TWEEDGREEN PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT: CCF 629 ENERGY DESCENT IN TWEEDDALE

PROJECT PERIOD: 1 MAY 2010 TO 31ST MARCH 2011

SECTION 1 Executive Summary

Tweedgreen Background

Tweedgreen is a community organisation of local people working towards a self-sustaining Tweeddale by promoting local food, encouraging local energy generation, promoting sustainable transport and reducing energy use and waste.

Tweedgreen formed in March 2009, as a group of community based volunteers dedicated to promoting sustainability and energy descent in Tweeddale. Membership is free and open to all residents of Tweeddale. By March 2010, Tweedgreen had 154 members on the mailing list. By February 2011, Tweedgreen had 202 members on the mailing list. Tweedgreen has a steering group of eight volunteers including the chair, secretary and treasurer which meets bi-monthly. All members of the steering group are committed to environmental and sutainability issues.

Activities carried out during the period March 2009-April 2010, prior to receipt of CCF funding included: the 50:50 food challenge, where 50 people committed to eating food growing within a 50 mile radius of Peebles for 1 month; a series of public meetings ( Waste and Recycling; Eat Local – Growing and Eating Local Food; Local Energy – Generation and Efficient Consumption; Low Energy Housing); International Day of Climate Action - Tweeddale De-lights saw members of the community switch off their electricity power and 150 people gather to make an illuminated shape of 350.

From its inception, Tweedgreen achieved high local visibility, with a weekly column in the Peeblesshire News, regular coverage of events in local press of events and high quality professional materials.

CCF-629 – Tweedgreen Energy Descent for Tweeddale

Tweedgreen received a grant of £67,392 from CCF in May 2010, covering the period May 2010-March 2011.

An outline of CCF-629 is as follows:

Project Aim

To reduce energy consumption in the Tweeddale community.

Planned Outcomes

Behavioural change leading to reduced energy consumption Increased local food consumption More use of sustainable travelling options

1

Activities

Developing coherent and sustainable local transport initiatives Engaging with all sectors of the local community to promote local food production and

consumption in Tweeddale. Providing tools and training for volunteer led household energy audits, promoting behavioural

change and thus reducing energy consumption with ‘hotspots’ campaign assistance Designing and maintaining a community website as a focus of information and communication Delivering a campaign of outreach activities and publicity

It was proposed that CCF funding would be used to promote foodprint reductions through the extension of the Tweedgreen 50:50 approach, to expand sustainable travelling initiatives, to develop a website and to employ a Project Coordinator.

Summary of Achievements May 2010 to March 2011

During the period May 2010 to March 2011, Tweedgreen has delivered the following achievements:

133.2t CO2 reduction in carbon emissions per annum, assuming behaviour change lasting Tweedgreen has achieved a 31% increase in membership since March 2010. Our visibility in the local community has greatly increased, with regular contacts and requests

for speakers and contributions to events and publications. Surveys indicate that 78% of the community are aware of Tweedgreen.

Our series of public meetings have attracted between 30-100 people per meeting

Food group

Tweedgreen’s food related activities have resulted in an overall saving of 64.2t CO2 per annum

133 people joined Tweedgreen’s local food campaign, committing to eating a total of 381 local meals a week,  resulting in a saving of 25.4t CO2 over a 4 month period

Local recipe book and food directories: A total of 2,000 books and directories were distributed to local retailers across our catchment. An additional 2,000 copies have since been circulated.

The Tweedgreen food attitudes survey showed that for 71% of respondent’s local food now counts for at least 25% of their weekly shop. We conservatively estimate this local food purchase to provide savings equivalent to 2.6t CO2 y1.

Our local food challenge evaluation showed 41% of participants ate more local food than committed to, resulting in additional savings of 3.6t CO2 over a 4 month period.

Our project evaluation shows that 82% of food challengers found that eating local food also reduced food and packaging waste.

Energy group

Tweedgreen’s energy related activities have resulted in an overall saving of 31.11t CO2

per annum. If we include the carbon savings as a result of the Tweeddale Free Home Insulation Scheme, the carbon savings of the community of Tweeddale equates to 329.35t CO2 per annum.

Two Project Coordinators trained by Changeworks in 9 energy efficiency modules One Project Coordinator qualified in City and Guilds Energy Efficiency Awareness 5 volunteers trained in 4 energy efficiency modules by Changeworks to become

Tweedgreen Energy Advisors.

2

Tweedgreen supported and promoted the Tweeddale Free Home Insulation Scheme funded by SBC and implemented by EST/Changeworks. Insulation installed in 1341 households, to date, equates to a saving of 298.24t CO2 y-1. Tweedgreen’s involvement with this scheme accounts directly for 23.11 t CO2 y-1 of that figure according to EST reports.

106 households provided with a point of contact by Tweedgreen when they were unable to access the Energy Saving Trust advice line.

21 household energy monitors installed between end of January 2011 and March 2011 this activity shows a conservative estimate in carbon emissions savings of 3.1t CO2.

Direct recommendation to one household to apply for over 70’s boiler replacement scheme should give carbon savings of up to 1.9t CO2 y-1

3 consumers changing from coal to wood fuel after taking advice at the Tweedgreen Energy Fair will result in a further saving of around 3.0t CO2 y-1

Travel group

Tweedgreen’s travel related activities have resulted in an overall saving of 37.9t CO2

Tweedgreen’s Liftshare campaign promoting TripshareBorders to commuters has been highly visible and successful. To date the campaign has resulted in a 116% increase in registrations. Based on national averages, we calculate a saving of 19.3t CO2. Our food group survey revealed that 11% of respondents share lifts on an informal basis, resulting in an additional 4.8t CO2 y-1

Follow up Travel survey March 2011: A repeat survey was carried out on 4th March 2011 to identify the impact of our Liftshare campaign on commuter behaviour. The results of the survey indicate that numbers of multiple occupancy vehicles on the A703 at peak time had increased from 8.8% to 16% since the launch of our Liftshare campaign 6 months ago. These surveyed results are estimated to provide savinsg of approximately 3.1t CO2 y-1, though some double accounting may have occurred and cannot be accounted for by this survey method.

Priorsford school biking is estimated to provide an annual saving of 10.7t CO2 y-1,

Awareness Raising

Tweedgreen has developed a unique brand that has generated significant local visibility and recognition. According to a recent survey 78% of respondents were aware of Tweedgreen.

Tweedgreen’s website received 1,931 visits between its launch on 1st July 2010 and 6th Feb 2011. The average monthly hit on our website is 320 visitors.

According to our food survey carried out among 140 members of the general public in January 2011: 56% were aware of the local food campaign; 55% were aware of the Liftshare campaign; over 60% were aware of the free insulation scheme.

Tweedgreen held an exhibition in Peebles Library in August 2010, Peebles Past and Present, highlighting environmental issues. The exhibition was attended by approximately 4000 visitors including school trips and overseas visitors.

In February Tweedgreen hosted a free talk at the Eastgate Theatre by environmentalist and author Alistair McIntosh. He covered social justice, his Gal Gael Trust in Glasgow and other topics chosen by the audience of 74 people. Alastair also spoke about the views expressed in his book “Hell and High Water” that looks at the effects of climate change on our planet.

Lessons Learned

During our project period we have learned a number of valuable lessons, including:

The value of championing a local focus and dialogue, with carbon savings as a strong underpinning message.

The value of advertising, brand, clarity of message and the importance of active outreach in capturing local interest.

The importance of ‘social occasion’ and the power of food initiatives to entice participation. 3

Public interest in saving money in addition to ‘saving Carbon’. The value of working collaboratively with local groups and organisations with similar aims and

commitments to enhance community cohesion and coherence. We also learned that although each of our events was successful in its own right it was often

the same people who attended. We are now exploring strategies to reach out to a wider spectrum of the community.

SECTION 2 Detailed Report on CCF-629 Energy Descent for Tweeddale

A) Project Activities and Delivery This section outlines what Tweedgreen did against our original objectives, how we did it, how we worked with our partners.

Objective 1: Behavioural change leading to reduced energy consumption

In our proposal we set out to train the Project Coordinator and 5 volunteers in the assessment of home energy efficiency. We also set out to provide free, impartial advice on measures like loft and cavity wall insulation to approximately 125 households.

Achievements against objectives

One of the two part-time Project Coordinators completed the City and Guilds Energy Awareness Certificate in June 2010. Both Project Coordinators completed the following Changeworks modules in June 2010: Energy advice good practice; Home appliances, lighting and smart monitors; Insulation measures and grants; Energy Assistance Package and Home Energy Check Overview; Communicating Climate Change; Hard to Treat Homes; Heating and Hot Water Systems.

5 volunteers were identified to become Tweedgreen Energy Advisors by end August 2010, with training in the following modules carried out in September and October 2010: Hard to Treat Homes; Heating and Hot Water systems; Energy Efficiency; Home Energy Check Overview.

