It’s a real pleasure to be back in Cambridge for my second year as Open Eco Homes co-ordinator, and I can promise you that I’ll be working hard through the summer to bring you another great event in October (8th and 14th). Reading through the comments many visitors made last year reminds me how important Open Eco Homes is to you.
"Inspirational and interesting", "thought-provoking", "it really helps to see technologies used in real time in real homes", "If you have any interest in improving the energy efficiency of where you live, or what others could do, OEH is invaluable".
As well as helping people to improve their homes and reduce energy bills Open Eco Homes also cuts carbon emissions.
Last year we estimated that over the lifetime of their projects we will have helped visitors save 938 tonnes of CO2, effectively just by making it possible for people to meet each other and exchange ideas. We know that Open Eco Homes works because of the feedback you give us, but also because many visitors become Open Eco Homes hosts themselves.
This year we will also be following up on the success of 2016’s new innovation Cosy Cambridge, but this time we’ll be delivering it in the form of five evening talks, workshops and our very popular human library. We thought this would give more people the chance to attend, rather than just confining it to one day. We’ll still be making available our free Cosy Cambridge planner guide to help you turn your inspiration into active plans!
Open Eco Homes hibernates in the winter and I do other work. I’m based in Wales most of the time where I also work for the Centre for Alternative Technology as the Publisher of reports such as 2017’s Zero Carbon Britain: Rethinking the Future.
Co-author of Re-thinking the Future Paul Allen will be presenting Zero Carbon Britain in Cambridge at the end of April and also performing the Extra-ordinary Story of Human Beings and Happiness with pianist Lola Perrin: two must-attend events in Cambridge Carbon Footprint’s packed 2017 calendar.
Coming to Cambridge to work on OEH is a real pleasure and I really enjoyed meeting so many of you last year. If you want to know more about me, my website is www.allanshepherd.com Please get in touch. And if you live in an eco home and want to be an Open Eco Homes host, let us know. We’ll be looking for people between now and the end of June for our October dates (8th and 14th). Finally, a big thanks to our sponsors and funders in 2016, and to all those OEH visitors who donated last year. We can't run Open Eco Homes without you!