Tag Archives: Energy

Bristol Light Festival is back!

Vicky Lee, smiling, in front of Bristol harbour.
Today’s guest blog is from Vicky Lee, Head of Bristol City Centre BID
(Business Improvement District)

Now in our third year, Bristol Light Festival will illuminate the city centre with stunning, interactive, and captivating light installations, creating a trail through the centre of Bristol from this Friday, 3 February, until next Sunday, 12 February.

Bringing more light, fun and colour to the city centre will brighten up the winter evenings. Visitors can explore eleven light installations as they come to life between 5pm till 10pm, enjoying the city’s food, drink and hospitality offerings along the way. Presented by Bristol City Centre BID, this year’s festival will have something for everyone: the perfect winter pick-me-up that is sure to delight.

We want to bring a sense of fun, togetherness, and joy to the city across the late winter period, encouraging visitors to explore Bristol at night and enjoy the centre’s rich selection of night-time economy businesses.

Two children looking at each other, laughing, at the The Trumpet Flowers light installation in Sydney in 2019. This installation will be coming to Bristol Lights Festival 2023.
The Trumpet Flowers light installation in Sydney in 2019. It will be coming to the upcoming Bristol Light Festival.

Bristol Light Festival demonstrates the importance of free-to-attend events in supporting city centre businesses and attracting people to spend leisure time in the city during the quieter months. This was evident in 2022 with £3.4 million additional revenue in local businesses reported across the event, providing an economic boost for businesses when they need it most.

Each year we work with key partners and organisations, and this year our partner support has enabled the event to grow and offer even more. We have newly commissioned artworks, exciting new locations to discover and a longer ten day event, making it a real city-wide event.

The 2023 programme, curated by our Creative Director Katherine Jewkes, is bringing some exciting artworks to the festival from internationally acclaimed artists and the best of south west talent, most of which have never been seen in Bristol. We look forward to welcoming visitors to Bristol Light Festival to enjoy the city centre and all that it has to offer. The event embodies everything that Bristol represents and showcases it as the vibrant, playful and creative city that we know and love.

Bristol Light Festival is presented by Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District (BID), supported by Redcliffe & Temple BID, Broadmead BID, and Cabot Circus. The festival is also supported by Bristol’s City Centre & High Streets Recovery and Renewal programme, which is funded by Bristol City Council and the West of England’s Combined Authority’s Love our High Streets project, with the aim of supporting the recovery of Bristol’s priority high streets.

For more information, a map of the installations and locations, and updates about the event, please visit www.bristollightfestival.org and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and using the hashtag #BristolLightFestival

BLF-map-2023-aw-finalDownload

How Bristol is helping its citizens with the energy crisis  

Councillor Kye Dudd, smiling, with College Green in the background.
Today’s blog is by Councillor Kye Dudd, Cabinet
Member for Climate, Ecology, Waste, and Energy
and Labour Councillor for Southmead ward

As the national cost of living crisis continues into the New Year, many households across Bristol remain in financial difficulty. Our cost of living support site has a dedicated page signposting citizens in need of help with their energy bills. 

Across Bristol, charities and organisations are stepping up to support citizens in helping with bills and making their homes warmer and more energy efficient. 

Bristol Energy Network (BEN) will be attending the New Monday event at The Galleries in Broadmead on Monday 16 January, between 11am and 2pm, to offer guidance and advice to citizens looking to reduce their energy use and save money. There will also be a dedicated Energy drop-in morning at Easton Community Centre on Tuesday 24 January between 10am and 12pm. 

For people working or volunteering in their communities, BEN will be running free, online ‘Energy Help Desk’ training sessions. If you’re interested in attending, please contact coordinator@bristolenergynetwork.org for dates and times. 

Last month we shared a guest blog from the Centre for Sustainable Energy, who provide support to people experiencing fuel poverty, including advice for what to do if you can’t pay your bills, ideas for how to stay warm for less plus a useful tool that tells you how much electricity common appliances use: what uses watt?  