On 6th October, Scottish Borders Council announced that it had received government funding to implement the Universal Free Insulation Scheme (UHIS) in Tweeddale, covering Tweedgreen’s catchment area. This announcement had significant impact on the implementation of our energy advice project. Through UHIS, Changeworks recruited 3 paid Energy Advisors to provide free, impartial energy advice to households in our catchment area and to provide free loft and cavity wall insulation to eligible households. One of Tweedgreen’s volunteer Energy Advisors and the Energy

4

“The climate change action which is being delivered by Tweedgreen is a huge contribution to the Borders-wide effort to reduce our carbon emissions. The Council is extremely encouraged by the work being done by communities in the Tweeddale area, and these initiatives are great examples of projects which all of our other local communities can learn from and build on. We are especially encouraged by Tweedgreen’s work with schools on low carbon travel, home energy advice and the momentum around local food projects can provide a wide range of benefits to consumers and producers.”

Louise Cox, Environmental Strategy Co-ordinator, Scottish Borders Council

Group Convenor, was recruited as a paid Energy Advisor under the UHIS scheme. At the time, we felt that this would be beneficial to our community, as the knowledge of energy advice provision obtained through the Changeworks changing would be retained by Tweedgreen and in our community. In practice, the loss of our Energy Group Convenor was a significant loss to the capacity of Tweedgreen.

Tweedgreen Project Coordinators worked closely with Changeworks to dovetail the UHIS scheme with our work and to promote the UHIS scheme within our community. The “Tweeddale Free Insulation Scheme,” launched in November, became a regular feature in our column in the Peeblesshire News, was promoted on our website and an article was written for the Peeblesshire News in February, highlighting its achievements. During the first 2 months, the Advice Line was inundated with calls and lacked the capacity to answer/return calls. Tweedgreen fielded calls from members of the community who were frustrated by an inability to contact the Advice Line, collating contact details in a spreadsheet and referring them to EST for follow up. From 8th November to 2nd March, Tweedgreen dealt with 28 enquiries from the public about UHIS. Tweedgreen provided a local, personal point of contact about the scheme, providing information, clarification and direct referral to EST Advisors for those who had been unable to get through on the Advice Line.

So far 1,311 referrals have been made to the EST about the Tweeddale Free Insulation Scheme.

“From the 1864 UHIS Tweeddale contacts, 1311 referrals within the area and time period are attributable to the UHIS scheme which was partnered by Tweedgreen. This is a very high proportion, and reflects that the insulation being offered free of charge encouraged people to commit to having a survey carried out.” (From EST Tweedgreen Area Report March 11)

Insulation installed in 1311 households to date under the Tweeddale Free Insulation Scheme, equates to a saving of 298.24t CO2 y-1. At this stage it is difficult to assess the actual results of Tweedgreen’s involvement but verifiable figures from EST where they were invited to exhibit in tandem with Tweedgreen at events directly accounts for 23.11 t CO2 y-1. of that figure.

Change of outcome to energy monitor installations

The implementation of UHIS in Tweeddale resulted in a revision of our original objective of providing free, impartial advice on insulation measures to 125 households. As UHIS was due to provide free, impartial advice on insulation measures to approximately 2,000 households in our catchment area, Tweedgreen was keen to avoid duplication and confusion within our community. We decided to adopt an alternative strategy in order to provide a complementary service to the UHIS scheme for the residents of Tweeddale. Following consultation and collaboration with Selkirk Energy Regeneration Project, we decided to replicate their methodology of installing energy monitors in households as an entry point to discussions about energy saving measures. Through consultation with EST and Walkerburn Powerdown (who were equally affected by UHIS), it was agreed that Changeworks Energy Surveyors implementing the UHIS scheme would ask householders if they would be interested in receiving energy monitors or energy advice from their local community group, Tweedgreen. Contact details of interested households would be referred to Tweedgreen by Changeworks for us to install the monitors.

After discussion with our CCF Development Officer about our strategy for adopting a new outcome, Tweedgreen purchased 25 Eco-eye electricity energy monitors. Due to the bad weather, we only received the monitors on 24th December. The extreme weather also affected the implementation of the free insulation scheme. In mid-January, Changeworks supplied Tweedgreen with a list of households interested in energy monitor installations. By this date our volunteer Energy Advisors had

5

"Living in a modern house, less than 10 years old, I assumed that it was already adequately insulated. I was advised by Tweedgreen that we may still need top up insulation to bring it up to the new recommended level. I phoned the freephone advice line in January and was visited by a surveyor within two weeks. He confirmed that our insulation was inadequate and that we were eligible for 150mm insulation for free. In February my free top up insulation was installed. The service was very quick and professional. I would recommend it to anyone."

Rebecca Hall, Cardrona resident

reduced from the original 5 volunteers to 3 volunteers. As a result of these delays and reduced volunteer capacity, progress in installing monitors has been slow. To date we have installed 21 monitors. However, we fully intend to actively recruit more volunteers and to follow up more of the 117 referrals from Innerleithen and Peebles. Although this will not actually be a core-funded activity in the 2011-12 period we intend to continue the work already started to meet the expectation raised by this initiative.

An additional benefit of installing monitors has been the opportunity for outreach into the community. This has provided our volunteers with an opportunity to provide a face for Tweedgreen, energy advice and supplementary information on the other projects implemented by Tweedgreen. It is also an opportunity for our volunteers to gain valuable insights into issues that interest members of our community. We are recording these issues and any areas that require follow up to ensure that we can provide extra information or assistance to members of our community where this is requested.

Public events on renewable energy

Tweedgreen held five meetings covering renewable energy. The meetings were all open to the public and no admittance charge was made. In all cases the emphasis was on providing information and support. Information on the five events is as follows:

At an open meeting in early November 2010, attended by about 30 interested local people, the potential for a wind farm serving Peebles and surrounding area was explored. It also gave Tweedgreen an opportunity to gauge the level of support there would be for such a development. Speakers from Partnership for Renewables and Community Energy Scotland answered queries and concerns that are regularly voiced about this form of renewable energy in the region. Tweedgreen has planned a meeting with community councils to discuss potential wind farm developments. Our long term vision is to facilitate community ownership of a wind turbine, which could save in the region of 2,500t CO2 per year.

Tweedgreen’s Energy Fair on 6th November was attended by approximately 120 people. It was decided to hold this small event after one of the Project Coordinators attended the Energy Fair at the Heriot Watt campus in Galashiels in May and the Village Green energy fair at Lamancha. A cross-section of suitable companies was approached and they included planning advisors, architects, PV and Solar suppliers, Biomass boilers, wood stove installers and the Energy Saving Trust. The visitors and the 15 exhibitors were very enthusiastic about the event. There have been at least two wood-burning stoves fitted on the strength of the fair and several serious enquiries about PV panels and ground source heating systems. When Tweedgreen followed up the event with a short questionnaire, the PV suppliers were confident that many enquiries would turn into firm orders. In addition to this, 42 Home Energy Check forms were filled in on the Energy Saving Trust stand at this event. The Eco-driving machine was also available, allowing 30 visitors to try their hand at eco-driving and receive information and advice from the EST.

6

Tweedgreen Energy Fair, 6th November 2010

Our talk on ‘All Things Wood’ in January 2011 was attended by 47 people. Two specialist speakers, Stuart McKenna an independent consultant and Simon Lockwood of Scottish Native Woodlands, gave informative presentations on wood-burning stoves and woodland management for wood fuel production respectively and answered the many questions about domestic wood stoves and growing wood-fuel. There were also end-users and local renewables suppliers on hand to answer practical questions.

Our talk “Energy from the Sun and Earth” in February 2011 was attended by 63 people. There were illustrated presentations about Photovoltaic panels and wind energy from Solar and Wind Appliances and from On-Site Generation on ground source heat pumps and solar PV. This information is currently being added to our website. The Energy Saving Trust talked about the currently available Feed-in-tariffs and loans. This was followed by an account of living with both of these forms of renewable energy from an end-user.

Our final talk in the series of renewable energy talks “All Things Water” in March covered hydro power in Tweeddale past, present and future. Gordon Black from “Baby Hydro” gave a presentation on domestic scale hydro schemes and local historian Ted McKie showed how water power was harnessed to run the mills in Innerleithen in the past. This talk was attended by an audience of 37. The audience consisted of a good cross-section of land-owners who are actively looking at hydro systems for their properties and those interested in the historical perspective. We had approached SEPA to send a representative but they were unable to attend. Tweedgreen now has good links and resources that we can pass on to anyone looking at hydro power as an option.

These events resulted in increased awareness of issues related to renewable energy and suppliers/installers available locally. As a result of these events, Tweedgreen has obtained resources and developed valuable links with groups and businesses with expertise in renewable energy. A list of wood suppliers and installers has been added to the Tweedgreen website as a result of Tweedgreen’s meetings. We are currently uploading information on ground source heat pumps and solar PV onto our website to increase the potential of the website to be used as a centralised tool for information provision on environmental topics.

