As we embrace the peak of summertime (although the weather may not be reflecting this) we have also entered the second week of Community Energy Fortnight, a nationwide campaign involving hundreds of organisations to showcase all things good about community energy. This year's theme is #EmpowerCommunityEnergy, so we thought we'd shine a light on some of the ways our community energy group is empowering our community to take control of their energy usage, reduce costs and carbon!

After being highly commended at the 2023 Wandsworth Business Awards in the Environmental/Sustainability Champion category, this year CREW took home the top prize! The Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce was founded over 50 years ago and has been championing the cause of local businesses ever since. Every year they host the Wandsworth Business Awards, to showcase the best businesses our borough has to offer. ​

On 4 June 2024, CREW partnered on an event entitled 'Sustainable You', hosted by Climate Action Wandsworth at St Andrew’s Church in Earlsfield, attended by 46 local residents. The event provided a platform for attendees to hear from people in the community (like us), ask questions, share their views and engage in meaningful discussions regarding home retrofit and other sustainable measures. Participants were invited to share their thoughts on four key areas: barriers to retrofitting, community energy group support suggestions, areas of interest in sustainable actions, and ideas for a local climate hub.

This week, we had the pleasure of being interviewed by BBC Morning Live! Energy champion Armelle talked grants and the rising cost of living with 83 year old Mary, while our Director Toby walked reporter James Stewart through some easy energy saving tips.

Back in 2020, we received funding from the Wandsworth Local Fund for our Green Walls project. Wandsworth Council kindly featured a piece on the installation at Smallwood and Hillbrook Schools in Tooting, photographed here.

Hi, I am Toby, one of the directors at CREW Energy. CREW is a not-for-profit community benefit society (Coop) that is supporting SW London’s transition to a low carbon economy. We work with schools, civic buildings, local residents and businesses to help them cut carbon, improve air quality and reduce bills.

Commercial and domestic gas boilers are responsible for around 16% of London's NOx emissions (data from 2016). Energy efficiency measures can improve air quality and reduce your energy bills. Read about the things that you can change at home.

In historic terms, UK air quality is much better than it was back in the days when everyone had a coal fire leading to terrible smogs. In 1952, The Great Smog of London led to an estimated 12,000 people dying. Ultimately, the event led to the Clean Air Act of 1956. Even so, there was another smog reaching across much of the country during the big freeze winter of 1962. Looking at the graph we can see how pollution has declined.

Hi everyone, following on from Morgan, my name is Armelle and I am another member of CREW! I have just finished my studies in Geography with Economics and, outside of CREW, my interests lie in green finance, ESG investing and the global energy transition. I started with CREW at the end of 2019 and initially joined as an Energy Advisor, to be a part of the work CREW does to alleviate fuel poverty within our local community.

Hi, my name is Morgan da Silva and I am a member of CREW. My background stems from the desire to see everyone have access to electricity around the world. In some places, renewable energy can provide clean and accessible electricity where governments cannot afford to extend the grid. I began with a development project in Nicaragua that operated on this principle and installed pico solar systems in rural areas.