A GROUP of Dorking environmental campaigners is to hold a special event in the town to encourage better practice in one of the least energy-efficient parts of Britain.
Members of Transition Dorking will explain how to save energy, and therefore money, and even earn cash by generating renewable electricity at their Eco Energy Day in St Martin's Walk on Saturday, March 9.
Group member Jacquetta Fewster said: "Local companies providing products that cut energy consumption and generate renewable energy will be showing off their wares – solar panels, ground-source heat pumps, LED light bulbs and the like – as well as answering the public's questions about these technologies, saving energy, and saving the planet."
Advice will also be available on cavity-wall insulation and draught-proofing, while representatives of Action Surrey will be explaining the new energy-efficiency loans that are available through the Government's Green Deal scheme, and the free energy assessments, worth £150, for Surrey residents.
Transition Dorking was formed by concerned residents in 2009, one year after Mole Valley was identified as the district with the third-highest rate of carbon emissions per resident in the country.
It is part of the national Transition Town initiative aimed at encouraging communities to shift to sustainable energy sources.
Mrs Fewster, of Hart Road, said next month's event had originally been planned to coincide with Climate Week, but had taken on greater significance following the news that energy bills will rise by another 10 per cent this spring.
She said: "Mole Valley has the third-worst ecological footprint in the UK, partly because many of its homes are older Victorian houses which can take a lot of energy to heat.
"In Surrey, 554 people died last year because of the cold, so Transition Dorking wants to make sure people find out how quick, easy and cheap it is to keep homes warm and help their neighbours do the same."
Transition Dorking's Eco Energy Day takes place in St Martin's Walk between 10am and 3pm on Saturday, March 9.
For further information, visit www.transitiondorking.org.uk, e-mail transitiondorking@googlemail.com or call 07724 432441.