Objective 2: Increased local food consumption7

Tweedgreen developed a range of activities designed to build on the success of its 2009 Local Food Challenge and increase local food consumption. Whereas in the October 2009 local food challenge participants ate 100% local food, the 2010 challenge encouraged people to sign up to different levels of local food consumption eg 10%, 50%, 80%, 1 meal or 1 day per week. Participants could sign up to the challenge via our website.

Achievements against objectives

1) Food directory

Tweedgreen aimed to design, publish and distribute 1,000 copies of a local food directory to help people identify local sources and suppliers of food.

Our Local Food Directory (Appendix 1), based on work already started by the Food Group, was updated and published as a bound edition. 1000 copies were printed. A book launch was held on 23rd

November for the food directory and recipe book (see below). Speakers Mike Small, founder and director of the Fife Diet and Fiona Houston (aka Fi Martynoga), author of the Garden Cottage Diaries and member of Tweedgreen Food Group, did inspiring presentations at the book launch, which was attended by approximately 40 people.

The local food directory was distributed at local food retail outlets and participating restaurants. It was distributed as far afield as Kelso, Broughton, Innerleithen, Lamancha as well as in Peebles. Copies were also available at all the events that The Food Group and Tweedgreen attended. These were quickly taken up and a reprint of a further 1000 copies was ordered.

2) Condensed version

Tweedgreen aimed to produce a condensed version of the local food directory, to be distributed in Peebles Life.

A four page condensed version of the directory (Appendix 2) was produced and delivered with the Peebles Life magazine, a monthly free publication distributed to 4,600 households in Peebles and Cardrona, in February 2011.

3) Recipe Book

Tweedgreen aimed to develop the local recipe book developed for the 2009 food challenge, publishing 500.

Our Local Recipe Book (Appendix 3) the sister publication to the Food Directory was also written, collated, edited, designed and illustrated by the volunteers in the Food Group. 1000 copies of this booklet were printed and a reprint of another 1000 was ordered following the uptake of the free booklet through selected local outlets. The local butcher and bakers Forsyth’s distributed over 350 copies to their customers alone. The books were distributed in the same way and at the same time as the Directories.

The local recipe books and food directory had an impact that exceeded original expectations. Village Green, our CCF funded counterpart in La Mancha, requested 500 copies of each for circulation within their communities. A Greener Hawick also used the books as a model to develop their own equivalent and A Greener Melrose would like to do the same. Similar groups from further afield have also demonstrated great interest in the Recipe Book.

4) Publicity to encourage people to join the local food challenge

8

“The directory is inspirational and a big help when cooling with produce that we know is local and handy for our own area. The book offers exciting ideas as well as an insight into other people’s cooking habits. We think the directory is fantastic.”

Local resident, Sanna Hjortenskog

It was proposed to promote the campaign through press releases, postcards, via our weekly column in the Peeblesshire News and via email contacts. Tweedgreen targeted a commitment of 300 meals per week.

For the purpose of this campaign “local” was considered to be within 50 miles of Peebles. Volunteers were recruited at several different events where the Food Group had a presence, including the local Peebles Agricultural Show in August, Peebles Food Week in September and a stall on the High Street where passers-by where offered tasters of locally produced food. “Local Food Week” was launched in September 2010 to kick-start the Local Food Campaign with a range of well-attended events, including:

An information stand outside the Eastgate with local food samples and information in conjunction with Whitmuir The Organic Place

A pickling and preserving workshop at Whitmuir the Organic Place attended by 30 people A showing of Food Inc. attended by 45 people A local food cookery demonstration attended by 10 people An apple picking day at Traquair House attended by more than 100 people including many

children. Publicity for this event included a Peebles Life article and coverage by the Peeblesshire News

Tweedgreen Local food stall, Peebles

The local food campaign was publicised through the local free magazine Peebles Life with a series of short articles and the Peeblesshire News through our weekly column. The campaign was also supported with information on our Tweedgreen.org website. A database was developed, linked to our website, enabling people to register on the challenge and record their commitments. This database provided an effective monitoring tool to monitor the success of the challenge.

In order to make the local food challenge possible the Food Group worked closely with businesses and growers in the Tweeddale and the greater Borders area. The initiative was welcomed by the local producers and they appreciated the efforts being made by Tweedgreen to draw attention to the variety and quality of foodstuffs available affectively on their doorstep.

9

Tweedgreen exceeded its expectations for the local food challenge: more people signed up to the campaign than anticipated and, in practice, people ate more meals from local sources than they had originally committed to. A total of 133 individuals signed up to take part and they committed to a total of 381 meals each week consisting of locally produced foods.

A conservative estimate of carbon emission savings from this single campaign is 25.4t CO2.

5) Working with local suppliers and retailers

Tweedgreen proposed to continue working with local suppliers and retailers to stock more local produce. We also aimed to design and print labels to advertise and boost awareness of local produce, using Tweedgreen branding and our website.

Tweedgreen has worked closely with local suppliers and retailers in the development and publication of the local food directory and

recipe books. Suppliers and retailers were consulted about their produce, in order to compile the directory, and local restaurants provided recipes for the recipe book.

A label was designed and distributed to all local retailers, who use them to identify local produce. These are bright, attractive and are a clear signpost for shoppers. At least four local retailers, including Villeneuve Wines, Broccoli Green, Deli Beans and Forsyths in Peebles, and Shaws Fine Meats and the Corner Store in Innerleithen have supplies of these labels, which they use to raise awareness of products that are produced locally.

A further partnership has been established with local retailers through the printing of local food recipe postcards. A series of four postcards have been produced each with a seasonal recipe. Each postcard is linked to a local retailer whereby when the card is presented to the retailer, a 10% discount is given on the local food being purchased e.g. local lamb from the Peebles butchers.

Additional achievements

The creation of allotments for 4 growers, using land donated to Tweedgreen on a 5-year lease by Forsyths, the local butcher and bakers. Tweedgreen will continue to pursue additional land for allotments to meet the substantial demand for land for growing within our community.

Members of the Food Group have worked with Traquair House to develop eight allotments and a community garden on a disused kitchen garden site within the estate. A application for a grant from Awards for All will shortly be lodged to assist in land clearance, fencing and building a shed. There is already a full list of interested allotment holders from the immediate vicinity (Innerleithen, Cardrona and Traquair).

Collation of information on demand for allotments: Tweedgreen has evidence of a significant number of people actively awaiting allotment space. There are 42 people on the

10

council allotment waiting list in Peebles. Tweedgreen wrote to all those on the Peebles allotment waiting list to find out if they would be interested in pursuing a private allotment arrangement. 25 people gave a positive response. Finally a survey was carried out in May 2010 in the village of Cardrona. 36 out of 330 households in Cardrona expressed an interest in an allotment, or a share in one. A study, entitled Future Innerleithen, was conducted in Innerleithen during 2009 culminating in a Community Action plan where one of the actions outlined was the creation of a Community Garden with allotments. In 2011, Tweedgreen will carry out a land survey to help identify any additional areas of land that can be explored to this end. In our local food survey, of those who do not currently grow their own food, 22% stated they would like to know more about growing food.

The Tweedgreen Food Group has also successfully lobbied the local bakers to ensure that all white flour bread sold in the bakery is from a local source (Kirkcaldy).

Local Food Directory and Recipe Book being printed and distributed in the catchment area of our counterpart, Village Green, in La Mancha. The books were also used as a source of inspiration for A Greener Hawick’s and A Greener Melrose’s Local Food Guides.

Food Survey: in January 2011, a survey was conducted with 140 people on Peebles High Street, Innerleithen and Cardrona village in order to establish current buying habits with regard to local and organic food, including their barriers and drivers. (Appendix 4: Tweedgreen Locally Sourced Food Survey Report).

The food survey has provided useful information as to the shopping habits of Tweeddale residents as regards local and organic food. 71% of people stated that up to 25% of their weekly food shop was made up of locally produced food. Of those who do not buy local food or only buy a limited amount of local food, 63% said this was because local food was not available and 60.5% stated there was insufficient choice of local food. 54% said they would buy more local food if there was more choice of products in shops. This indicates an opportunity for Tweedgreen to liaise with local retailers and caterers to increase the supply and choice of local food. This includes liaison with supermarkets, where 72% of people would like to see more local food being sold. The survey also indicates an opportunity for further education on what is local food and where can it be bought.

A significant number of people would buy more local food if it was labelled more clearly or promoted. (28%). More than half of people surveyed said they would like more information about the local food campaign (59%). While some of these people have already heard of the Local Food Campaign it also indicates that we can take this campaign to new audiences.

The food survey also asked questions about organic food. Only 2% of respondents currently shop at Whitmuir, the local organic farm, although there was some anecdotal evidence of other organic shops being used. The most significant reason that people bought organic food was the quality of the food (60%) followed closely by the environmental impact (47%). This provides useful information to Tweedgreen about the messages that will be most powerful in our campaign strategy.

Local Food Challenge Evaluation: in January 2011, an online evaluation of the local food challenge was sent out to all those who signed up to the Local Food Challenge. The evaluation was completed by 20 people on behalf of 45.

