Why Not Become A Member Of Carbon Co-op?

Our overarching goal is to help people and communities like those in Shover and Westwood, to make the radical reductions in home carbon emissions necessary to avoid runaway climate change in a way that caters to the diverse needs of householders.

Carbon Co-op is the member-led organisation behind Oldham Energy Futures. We are a Manchester-based co-operative providing domestic energy services. This means we help our members and customers to make their homes more energy-efficient so that they can lower their carbon emissions and their energy bills and live in healthier and more comfortable homes. 

We provide professional advice on how to retrofit your home, offering a paid end-to-end service from initial assessment to support with prioritising measures, design and project management. For people who want to go beyond our paid services, membership offers a way to get a deeper understanding of retrofit through training and webinars, forum discussions with other members, and involvement in shaping and developing new services. 

Working on energy systems we have developed tools for members to better understand their home energy use and carbon emissions, for example, tools to access your smart meter and to benchmark your home’s current energy performance.

At the local and national levels, we are working to change government policy in order to cut the carbon emissions associated with our homes. This includes working to ensure that the funds’ people and communities will need to make these changes are available and accessible to everyone. Our overarching goal is to help people and communities like those in Shover and Westwood, to make the radical reductions in home carbon emissions necessary to avoid runaway climate change in a way that caters to the diverse needs of householders.

Our organisation was started and is led by people like many of you who asked themselves how they could improve the energy efficiency of their homes and help others to do the same. As a co-operative, we are led by our members, with opportunities for members to help shape our activities and priorities, as well as a chance to take on a more active role in our governance as a part of the board. 

Not only does Carbon Co-op membership give you a say over our priorities, and direction but it also offers members an opportunity to learn more about the performance of your home, and ideas and strategies to increase your comfort whilst slashing energy bills and carbon emissions. Our comprehensive webinar programme, also available on our YouTube channel, gives a great way to begin your retrofit journey. Further by accessing special discounts and offers available to members you can make home energy improvements without breaking the bank. 

Carla Smith, a Carbon Co-op member has said that as a result of their membership they “are now fully confident and understanding of the retrofit process and how to make it work for us.”

For people keen to address climate change starting in our home and communities our calendar of events, activities, as well as Community Forum, provide a fantastic space to meet like-minded people and experts as well as to share knowledge and ideas on everything from home automation to insulation materials. 

“Without a doubt, our Carbon Co-op membership has proven to be the most beneficial investment we’ve ever made for our home. We’re constantly able to keep up to date on all things retrofit in the forum and through the shared experience of other very active and supportive members, we’re well informed on what’s available to us and our knowledge has most definitely saved us money.” 

• Carbon Co-op member Carla Smith

At the community level, we support members and other community groups to take collective action to build sustainable, collectively owned and controlled energy systems through projects such as Oldham Energy Futures as well as the Greater Manchester Local Energy Market (GMLEM).

Other aspects of Carbon Co-op take a technical approach, giving people easy access to their home smart meter data with the PowerShaper Monitor service and allowing them to control smart energy appliances and support the energy grid to use more renewable energy with the PowerShaper Flex. 

So if you want to help us figure out a collective response on the necessary scale to climate change, then why not join Carbon Co-op today. Help us shape the future of our co-operative.

You can join up today on our website for an annual fee of £35. Once you are signed up, why not head over to our Community Forum and introduce yourself!