CARBON NEUTRAL COMMUNITY ADOPTS NISSAN LEAF
A Nissan LEAF is playing an important part in helping a rural Cheshire village, Ashton Hayes become the first community in the UK to go completely carbon-neutral. The village launched its ‘Going Carbon Neutral’ project in January 2006, and through working together, sharing ideas and changing their behaviour has already cut its emissions by 23%. The Nissan LEAF has recently joined the tight-knit community as the latest addition, with the hope of enabling residents to give up their second car (some of which may currently have relatively high emissions). The community electric car will be available to any driver living in Ashton Hayes over the age of 18. On top of running a vehicle with zero tailpipe emissions, the community has built its own garage complete with a solar-panelled roof, which will provide the renewable energy to power the charge point. This ensures that everything the community does works towards their goal of becoming carbon-neutral. The community has recently launched its own low carbon pavilion and new recreation field, while the car park at the new recreation ground has also been sustainably resurfaced with recycled road materials. Ashton Hayes also has future plans to start working on its community-owned renewable energy power station.