The evaluation showed that 41% of participants ate more local food than they had committed to. An added bonus was that there was much less packaging waste with local produce - this was noted by 82% of respondents to our evaluation questionnaire. This reduction in

11

packaging will inevitably have a knock on effect on carbon emissions.

Objective 3: More use of sustainable travelling options

Our travel projects proposed to achieve the following specific objectives: 1) increase awareness about ways to reduce travel CO2; 2) prepare the way for projects which will reduce travel CO2; 3) directly reduce travel CO2

We proposed 6 travel projects to achieve the above mentioned objectives:

Cars: 1a) Liftshare Peebles; 1b) Liftshare Glentress biking chapter; 1c) Eco-driving simulator; 1d) 50/50MPH Travel demo

Bikes: 2a) New Bums On Bikes; 2b) Business Bike to Work Incentive Scheme

Achievements against objectives

Projects targeting car use

Within Tweeddale a large portion of the community commute to work, due to the absence of a train link. This provides an opportunity to reduce car related carbon emissions through the following activities:

1a) Liftshare Peebles: Following extensive discussions with Liftshare, the umbrella organisation that develops car-sharing databases, it was decided to promote the existing regional car-sharing facility managed by Scottish Borders Council (SBC), TripshareBorders (TSB). In September 2010, TripshareBorders had only 37 registered users in the EH45 area (covering a 10km radius from Peebles, including Walkerburn and West Linton). TSB had very poor visibility in our community.

Tweedgreen carried out a survey in October 2010 on the A703 between Peebles and Edinburgh between 7-8.30am to identify current travel behaviour, particularly to identify numbers of single occupancy vehicles at peak commuter time. We were astonished to find that only 9% of the 843 cars travelling contained a passenger – 91% of cars were single occupancy vehicles.

Working closely with SBC and Hillside Agency, Tweedgreen developed a highly innovative campaign and publicity strategy to raise the profile of TSB and encourage people to lift-share.

From 16th October, the poster below was displayed on a 20ft x 10ft trailer in a farmer’s field on the A703, displaying the cost saving benefits of car-sharing to capture the attention of commuters. Postcards containing the same image were distributed to 4,500 households with a monthly free publication, Peebles Life. A PR campaign was launched, in conjunction with local PR company Peagreen PR. The campaign generated significant media attention, with a radio interview aired on BBC Radio Selkirk and film footage aired on ITV Borders Lookaround programme. Most significantly, the campaign was highly successful in attracting the attention of the community of Tweeddale. Anecdotal evidence is that people were talking about the campaign at dinner parties. According to our Food Survey, carried out in January 2010, out of the 140 respondents, 55% were aware of the Liftshare campaign.

12

Tweedgreen Liftshare Billboard, October 2010

By 17th February 2011, registered members of TripshareBorders in EH45 had increased to 80 – a 116% increase in membership from the launch of our campaign. There is further evidence that the campaign has encouraged people to Liftshare on an informal basis, without TripshareBorders.

It has been difficult to quantify the numbers of journeys shared as in order to be able to do this, car sharers need to notify the TripshareBorders administrator at SBC of actual journeys shared. There is no incentive for people to provide this feedback, and therefore this system of monitoring has unfortunately been ineffective. This is an acknowledged weakness of the Liftshare website mechanism, both at regional and national level. Tweedgreen and SBC attempted to address this issue and gain feedback on actual journeys shared, by emailing all members of TripshareBorders in January 2011 asking them to contact Tweedgreen to inform us of their liftsharing arrangements. This did not result in any significant response. As a result of lack of data on actual journeys shared, we followed the advice of Liftshare, who suggested that average uptake is applied so that savings figures can be evaluated from the membership levels achieved. In our interim reports to CCF, Tweedgreen employed average figures to calculate carbon reductions achieved through liftsharing.

In the absence of data on actual journeys shared, Tweedgreen decided to carry out a repeat travel survey in March 2011 to identify if there was any evidence of change in commuter behaviour. A comparison of the results of both travel surveys is provided in Section B, Community Outcomes.

The significant finding of the repeat travel survey was a substantial increase in multiple occupancy vehicles in the 6 months since we launched our Liftshare campaign: multiple occupancy vehicles had risen from 9% to 16%. There was also a decrease in numbers of cars on the road from 772 to 727. Also, in the original survey, no vehicles contained more than one passenger. However, in March 2011, 7 cars contained 3 occupants and 1 car contained 4 occupants. Through increased sign up to Liftshare and evidence from our commuter survey, Tweedgreen considers that our commuter Liftshare campaign has successfully met the objectives of increasing awareness about ways to reduce travel CO2 and directly reducing travel CO2.

1b) Liftshare Glentress Mountain Biking Chapter

Throughout the week and particularly at weekends, Peebles sees a steady flow of cars carrying mountain bikes on car racks. Mountain bikers come to Tweeddale from all over the country to attend

13

our world class mountain biking centres at Glentress and Innerleithen. Glentress is currently the most popular visitor centre in the Scottish Borders, with approximately 300,000 visitors per annum.

Tweedgreen carried out a survey at Glentress on Saturday 26th February to gain an insight into visitors’ travel modes, distances travelled, and to gauge interest in the idea of a web based message board for car sharing. Out of 36 visitors surveyed, return journeys to Glentress varied between 20-400 miles, all by car. The average return journey was 84 miles. The vast majority of respondents car shared that day (81%), although we suspect that this figure would be much lower if the survey was taken on a week day. 78% of respondents said that they would use a web based message board for car sharing.

In a bid to reduce the numbers of cars visiting the area with just one occupant, Tweedgreen, in conjunction with Hillside Agency, has developed a web based message board to provide a forum for mountain bikers visiting Tweeddale to arrange a lift share. The URL address for the web based message board is http://www.mtbliftshare.com/onthehillside/ The facility is linked to the Tweedgreen website and is an open forum, available to anyone, to post a message and find someone to share their journey. It is intended that this forum will help reduce the numbers of solo journeys by mountain bikers to visit Glentress and maybe encourage people who share with one other biker to try to pick up an additional biker, thereby reducing another car on the road.

A promotional campaign for the website was launched in March, with Tweedgreen volunteers distributing flyers and posters to mountain bikers in the area. Distribution also targeted bike related publications and bike shops in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Key organisations and businesses have been requested to promote the website and to add a link to their own websites, including: Forestry Commission, The Hub at Glentress, 7 Stanes, Tweed Valley Tourist Consortium, Edinburgh Bike Coop, The Bike Station.

We also hope that this message board will be used by younger people and students who do not have cars, enabling them to visit the mountain biking centres. Currently, bus services to Peebles do not have racks for bikes, providing a severe hindrance for people with no cars who would like to visit our area for biking. During our survey, a number of people highlighted that provision of bike racks on buses would be beneficial, so Tweedgreen will continue to lobby First Bus to provide this facility.

We have been contacted by Edinburgh University to notify us of their interest in our scheme. We will endeavour to create links with universities, many of which have mountain biking clubs, and other key users of Glentress and Innerleithen, to promote the web message board.

In order to try to capture data on actual shared journeys, we have introduced an incentive: people who provide feedback on shared journeys will be entered into a prize draw – a £50 voucher at one of the local bike shops. We hope that this incentive will help address the weakness of the Liftshare feedback mechanism, providing us valuable data on actual lifts shared, behaviour change and concomitant carbon savings. We will collate this data from the launch of the website at the end of March 2011.

1c) Eco-driving simulator

In our proposal, we aimed to use the eco-drive simulator at 4 events. In practice, the eco-drive simulator was hired from the Energy Savings Trust at 2 Tweedgreen events:

- On Your Bike and Eco Drive Day, 31st July 2010. 17 people used the simulator and received advice on eco-driving at this event.

14

“I am very interested in the potential of lift sharing / and or adapting public transport to reduce carbon emissions, but also as a social mechanism to encourage [mountain biking]. There are lots of young people living in the surrounding areas who don't have access to transport and could utilise your mountain bike liftshare scheme.”

Daniel Curry, Edinburgh University

- Energy Fair, 6th November – 30 people used the simulator and received advice on eco-driving at this event

At both occasions, the simulator was used to highlight the benefits of fuel efficient driving, with additional information and support provided by the EST Sustainable Travel Advisor. It was felt that while the novelty of the simulator attracted attention, it was difficult to drive and not a useful tool for actually demonstrating the principles of fuel efficient driving. It was found that the supplementary information provided by the EST Advisor was, in effect, more helpful. As a result, we decided not to hire the simulator again and to concentrate on providing information on the tips for eco-driving.

1d) 50/50 MPH Travel Demo

The aim of the driver challenge was, through eco-driving and speed control, to deliver a 5% minimum improvement in fuel efficiency. We intended to do this through recruiting 50 drivers to drive at 50mph for one month.

