A VILLAGE is going green thanks to £150,000 worth of free energy saving equipment.

Over the past 18 months residents in Tackley, near Bicester, have been working to reduce their carbon footprint thanks to an initiative run by British Gas called Green Streets.

The village hall, shop and St Nicholas’s Church have seen bills drop and gained hundreds of pounds by generating their own electricity.

Solar panels have been installed on the village hall roof, a ground source heat pump has been fitted, and energy saving appliances such as eco kettles and lightbulbs are all in use.

Almost 80 residents also took part in the scheme and are now counting the savings after making small, but beneficial, changes to their homes, such as new cylinder jackets and adding loft and cavity insulation.

Organiser Barbara Vaughan, right, said: “Green Streets will make running the village hall, shop and church so much easier using the renewable technology installed, releasing the financial pressures.

“Seventy-eight households signed up to be part of the project to get an energy audit on their homes and monitor the energy they used. They also looked at changing their behaviour and reducing energy usage.”

British Gas reckon the village combined saved £4,292 in energy costs, cut CO2 emissions by more than 11 tonnes, generated more than £500 through the energy created by the village hall’s solar roof and slashed the cost of running the village hall, shop and church.

Robin Bray, British Gas Green Streets community project manager, who worked with Tackley village, said: “The unique thing about this project is that it reaches right to the heart of community life.

“We are seeing more groups banding together to save and generate energy, doing their bit to tackle climate change.”