It's been another amazing year for the 10:10 community, and we wanted to do something a bit special to celebrate everything we've achieved together.

So we've put together a bumper 2011 roundup page, featuring all the highlights of the last 12 months.

Check it out here

Welsh Assembly Government office in Llandudno Junction

You can always tell when a carbon reduction is really big, because you'd have to do something completely absurd in order to match it.

By this measure, the Welsh Government's 10:10 result, which they announced earlier today, looks pretty impressive. They cut their carbon by 11% in the past year, which adds up to 1,643 tonnes overall.

Year-round cycling isn't for everyone, but with the right kit and a bit of effort it can be a real joy. Follow these tips to help you stay safe and comfortable in the saddle throughout the worst of the British winter.

Earlier this week, the government announced plans for massive cuts to the Feed-in tariff, a popular incentive scheme that pays solar panel owners for each unit of power that they generate.

This isn't a completely done deal – the government is consulting on the plans until late December, but the way it's been announced has got people bracing for the worst.

The Feed-in tariff (often shortened to Fit) certainly isn't perfect, but it's been incredibly successful at getting panels on roofs. This doesn't just help people reduce their utility bills and carbon emissions – there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that seeing the panels in action (and reaping the rewards) can change the way people think about energy, and makes them more likely to make climate-friendly choices in other areas of their lives.

Pretty much everyone agrees that the rates need to come down as installation costs fall – that's how subsidies are supposed to work. Even the solar industry is pushing for a gradual reduction in line with falling installation costs.

But cutting so far and so fast will put thousands of solar workers out of a job and pull the rug out from under small community groups that have already poured time and effort into their projects, but don't stand a chance of meeting the new deadline.

We just heard from Brighton Energy Cooperative, which was due to start selling shares on Wednesday but has been forced to put the entire project on hold until further notice. A few hours later, Reading Council – our partners on the Solar Schools project – announced that they'd be drastically scaling back their own school solar programme. These are the first examples to emerge – they won't be the last.

Cutting so far and so fast will put thousands of solar workers out of a job and pull the rug out from under small community groups that don't stand a chance of meeting the new deadline.

If the proposals do end up being adopted, it's also likely to be the end of 'free' solar schemes, where companies offer solar rigs to households at low or no cost in exchange for the Fit payments. Killing off these schemes will effectively put the benefits of solar power out of reach for poorer families and social housing programmes, who could never afford to buy the panels outright at current prices. 

This isn't just unfair; it defeats the whole purpose of the scheme.

The government argues that without drastic cuts, the scheme would run out of money completely in the next few months, forcing them to close it to new applicants until around 2015. They claim, therefore, that slashing rates was the least-bad option under the circumstances.

But this ignores the fact that these circumstances are entirely of their own making. Here's why...

What exactly is being cut, and why is it important?

In April 2010, the government introduced a scheme called the Feed-in tariff (sometimes shortened to Fit), which encourages people to install solar panels by offering panel owners a fixed payment for each unit of electricity they generate.

The scheme has been extremely successful, putting thousands of panels on Britain’s roofs and creating a thriving home-grown solar industry that now employs 25,000 people.

But after several months of rumours, leaks, false starts and general confusion, the government yesterday announced plans to slash these payments by up to 50%, with the cuts taking effect much sooner than most people expected.

What's happening now?

Proposed new levels for Feed-in tariff payments

Householders and small businesses currently receive 43p for each kilowatt hour their panels generate. Under the new proposals, this will be reduced to 21p for any solar rig installed after 12 December. Full details of the new tariffs can be found on the department for energy and climate change website.

The government is now 'consulting' on the new payment levels. Technically this means that the final numbers could differ from what was announced today, but the way the government has played the announcement so far suggests that it's quite unlikely to change its mind.

A house in Lewes gets some wall insulation

Our friend and green policy guru Patrick McCool from MakeMyHomeGreen just wrote in with an update on the government's Green Deal scheme.

In a nutshell, the Green Deal is a government scheme that offers loans to cover the upfront cost of energy-saving home improvements. Repayments are linked to, and automatically deducted from, the money you save on fuel bills.

Clever stuff, and potentially great news for the thousands of 10:10ers who'd love to insulate but aren't in a position to shell out for it all at once. But as always, the devil's in the detail, and we've been working with Patrick on a campaign to make sure the Green Deal lives up to its promise.

This gets a bit technical in places, but there's enough at stake here it's well worth taking a bit of time to understand. Here goes: 

Want to save on electricity but don't know where to begin? You need an energy monitor!

These nifty little things help you hunt down energy guzzling appliances so you can stamp out waste, bringing you savings on your energy bills and good carbon karma.

The good people at Savasocket have stumped up 25 of their excellent wireless monitors to give away to 10:10ers. Click the link, answer the blindingly simple question, then cross your fingers!

Click here to get started

If you've already taken care of the easy stuff, finding the money for more carbon cuts can be a real headache. And as more and more 10:10ers start thinking about their next 10%, the funding question isn't going away any time soon.

With that in mind, we've started a list of alternative funding sources, which we'll keep updating with your suggestions. Good luck!

Even among the carbon-conscious, the idea of a climate change videogame is liable to raise a few eyebrows. Lucky then, that for all its turbine building and solar panel fixing, Lume isn't really a climate change videogame at all.

We're looking for a full-time fundraising superhero to keep 10:10's finances ticking over as we unleash the next generation of carbon-cutting projects and tools on an unsuspecting public.

If your list of special powers includes fundraising strategy, coordinating grant applications, managing relationships with major donors and developing new projects, you should definitely visit our jobs page for more information.

Cape optional.