SW Rural Update - Seminar Programme

SW Rural Update is an initiative from the National Rural Knowledge Exchange in the South West of England. It is an information and learning network and is offered by universities and colleges to business, professionals and communities.

Seminars cover a range of topics of relevance to the rural sector and are held in different parts of the South West.

Past Seminars:

Oil Energy to Community Energy

Peak Oil and Climate Change - The Challenges Facing Rural Communities. February 2009.

The Royal Agricultural College hosted the sixth South West Rural Update conference attended by more than 70 delegates.

Current mainstream agricultural and food retail systems depend heavily on oil and as society is forced to reduce energy consumption and oil dependence, there will be an increasing need for localised economies. Transition initiatives aim to pull the community together to explore the practicalities of re-building local resilience and reducing carbon emissions.

The conference considered the implications of these challenges facing rural communities in the Twenty First Century and examined the planning and thinking tools for these uncertain times.

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Biogas - Are You Wasting an Opportunity?

December 2008.

Held in conjunction with the Severn Wye Energy Agency and Knowledge West, this event was attended by fifty delegates representing organisations ranging from the Clydesdale Bank and Business Link to the CLA and Dorset County Council. Presentations were made representing the evolving opportunities in sustainable and renewable energy.

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