History

A bit of Heeley Farm Energy History

Many people ask what a City Farm has to do with energy and sustainable building.

As an environmental education centre, we have a wide range of messages to give to our visitors and clients. Among them are the importance of energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable building.

In the 1990s the Farm was host to the Schools and Homes Energy Education Project, which ran the first solar water-heating courses at the Farm, and installed the first solar water-heating system there.

In the late 1990s Heeley City Farm set up its own Energy Project, to work with local communities to identify and address fuel poverty issues and to promote renewable energy. The Project has gone from strength to strength, and now concentrates particularly on advice, training and awareness-raising on renewable energy and sustainable building, although queries on all aspects of energy will be answered.

In 2002 the Farm took over responsibility for The Comfort Network, an organisation originally set up by London-based ECSC to provide fuel poverty training for front-line workers dealing with vulnerable clients. The organisation was re-named South Yorkshire Energy Network (SYEN), and continues to provide training and presentations on fuel poverty and to highlight the links between energy efficiency and health.

Both projects work very closely with South Yorkshire Energy Efficiency Advice Centre (a consortium of Sheffield, Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham Councils) to provide renewable energy advice and home visiting services, and SYEN is a part of HEAT Sheffield, an inter-agency group providing information and presentations on energy efficiency, fuel poverty and health issues.