Warm Homes - value for money

In this credit crunch climate - value for money takes on a new imperative. How to make that pound go further? Saving energy in the home is one place to start. In doing so we not only reduce our carbon footprint but we get lower energy bills. One council in England - Kirklees has taken on the need to do this is serious way. EVERY household is being offered FREE insulation through their warm homes initiative .

The Green Party has called for a similar initiative in Scotland. This has the support of the John Muir Trust. This video link on youtube brings the Kirklees initiative to life as well as telling you more about the Green Party Proposal. The is vote is tomorrow - so maybe we too will all soon have warm homes!

Do you know what percentage of the total carbon emissions in the UK come from our homes?

Our homes in the UK are responsible for some 28% of the total UK carbon emissions. Staggering but it is possible to significantly reduce if not eliminate emmisions from homes.

According to the Energy Savings Trust simple energy saving measures can reduce the emissions by two thirds (from six tonnes to two tonnes). Of course we are talking averages here and many houses in the Highlands and Islands are 'not yer average'. Solid walls, no loft to insulate... The technical term is 'hard to heat' and when the wind is blowing - that becomes very clear.

Meantime some communities have decided not to wait for wholesale Government action and are pressing ahead and tackling issues for themselves ( often supported by the Climate Challenge Fund - which is Government money) .

A number of communities are looking at doing energy audits as a starting point for taking action and working out how best to produce carbon savings. So what does an energy audit involve?

With help from the Energy Savings Trust, each household can complete a form and get a report on how energy efficient their home is and what measures can be taken to make the home more energy efficient. This is marked on a scale from one to ten. This is a FREE service.

I took part in an event recently and heard about three different approaches from three different communities to energy auditing. One community was going for delivery of Energy Savings Trust forms to every home with the offer of help to complete it, another community was going to have fun events and approach people to get their interest first and the third community was going to devise their own form to suit their community.

And tackling those 'hard to heat' houses? Changeworks (who have the local Energy Savings Trust contract for the Highlands area) have produced helpful information on resolving some of the problems including underfloor insulation. Historic Scotland also have more helpful information.

Assynt plans

Leaving Lochinver as the sun crept over the snow capped mountains and the day broke was stunning. The journey was peaceful, swift and smooth – I was the only passenger on the bus. We followed the school bus ( with spaces on it) and I admired the scenery whilst pondering the poor use of resources – a warm bus shared with school children would not have been a hardship - for me anyway.

I have just returned from meeting people in Lochinver. Transport was one of the issues raised by the people of Assynt during discussions about their bid to the Climate Challenge Fund. People are aware that the resources are not always used to the best.

It is hoped through the Climate Challenge Fund to; employ someone locally to support an Energy Audit and insulation programme; look at the feasibility for renewable energy for clusters of housing; and ways to reduce food miles including processing more food locally.

The other issue raised was how to maximise a natural carbon neutral resource on their door step - wood.

Most of the communities that JMT is involved with have at least some wood available to them. Planning now for the future means planting trees that can then be coppiced thus providing a long term sustainable source of fuel. 

One issue to consider is plans contained in the Climate Change Bill to lease out 25% of the forest estate to private investors.  If you are concerned about this write to liz.kirk@forestry.gsi.gov.uk BEFORE 27th Jan 2009 or sign the petition here

Meanwhile – congratulations to the communities that have successfully bid for Climate Challenge Funds through Community Energy Scotland's Powerdown initiative. They are Knoydart Foundation and Galson Community Trust.  

A taste of the future? A wood alternative?

Our power supply at home was cut today for a couple of hours. This was a planned event and we had some warning from our electricity supplier so we could minimise the disruption - unlike some European countries.

Disruption has been major for those nations that rely on gas supply from Russia as the Russians have chosen to cut the supply with no real warning and the supply is being cut for more than a couple of hours. A taste of the future perhaps and the consequences if we depend on energy to be supplied from far away?

Many of the communities involved with this project are rich in natural resources. They have potential to be at least part of the energy equation - be they wind, water, wood, sunlight and so on.

The North Harris Trust planted 25000 trees on 2.5ha of land at Kyles Scalpay in April 2008 as part of a trial to investigate the practicalities of growing wood crops for fuel. Similar projects are taking place at 2 other sites in the Outer Hebrides to identify the best growing conditions and techniques.

It is hoped that the first wood can be harvested in 3 years time when the willow and poplar should have grown well enough to be coppiced. It will then be suitable for drying, chipping and burning in solid fuel boilers.

Wood as fuel certainly has advantages such as being locally sustainable and carbon neutral. More trees can be grown even is areas that have had few trees in recent centuries - such as North Harris. Native trees are great for enhancing biodiversity.

The value of wood as fuel is being recognised by the Scottish Government who have released information about a £2 million scheme to increase the use of wood fuel for heating. The Scottish Biomass Heat Scheme will give grants of up to £100,000 to small and medium sized businesses to install renewable heating systems so if you know of a business in your area that may qualify click here for more information or look at www.usewoodfuel.co.uk.

Below are some links to youtube videos that you may find useful - I had hoped to show the Samso video at the event at Sconser but technology was against me.

Samso is an island in Denmark that generates all its own electricity and also sells back to the grid. Key things to think about are the issues about ownership that are felt by a community when they see a purpose and value to an approach. The first one is interesting in that this is a business person ( a farmer) committing to energy issues because he thinks it is the right thing to do even though there is no immediate 'payback' in financial terms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_5y0UgGtYc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JReMu-Z1qRo

The third video is a community in rural Cheshire that have looked at ways to get the whole community excited about what they are doing. I am being sent DVD's of this and an update of their work so if anyone wants to use it for a local event I can send you a copy to use.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=C9jPKLyGa_w

Welcome to the first blog about the Climate Change and Sustainable Communities project. Energy without costing the earth.

I thought I’d start by telling you a little about the project:

As you may be aware the John Muir Trust owns some beautiful areas of Scotland and it has a remit to conserve and protect wild land. In some cases there are communities that live on the land. For example the communities of Sconser, Strathaird and Torrin are on John Muir Trust estate land on Skye as is the community at Sandwood.

As a landowner conserving wild land for the future, we are keen to support these communities to reduce their carbon footprint without ‘costing the earth’. We know it is possible for communities to do this and have teamed up with the Isle of Eigg to learn from their experiences of generating some 95% of their energy from renewables sources. They are now looking at how to further reduce their carbon footprint.

The Trust has also worked with a number of communities to support them buying out land under the Land Reform Act. So, we have an involvement with Knoydart Foundation, North Harris Trust, Galson Trust (North Lewis) and Assynt Foundation.

These communities are all quite ‘fragile’ in some respects. They share the vulnerabilities of finding ways to sustain themselves in more remote areas where there are limited employment options beyond those offered through tourism and from working the land. Many have aging populations and are keen to keep their communities viable and attractive to younger generations.

Rising fuel costs amongst other things have meant many communities are now looking at how they can reduce their energy costs in the future and be less dependent on the vagaries of changes in oil prices.

This blog will be a way to share some of the experiences of the different communities looking to become more sustainable as well as sharing information and thoughts about what is happening in the wider world.