Sunlight glinting on the roof of the old power station at Osney was the inspiration for a new venture that aims to harness the profit-making ethos of the commercial business world to tackle climate change.

Oxfordshire Low Carbon Hub, set up with a £128,000 Government grant, says it will create a ‘people's power station’ to help local communities reduce their carbon footprint.

Director Barbara Hammond, who lives near Osney power station, now used by Oxford University's engineering department, said the view from her house was a constant reminder of how fast energy technology was changing.

“It was one of the first power stations in the world when it was built — and what we are trying to do is just as pioneering.

“Ultimately, our dream is to replace the Didcot A power station, which is going to close in 2015, by a combination of reducing our energy demand and developing renewable energy projects,”

she said.

The ‘hub’ aims to create a barometer on its website showing how much low-carbon energy is being generated in Oxfordshire — and how much is being saved by better insulation and reducing consumption.

Householders, communities and businesses will be able to register what they have done to save or generate energy.

The money is paying for five people to work part-time in a community interest company, whose three directors are all involved in some of the 67 low-carbon groups in Oxfordshire.

Mrs Hammond was a founder member of Low Carbon West Oxford, and Wendy Twist and Julia Taylor are members of Low Carbon Oxford North, which has just installed solar photovoltaic panels at Cherwell School. There will be a switch-on event at the school on March 12.

The Osney power station played an important role in the formation of Low Carbon West Oxford, which has since masterminded four solar panel installations, a wind turbine and a hydro-electricity project just along the river Thames at Osney Weir.

Mrs Hammond said: “We were looking at the sun hitting the roof and we thought, ‘wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could get the power of the sun harnessed for the community.”

"People in Osney used to bathe in the river here because the power station discharged hot water. River barges used to come here with the coal. Our idea for a people’s power station is to work together as a community. We get very excited arguing about what forms of energy we ought to have, but it is also really interesting.

“People are very motivated and every meeting we go to, we come across someone with a new technology.”

The start-up money will only last another 12 to 18 months and by then the hub hopes to be generating its own income from investors, grants and from payments from power companies for its electricity.

They are now talking to business angels and working on a public share offer, to be launched in the next few months, so that individuals and communities can invest.The trio believe their business model is unique in the green energy sector.

Mrs Hammond said: "There are renewable projects that are set up to raise money for their shareholders and there are organisations that concentrate on training and education and rely on grants and sponsorship. We are mixing the two.

“The community interest company allows us to give a dividend to our shareholders and the amount of surplus that we can pay is limited to 35 per cent. This means that the other 65 per cent of our surplus is to be used for the benefit of the community.”

Ms Twist said: “We have to make money, just like any other business, but we have a mission beyond profit."

Ms Taylor, a former civil servant specialising in energy policy, said: “The idea is that the renewable energy projects will generate income and then we will recycle that income into new community projects.”

They group is aware that, while solar panels and hydro-electric schemes may capture people’s imaginations, it is more difficult to persuade people to reduce consumption.

Ms Twist said: “People seem to think that any action they take is too small, but if you put it together, it makes a massive difference. If we can show how it is growing, it is much more motivating.”

The hub will run eight projects between January and April this year to show that communities can both ‘power down’, by making significant energy reductions and ‘power up’, by generating renewable energy.

Plans include a pilot to install 'smart meters' in people’s homes to encourage them to insulate and draught-proof, with the cost covered by savings on their energy bills.

The founders say the hub is about more than just money and aims to raise awareness of what can be done. Which brings us back to the old Osney power station.

Mrs Hammond said: “It is important to understand the historic context.

We are putting a modern layer on top of the old one, and that makes us all more optimistic about the future.”