Sustaining Dunbar » community

East Lothian Environment Strategy

philip — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:46:12 +0000

Please do take a look at this draft of the East Lothian Environment Strategy which is now out for consultation -until 27th August.

You can submit your comments via this online survey

We have been participating in the East Lothian Environment Forum which has worked with East Lothian Council to draft this policy. It is pretty concise and readable so please do take this opportunity to read and comment on it. It will play an important role in the shaping policy at the East Lothian level which in turn will be crucial in enabling the creation of the low carbon locally resilient future which we are working for.

New Bike Toolkit and Pump

Mark — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:24:49 +0000

Feeling deflated. Pop in to use our new track pump and emergency toolkit supplied by Belhaven Bikes. Available to all members – so easy to join up for free.Keeping your tyres pumped up means more speed and less danger of punctures and rim damage.

A Toolkit for Assessing the Feasibility of Retrofitting Biomass Fired District Heating

philip — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:29:24 +0000

Thanks to funding from Community Energy Scotland, we have now received this toolkit for any size of community to use for an initial assessment of whether the retrofitting of biomass fired district heating is likely to be feasible in your particular situation. The toolkit is in three parts, an initial Introduction to Biomass Heating , a Community Checklist and a Economic Viability Assessment Spreadsheet to use in assessing the likely financial viability of your scheme. We are very keen to trial this toolkit with local communities who are looking at how to best to decarbonise their future heat supply. Please do try out this toolkit, give us your feedback as to how it could be improved and get in touch to ask for any assistance.

Currently there is uncertainty regarding the level of the proposed Renewable Heat Incentive and how/whether this will affect the availability of grants towards capital costs for community projects. This means that the economic assessment of schemes is very difficult at present. Hopefully this will be resolved soon but even then, please bear in mind that this toolkit is very much to provide an initial assessment of whether it would be worthwhile to commission a full feasibility study for installing a biomass fired district heating scheme in your particular situation.

TIDY DUNBAR

Mark — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:14:55 +0000

Inaugural civic week clean up. Sustaining Dunbar members were out in force. The posse in the pic. were around Seafield pond West Barns. Cllrs McLennan and Bell organised and were joined by Brownies (beaches) and Rotary Club (John Muir Park) and Woodland Group folk. Look out for the next Tidy Dunbar event.

Crunchy Carrot Community Shop?

philip — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:05:42 +0000

Many of you will know that the Crunchy Carrot is now on the market. Please come along to a meeting on Thursday 24th June, 7.30pm in Dunbar Youth Cafe, 5 High Street to discuss how we can retain this vital asset on Dunbar High Street by purchasing and running it as a community owned shop.

For inspiration, take a look at the example of Green Valley Grocers

Your help is needed to make this a reality, please do come along to offer your support.

Spring 2010 Newsletter

SueGuy — Thu, 27 May 2010 13:42:44 +0000

Newsletter3page1[1]

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People do want to make change yes but…

SueGuy — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:36:35 +0000

2025 Resilience Mapping and Action Planning Project

Dunbar Grammar Tame Dragons!

sheila — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:00:03 +0000

Dunbar Grammar school’s very own Dragon’s Den competition which was held recently at Dunbar Grammar school was a roaring success said Head teacher Paul Raffaelli. The competition which was sponsored by the BeGreen project was run along the lines of the famous Dragon’s Den BBC T.V. series where “would- be entrepreneurs” pitch their business ideas to a team of successful entrepreneurs to secure funding to deliver their projects. Five house teams at the grammar school pitched their projects which were aimed at helping reduce Dunbar District’s carbon footprint. The project ideas included: a mobile eco trailer to inform householders about renewable technology; installing two small scale wind turbines at the school to generate the school’s own renewable electricity; a school allotment to help promote healthy eating and sustainable food sources; a community/ school farm which would be run by local volunteers and pupils thereby promoting community engagement as well as reducing food miles by producing locally grown food and an information starter pack to inform and encourage householders to save energy and compost at home.

The five Dragons representing Community Windpower Ltd (BeGreen’s funders), British Energy, Lafarge, Sustaining Dunbar and Dunbar Grammar School were blown away by the quality of the presentations. Nigel Blair manager of Lafarge said “The students have shown great enthusiasm for the competition and the standard of the pitches to the Dragon’s was excellent. It was very difficult to make a decision and all of the students should be very proud of the work that they have completed”.

Project funding totalling £12,500 was split between three projects. £5,000 went to the Lauderdale team which will enable them to deliver their starter packs through the grammar and primary schools and £7,500 will be shared by the Cromwell and Castle teams who share similar project ideas. Both teams will work together to develop their community farm / allotment project at the school .Winterfield and Victoria teams each won fifty house points for best presentation and best researched projects respectively. A further £2,500 will be used as prize monies for the winning teams.

“Philip Revell of Sustaining Dunbar was similarly impressed with the students’ enthusiasm, the quality of the pitches and their ability to think on their feet to answer questions and stated that “Sustaining Dunbar will look forward to assisting the winning teams to work up their project plans and make them a reality”.

Head teacher of Dunbar Grammar School Paul Raffaelli announced “I was immensely proud of my pupils and felt that I could ask the teams anything about their projects as did the other Dragons. This made the experience very real for me and the young people. This was a very good example of the ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ in action”.

Ray Ball, Finance Director of Community Windpower Ltd echoed Mr Raffaelli’s comments. “I was extremely impressed by the pupils. They were all very confident in their respective projects and the quality of the presentations and detail provided made the Dragon’s job of choosing the best scheme extremely difficult. There are some budding entrepreneurs within Dunbar Grammar School. It was a pleasure to be involved. Good luck to the teams with their project delivery .It would be good to come back in the future to see how the projects worked”.

Paul Winkle, Station Director at Torness Power Station said: “The competition was a fantastic opportunity to teach young children how different forms of energy are sourced and generated, and it encourages them to look at the environment in which they live, in a different way. The children were extremely enthusiastic and I hope they can encourage the community reduce its carbon footprint. I am delighted to have been part of the competition.”

Dunbar Community Wind Turbine

philip — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:28:21 +0000

Sustaining Dunbar is hoping to help set up community owned and run wind turbines! We are meeting on 22nd April, at 7.30pm, in the BeGreen shop in the West Port, to see who is interested and begin this work – see you there!As well as producing carbon-free electricity, turbines can generate significant amounts of money to re-invest in the local community. A typical small-scale (250kW) turbine can generate around £100,000 per year. The income from one or more of these turbines would have a significant impact on the local economy, helping Dunbar become even more vibrant and sustainable and giving the local community control over its own income stream.
There is a wide range of private and public support available to help us buy and install these turbines through sources such as Community Energy Scotland. To make this happen several practical steps need to be taken such as identifying potential sites, getting wider community support, engaging with local planning issues, investigating the most suitable ways to finance and own these turbines, and creating a re-investment plan which will ensure community engagement.
So, as ever, we need your help! We want to establish a working group where people can develop the overall plan of attack and help deliver agreed work streams within this. Whether your interest is in raising the project’s profile locally, investigating potential community investments, business/financial planning, grant applications, company structures or whatever, your help would very much appreciated. We are meeting on 22nd April, at 7.30pm, in the BeGreen shop in the West Port, to see who is interested and begin this work – see you there!

Dunbar Central: 2025 M.A.P. Project

SueGuy — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:52:23 +0000

Dunbar Central: 2025 M.A.P. Project Summary