sustainability

The Met Office has been named one of the most sustainable public sector organisations in the UK.

The Exeter-based agency has won a platinum award for sustainability at the Public Sector Estate Management awards ceremony.

Met Office facilities manager, Chris Richards, also scooped the title Sustainability Manager of the Year.

The awards follow the implementation of a number of steps aimed at making the Met Office greener and more environmentally friendly. They include a water recapture scheme which saw a 47% increase in recycled water use (this has increased by 180%...

Local community projects are to be recognised as model sustainable development initiatives in a new course offered by Bicton College at Dartington.

This all-new NCFE Level 1 Award in Sustainable Development from Bicton College is scheduled to start on Tuesday 22nd April. It will be a 10 week course, 4 hours per session, every Tuesday with a break for half-term. It is free to anyone over 19 and looking for work, and available to anyone else for a course fee of £250.

As well as the Level 1 qualification, students will learn from a host of pioneering local initiatives, and...

Exeter communities are set to benefit from an initiative launched by the University of Exeter Students’ Guild. The Guild is proud to announce the launch of the Students’ Green Unit which will be established this month after the Guild won a £300,000 funding boost from the NUS (National Union of Students) Green Fund.

The Students’ Green Unit will provide a framework for students to develop and lead sustainability initiatives locally, nationally and internationally. The Students’ Guild prides itself on successful reduction of its environmental impact and pursuit of sustainability, and...

There are serious problems in the food chain in relation to food traceability as the recent horse-meat scandal highlighted. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage and the Sustainable Restaurant Association have taken action, and are breaking new ground by providing accredited training by City & Guilds in ethical food selection and procurement.

River Cottage is famous for blazing the trail for ethically produced ingredients and championing the cause of sustainability. This commitment was recognised recently with the award of a prestigious national trophy from The...

The Exeter Chamber of Commerce’s April Networking lunch will be held at The Rougemont Hotel By Thistle, taking place on Wednesday 17 April 2013. The theme of this lunch is ‘Exeter: the South West’s most sustainable city’.

The lunch will bring together the intellect behind Exeter Chamber’s most sustainable businesses to one place. The event will give 100+ businesses the opportunity to ask John Rigby (Chairman of the Low Carbon Task Force), Adam Fox-Edwards (MD of the illustrious Arundell Arms and winner of the 2012 DEBI sustainable business award) and Ewan McClymont (Director of...

The Centre for Energy and the Environment (CEE) based at the University of Exeter has been awarded £25,000 by the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Hospital Trust to research the prioritisation of sustainability measures at the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust (RD&E).

Commenting on the award Tony Norton, Head of the Centre, said “The RD&E has recognised the Centre’s expertise in energy and the built environment and the track record of success we have in working with other public sector partners in the region. This project has links to other research we are doing in...

Mr Mark Berry, a retired resident from the rural village of Exbourne near Okehampton, is looking forward to an autumn and winter without big energy bills having won 500 litres of heating oil from Moorland Fuels in its Cosy Heating Club quarterly oil draw.

Commenting on his win, Mark said: "I knew about the free quarterly draw, but I never expected to be the winner, so getting the call was a really lovely surprise. I've only been a Moorland Fuels customer for a short while, which made it even more unexpected. I rang my wife straight away to tell her the good news – she works in...