"Dear participant,

First of all, thank you to everyone who attended and participated in making the forum such a successful day. We have collated and reviewed your feedback forms and are encouraged by your kind words and constructive suggestions for future events.

We were impressed by the level of enthusiasm of the final “way forward” session and are interested to see what will come of this growing momentum. The initiatives discussed during the final working session or earlier in the day were:

• A Byron Shire-based community renewable energy project, probably involving a solar farm on public land. If you are interested in being part of this group, please email Robert Rosen at rrosen@mullum.com.au.

• A north coast community renewable energy cooperative or company. A follow-up email will be forwarded to the participants of this group (it was the large one at the back of the hall) and will require a leader. If you didn’t get your email address on the list on the day please email Kim Graham at kimgraham84@hotmail.com.

• The North Coast Energy Strategy. This is being organised by the Sustain Northern Rivers energy working group, which will invite additional stakeholders to participate in planning in the near future. For more information about SNR, go to www.sustainnorthernrivers.org

• Interest in rolling out energy and sustainability education programs like Living Smart and/or Energysmart. This will also be organised by the Sustain Northern Rivers energy working group. If you are interested in being part of this group, please email Kirsty Howton at kirsty.howton@scu.edu.au.

• Far North Coast neighbourhood and community centre network members to develop partnerships and seek resources, eg from the local business community and local councils, and input from people with relevant expertise, to drive participatory consultations across the region in order to develop local community-owned energy plans. The person responsible for this outcome is Nat Meyer, Team Leader, Nimbin Neighbourhood and Info Centre (NNIC): nimbinnic@yahoo.com.au.

• Biochar group.

• Living simply group.

If you were part of the biochar or living simply groups and are interested in coordinating future work on either, please email Kim Graham at kimgraham84@hotmail.com.

We hope that the fruits of the forum can grow organically over the next year among interested people and groups, and that we can all report back on progress this time next year at the next energy forum. There may be more energy-related events prior to that, in which case we will let you know.

2011 NCEF Steering Committee
Mark Byrne, Robyn Fitzroy, Simon Clough, Kirsty Howton, Graeme Williams, Adam Blakester, Kim Graham, Rachel Stewart-Rattray"