Money available for green communities...

A new grant fund for communities has been announced by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. We’re running the application process and thought you might want to know more.  The Local Energy Assessment Fund (LEAF) is a £10 million pot of money aimed at reaching two hundred communities at an average of £50,000 per community.  The funds are available to communities in England and Wales that take an active role in developing a low-carbon society.  Money is available to finance projects that:  increase the understanding of energy efficiency and renewable technologies in the community  encourage the uptake of energy efficiency measures and renewable technologies in the community make the energy supply secure and affordable for everyone in the local community. Unfortunately activities and technologies already funded through The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT), Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP), Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) will not be eligible to apply.  For more detailed information about the fund visit the LEAF website. Online applications will be accepted from Wednesday 7 December 2011 and there will be two rounds. The first round closes on Thursday 22 December 2011 and the second round closes on Friday 20 January 2012.  All grants awarded must be spent by the recipients by the 31 March 2012.  The  programme has been developed by a partnership of community networks, including: Communities and Climate Action Alliance, Carbon Leapfrog, Local Untied, Greening Campaign, Low Carbon Communities Network, Energy Saving Trust, Transition Network, Community Energy Wales, NCVO, Locality, the Community Energy Practicioners’ Forum and DECC, and with the grant itself administered by us. Find out more and start the application today > The Energy Saving Trust