In early 2011, we felt that due to the prevailing economic climate, fuel prices hitting £1.30 a litre and instability in the Middle East, the issue of dependency on a fragile, expensive and finite resource such as oil was so topical that it was very timely to launch a campaign highlighting the benefits of fuel efficient driving. In light of this, we decided to use the lessons learned from our Liftshare campaign by highlighting the potential financial benefits of fuel efficient driving. Few examples exist of campaigns that demonstrate the cost saving of fuel efficient driving. One example we found was from February 2008: 50 AA employees took part in an eco-driving experiment. Each drove normally for 1 week then fuel efficiently for the second week. The group saved an average 10% on their weekly fuel bill, with the best achieving a 33% saving. We decided to develop a campaign that would replicate this experiment in Tweeddale, identifying how much fuel and money could be saved by adopting fuel efficient driving techniques.

In early March, we developed a campaign in conjunction with Hillside Agency asking residents to join our Fuel Efficient Driving Campaign. Leaflets were distributed asking people to drive normally for one week, recording mileage and fuel consumption, then fuel efficiently for the next week, recording mileage and fuel consumption. Leaflets were to be handed in to local garages for collation of results.

Central to the campaign was an unprecedented partnership established between Tweedgreen and David Harrison Ltd, which manages the local ESSO and Shell garages. Through this partnership, the garages agreed to support and promote our campaign. Leaflets were distributed and collected at the local garages and 2 banners promoting the campaign were displayed outside our two local garages. A press release highlighting the campaign and this unusual partnership was circulated, with coverage in the Peeblesshire News, BBC Radio Selkirk and a request for a contribution to the Fred MacCaulay’s Mid-Morning Programme on BBC Radio Scotland.

15

Isabelle Clements and Robert Harrison launching the Fuel Efficient Driving Campaign, February 2011

Our reporting on the fuel efficient driving campaign showed that for a modest reported total of 2021 miles travelled and logged, to date, the average saving reported for fuel efficient road practices in personal transport was 1.1kg CO2 per 100 miles. The average savings were equivalent to a 4.1% in expenditure at the pumps. The highest eco-driving saving achieved was 2.6kg CO CO2 per 100 miles.

Feedback from the general public indicates that the low rate of returns of forms from participants in the eco-driving campaign is due to the tight timeframe of the campaign – 3 weeks from campaign launch to the deadline for submission of forms. This tight timeframe was imposed in order to obtain results in time for completion of our project completion report. We have extended the deadline to obtain further responses. This information will continue to be collated and we will report back to CCF on any future findings. We will also consider re-launching the campaign at a later date, using existing materials, allowing a longer timeframe for participants.

Projects targeting increased bike use

By promoting the benefits of biking for short journeys, we aimed to reduce the use of short car journeys.

2a) New Bums On Bikes

Tweedgreen aimed to encourage more bike-to-school use, through the provision of a bike doctor service and competitions.

Our sustainable transport programme was launched at our Get on Your Bike and Eco-Driving Day, 31st July 2010. Two Bike Doctors were present, providing a free safety check to 20 bikes. 4 second hand bikes were serviced and given to new owners free of charge.

Numerous discussions were held with SBC, local primary and secondary schools, the Active Schools Coordinator, Sustrans and local police to identify the most appropriate way of promoting bike use to schools. Our research identified that there are already a vast number of initiatives promoting active travel in Tweeddale, which has resulted in a high uptake of active travel methods. In light of the fact that 47% of school children walk to school, it was decided that the promotion of biking alone was not logical, that Tweedgreen should adopt the strategy of promoting all forms of active, sustainable travel. We therefore decided to draw our attention away from promoting cycling alone, to supporting existing active travel initiatives.

16

In order to help increase cycling to school from the current 6% of school children, Tweedgreen decided to work with Cycling Scotland to promote their Cycle Friendly School Award scheme. We developed links between Priorsford Primary School and Cycling Scotland to get them on the award scheme. In recognition of the fact that 17% of Priorsford’s pupils cycle to school, the school was awarded the Cycle Friendly School Award in January 2011. St. Ronan’s Primary School, Innerleithen, was presented with the award later that month.

Priorsford Primary School is being used as a case study for other primary schools. (Appendix 5 Priorsford Primary School Case Study from Cycling Scotland’s website http://cyclingscotland.msol.org.uk/local/casestudy/casestudy.php?casestudyID=151)

Priorsford Primary School receiving the Cycle Friendly School Award, January 2010

The Active Schools Coordinator has agreed to champion the scheme on behalf of Tweedgreen and continue to work with us to roll it out to the other local schools. In a questionnaire circulated by Tweedgreen to local schools in December 2010 to identify areas of support required, Kingsland Primary School asked Tweedgreen to help increase uptake of cycling to school. We have suggested that Kingsland Primary School could register on the scheme and will provide support for this activity..

2b) Business Bike to Work Incentive Scheme

17

"Tweedgreen introduced Priorsford Primary School to Cycling Scotland's Cycle Friendly School Award Scheme. We were delighted to receive the award in January 2011, which gives encouragement and recognition to our pupils who regularly cycle to school. We are continuing to follow the recommendations to promote further active travel to our school, including creating scooter racks for younger children. I would encourage other schools to sign up to the scheme."

Sandra MacGregor, Head Teacher, Priorsford Primary School

Tweedgreen proposed to provide local goods and services as incentives for switching from car to bike for commuting to work. We also proposed to target employers to promote uptake of bike to work scheme.

This has been a project area where little progress was made. Unfortunately, 2 key members of the Tweedgreen Travel Group left the group at the beginning of the project, which had a significant impact on the capacity of Tweedgreen to implement all of its travel objectives.

Tweedgreen researched the option of developing a bike to work website, the Tweeddale Cycle Challenge, based on the model developed by CTC Challenge for Change (Edinburgh Cycle Challenge). A proposal was submitted by CTC to develop this webtool, designed to encourage uptake of cycling to work. The proposal was circulated to Tweedgreen’s Steering Group and Travel Group to obtain feedback on its suitability to our purposes. The general consensus was that although this is a successful tool when employed in cities and towns, it would be of limited success in a rural town like Peebles, with no major employers and where the majority of residents commute to cities approximately 30 miles away. We therefore decided not to pursue this strategy, in consultation with our CCF Development Officer.

Additional Activities

Publicity and Campaigning

Working in partnership with Hillside Agency, Tweedgreen has developed a recognisable brand, colourful, visual promotional materials and innovative campaigns which have served to raise our profile and recognition within our community. We have used an assortment of innovative ways to raise our visibility, including a branded rickshaw offering free lifts and a strategically placed billboard to promote our Liftshare campaign.

Tweedgreen rickshaw, Get on Your Bike and Eco-Drive Day, 31st July 2010

Our promotional materials and techniques have proved highly successful in raising our visibility in our community: our January 2011 survey indicated that 78% of respondents were aware of Tweedgreen.

18

"Tweedgreen has developed a much wider awareness locally of how environmental and ecological issues affect us all.

Additionally, their promotion of a number of initiatives has lead to a much wider participation in energy efficiency projects."

David Pye, Positively Peebles

Our website www.tweedgreen.org is developing into a hub for information provision. We are continuing to develop the website to make it more interactive and to provide links to relevant sources of additional information.

An assortment of our publicity materials and outputs are enclosed as appendices.

Baseline Survey

Our original CCF proposal contained a baseline survey which was not approved by CCF for funding. A lack of baseline data as a result of this has been an obstacle to monitoring the impact of our work. Tweedgreen carried out a rapid baseline survey in January 2011 to obtain necessary data to determine the carbon footprint of our community. The survey was carried out with approximately 50 individuals through street and online interviews to identify current behaviour in key areas, including wood fuel, insulation, travel and composting.

Data was collated by consultancy Climate Futures and a “pre-baseline’ carbon footprint was

calculated for Tweeddale. (Appendix 6: Climate Futures Baseline Report).

The total for housing, food, travel, consumer, activities and waste/water is 114000 tonnes of CO2. Emissions from public buildings (public buildings e.g. schools, leisure centres) are estimated at 6500 tonnes CO2. The total carbon footprint for households and public buildings in Tweeddale is estimated at 120,500 tonnes CO2.

Household emission are based on the number of households in wider Tweeddale – 6836 - the split of different home types, sourced from HEED data – and the average household emissions - 16.55 tonnes CO2- of a proxy community (in this case, CCF project, Neilston, in South Lanarkshire), which has been calculated using Reap Petite software.

Information from this brief baseline survey will be supplemented by a more comprehensive baseline survey, due to be carried out in April 2011.

B) Community Outcomes – the people and groups that got involved, the changes that were achieved in your community, how the capacity of the local area has been improved, etc.

Community Involvement and Partnerships

19

“I think Tweedgreen has achieved such a lot. The whole town must be aware now of how much better they should be behaving in green affairs.”

Ann Goodburn, Founder member of Peeblesshire Environment Concern

The CCF project has been designed and implemented by interested and dedicated members of the community – including the Steering Group and Food, Energy and Travel sub-groups. Each sub-group is open and voluntary, and comprises a diverse mixture of community members, representing the local business community, organisations and residents including: parents, working and retired professionals and trades people. The Travel Group, for example, comprises a consultant involved with Sustrans, a local businessman who runs several local businesses, including a bike shop, representatives from Lothian and Borders Police and travel users. This provides a broad spectrum of opinions and input which reflect the views of the local community.

