Low Carbon Hub’s 10 Years in 10 Numbers
For over a decade, Low Carbon Hub has been at the heart of a growing partnership of people and organisations working together for a low carbon future.
At this important milestone, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on what has been achieved over these 10 years with the help of 10 numbers.
1. Investor members
Let’s kick our list off with the wonderful people that have a large role in making our projects possible – our members. We started with 10 pioneer investors who provided us with the capital to install a solar array on the Oxford Bus Company. Now we have 1,770 investor members who have collectively invested over £10 million in the Low Carbon Hub.
2. Investment
We are proud to be able to offer an ethical investment option that enables people to have a part in accelerating the transition to a net-zero energy system and supporting local communities across Oxfordshire.
3. Community-owned renewables
By using the capital from our investor members, along with another £12 million raised in loans and grant funding, we now have 50 renewable generation installations across Oxfordshire.
4. Solar panels installed
In our portfolio of renewable energy installations, we have 50,793 solar panels, which laid end to end would stretch from Oxford to Cambridge.
5.Typical homes powered
These solar panels can generate enough power each year to provide the electricity for 8,847 typical homes!
6.Lifetime electricity savings for hosts
Much of the electricity we generate is sold at a discount to the organisations that host our arrays on their roofs. Over the lifetime of our projects, we estimate that this will save our hosts £1,954,000 on their electricity bills – money that schools can spend on education rather than electricity.
7. Low Carbon Hub IPS surpluses for community benefit
The installations also generate us a sustainable income stream – an anticipated £15,500,000 in financial surpluses we can use to support further carbon cutting action on climate change over the lifetime of the projects.
8. Community benefit spend
One thing we have excelled at is using this income stream to leverage additional funding to support our programmes and innovation. For every pound of community benefit income we’ve created to date – we’ve delivered £14 pounds in community benefit activity…
9. Community benefit
… this includes over 999 offers of funding, support and advice through:
- Community grants
- Energy audits
- Helpdesk
10. People and partnerships
Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do – from our community group members, host organisations, programme partners, and funders, to everyone who subscribes to our newsletters and helps spread the word about our work on social media – together you are creating an incredible, supportive ecosystem from which we can continue to grow over the next decade. To each and every one of you, thank you.
Want to hear more about what we’ve done in the last decade? We have created this video to celebrate our 10 years of community energy at Low Carbon Hub.