Older buildings across Bristol are less likely to be insulated, so a great way to make your home warmer is to draughtproof and insulate where possible. The Centre for Sustainable Energy have ideas for lower cost options with their DIY draughtproofing tips, and you can hear from Bristol resident Simon on how they made their home more warm and comfortable in his short film: 

Households aren’t the only ones struggling with rising energy costs; charities, community organisations, and small businesses in Bristol are also feeling the pinch. Bristol Climate Hub have tips for making your community building energy efficient and Bristol Green Capital Partnership have a guide to reducing emissions from energy for businesses.

Making our homes and premises more energy efficient will not only help households and organisations save money but will help reduce Bristol’s carbon emissions. 2022 was the hottest year since records began and many countries across the globe are reporting that this month is their hottest January. We’ve also seen more and more extreme weather events in recent years.  

Overuse of energy is a primary contributor to climate change, so by reducing energy use, we’re all helping Bristol reach its goal to be net zero by 2030. 

A heating engineer checking a boiler.

Our administration has secured the City Leap partnership, creating 1,000 new jobs and reducing 140,000 tonnes of emissions over its first five years. It will, amongst other things, deliver energy efficiency measures, renewables and decarbonisation projects to the council’s corporate estate reducing our emissions. As part of the project’s initial £424 million investment, energy efficiency and renewable energy measures will be delivered across the council’s social housing. You can find out what else the council are doing to reduce our own energy use on Our climate action on electricity and Our climate action on heat and buildings web pages. 

The council, however, is responsible for around 0.5% of the city’s emissions, meaning we need organisations and homes to play their part. Last year, we launched the Bristol Climate Ask, which encourages Bristol businesses and organisations to declare their ambition to work towards net zero, it’s great to see so many signing up and reporting that many of their measure are proving good for business. 

If you’re not effected by the cost-of-living crisis and would like to help those who are struggling, you can donate to the Share the Warmth appeal (Centre for Sustainable Energy), Bristol Emergency Winter Fuel Fund (Bristol Energy Network) or Donate to the Local Crisis Prevention Fund: Discretionary Giving. 

£424m for clean energy in Bristol: 1,000 new jobs

Today’s blog is from Kye Dudd, Cabinet Member for Climate, Ecology, Waste, and Energy and
Labour Councillor for Southmead ward.

Decarbonising Bristol by 2030 is likely to be one of the most challenging infrastructure overhauls in the history of our city.

City Leap will play an essential role in this, it’s an ambitious energy project that will accelerate investment in our city, moving Bristol forward on our journey to net zero.

The scale of investment that is needed to make our city carbon neutral and climate resilience will likely total at least £10 billion.

We need to transform the way we generate, distribute, store and use energy at scale across our whole city. 

£1 billion of international investment to accelerate change

The council has invested nearly £100 million in decarbonisation projects over the last five years, which includes completing the construction of Castle Park Energy Centre that houses England’s largest water source heat pump. However, we need to rapidly increase the scale and pace of low carbon delivery to be able to meet our targets.

Our City Leap Energy Partnership with Ameresco Limited and Vattenfall Heat UK will secure a twenty-year framework to enable over £1 billion of international investment into low carbon energy infrastructure such as solar PV, wind generation, zero carbon heat networks, smart energy systems, and other energy efficiency measures.  

How will City Leap keep us on track for carbon neutrality?

In the first five years, the City Leap Energy Partnership’s contribution to carbon neutrality will include: 

  • Installing over 182MW of zero carbon energy generation and delivering over 140,000 tonnes of carbon savings for Bristol;
  • Expanding Bristol’s Heat Network – a network of underground pipes that will provide local businesses and residents with reliable, affordable low-carbon heat from sustainable sources, such as taking heat from water, ground or air, reducing Bristol’s reliance on fossil fuels;
  • Installing solar panels and low carbon heating systems such as air source heat pumps at local schools;
  • Supporting the decarbonisation of the council’s social housing by introducing measures such as better insulation, solar panels and heat pumps to achieve an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of ‘C’ or better;
  • Boosting council and community-owned renewable energy projects across the city such as wind turbines and solar farms;
  • Offering decarbonisation support to public sector properties such as hospitals and schools to support Bristol’s wider efforts to be carbon neutral by 2030.