In the implementation of the projects, Tweedgreen has worked with a wide spectrum of partners. In order to implement the travel projects, the Travel Group has developed strong partnerships with local primary and secondary schools, local bike shops, SBC Schools Travel Coordinator and Roads Engineering Department, Liftshare, the Active Schools Coordinator, Cycling Scotland and local police. The food group has worked with local retailers (Broccoli Green, Deli Beans, Forsyths, Cardrona and Broughton Village Shops), neighbouring sustainability groups (Village Green, New Horizons, A Greener Hawick), local restaurants (The Sunflower, The Whistlestop Cafe, Green Apple Cafe, The Tontine Hotel), farms producing local organic produce (Whitmuir Organics, Bonnington Farm), and local landowners keen to facilitate local people growing their own. It has also created strategic alliances with Nourish Scotland, Fife Diet, Peebles Food Festival, Tweed Valley Tourist Consortium, Traquair House. The Tweedgreen Chair is also on the Community Council, which provides an invaluable opportunity for liaison with local decision makers.

The energy group has worked with Energy Savings Trust, Peebles Library, Partnership for Renewables, Community Energy Scotland, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Native Woodlands, Borders Forest Trust, On Site Generation, Solar and Wind Applications, PB1 (Solar and Wind Energy), Stewart McKenna (Fireside), Tweed Renewables, SEPA and Baby Hydro.

The travel group has worked with Sustrans, Lothian and Borders Police, Peebles Cycle Club, SBC, Liftshare, Cycling Scotland, Active Schools Coordinator, local primary and secondary schools, Living Streets, local bike shops.

Tweedgreen has been requested to do talks about our work at a wide variety of forums, including: Scottish Enterprise, BCCF, Scottish Borders Environmental Partnership, Peebles Ladies’ Group, U3A and the Community Council.

Changes in our community

Tweedgreen Evaluation: Tweedgreen sent out an evaluation questionnaire to our mailing list and invited the community to a drop in evaluation meeting on 16 th March. The 9 questionnaires returned by independent, impartial members of the community have provided invaluable feedback on the work that Tweedgreen has carried out over the last 10 months and the impact that it has had in our community. This feedback (outlined in the sidebar on p15) has provided anecdotal evidence and qualitative information on our campaigns and outputs. Furthermore, the suggestions from our community about ways to improve our work will be incorporated into our future projects.

20

Food: The food group has been highly successful in raising awareness of its local food campaign and in engaging new members. It has used a range of methods: a series of well-attended events throughout the year (pickling and preserving workshop, bread making, apple picking); accessible local press presence on a monthly basis; presence at other community events, e.g. agricultural show; distribution of free recipe and food directory books available at local retailers (the books have been so popular with the community we are doing a second print run). As a result of these activities with high public visibility, 56% of people surveyed are aware of the Local Food Challenge. Furthermore the Food Group has increased its active members from 7 to 14.

Food surveys: in January 2011, two food surveys were completed: 1) an online evaluation for all those who have signed up to the Local Food Challenge, completed by 20 people on behalf of 45; 2) a survey of 140 people on Peebles High Street, Innerleithen and Cardrona village in order to establish current buying habits with regard to local and organic food, including their barriers and drivers. (See Appendix 4: Tweedgreen Locally Sourced Food Survey Report for further information on findings).

The Tweedgreen food attitudes survey carried out in January 2011 identified that for 71% of respondent’s local food now counts for at least 25% of their weekly shop. We conservatively estimate this local food purchase to provide savings equivalent to 2.6t CO2 y-1.

Our local food challenge evaluation carried out in January 2011 showed that as some 41% of participants ate more local food than they had committed to and this could add a further 3.6t CO2 to the total. An added bonus that became apparent as the campaign rolled out was that there was much less packaging waste with local produce - this was noted by 82% of respondents to our evaluation questionnaire. This reduction in packaging will inevitably have a knock on effect on carbon emissions.

Travel: According to our survey carried out in January 2011 among 140 community members, 55% were aware of Tweedgreen’s Liftshare campaign. The method of using the billboard to promote the campaign was deemed to be highly successful. During the 3 weeks that the billboard was erected, the issue of liftsharing was highly topical – anecdotal evidence is that it became a topic of conversation at dinner parties! The campaign resulted in a 116% increase in registrations on TripshareBorders, which far exceeded our expectations (we had targeted a 30% increase in registrations). A significant number of people in our community have set up informal car-sharing arrangements, without going through the TripshareBorders forum, as a result of our campaign.

In order to ascertain whether our Liftshare campaign targeting commuters had resulted in behaviour change, a repeat travel survey was undertaken.

A comparison of the results of both travel surveys, undertaken at the same location on the A703 from 7.30-9am on 27th September 2010

21

Evaluation Feedback from local residents

Local Food directory and Recipe Book

“Great. Made me think more about seasonal and locally bought food.” Myrtle Ashmole

“It certainly made me consider where things (not just food) come from.” Ewan Sandison

Liftshare Campaign

Billboard as a promotional tool was “very conspicuous”. “Couldn’t miss it”.

“It has given a lot of people a kick start to take the first step [to lift sharing]. Once you are over the initial hurdle of getting used to the idea of having your personal travel space invaded, it makes absolute sense. I think a lot of people have been asking themselves why they haven’t done it before.“ Sanna Hjortenskog

Have you become more aware of energy saving or renewable energy through Tweedgreen’s work?

“I’d say I’ve been energy conscious for years but you have certainly made me more aware of hidden or embedded energy ie food miles and fertilizers carbon footprint, so now I do buy more organic produce.” Ewan Sandison

Renewable Energy Talks & Energy Fair

“Well organised and very informative.” Myrtle Ashmole

“Despite using wood stoves for 40 years and having my own PV panels, I found the talks interesting, educational and enjoyable.” Sandra Cameron

and 4th March 2011, 6 months after our Liftshare campaign targeting commuters, is as follows:

Vehicles 27th September 2010 % 4th March 2011 %

Total Cars 772   727  

Single occupancy 704 91 611 84

Double occupancy 68 108  

Triple occupancy 0   7  

Quadruple occupancy 0   1  

Total multiple occupancy 68 9 116 16

Other vehicles total 71   130  

Vans 35   79  

Lorries 22   29  

Taxis 5   5  

Motorbikes 4   2  

Tractors 1   2  

Buses 4   10  

Bikes   0   3  

Grand Total Vehicles 843   857  

We were delighted to observe a substantial increase in multiple occupancy vehicles in the 6 months since we launched our Liftshare campaign: multiple occupancy vehicles had risen from 9% to 16%. There was also a decrease in numbers of cars on the road from 772 to 727. The evidence collected demonstrates the impact of our Liftshare campaign, which drew attention to the benefits of liftsharing and has translated into behaviour change in our community, evidenced by an increase in shared journeys and a concomitant reduction in the numbers of cars on the road at peak time.

Circulation of postcards and posters and articles in the local press has kept the Liftshare campaign alive beyond the presence of the billboard. As of March 2011, we are still receiving enquiries about liftsharing from members of our community. We believe that there is still scope to promote liftsharing, as 80 registered members on TripshareBorders represents only a small percentage of our population. We will produce a banner that will be displayed permanently in our town as a reminder to our community that liftsharing is a sensible option. We will also explore further avenues for promoting Liftshare within our community, as we strongly believe that this is a tangible way of reducing our community’s travel related carbon emissions.

Fuel Efficient Driving Campaign: This campaign drew attention to the benefits of fuel efficient driving, at a point in time when individuals are looking at ways to reduce their expenditure on fuel. This campaign tied in neatly with our Liftshare campaign, providing two alternative options for our community to reduce fuel costs. As the campaign was launched mid-March, there has been insufficient time to monitor behaviour change as a result of this campaign. Evidence from returned forms is that the average saving reported from the adoption of fuel efficient driving practices was 1.1kg CO2 per 100 miles. The average savings were equivalent to a 4.1% in expenditure at the pumps. We will consider re-launching this campaign using existing resources, as we believe that this is a timely and topical issue and that many people will be interested in adopting fuel efficient driving techniques once they are aware of the cost saving and fuel saving benefits. If we do re-launch this campaign, we will provide a longer period for people to participate and return their results, so that we can quantify the benefits and distribute results widely to encourage uptake of fuel efficient driving techniques.

Energy: Through Tweedgreen’s work with the Energy Savings Trust based in Edinburgh there has been a mutually beneficial partnership built up through regular meetings and e mail contact. In June 2010 Tweedgreen received training from Changeworks – the educational arm of the Energy Saving

22

Trust. In conjunction with our sister group Village Green in Lamancha both workers attended nine training modules and later in the month Isabelle Clements undertook a City and Guilds short Energy Efficiency course. As a result of the energy training received by the Project Coordinators, the Tweedgreen staff are qualified to answer the many enquiries that came into the office since the commencement of the free insulation scheme.

