Community Garden takes off in Knoydart

Cuba, faced with a food crisis as a result of blockades, turned inward to self-reliance. Sustainable agriculture, organic farming, urban gardens, smaller farms, animal traction, and biological pest control all became part of the new Cuban agriculture . In some cities, up to 80% of the food requirements are grown within the confines of the city through organic production from community plots. On a smaller scale communities around Scotland are looking to more sustainable food practices.
In this guest blog, Gwen Barrell, the Project Officer for Knoydart's Powerdown project reports on plans for their their Community Garden project funded throug the Climate Challenge Fund.





The costs of bringing fresh food into the area is expensive both in terms of haulage costs and “food miles”. The project will enable the community to reduce its carbon footprint by up to 9 tonnes of carbon dioxide saved in the reduction of food transport miles.

The funding will be used to employ a community gardener for a year to work with local residents to create a community garden on the site of the former market garden, and to provide training and advice in growing produce.

Sam Gardener has been appointed as the community gardener and is looking forward to the challenges and rewards ahead. “I am excited about the prospect of bringing this area of land back into use for community benefit.”

Deer fencing, tools, equipment, seeds and training events will also be covered from the grant. Twelve community members have already signed up to have their own little veg patch with the community garden and many others are keen to come and help out with communal tasks.




One of our ideas is to have a carbon neutral community Burns Supper in 2011. We’ll grow all our own neeps and tatties in the garden this year.

“It’s crazy to be importing fruit and vegetables when we could grow them closer to home,” said Aaran Watson, Community Director of Knoydart Foundation and local school teacher. “As an Eco School we will also be interested in joining in with the project and learning more about gardening.”

In order to reduce our carbon footprint even further, the funding will also enable the community to pilot an electric quad bike and trailer for moving things like compost and vegetables around. As Knoydart already has its own renewable electricity the quad bike will be recharged on green electricity.

A few volunteer events have already been held in the garden, to clear rubbish, remove old fencing, and repair a polytunnel. Community members have attended three volunteer sessions, and we benefited over the Easter holidays from John Muir Trust volunteers who cleared a stretch of fencing from debris, enabling trees to be pruned and new ones planted to create a windbreak.

This week, potatoes, herbs, onions and a variety of green vegetables and herbs have been planted out of doors, under cloches and within the polytunnel. Compost bins have been arriving on the ferry, and gardeners have been eying up the horse manure from the Foundation’s stalking ponies!

There will be a few opportunities for others to find out what’s going on – we hope to have a presence at the Road to the Isles Agricultural Show on 12th June, there is a guided walk taking in the Knoydart Community Garden on 28th July and there is a fantastic Crafts and Produce Day being planned for Saturday 28th August.

Knoydart Foundation’s Community Powerdown Project is working within the community on a range of initiatives to reduce carbon emissions – as well as the garden and electric quad project, we have a number of other initiatives “in the pipeline” and other events coming up, which we will report on shortly. More info: gwen@knoydart.org www.knoydart-foundation.com

Within the UK it has been estimated that we import more than 90% of our fruit and 38% of our vegetables and that food accounts for around 19% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions - though most of the emisssions come from use of chemicals rather than 'food miles'.

Would growing more locally make a difference? Do you have examples of what might work or is working in your area?

Sparking a debate about transport

As air transport grinds to a halt over the UK today, following volcanic activity in Iceland, my thoughts turned to a recent link sent by Stevan Lockhart, project officer for Assynt Renewables. One of the challenges they face there, along with other rural communities, is that of transport on the ground.

In rural and remote areas public transport on its own is rarely a realistic option. I know. I have tried to get to various places and usually it has required a car for part of the journey - either lift sharing or taking - and then leaving a car somewhere en route. Otherwise it would take me two days to get to most John Muir Trust properties.

Transport as a sector accounts for over a quarter of the total energy consumed in Scotland. Approximately 99% of the energy consumed in the transport sector comes directly from oil-based fuels, such as petrol and diesel, with the remaining 1% from electricity. As Stevan points out in his article, there were battery powered buses operating in Brazil in 1883! Yet, progress on this front has been very slow.

It would seem the huge stake that the oil industry has in the continued use of fossil fuels provides part of the explanation along with the stake that the current car industry has in the status quo. Interesting to note that the main manufacturers of electric cars today are new companies rather than traditional car manufacturing companies.

The big question is can the alternatives deliver for rural areas?

The range that electric cars can cover before needing to be recharged is probably the key limiting factor for rural areas alongside the cost. They are fine for small islands like Eigg who have an electric bus or places like Knoydart where they are piloting an electric quad bike and trailer for their community garden project but not for long distances.