The partnership will also bring £61.5 million of social value to our city over the first five years, after we secured an initial £424 million of investment, with the creation of more than 1,000 new jobs, apprenticeships, and work placements.

Is this future possible to achieve?

Reducing carbon emissions and tackling the climate emergency is a huge challenge for everybody, but through our City Leap Energy Partnership, we’ve secured the funding, knowledge, and resources to accelerate our progress.

Collaborative action will usher a period of extraordinary innovation, investment, and growth – helping to make the just transition to net zero and securing Bristol’s reputation as a leading clean energy city for many years to come.

City Leap is a big deal for Bristol – it’s the most ambitious and exciting energy project that we have embarked on to accelerate clean energy investment and is a big step towards decarbonising our whole city and on our journey to net zero. 

Marvin and a small group of people wearing high visibility vests, stand on scaffolding in a construction site. The Bristol City leap logo is in the top right of the image, the Mayor of Bristol logo is in the bottom left.

Cost of living crisis: reducing rising household bills 

Councillor Kye Dudd smiles at the front of the picture, with trees and grass blurred in the background.
Today’s blog is by Cllr Kye Dudd, Cabinet
Member for Climate, Ecology, Waste and Energy
and Labour Councillor for Southmead

The cost of living crisis is affecting us all. As we look to the colder months, I know many people are deeply concerned about the cost of heating their homes and rising energy bills.

Projections that energy bills could continue to rocket into early 2023 have sent shockwaves throughout our city, where around 30,000 households live in fuel poverty. We support calls for immediate national action to freeze bills to save families on average £1,000, by taxing record oil and gas profits.

In the medium and longer term, Bristol City Council is glad to have secured even more funding through the government’s Home Upgrade Grant, to help even more eligible households in Bristol, Bath, North East and North Somerset to install energy saving measures in their homes, through the Bright Green Homes project. Eligible residents who do not use gas central heating are now invited to apply for grant funding, to help reduce their household energy bills and help make their homes more energy efficient.

Eligible households may be entitled to receive up to £25,000 of funding for a huge range of energy saving and low carbon technologies, which will be incredibly important as we look ahead to the colder winter months. This includes external and cavity wall insulation, double glazing, energy efficient doors, as well as air source heat pump installation and solar panel systems. 

Over 200 households have already benefitted from the first phase of the Bright Green Homes scheme, with more families set to have help to keep their energy costs low and reduce carbon emissions.

To be eligible for this £2.7 million round of funding, you must:

  • not use gas central heating. The scheme is only open to households who use oil, coal, LPG, or electric heating systems;
  • have a combined gross annual household income under £30,000 per year;
  • have a valid Energy Performance Certificate with a rating of D, E, F, or G;
  • live in Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset or North Somerset Council areas;
  • be the owner, landlord or private rented tenant of the property.

The scheme has funding for a limited number of homes across Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset and North Somerset. If your household meets the eligibility criteria, please complete the online questionnaire.

A photo of the inside of a attic ceiling, at the front of the image you can see the rafting lining the ceiling, with home insulation installed to keep in heat.
Installed Home Insulation

The Bright Green Homes scheme will not only help to reduce energy costs for individual households, helping more households become more energy efficient is also an essential part of Bristol’s commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030.

If you have any questions about the project, please contact the Energy Service Bristol team on 0117 352 1180 or email domestic@energyservicebristol.co.uk.

More information about the Bright Green Homes project can be found on the Bristol Energy Service website.

For those who are not eligible for the scheme, you can find energy saving tips on the Energy Service Bristol website.