18 June 2010
Employees from EDF Energy are setting out on a series of bike rides from the Bristol Channel to the English Channel for Team Green Britain Bike Week on Monday (June 21).
Over three days, different riders will connect the company’s Hinkley, Exeter and Plymouth sites, covering more than 150 miles as they travel across the South West, to arrive on Wednesday (June 23) at the Eden Project, which is hosting this year’s Festival of Cycling.
The festival, organised by Cornwall Council, is part of national Team Green Britain Bike Week, sponsored by EDF Energy, and takes place on Saturday, June 26, and Sunday, June 27.
Team Green Britain – including Team Green Britain Bike Week – is a growing movement of people and groups brought together by EDF Energy through a shared commitment to lowering Britain’s carbon footprint. EDF Energy is working with the Eden Project, Global Action Plan, Eco-Schools and London 2012 to organise a summer of activities which will inspire people to live a lower carbon life.
Members of EDF Energy’s cycling society at the company’s Exeter and Plymouth offices have joined with colleagues from Hinkley Power Station in Somerset for the rides.
Tony Harding, senior business analyst and cycling society member at EDF Energy in Exeter, has helped organise the rides.
He said: “EDF Energy is working hard to encourage people to use more environmentally-friendly transport and we’re hoping the Festival of Cycling will help inspire more people to do just that. As a company, EDF Energy has firm commitments on reducing carbon emissions from its transport fleet too.”
The 54 -year-old, who lives in Taunton and works in Exeter, added: “We’re really looking forward to the rides. They will connect up EDF Energy’s key sites in the South West before heading on to the Eden Project itself, home to the Festival of Cycling. Hopefully we can encourage more people to get on their bikes and head to the festival for Team Green Britain Bike Week.”
The first group of 12 riders set off from Hinkley Power Station at 9am on Monday, June 21. Their route will take them across Somerset into Devon, through the Exe Valley to Exeter. They hope to arrive at the company’s Gadeon House office on Exeter Business Park at around 1pm.
Gary Perrett, a programme engineer at Hinkley Point, said: “We’re delighted to be kicking off the ride for Team Green Britain Bike Week. It’s also great to be joining with our EDF Energy colleagues from Exeter and Plymouth as we make our way towards the Eden Project in Cornwall.”
On Tuesday, June 22, five riders will head off from Exeter at 9am, to EDF Energy’s Plymouth office in Manadon, for the second leg of the journey. They aim to arrive around 1pm.
Then on Wednesday, June 23, a final group of five cyclists will complete the route, leaving Plymouth at 9am, heading into Cornwall and getting to the Eden Project around noon.
Tom Cann, who works in EDF Energy’s IT operations in Plymouth, said: “We head to the Torpoint Ferry, past Anthony House, then along the coast to Looe, where hopefully we might have time for a cup of tea! Then we aim for the ferry at Fowey. There are a couple of big hills but we love a challenge and we’re all looking forward to making it to the Eden Project ahead of the Festival of Cycling.”
EDF Energy has more than 2,000 staff in Cornwall and Devon, with green travel plans for its Plymouth and Exeter offices, including incentives for employees who cycle to work.
Louise Rowe, EDF Energy’s green travel manager, said: “We’re delighted to be sponsoring Team Green Britain Bike Week and supporting the Festival of Cycling at the Eden Project. Team Green Britain has launched a fun-filled summer of inspiring activities to get the nation working together to think and act green and there are cycling events happening across the country. The Festival of Cycling should be a great event at the perfect location.”
The festival will include Revolve Bicycle Works’ Dr Bike cycle health checks, information on local routes and trails (from cycling charity Sustrans, Cornwall Council and national cyclists’ association CTC), bike tagging with Devon and Cornwall Constabulary and free aerocycle sessions from Polkyth Leisure Centre.
Saturday will see a BMX demonstration and a cycle circus with unusual bikes of all shapes and sizes to try out.
On Sunday, Era Adventures will offer an obstacle course for bikes. The public are also invited to take part in a series of rides starting at Eden, with shorter routes planned for Saturday and a challenging trail for more experienced riders from Eden to Gossmoor on Sunday.
Free entry to the Eden Project will be granted to anyone registering for the event on the Team Green Britain Bike Week website. Go to www.bikeweek.org.uk/cornwallfestivalofcycling for more information.
Team Green Britain Bike Week, sponsored by EDF Energy, is an annual event that aims to show how, by getting on our bikes, we can all play our part towards a greener future while exercising and saving time and money too. For more information go to: www.bikeweek.org.uk
ENDS
For more information please contact Dan Pritchard on 01392 813783 in the EDF Energy press office.
Notes to editors:
Team Green Britain was kicked off by EDF Energy, the UK’s largest producer of low carbon electricity, in partnership with the Eden Project, Global Action Plan, Eco-Schools and London 2012. It is a growing group of people all across Britain doing what they can to reduce their carbon footprint by changing their lives in ways which are better for them and the environment.
Green Britain Day is a day each year where schools, communities, businesses and other motivated people showcase and celebrate what the Team are doing as an inspiration to the rest of the country to join us. This year, Green Britain Day is on June 17.
Through Our Climate Commitments, EDF Energy has launched the biggest environmental programme to tackle climate change of any UK energy company. In these commitments, we have pledged to reduce the intensity of carbon emissions from our legacy power plants by 60% and to lower the proportion of carbon arising from our customers’ energy consumption by 15% by 2020.
As well as reducing the carbon intensity of our emissions, EDF Energy has a social and ethical responsibility to encourage the next generation of environmental guardians to take action against climate change. This is why EDF Energy has worked with Eco-Schools to set up “the Pod”, which aims to educate 2.5 million school children about sustainable living by 2012.
For information about Team Green Britain go to www.teamgreenbritain.org