On Wednesday 19 April, the team from Community Action Platform for Energy (CAPE), will be running their first community field trial at an energy event on the Lakes Estate.

CAPE aims to give community members a ready-to-use tool to jump-start and scale-up energy projects, and to access opportunities for rapidly growing market for energy efficiency and renewable energy systems. The website will be made available free of charge to residents, community groups, landlords and local businesses.

At this field trial, community members of the Lakes Estate will be able to sign up to CAPE and join a new project run by the Milton Keynes Council to swap their light bulbs for LED lightbulbs.

Project members will then be able to follow any progress on the project, and discuss issues related to energy efficiency on the project forum.

It is the goal that this project will help Lakes residents lower their energy bills and contribute to tackling fuel poverty on the Lakes Estate. According to the Energy Saving Trust, by replacing all halogen downlighters with LED alternatives, you could save about £35 a year on electricity bills.

After running a few of these field trials and gathering feedback from communities, the team at CAPE are hoping to launch the live website later this year. To find out more visit www.capeproject.co.uk. 

If you would like to attend the field trial, please contact Jessica at jessicam@communityactionmk.org

Whether you are an individual, a local group or a business interested in energy efficiency in Milton Keynes, and would like to get involved in CAPE, we want to hear from you! Register your interest here or e-mail us at: info@capeproject.co.uk.