Training session at Market Drayton Swimming Centre

On Monday (16th March) Richard Hammerton went to Market Drayton to deliver a staff training session - one of the distinguishing features of the session was that it was certainly the earliest one he has ever done, beginning at 7am and ending at 8.30!

The purpose of the training session was to provide accessible energy advice to the staff of the Swimming Centre, and also staff from other leisure facilities in North Shropshire, with a focus on behavioural changes and actions which are free or low cost.
 
In order to provide a context and highlight the reason why energy saving is of particular importance the session began with a talk on the background issues – climate change and energy security. The talk provided a clear and substantive introduction to these topics.
 
Following on from the introductory talk the main part of the training was the workshop activity; our ‘Convenience vs Effectiveness’ exercise. This activity has been designed to achieve several key outcomes. It raises awareness of the range of measures that can be employed in an energy and carbon reduction strategy. The range of energy saving measures that were covered in the session included many that could be applied at work or at home, to maximise the benefit of the training for those that took part. It highlights the importance of balancing the energy saving performance of a particular measure with a realistic appraisal of how likely it is that people will adopt that measure – a highly efficient technology that is too inconvenient to appeal to a wide audience will be less useful than a moderately efficient approach that is easy to implement and thus achieves a wider uptake. The workshop culminates with the production of a ranked list of measures that reflects the amalgamation of both energy saving and convenience considerations.
 
When the list was complete the results were discussed with the group, and formed the starting point of a wider discussion about approaches and opportunities for energy saving. It was explained to the attendees that the list they developed during this workshop provided the basis for a workplace or home energy action plan. This was used as a good opportunity to introduce the Energy Action Pack as a tool for developing a year long energy saving strategy. The final part of the session was spent concluding the energy session, inviting the attendees to ask questions, and examining some of the more widespread misapprehensions that stop people from taking personal steps to reduce their carbon footprint.