The network’s board is currently comprised of the following 9 individuals. Summary notes and financial reports from quarterly board meetings are listed below.
Caroline Bird
Caroline is a researcher currently based at the University of Bristol (Cabot Institute and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law) where she has been working on community energy, social enterprises in various sectors responding to climate change and currently on future cities. Her research in 2013 helped BEN develop the groundbreaking Bristol Community Strategy for Energy and has fed into the national Community Energy Strategy. At the core is an interest in the broad issues of environmental sustainability and, more specifically, in community action, energy and climate change, and sustainable environments and how interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral approaches help develop practical solutions.
Caroline has past lives in Civil Engineering and local government environmental policy and brings a breadth of sustainability knowledge and experience and a few useful skills to the board. She is also a director of Transition Montpelier and a member of the Montpelier Energy Group.
Jake Barnes
Growing up in South West Jake moved from studying International Relations (at UWE, Bristol) through national policy to arrive at local politics and action. In the process he undertook an MSc in Energy Policy and Sustainability (Exeter University), interned with Regen SW on their annual renewable energy survey and volunteered with a variety of Bristol community energy groups. Jake has been involved in organising the Bristol Energy Network since early 2011, helping run open-meetings, undertake surveys, develop exhibitions, events and so forth with CSE, the Sustainability team at Bristol City Council and Bristol University amongst others. Jake co-organised and co-hosted the Bristol Community Energy Forum in September 2012 and co-ordinated the development and launch of the Bristol Community Strategy for Energy in 2013.
Paul Adams
Paul co-founded both Easton Energy Group (EEG) and Bristol Energy Network to enable community cohesion to improve energy awareness and reduce energy consumption. EEG is now one of the most successful groups in Bristol and the network has facilitated various projects across the city. I have managed the netowrk’s finances from inception and offer over a decade of financial and project management experience. I work as a researcher in the sustainable energy research team in mechanical engineering at the University of Bath, so bring practical understanding and application of energy systems with a particular focus on bioenergy. Additionally I am a Director of Synertree Ltd, a boutique energy & environmental consultancy based in Bristol. I’ve been involved in the running of the network from the beginning as I am passionate about bringing people together to develop community-led energy efficiency and appropriate renewable energy projects.
Simon Roberts
Simon has spent nearly 30 years helping people, organisations and policy-makers to tackle the threat of climate change and end the misery of cold homes. Since 2002 he has been Chief Executive of the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE), one of the UK’s leading energy charities. CSE’s Bristol-based team of 50 staff provides energy advice to the public, supports communities to take action, and undertakes research and policy analysis for government and other agencies. Simon has a long-standing involvement in community action on energy. This ranges from giving advisory support to Bristol tenants’ groups in the mid 1980s to enabling the development of CSE’s award-winning community resources (such as PlanLoCaL) and Bristol’s Community Energy Catalyst Fund which provided seed loan funding to both Bristol Energy Co-op and Bristol Power Co-op. He has also been closely involved in national policy development in this area since he ran Friends of the Earth’s national energy campaign (1989 – 1994). More recently his policy input has led to the development of the Rural Community Energy Fund and he currently chairs the Government’s Community Energy Finance Roundtable. Simon is also Chair of the Board of Triodos Renewables Plc, a renewable energy company which enables more than 5,100 individual shareholders to own a growing portfolio of wind and hydro projects (currently 53MW, including the Avonmouth Wind Farm). Last year (2013) the company’s portfolio generated more than 100 million kWh of renewable electricity. He was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to renewable energy.
Vincent Brissenden
Vincent is an energy enthusiast, passionate about developing a more inclusive sustainable built environment. He is a trained energy assessor and founder of FRESH Cosy Homes. Having moved to Bristol in 2000 Vincent was involved in the ‘early build’ stages of the Ashley Self Build site in St Werbourghs, worked with Bristol Energy Advice Centre ran by CSE based at CREATE Centre at the time and was involved in a number of additional projects in and around the CREATE Centre as a volunteer. Vincent is a core member of the Bedminster Energy Group and sits on a number of Bristol Green Capital groups. As a director Vincent aims to push forward the Bristol Community Strategy for Energy in line with Bristol Green Capital 2015 agenda and influence the network’s strategic decision-making around community engagement, diversity and inclusion.
Mohammed Elsharif
Info coming soon
Charlie Eddison
Info coming soon
Vicky Wakefield-Jarrett
Info coming soon
Sam Willitts
Info coming soon
Board meetings:
July 2014 – Summary notes can be found here and a financial report here
October 2014 – Summary notes can be found here
January 2015 – Summary notes can be found here
April 2015 – Summary notes can be found here
July 2015 – Summary notes can be found here
September 2015 – Summary notes can be found here
Members meetings: