There are interesting system solutions in the region and examples of applied environmental technology that fit the definition of industry Excellent. Very relevant, knowledgeable team and inspiring vision. A useful model of synergy to bring back to Cumbria. An inspiring model for Britain s Energy Coast, Cumbrian eco businesses and the University etc. 12:00 14:00 - Visit at Gärstadsverket, the waste incineration combined heat and power plant. A talk and tour of the Tekniska Verken, a huge infrastructure project with 80MW of power generation this type of project would be useful for Britain s Energy Coast companies to see.

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