Energy without costing the Earth

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.