Our Energy Group Convenor, having been so enthused by the Changeworks modules, took up a full time paid post with EST to roll out the Tweeddale Free Insulation Scheme in the Borders. We have been fortunate to have received a great deal of help, support and advice from Sitar Ramsay and Laura Campbell. Also through our Energy project work we have had the opportunity to work closely with of Selkirk Regeneration and Village Green.

5 members of the community have also been trained as volunteer Energy Advisors to help implement our energy project. This training has resulted in a strong capacity within our community to help answer questions on energy saving and to provide advice on energy saving measures. Furthermore, the comprehensive training received by the Tweedgreen Energy Group Convenor to become an Energy Assessor for Changeworks has provided an expertise on energy saving measures that will be retained within our community.

An additional benefit of installing monitors has been the opportunity for outreach into the community. This has provided our volunteers with an opportunity to provide a face for Tweedgreen, energy advice and supplementary information on the other projects implemented by Tweedgreen. It is also an opportunity for our volunteers to gain valuable insights into issues that interest members of our community. We are recording these issues and any areas that require follow up to ensure that we can provide extra information or assistance to members of our community where this is requested.

As a result of Tweedgreen’s energy work, the following changes have happened within members of the community who have been involved:

The series of three renewable energy talks has resulted in increased awareness of issues related to renewable energy and suppliers/installers. There is now greater awareness of loans, grants and feed-in-tariffs available for renewables. There is now much greater knowledge of domestic renewable energy options and the potential for more members of the community to embrace them. The Energy Fair enabled the community to access expert advice about renewable options for domestic application and to order appliances. There is now greater understanding of the pitfalls and potentials for hydro-powered systems for domestic and small industry use.

After the use of the electricity energy monitors there is now greater understanding and awareness of the amount of KwH and £ that are used to run each appliance enabling informed savings to be made.

There is now much greater awareness of the importance of both loft and cavity wall insulation and the benefits that they bring in energy efficiency and warmth during the recent cold winter.

Tweedgreen’s activities have resulted in the creation of 4 allotments for community members, donated to us for 5 years by the local butchers/bakers, Forsyths. We are currently working with Traquair House on a funding proposal to develop a further 6 allotments and community garden in Traquair. We are also pursuing other options for obtaining land for allotments, including working with the Forestry Commission in Nether Horsburgh.

C) CO2 Emissions Reduction – actual reductions brought about by the changes your project has made, what has been learned since you made the original CO2 assumptions in your application form, how you, your project and your community has changed awareness about CO2.

Tweedgreen CCF sponsored activities have resulted in a conservatively estimated reduction of community CO2 footprint of 117.7 t CO2. This is a time bound calculation, with many projects only commencing in the autumn of 2010, or later, so projected annual savings are highly likely to be

23

around double the stated figure, even when accounting for issues of ‘stickability’ in behaviour. It is also true that a learnt behaviour provides a strong bond and the ‘repeat incentive’ is particularly strong where a clear financial or social benefit is recognised.

The main facts and points gleaned during the 11 month programme of events and activities closely mirror the observations and perceptions detailed throughout this report. Tweedgreen assumptions, as detailed in the original bid, were often predicated on ‘good ideas’ that had not been substantively tested within the local community. However, when an open workshop was held in 2010 it was evident that the ‘key behaviours’ that provided a common currency for effecting energy descent behavioural change, in the community, were well ‘guessed’ by the volunteers.

There were three key themes in our programme for community energy descent: travelling, energy and food.

Travel: In our original CCF proposal, we estimated that car related activities would save 88 t CO2 y-1: actual savings were 27.2 t CO2 y-1. Our bike (which changed into non-car school travel) was unable to provide a metric assessment of t CO2 saved. Based on average distance assumptions we conservatively estimate a saving was accrued of 10.7 t CO2 y-1, at Priorsford school. We originally estimated a saving of 19.7 t CO2 y-1

from biking activities.

Travelling focussed on changing behaviour predominantly of the adult commuters, both for work and leisure. The championing of TripshareBorders liftshare had a demonstrable impact both through survey results and membership of the online tripshare site. However, the lack of an easy logging or incentive-led reporting scheme has meant that a number of assumptions were made. These assumptions were already contained within our carbon savings spreadsheet so were not problematic.

The extension of ‘liftsharing’ to the Glentress and Inerleithen mountain biking visitors met with an extremely favourable response when a survey was conducted over a Saturday lunchtime in February. The implementation of this project is late in the funding period so cannot be reported, but keen biking volunteers and local business support, coupled with the hosting via our own website will allow for easy monitoring of the savings accrued.

This is a second important lesson – in that ownership of data and reporting structures negates the implicit difficulties in partnering national systems. The second major success was the schools liaison activities with Priorsford school, around the ‘bums on bikes’ theme. The school obtained the Cycle Friendly School Award for their efforts. Less success was met at other local schools, with a perception that safe (biking) routes were not available so a disincentive due to risk was perceived. In these cases Tweedgreen provided support to existing schemes such as Walk Once A Week (WOW) as this was seen as complimentary to the original bike-focussed scheme. Monitoring and reporting of WOW utilised hands-up survey techniques but only on two occasions, thereby potentially not providing robust monitoring due to the potential vagaries of season and weather.

The main finding of our car travelling activities is that individuals are still not yet fully engaged in removing the personal convenience aspects from their decision making. Finally the reporting of CO2

savings must be updated with the most recent and robust (DEFRA) values which are updated annually.

Energy: In our original CCF proposal, energy activities with households were estimated to provide savings of 70 t CO2 y-1: actual savings were 48.2t CO2 y-1 If we include the carbon savings as a result of the Tweeddale Free Insulation Scheme, the overall carbon saving in our community is 329.35t CO2.

Energy projects focussed on home energy management and improvement. The original plan was substantially altered in support of a SBC’s Tweeddale Free Insulation Scheme, which was announced in October 2010, 6 months after our CCF bid was approved. This highlighted both the importance of network development and assisted delivery, by ‘providing a local face and champion’. The home energy focus is successful because it targets financial savings, strongly underpinned by a climate change message. The personal service Tweedgreen has begun, in installing home energy monitors,

24

also opens up a route to conversations about all opportunities for individuals to improve both their carbon footprint and household finance. The hardware also provides easily attributable data on behaviour change.

Three examples of energy savings as a direct result of home visits by advisors from Tweedgreen to install energy monitors, with a total carbon saving of 6.21t CO2y are as follows:

1) A household that was experiencing very high electricity bills despite having a modern gas combi-boiler to heat the water and the rooms. Our trained advisor went into their home, filled in our questionnaire and checked the energy use of individual appliances using the monitor. It was discovered that there was an immersion heater in the loft space that they were not aware of which had been running for 24 hours per day. The estimated annual saving from finding this out and switching off the appliance is 3,999 KwHs which equates to 2.17t CO2 y

2) A mid-1950s four bedroom semi-detached house with 2 adults that used mostly coal in a multi-fuel boiler to heat 3 rooms and did not have any cavity wall insulation. Energy efficient light bulbs had been fitted except in one room used as a workshop and the house was double glazed throughout. An energy monitor was fitted and appliances checked for use, cavity wall insulation installation was arranged and the recommendation to change from using predominantly coal in the boiler to wood was taken up. There was an immediate 16% reduction in the electricity bill on the same period in the previous year and the same level of heating was achieved using wood alone. These measures will deliver a carbon saving of 2.8t CO2 y

3) An elderly couple with a 30 year old oil fired boiler that was no longer efficient. Whilst fitting an energy monitor the topic of their heating came up and their concerns about the amount of oil it was consuming was discussed. Tweedgreen’s advisor was able to alert them to a scheme for replacement boilers for over 70’s. They have subsequently had a new fuel-efficient boiler installed and the expected annual carbon emissions saving is 1.24t CO2 y

Food: In our original CCF proposal, food activities were estimated to save 67.7 t CO2 y-1: actual savings were 31.6t CO2 over a 4 month reporting period. With an assumed stickability of members of this project of 50%, annualised savings would be 64.2 t CO2 y-1

Food projects were the most successful of all our endeavours. This is perhaps surprising as local food choices do require a substantial commitment to behavioural change. The reasons for the success are most probably attributable to our food group being the most actively engaged with numerous volunteers. In our rural location the link between local food production, reduced transport and investment in local community and business has been regularly identified by individual who have engaged with these projects. Once again the value of web and survey based data collection was evident. We employed food diary logging on the Tweedgreen website with great success and this model for sign-up and reporting will be promoted across our future activities. Perhaps the most valuable lesson we have from the 11 month programme is the strength and desire in our community to promote local: local identity, local produce and local economy. This ‘civic pride’ was obviously in place prior to any Tweedgreen activities but it is seen as a priority for effective engagement to focus on the personal, local and community benefits of our activities. The success of projects is underpinned therefore by developing a social occasion around which to deliver the benefits of behavioural change and for imparting a wider community climate resilience message. For our efforts in 2011-12, for which we are truly delighted to have secured further funding, social occasion, fun, and championing the ‘local’ message will be fundamental.

