Community groups

Individuals take their cues from the actions of others around them and, through organised collective action, people can achieve far more than they can acting in isolation.

CSE therefore provides a range of services to engage people in their communities – from training volunteers and facilitating consultation to providing expert advice and project development.

Our aim is to help communities understand the issues – often by making links with existing concerns such as poverty, housing and health – and find appropriate local solutions.

CSE provides support to community groups across the UK through our work managing the Energy Saving Trust’s Green Communities programme (formally known as Community Action for Energy).

We also work closely with specific community groups mainly, though not exclusively, in our local area of Bristol and Somerset. Groups range widely in their interests, objectives and capacity. CSE aims to respond to their needs and agendas whilst also helping them to deliver more effective local sustainable energy solutions.

The services we offer include:

• training for volunteers to be community energy advisers
• advice to community groups on how to develop and secure funding for their own projects
• support and advice on energy saving and small-scale renewable energy projects (including detailed feasibility studies)
• presentations to local groups
• free energy advice
• long-term advisory support for projects achieving radical carbon reductions, such as Carbon 60

We also provide help to renewable energy developers and energy utilities on effective community engagement.

CSE is a registered consultant under the Community Sustainable Energy Programme. You can read about our work for this scheme here.

Read more about our work engaging communities here.

CSE has clocked up 30 years of working with communities. This photo shows our Energy in Action project in South Bristol in 2004.