Hydrogen fuel cells also have some way to go - cost again being a major factor - though work is under way on the Western Isles.

Bio-fuel can be problematic as it is not efficient to use land this way - though as a previous article from North Harris Trust showed, waste vegetable oil can provide a solution on a small local scale.

The Scottish Government's recently released Low Carbon Plan proposes that there are key opportunities to improve Scotland's transport infrastructure, including vehicle charging points, planning in favour of public transport and increased choice of public transport options. All solutions that target urban areas more effectively, yet 95% of Scotland's land mass is rural with some 18% of the population living in rural areas.

Meantime, as they argue in the plan, changing patterns of travel, including reducing travel will be needed. Easier said than done in rural communities so, perhaps as a minimum, we can follow the Energy Savings Trust top 10 ten tips to smarter driving.

Alternatively, a liftshare scheme may work. Comrie in rural Perthshire has established a liftshare scheme exclusively for the local community. This makes it more likely people will take part and share transport. You don't need to own a car to take part.

Do you have thoughts or experiences to share of moving towards a lower carbon transport system in rural areas?

The challenge of heating our homes

I listened to David Mackenzie, who chairs the microrenewables working group, speak the other day about the challenges faced by the Scottish Government in trying to meet the targets set of generating 11% of heat from renewable sources by 2020.

Renewable Heat is simply heat (rather than electricity) produced from renewable sources such as biomass( usually wood), ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps, water source heat pumps, solar heating, wind to heat, geothermal, heat from waste biomass, anaerobic digestion and landfill gas.

Domestic use accounts for around fifty percent of the total heat energy required in Scotland. In order for Scotland to meet its renewable heat targets there need to be around 25,000 households adopting renewable heat per annum between now and 2020. Only 1000 households installed renewable heat into their homes last year. So that leaves something of a gap....

One of the barriers emerging - surprise, surprise is accreditation.

The current system requires that you use an accredited installer, if you are to receive a grant or be able to tap into the renewable heat incentives when they come on stream next year. Seems reasonable. Quality control for public money. However, like the accreditation scheme for insulation, the demands of the scheme operated from London are such that it is an expensive affair to become accredited.

We have been investigating putting in a log boiler into the properties on Skye held by the Trust. One person I spoke to serving the islands reckoned that it had cost him around £20,000 to become accredited, between the the cost of the training itself, the days of lost work and travel etc. So, it is little surprise that when it comes to installing, those who are accredited need to recoup their costs.

Not surprisngly there is a dearth of accredited installers and yet most of the skills required are basic plumbing skills. A survey by the Energy Savings Trust found that 90% of those surveyed go to a local plumnber when they required work done. Imagine the difference if most local plumbers were accredited. Not only is the work kept local but the local skill set is enhanced and best of all the knowledge and enthusiasim for alternative systems is locally available. I would be much more likely to think about a system recommended by a local tradesperson I trust rather than a stranger. As a result of this accredited process, installers charge considerably more to install renewable heat plant than those who are not accredited so any grant from the government is effectively ‘lost’ as it costs more than the grant available to use an accredited installers – thus adding to the barriers.

The solution seems straight forward. Find a way to accredit our local plumbers. Not so hard as it may seem as, according to Mr Mackenzie, the standards set in Scotland for training our plumbers are high and surpass much of the standards set through the London based MCS(Microgeneration Certification Scheme). Renewable heat is a devolved matter so this can be tackled in Scotland.

The picture of the log stove is taken from the website 'Biomass - all you need to know' with permission from the from Woodfuel Wales

Insulation makes an instant difference

With the winter conditions returning again - those in poorly insulated properties will have been reminded of the impact of heat loss.

In the last blog I spoke of finally sorting out the insulation problem for a property on Skye.

These infra-red pictures show what the property looked like before any insulation was put in. We have still to take the 'after' pictures. The more white/yellow the pictures have in them - the more heat that is being leaked. You can see this is a very leaky place - with the walls even worse than the loft!

I've asked Drew - who lives in the property and fitted the insulation - to describe his experience of doing this.

"One of the problems with older houses, especially stone-built houses, is their failure to conform to modern standards of efficiency. In a quest to improve this we are currently engaged in a number of improvements which should see us warm and cosy through next winter as well as costing us much less and reducing our carbon footprint considerably.

The first and easiest task took us to the roof space to improve the loft insulation. The old loft insulation was very threadbare and rather patchy, indeed, there were some parts of the loft with no cover at all. What existing insulation there was consisted of ancient rockwool type which was beginning to de-nature and was nowhere deeper than 50mm. This was covered with a layer of dust and vermin droppings.

