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.

Energy Efficient Bulb

Friday 18th June 2010

The Space Theatre, Dundee College, Old Glamis Road, Dundee

Solar Cities Scotland Conference 2010, 18th June 2010 at The Space, Dundee College.

Building Powerful Communities

Scotland has some of the most ambitious carbon reduction targets in the world which, along with the complexities that urban communities face, provides challenges as well as great opportunities for positive change. Solar Cities Scotland’s 5th annual conference will look to highlight these opportunities and provide a pedestal for sharing best practice on how current policies and real projects are making low carbon living in our cities a reality.

As in previous years, Solar Cities Scotland has lined up an exciting and inspirational range of speakers to encourage thinking and debate.

Cost: £15 per ticket

To book your place at “Building Powerful Communities” please visit www.solarcitiesscotland.org.uk and complete our online registration form.

Solar Cities Scotland are hoping to beat last year’s delegate to car ratio of 5-1. Register your journey to the conference using the Dundee Lift Share website and maybe you can share a lift.

http://www.liftshare.com/sub/2675

Welcome from Dundee City Council by the Lord Provost John Letford

Callum Wilson, Forth Energy, on developing sustainable energy solutions

Alan Beddie, Community Energy Scotland,  highlights the opportunities for sustainable energy development to  create confidence, resilience and wealth in the communities of Scotland.

Ian Cuthbert, Mircogeneration Advice manager at the Energy Savings Trust introduces the UK’s Feed-in-Tariff scheme which aims to incentivise the take up of low carbon electricity generating technologies (solar electricity, wind turbines etc).

Sharon Bain, Solar Cities Scotland, outlines the merits of the Sustainable Energy Promotion Scheme which aims to help get Dundee residents on the road to low carbon living

Alistair Macleod coordinator of Solar Cities Scotland’s Community Carbon Exchange explains the aims and progress of this community led carbon reduction project.

Ian Treanor, Dundee Energy Efficiency and Advice Project, speaks on the activities and successes of this leading local authority based scheme.

Tom Morton, Director of Transition Town North Howe, leads a call for action in the face of peak oil and rising energy prices.

Simon Gooden, Going Carbon Neutral Stirling, tells ‘the story so far’. The theory, practice and achievements of one of Scotland’s most exciting community engagement projects.

Justin Kenrick, St Andrews University, tackles the question of how to re-energise communities in the struggle to reduce carbon emission, prepare for peak oil and deal with economic meltdown. How can communities take action, and what support do they need from local and national government to help?

Chris Ashe, Dundee College, provides an insight into how other European countries are tackling the move to sustainable energy for urban communities .

Professor Gokay Deveci, The Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment – Aberdeen, speaks on his work to design and build low cost sustainable houses in Scotland including Scotlands first Passive House

The day will also see workshops investigating the contribution of strategic, community and individual led action to tackle carbon emissions in the urban realm.

Workshop Titles – Choose one session

1. Big energy – big opportunities

How can big energy meet the needs of the urban community. What are the barriers and the opportunities?

2. Changing minds

How can individuals be encouraged to live a low carbon lifestyle?

3. Powering Communities

What tools, partnerships and incentives would enable communities to create their own low carbon future?

To Book your place at “Building Powerful Communities” please complete the registration form at

www.solarcitiesscotland.org.uk

All welcome to come and get involved with making community renewables a reality. We will be providing an update on our workplan and the progress we have made to date with the various workstreams which we agreed at our first meeting. Hope to see you there!

On 20th April, the Scottish Government announced that £2 million would be available for a boiler scrappage scheme for Scotland.

The Scottish Boiler Scrappage Scheme will provide up to 5,000 households in Scotland with working “G-rated” boilers with a voucher worth £400 off the price of a new, modern Energy Saving Trust (EST) Recommended boiler.

The scheme will open for applications on Monday 24th May 2010.

How to apply

If you would like to apply you should:

Please note, if you proceed with your installation before you receive your voucher, you will invalidate your claim and you will no longer be eligible for the £400 rebate.

What is the purpose of the Boiler Scrappage Scheme?

Scotland has one of the most ambitious CO₂ emission reduction targets in the world. The installation of an efficient heating system is an effective way of reducing household energy bills and CO₂ emissions, as domestic heating and hot water accounts for around 16 per cent of Scotland’s CO₂ emissions.

To address this, the Scottish Government is offering up to 5,000 households £400 towards the cost of upgrading their boiler to a high efficiency EST Recommended one.

This will help to save around 5,100 tonnes CO₂ per year – equivalent to taking 1,700 cars off the road.

