Project Moelfre:
an update
We’ve been working with residents of Moelfre to learn how we can reduce bills, improve the resilience of businesses and the overall community, and help the village thrive into the future.
Helping businesses and residents improve their EPC rating
The school, village shop, community hall, residential homes, and local café were all surveyed by sustainability experts and several interventions were identified at each site to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their carbon emissions.
Powering Ynys Môn
and its people
How can technology make a difference
- Solar panels directly reduce energy costs, offsetting electricity use by supplying free energy during the busiest business hours. In a place like Moelfre where tourism is most active during the long daylight hours of the summer, the energy generation of a solar panel array perfectly matches the energy needs of business in that industry, making it a wonderful candidate to make the most of the technology.
- A HIVE thermostat is a smart thermostat designed to help keep houses warmer or cooler more efficiently. It can utilise remote controlling – meaning you can control your heating from anywhere. You can easily schedule your heating, even controlling which rooms to heat and when, reducing energy use. It can automatically heat your home when you’re present and reduce heating when you’re away, can help you look after your boiler in the long-term such as automatic maintenance reminders or help alert you to the danger of frozen pipes in winter, and it offers energy use monitoring so that you can reduce your energy usage.
- The electric dishwasher has the potential to make a huge difference to any business. Using a fraction of the water consumption of hand washing dishes and far less energy, the savings to bills alone would be instant. The high temperatures used while washing dishes in a dishwasher means that it’s much more hygienic than other methods too. Anybody who’s worked in a cafe during busy periods will know how high the dishes can pile up on bank holiday weekends – an automatic dishwasher means that more hands are freed up to do other essential work and deliver for customers, bringing a better service.
The future
We are currently in the process of finding reasonably priced, local suppliers for the technology and work needed for these upgrades, with the target of implementing most of them by the end of the summer.
After the improvements are in place, we will continue to analyse the energy performance and material changes to the lives of those within the Moelfre community affected by the changes. The data shows that most of the investments will be paid off via reduced costs in around 5 years, with more significant investments such as solar PV paying off in around 10-15 years.
Energy on Anglesey is not just about harnessing renewable energy; it’s about creating a sustainable and prosperous future for our community. Together, we are setting a standard for the rest of the world to follow.
Laura
Ann’s Pantry