The loose fibres and dust make a good quality respirator essential. Other essentials for putting new loft insulation in an old house: a pair of big, sharp scissors, overalls and illumination (I found a head torch to be the most useful). A few boards are also very useful and knee pads make the job much more comfortable. If you don’t like cobwebs in your hair, wear a hat!

Tip of the day – put a large dust sheet under your ladder – the amount of mess which falls from the hatch is remarkable!

When installing, apart from it being a pretty unpleasant job, there are very few pitfalls. The two main things to watch out for are the electrics and airflow.

To make sure your electrics stay safe all cables must be put on top of the insulation and that you must cut around light fittings to allow any heat to escape. If the cable is too tight to get the roll of insulation under simply cut the roll at the cable and start rolling out again.

Airflow is critical in an older house so that you don’t get a build up of moisture. Make sure your insulation roll end does NOT butt up to the roof. Always leave a gap to allow air from the walls to circulate. If you don’t, extreme cases can lead to dry rot.

It’s not complicated, even if it is hard on the knees and it makes an instant difference to your comfort levels and fuel bills. Insulate your loft today, there are a number of grant schemes running and some very good offers at the major DIY stores."

DIY is not for everyone. For many older people ( over 70) it is free to get insulation put in through the Energy Savings Trust check first though and call 0800 512 012. Communities who organise to have insulation installed across an area can usually get a better deal. Energy conservation is the most effective way to reduce our carbon footprint so save yourself some money and make your heat go further if you have not already done so.

insulation, insulation, insulation

You may recall me moaning about the trials and tribulations of trying to source insulation for two properties on Skye.

Well the journey continued and this included the tenant of one the properties getting an energy audit done through the Energy Savings Trust.

The recommendation from them was that it was cheaper to do it yourself.

Before deciding whether to go down the DIY route or get someone in - I checked out a suggestion from North Harris to contact the company that worked alongside TEAS the Energy Advisory Service for the Western Isles.

Last year the Scottish Government announced a Home Insulation Scheme where 10 areas across Scotland were to be targetted for improving insulation for householders in a focused way. The Western Isles was one of the designated pilot areas. A tendering process then got underway and contractors were appointed. What used to be a local set up with a Stornaway based company working closely with TEAS had changed:

The company appointed comes from Sheffield. Yes that place that is a quick hop, skip and a jump to the Western Isles. Essentially the bar is set so high for insulation contracts that only the big boys get to play. To be in the frame at all you need to be accredited. This effectively makes it impossible for a small company to compete as we are talking thousands of pounds to achieve this. What is lost in the process is the local knowledge and willingness to work on the more difficult properties.

The evidence is clear that the big insulation companies go for the easy fix properties: I attended a meeting of three communities in Perthshire of Comrie, Letham and Alyth who have been down this route working from a bottom up rather than top down basis. They tried desperately to appoint local contractors and are now picking up the peices from being forced into using one of the big boys. The big companies motive is profit so they look for the quick returns. Smaller companies look for profit too but when they are local so the imperative to do a good job is stronger and the willingness to be flexible is greater as it is their long-term livilihood at stake. There is a suggestion that this message may be starting to percolate in government quarters. The second round will soon be underway for the Home Insulation Scheme. Will they have listened? Who knows.

Meantime - the choice for insulating properties on Skye was either to get a company from Sheffield in to do the work or do it ourselves. We opted for the latter and bought insulating material from a local company on Skye.

More of this in the next blog.

FIT like

I attended training recently run by Community Energy Scotland (see document library then presentations) looking at how communities can generate revenue from renewable energy sources.

It can be a fraught area and sometimes divisive for communities as well as requiring a lot of time, energy and money. Many communities in the highlands and islands have taken the gamble of going down this route as one way to sustain themselves into the future. They have pioneered approaches so that the ride is a little smoother for those that follow.

The recent announcement about the Feed In Tariffs (FITs) mean the incentives to install renewables for income generation are now much stronger. Essentially FITs will be introduced on 1st April 2010. They will provide financial rewards for people, communities and businesses to install electricity-generating technologies. These include solar photovoltaic, wind turbines, hydro power, anerobic digestion and small scale combined heat and power plants.

Such 'feed in' systems have been on the go on in various part so of the world for some time now and they have generally been seen as an effective way to increase the amount of energy coming from renewables.

Under this system there is a guarantee of a minimum payment for the electricity generated as well as the electricity exported to grid. Payment is guaranteed over at least a 20 year period for most technologies. So what is the catch?

