Energy

Transition Black Isle’s Energy group is pursuing ways of reducing our use of energy, and switching away from fossil fuels to renewable sources.  We are currently trying to develop a project whereby the money available through the Energy Company Obligation can be channelled to qualifying houses on the Black Isle which are in fuel poverty. It is hoped that this project may also cover help for other householders and businesses too. If you would like to join the energy group please ring 01463731393 or email food@transitionblackislse.org

Current projects are:

Greening Homes & Gardens

We have held a couple of Greening Homes and Gardens events ourselves and for the last couple of years linked with the Energy Saving Trust Scotland's Green Homes Network. Recently they have been using a minibus to take interested council staff around a variety of houses using 'Green' technologies so that people can speak to householders who have installed them first hand. Any other organisation wishing to do this should contact them. If you have installed renewable technologies which you would be happy to talk about you can also register your home through their website.
At Green Homes events local householders open their homes to the public to demonstrate the practical use of renewables for domestic heating and electricity generation, and ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by composting and vegetable growing. The hub for the event in 2009 was Munlochy Village Hall, where around 300 people attended to pick up maps showing the open properties, and to see stalls set up by local renewable energy companies.
After the success of the first one, a second Greening Homes and Gardens Day was held on 11th September 2010, with a similar format.   This time the hub was Findon Hall, Culbokie, and again it was a great success.

Smart Meters

With funding from the Climate Challenge Fund, we have bought a number of electric “Smart Meters” which are available to lend to householders wanting to use them to reduce their electricity consumption. The meters are loaned out for three month periods, and participants encouraged to share experiences. Participants have found these helped them reduce their electricity consumption by up to 50%. They are currently available for loan at the community markets.
We have also linked up with schools such as Tarradale Primary, who are using the 32 meters we obtained for schools and specially designed work cards to monitor their home energy use as part of their science curriculum – this means many local households each year are using one of the meters to investigate their electricity usage.

Anemometer
We have an anemometer available for anyone thinking of installing a small wind turbine. Contact food@transitionblackisle.org if interested.

Other ideas

There are any number of the other possible projects, it would be great to hear from anyone with a new idea and some time to help put it into action.