Energy Champion Paul is eager to help

A retired civil engineer who “wanted to give something back to a great community” has become Eaton’s first Energy Champion.

Paul Donnachie, who has lived in Eaton Rise for 25 years, said: “I wanted to do something, part-time, around saving energy, and here was the perfect opportunity to do something practical.

“The aim is to provide practical advice and support, to individuals and groups, on various home energy issues like heating, insulation, ventilation, and problems with damp. This can be from simple, “no-cost” measures, through cheaper ones like draught-proofing, up to more expensive ones like solar panels and heat pumps and advice on what supporting grants may be available to keep costs down.”

Eaton’s Energy champion Paul Donnachie

Our Power, a new community-led project funded by Norwich Climate CIC, and operating under the oversight of Norwich Climate Commission, are working with trusted community members to reduce energy usage and decarbonise homes. Norwich homes, like many in the UK, are typically poorly insulated and reliant on gas boilers.

A key aim is to improve home energy efficiency across various local communities, and support them to be able to act on energy themselves. Currently, full home retrofitting is unaffordable for many, but there is scope for communities to lead the way by acting collectively to save money, for example by bulk buying and using community buildings to generate energy.

Our Power’s “Neighbourhood Energy Champions Project” is focussed on training trusted members of several Norwich and Norfolk communities as “Energy Champions”, so they can meaningfully engage members of their community in one-to-one conversations and collective actions.

Paul can be contacted for advice and support  at pauldonnachieconsultant@gmail.com