There are a few things as some communities are finding out:

Forget refurbishing

Catrine Community Trust found to their cost in planning a hydro scheme for their conservation village that they would not gain any income if they used a refurbished generator - even though the efficiency difference is only 7%. So much for the the notion of reusing and recycling.....and I wonder what the embodied carbon is of a brand new machine...

Installed before July 2009 and over 50kw doesn't count
Some of the early pioneers are essentially penalised though the smaller schemes are OK. ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates) may be an option if schemes had already registered for this but the flat rate is nowhere near as generous as FITs.

Accredited installers and products
You need to use accredited installers and products. Sounds fair enough, however there are not too many to be found in the remoter communities and inevitably costs are higher. The accreditation process for installers just now is a major financial commitment making it difficult for small local businesses to contemplate. This is apparently being looked at higher up the government tree.

Anything else?
Domestic installations which received a grant will still be eligible for FITs in Scotland. Non-domestic installations (charities, schools communities and other not-for-profit organisations) which received a grant under LCBP-2 after 15 July 2009, have the choice of either:

• retaining their grant and not being eligible for FITs;

• or repaying their grant and claiming FITs.

Those who received a LCBP-2 grant before 15th July cannot claim FITs. However, up to 31st march 2010 they may be able to apply to Ofgem for a ROC, to qualify for the lower tariff of 9p/kWh, as well as the 3p/kWh export tariff.

For many householders there is still the issue of raising the capital. Though interest free loans are available it is a thought in these days of financial uncertainty to commit to any sort of debt.

At the end of the day we still also have to look to reducing our energy use through conservation measures and energy efficiency measures. Still the cheapest way to line your pocket. Meanwhile for communities - many will strive to find a way forward that will unite rather than divide them and it is my hope at least that there is a way of harnessing energy - without costing the earth.

Community Woodlands: Sustaining heating; sustaining rural communities

With some 50% of the carbon emissions in the UK coming from heating - a move to a more renewable source makes sense - so it is encouraging news that the Forestry Commission have just announced that the threshold costs for planting trees has been increased from £250,000 to £750,000. But who will gain from this?

I listened to a presentation in my own community the other night about the benefits of 'biomass' or 'wood fuel' for heating energy. They were compelling and it struck me that above all other forms of renewable energy this is a sustainable one for rural communities IF the trees that are felled are replaced and IF there is some control over where felled trees end up. So that would point to communities owning woodland or being in partnership with other landowners. The danger if they do not do this is that large tracts of forest will be grown with a single objective in mind - as we have seen in the past - but more importantly the wood may not remain local.

As the Government moves towards meeting it ambitious Climate Change targets it is likely to move towards large scale wood fuelled biomass power plants. Look around the coast of Britain and you will find planning permission is being sought for such developments across the land. Already EON have a plant - Stevens Croft up and running in Lockerbie. Once commissioned, the energy providers will have the buying power that makes it attractive for landowners to trade directly with them unless the raison d'etre is more than the profit motive. So all the money going into reafforestation just now may be of scant benefit to rural communities. There will be little say in the kind of planting that happens or the destination of any produce. Yet wood can really help to keep the pound local and increase the viability of rural communities if what is grown locally stays locally.

Discussions with residents in Skye recently have emphasised that many people want to see more woodlands that meet diverse objectives including biodiversity, recreational aims and employment as well as wood fuel. Judicious planting can result in an enhanced landscape and a valuable resource for all. It seems ironic then that the one body in Scotland - Community Woodlands Association - that supports community woodlands faces a funding crisis. Beyond the summer, due the current financial climate, the ability of CWA to provide current levels of support to community woodland groups is in doubt. One of their members has put together a really inspiring video Wha's Like Us? This inspirational poem, written and perfomed by Eoin Cox reflects on the cultural contribution of community woodlands across Scotland.

Abriachan Community Trust exemplify what is possible when communities invest in woodland. In 1998 the community purchased 534 hectares of forest and open hill ground from Forest Enterprise(Now Forestry Commission Scotland). Since then, as a social enterprise, the Abriachan Forest Trust has managed this land to create local employment, improve the environment and encourage it's enjoyment by the public through a network of spectacular paths, family suited mountain bike trails and innovative education opportunities. Thanks to their continuous cover thinning, they also have seasoned firewood available and are planting for the future. The firewood operation raises funds to sustain other activities.

Rural communities have a golden opportunity now to build a sustainable energy source for the future that can also enhance the landscape, increase biodiversity, increase recreational options as well as provide local employment - if they gain some control of land or work in partnership with sympathetic landowners.