What are the benefits in upgrading your boiler?

New boilers have rated efficiencies of 90 per cent or more meaning that they use less fuel, resulting in lower CO₂ emissions and running costs.

For example, this means by upgrading your G-rated boiler to an EST Recommended one, your household heating bill should drop by about a quarter – a saving of around £235 a year for a 3 bed semi-detached house.

Next steps

Please revisit EST’s  web page when the scheme opens for applications on Monday 24th May 2010

A leaflet detailing the grant initiative will be sent out via the grammar, primary and nursery schools later this week and will be posted in key community buildings as well as the BeGreen shop.

The grant couldn’t be easier to access. To qualify you have to live in the Dunbar and East Linton Ward Area with a child under 16 and be in receipt of any one of a range of benefits, such as Income Support or Working/Child Tax Credit (with an income of less than £17,400).

Paul McClennan stated, ‘This project can provide measures such as loft insulation, draught proofing of doors and windows, boiler upgrades and even new white goods, I would urge everyone who thinks they might qualify to get in touch with BeGreen.’

“All you need to do, is contact BeGreen, says Norman Hampshire. They will send one of their energy auditors to carry out a free home energy audit on your home. The auditor will, advise you how to make your home more energy efficient and you may be eligible for BeGreen energy efficiency grant“.

Sheila Kerr  BeGreen’s Project Administrator  said, ‘Many people are struggling to keep warm and pay rising fuel bills, these simple grants could make a big difference to families with kids in the area, so please get in touch and we can take things forward.’

Mr Smith who received a £500 grant from the BeGreen project towards updating his old central heating system explained how the grant helped him. “The new efficient heating has made the house warmer in all the rooms of our house. Previously there were cold spots! The new boiler is quieter, more flexible and responds quickly, previously we had to wait an hour for hot water.” The staff were friendly and helpful in offering advice and information. “ .

Even if you are unsure whether you are eligible for a grant through this project, or if you are on a higher income and don’t receive any benefits, you should still get in touch as there is a wide range of assistance available to help make your home warmer and cut your fuel use. BeGreen is there to help you access this support.’

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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.”

Have your say about the past, present and future!

Have your say regarding:
Energy Efficiency Survey
Local Food Survey
These survey forms coming soon…
Local Water; Local Transportation; Local Enterprise and Employment; Local Education; and, Local Health.

Have your say about the past, present and future!

The 2025 M.A.P Project team are making maps to record the past, the present and your ideas about the future regarding access to local food, public transport and paths, local employment, home energy efficiency etc.  So far 600+ local people through out ward 7 have shared and mapped their knowledge and ideas. The summary reports are available on this website by area.

Examples of our mapping projects: Food Mapping

We did a drop in food mapping event in an unused shop on the High Street over two weeks leading up to the local food gathering. At the drop in people could map their knowledge about where we got our food in the past (i.e through the Dig for Victory years), where they get their food now and where they would like to get their food in the future. We used a separate map for each topic (past, present, future). We used post-it notes to enable people to record and map their knowledge and ideas.

We also used an H-Form which is a tool designed to enable people to self evaluate “How much of the food you eat is locally produced?”. With this tool they could give themselves a score between 0 (no local food eaten) and 10 (all food eaten is local). More important than these scores are people’s reasons for their scores which they record themselves onto post-its. We asked them to also record their ideas for making it easier for them to access locally produced/ grown food and to map where (onto the future maps).

We also mapped local knowledge and ideas regarding Public Transport, Paths, Local employment, home energy efficiency and skills

Because we know that only a small proportion of the population dropped into the Map Hub (we tracked by age and gender and area) or come to meetings – we recruited local people from each of the settlement areas in our Ward and trained them in Community Mapping techniques to carry out a wide spread survey (as above but getting out to where people live/ work/ schools etc). 20+ local facilitators where trained by me in mapping and h-forms and they where paid to carry out the survey work in and around where they live.

At this point 600+ people of all ages and areas have had their say.

We are now looking to study the 1940s Farm Survey Maps at the National Archives to map more about the past. We are also getting out and about doing farm visits and mapping past, present and future. We will be interviewing more local key elderly people to continue to map details about the past.

Once we have consolidated all the map survey outputs then we will continue to publish them on the website. You can find summary reports for all areas now e.g. http://www.sustainingdunbar.org/2010/03/26/dunbar-central-2025-m-a-p-project/ If you go under categories you will be able to see all reports by area as they are done.

If you are interested in  training in Community Mapping and Action Planning and we could come your way to train up local people to do as we are doing. Call Susan Guy to discuss 01368 866 920.