The Big Green Diffusion project sets out to explore ways of encouraging the take-up of green initiatives at scale.
In a well-functioning innovation system innovations are created through a combination of knowledge creation and enterprise (entrepreneurship); then, through a process of selection and the mobilising (allocation) of resources, these successful innovations are taken to scale to become the dominant approach.
NESTA's Big Green Challenge demonstrated how challenge prizes can be used to stimulate green innovation by local social enterprises and community-led groups. It showcased some extra-ordinary examples of people and groups working in communities to tackle climate change - in the space of a year, the ten finalist projects achieved between a 10 and 32% reduction in CO2 emissions in their communities.
But, the scale of the environmental challenge means we need to focus, with urgency, on the diffusion (or 'scale-up' / 'replication') of innovations tested in the Big Green Challenge - how do successful environmental ideas 'diffuse' across to other communities and what support can be given to rapidly accelerate this process? Or, in terms of the innovation model, how can we encourage others to select and assign resources to these innovations?
The delivery stage of the BGD is now complete, and we will be sharing some of the learnings from the projects below through a series of blogs.
Alongside this, you may want to look at what the eight projects NESTA supported as part of the Big Green Diffusion (BGD) project got up-to:
The People's Supermarket (TPS) is a new co-operative social enterprise that, amongst other things, seeks to address the lack of supply of affordable, sustainably produced food to cities. It is managed by its members who, for a commitment of four hours of time a month and an annual membership fee of £25, earn a discount on their TPS shopping. TPS has been an enormous success. Since opening in June 2010, the venture is trading at break even, has over 700 hundred members, been the subject of a Channel Four Television documentary, and is being approached by other communities across the UK who are excited to do the same thing.
NESTA is helping the diffusion of the venture by supporting TPS to capture and share their 'secret sauce' - capturing the TPS model and approach so that communities can develop their own version of People's Supermarket. We will share with you the 'secret sauce' when it is available.
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The People's Supermarket website Follow TPS on Facebook Or Twitter: @TPSLondonMotivation, energy and passion drives the actions that are needed to diffuse green initiatives, but how can these motivations be nurtured and articulated? That was the question asked by this project that gets 'beyond the cover story' of the green movement to try and effect change in communities that have so far failed to be motivated by technical responses to climate change.
Global Generation have developed a successful methodology, 'I, We and The Planet' for cultivating and sustaining the internal motivation to take action on climate change. As part of their work on the Big Green Diffusion project they partnered with Marches Energy to test the effect of combining this approach with Marches Energy technical skills in sustainable energy.
When we hit on a model that works the challenge is to get others to take on that model. Partly this means reducing the cost - financial, emotional, time - for others wishing to adopt the model. Doing this was the ambition of this project delivered by Bricks and Bread.
Bricks and Bread is a sustainable living centre that comprises a collection of smaller enterprises and services, a network and events, all aimed at educating and supplying people with eco- resources to reduce their reliance on peak oil. Since it started in 2009 the Centre has had over 20,000 visitors.
As part of the Big Green Diffusion project Bricks and Bread developed a model to allow other social enterprises to franchise the Bricks and Bread Sustainable Living Centres model, so allowing an effective, proven, model to be replicated elsewhere.
Wouldn't it be great to draw on to people's enthusiasms while they are having a day out at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) so that motivation can be followed through into action? That was the idea behind this project which placed an EcoTeams ambassador at CAT's demonstration eco-home to show, in a realistic home environment, how anyone can make the changes needed to lead a green lifestyle and then, through the EcoTeams programme, take that positive action into their communities to create group change.
This project is a great example of partnership working that places a proven and powerful initiative in a uniquely inspiring setting.
Ian Curtis of the Environmental Change Institute saw the excitement and sense-of-possibility that was generated when Oxford United FC won a victory at Wembley and asked: what can the green movement learn from the enthusiasm that football and sport generates? The project did two things:
The fundamental point, again, is more people taking on more green behaviour.
The Community Finance Summer School project recognised that one of the barriers to more communities developing locally-led low carbon projects is a gap in the financial and legal knowledge available. Working with community and voluntary groups, social enterprises and individuals, the project is trialing a way of meeting that need through the design and delivery of a training offer and associated tools and resources.
Crucially, these were designed through workshops where the 'the experts' and 'the community' could learn together, and from, each other.
The ultimate ambition of the project is to create a sustainable business model that will allow, outside of the project, more communities to do what others have done.
When Low Carbon West Oxford (LCWO) went about setting up as an Industrial Providence Society (IPS), it took them twelve months to navigate a path through the process. When a neighbouring community approached LCWO to find out how to set up as an IPS, the insight and information they received meant that they set up an IPS in just two weeks!
Local United, with NESTA support, worked to capture the know-how, financial models, frameworks and templates that allow others to accelerate the achievement of their ambitions. The project, in collaboration with a number of acknowledged experts in the field, allows others to avoid 're-inventing the wheel' through resource packs on energy performance ESCO's, the retrofit of homes, community food growing and franchising; and community renewable and resource efficiency.
Crucially, the project ties the development of these resource packs to partnerships with the Transition Town Network and the Low Carbon Communities Network, so allowing the great resources to spread, and mentor support to be put in place to help take-up.
StroudCo have established a successful model that allows a community to re-localise their food economy: an internet-based food hub allows local food producers to offer their food and drink at below retail but above wholesale prices. Consumers order produce online, it's then delivered to a local school hall where producers are paid and the produce is made available for collection. Both consumers and producers benefit.
Through the Big Green Diffusion project StroudCo invited eleven schools in Gloucestershire and neighbouring counties to set up a Food Hub based on their model. All the StroudCo systems, e.g. the web resource, were made available free of charge. The wider aims was to diffuse the capacity and capability of school students, staff and parents to work together to build their communities, and to allow them to influence their families' behaviour towards their local food economies.
The experience of these eleven schools has been drawn together into an action pack that will be made available nationally as a tool for setting up a food hub in any school.
Read our recent blog post on the Big Green Diffusion project.
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