Over the 2010-11 programme we also recognise that we have missed several opportunities to obtain baseline behavioural data and/or use open discourse as a means of gathering both qualitative and quantitative data. In order to improve in this regard we intend to develop a suite of monitoring strategies and methods, and make substantial use of our webspace as a focal point for exchange. From simple hands-up surveying, to group questionnaires at our public lectures through to weekend street-based volunteer engagement the reporting and monitoring can and will be improved.

25

D) Other Social, Economic and Environmental impacts – this could include healthier lifestyles, local training and employment, improved biodiversity etc.

The project has had the following additional benefits:

Social: health benefits of eating local, fresh food include reduced consumption of processed foods and animal fats. Growing your own food has benefits for health and wellbeing, through increasing physical activity and enjoyment of nature. Growing food is particularly beneficial to children, helping establish a positive attitude to eating vegetables as part of a balanced diet. Social cohesion has been enhanced: gardening is an activity for all ages and all sectors of the community. A reawakening of local traditional recipes has enhanced local identity and culture. Travel activities will improve help the health, safety and welfare of the community, aiming to reduce the risk of accidents, noise and congestion and to increase physical activity through reducing dependency on the car and increasing biking and walking. Volunteering opportunities have been provided through open participation in all activities. Training opportunities have also been provided: 5 community members received training to become voluntary Energy Advisors. Community engagement and ownership of the projects has been enhanced through a number of community consultations, including a baseline food and travel survey and through the external evaluation process, during which members of the community were requested to provide feedback on our work.

Economic: a cornerstone of our projects is supporting local producers and retailers, so that money is recycled within the community, local resilience is enhanced and our reliance on imports and fossil fuels is decreased. Travel initiatives encourage people to eliminate car journeys, reducing people’s fuel costs, and by encouraging people to commute less, more money will be retained in the local economy. More efficient energy use in homes and encouraging insulation measures helps the community save money on fuel bills.

Environmental: Eating local food reduces environmental damage in countries that produce commodities such as beef, soya and palm oil, used in processed foods. Buying local, and preferably organic, means food is grown in a sustainable way which helps the environment and biodiversity. Locally grown food is invariably ‘less packaged’ than alternatives. Sustainable travel initiatives aim to reduce the use of finite resources (fossil fuels), to reduce pollution and congestion.

E) Legacy of the project – what has the project set up which will continue into the future, what will be happening next year? The year after? In ten years?

In the 2 years since its inception, Tweedgreen has galvanised support for environmental and sustainability issues in our community. A group of committed volunteers has evolved rapidly into a community based organisation, incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee, with Scottish Government funding, paid staff and a core of dedicated, skilled and professional volunteers. Working in conjunction with Hillside Agency, Tweedgreen has developed a recognisable brand, colourful, visual promotional materials and innovative campaigns which have served to raise our profile and recognition within our community. Our website is developing into a hub for information provision. We are contacted regularly by members of the community on a wide range of issues. As Tweedgreen starts to provide evidence of success of its campaigns, we hope to generate further credibility within our community, increase our membership and raise our profile further, at local and national level.

The projects implemented by Tweedgreen have revolved around provision of information to make environmentally sustainable choices in the domain of energy, food and travel. The projects have started to generate awareness about ways to live in a more sustainable, low carbon manner, as shown by the numerous surveys that have been carried out. The surveys equally reveal that some of our messages are being translated into behaviour change, particularly in increased local food consumption, increased car sharing and increased awareness about home energy efficiency.

26

Tweedgreen is helping to generate an awareness that we can all make a difference in our daily lives by adopting simple changes. This awareness raising will have a lasting legacy in those that have been touched by our messages.

Tweedgreen has worked closely with local businesses, producers and retailers, who have been encouraged and supported by Tweedgreen’s central message of supporting the local economy to promote resilience. This has also resulted in a reinforced sense of local cultural identity.

Tweedgreen’s Food Group is working to identify local land available for growing local food, with a number of successful initiatives, including 4 community gardens donated by the local butchers, Forsyths, and a successful gardenshare scheme. We will be working in close partnership with Traquair House to develop 6 local allotments and a community garden. We are also working with Forestry Commission to secure land for allotments near the village of Cardrona. These schemes, that provide land for growing food, will provide a long lasting legacy to our community.

Tweedgreen is delighted to have successfully secured CCF funding for April 2011-March 2012 to continue and expand our work. Under our CCF2 project, Tweedgreen will carry out the following activities:

FOOD

Land use survey – to identify primary and secondary producers in the Border who export produce that can be retained in our community, increasing resilience through re-localisation. Potential land for growing will also be identified

Food events promoting climate friendly food choices – including 6 village lunches, campaigns and cookery workshops

Growing food – lobbying to obtain further land for growing local food & 4 courses in beginners gardening

Reducing food waste – working with local schools using the Kitchen Canny methodology

ENERGY

Insulation and energy use analysis clinics – drop in sessions for the community to find out about energy saving measures

TRAVEL

Low carbon travel campaign – encouraging people to sign up to low carbon travel for a specified number of days per month, using the model of our local food challenge

Green transport plan – a travel survey will be carried out to develop a community led sustainable transport plan

Green travel guide – produce a guide providing sustainable travel information Cycle path feasibility study – a feasibility study will be carried out to allow continuous

access along the River Tweed to cyclists and pedestrians

COMMUNICATION and LIAISON

Carbon conversations – extend our outreach in the community through adopting the Carbon Conversations model to promote personal carbon emissions reduction

Baseline survey and low carbon strategy – a brief baseline survey will be carried out, with analysis of existing qualitative information to obtain a definitive carbon footprint and help develop a short and medium term strategy

Website and media – we will enhance our website and expand our press coverage

All of these activities will have a lasting legacy in our community.

27

Tweedgreen’s objectives are inherently long term in nature: a greener Tweeddale, community resilience, sustainable lifestyles and behaviour change are all long term undertakings. The members of the community who are involved are passionate about these issues and will continue to dedicate their time, skills and enthusiasm to this overarching vision. The work of Tweedgreen will continue well into the future. In order to ensure Tweedgreen’s long term financial viability, we are currently exploring our options to obtain a reliable, long term income stream.

Tweedgreen is actively engaged in discussions regarding the development of opportunities for community owned renewable energy systems (Wind & Hydro). One such proposal ‘Spurlens Rig’ has recently been submitted to SBC. Another large scheme is proposed at Cloich Forest, a development on the Forestry Commission estate. Through discussion with members of Eddleston Community Council, which were facilitated by Georgy Davis of Community Energy Scotland, it is evident that and appetite exists for community led negotiation for renewable energy resources. A mid-term goal of Tweedgreen is to erect a community turbine development. Assuming this occurred outwith existing forestry and on low-carbon containing soil two turbines would deliver a net GHG benefit of around 5000 t CO2 y-1, with the site delivering net benefit 3.6 years after construction. Over an average 25 year lifespan, a net CO2 benefit of 125000 t CO2 would accrue. Tweedgreen are leading a consortium of local groups to engage with the Forestry Commission Renewables development team, and Partnership for Renewables (FC commercial development partner in Scottish Borders), which has identified Cloich Forest in the Tweeddale catchment as a priority location.

We will also explore options for diversifying income streams, including community windfarm ownership, continuing to submit funding applications to a variety of donors and exploring the potential of establishing community based social enterprises with key strategic partners.

F) Lessons Learned

Reducing carbon in our project management

Tweedgreen endeavours to minimise our environmental impact in all aspects of our work. We use recycled paper and natural based inks on all of our publicity materials and publications. All members and Project Coordinators car share to meetings and events where possible. One Project Coordinator cycles to work on a regular basis (weather permitting!).

We have incorporated a clause on “no flights unless absolutely necessary” into our travel policy, following the Project Coordinator’s experience of attending a training event in London in November 2010. The article “Confessions of a Carbon Addict” (Appendix 7) was written, circulated to our mailing list and uploaded onto our website relating to this experience, outlining the challenges of changing behaviour to a lower carbon lifestyle.

SWOT Analysis

Tweedgreen undertook an internal evaluation of our work on 16th March 2011 to identify lessons learned. We carried out a Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis. The results of this analysis are outlined in Appendix 8.

Evaluation feedback

Suggestions for areas for future improvement include:

Reach out to a wider range of people Publicise sub-group meetings to encourage new members Try to increase media coverage in other press/publications, including Southern Reporter –

increase one off news articles and features Vary the Peeblesshire News column and add photos

28

Other Key Lessons Learned

The value of advertising, brand, clarity of message and the importance of active outreach in capturing local interest.

The value of championing a local focus and dialogue, with carbon savings as a strong underpinning message.

The importance of ‘social occasion’ and the power of food initiatives to entice participation. Public interest in saving money in addition to ‘saving Carbon’. The value of working collaboratively with local groups and organisations with similar aims and

commitments to enhance community cohesion and coherence.

Post Script

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Climate Challenge Fund for allocating further funding for the continuation of our work in 2011/12. We would particularly like to thank our CCF Development Officer, Aphra Morrison, for her invaluable support and expertise.

29