Energy and heat - Collective Action

Energy and Heat - Vision

What if East Lothian could have buildings which are energy efficient and affordably warmed, and own the means of generating and distributing energy and heat, with the profits enhancing community wealth and social equity? 

What do we mean by Energy and Heat?

Energy includes the electricity that powers modern life, industries, homes, and the digital economy. Heat, as a subset of energy, sustains life and comfort, and accounts for nearly half of the world’s energy demand (while contributing more than 40% of global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions). In Scotland, heat is primarily used for residential and commercial heating, water heating, and industrial processes. The transition to sustainable energy and heat systems is essential to achieving climate targets, with renewable energy, efficiency, and heat decarbonisation at the forefront of this transformation. 

We are collectively working towards a vision which includes

  • Replacing fossil fuels with renewable sources, also known as ‘decarbonisation.’
  • Upgrading insulation and otherwise retrofitting all homes and businesses, to prevent wasteful heat loss
  • Transitioning to electrified heat systems, such as heat pumps and district heating.
  • Ensuring the highest possible percentage of community ownership of the infrastructure that enables the above, so as to maximise community wealth and social equity

The picture below is indicative of the carbon footprint of various sources, tracking changes from 1990 to 2022. Although there is still much work to do to reduce our greenhouse emissions, it is okay to allow ourselves to celebrate the progress that we have made to date.

East Lothian’s energy landscape reflects both opportunities and challenges. The region relies heavily on gas, with residential heating predominantly powered by natural gas. Key concerns include:

  • Housing Stock Challenges: Many homes in East Lothian are older, with lower energy efficiency, making retrofitting essential but complex.
  • Fuel Poverty: A significant proportion of residents experience fuel poverty, worsened by fluctuating energy prices.
  • Decarbonisation Needs: Transitioning to low-carbon heating solutions like air-source heat pumps and district heating systems is essential but difficult to fund.
  • Skills Gaps: As a result of the lack of centralised government funding and incentives for homes and businesses to decarbonise their heating supply, East Lothian’s workforce does not include enough workers skilled in doing the work needed to accomplish the solutions available. We can only incentivise the acquisition of these skills if it makes good business sense for companies and contractors to do so.  

There is a growing shift toward renewable energy in Scotland, with much of the infrastructure based in and around East Lothian. For example, East Lothian is seeing investments in offshore and onshore wind and solar PV installations. However, these schemes often have limited levels of community ownership. The East Lothian Climate Hub advocates for (in order of priority):

  • True Community Ownership of Renewable Energy Generation: The benefits of energy being locally created, owned, distributed, and used are profoundly transformative to communities. As much as 32x more revenue was generated by a Western Isles’ community-owned wind farm in Point & Sandwick, compared to a ‘traditional’ commercial development. However, these schemes take large amounts of capital to fund, and face challenges connecting to the grid. Learn more from Community Energy Scotland
  • Shared Ownership of Renewable Energy Generation: This could potentially give community groups the chance to make an investment in a commercially owned renewable energy project. Learn more from Local Energy Scotland.
  • Maximising the Impact of Community Benefits: Community benefits are voluntary benefits which renewable energy developers provide to local communities, outside of the planning and licensing processes. You can learn more about it from a variety of sources including the Scottish Government. We suggest that Climate Resilience, Adaptation, and Mitigation activities would be an appropriate priority for these available funds.

Despite some advancements, the potential for community renewable energy generation, community ownership, and sustainable heat solutions is under-realised. There is also significant controversy in East Lothian regarding the impact of renewable energy developments on local biodiversity, agriculture, and the wellbeing of communities that have to cope with these large industrial infrastructure projects.

Early on in the establishment of the National Climate Action Hub Programme, a number of Hub staff convened and realised that our remit to ensure that communities are influencing policy would require national-level alignment, especially in the Energy and Heat theme. In August of 2024 we facilitated an Energy Design Sprint to determine in what ways collaborative action could maximise our impact. The outcomes are represented by these four themes:

CREATE: The percentage of truly community owned Energy in Scotland is abysmally low, less than 1% of total energy generation. The benefits of energy being locally created, owned, distributed, and used are profoundly transformative to communities. As much as 32x more revenue was generated by a Western Isles’ community-owned wind farm in Point & Sandwick, compared to a ‘traditional’ commercial development. We believe that enabling more community owned Energy in Scotland is a key element of the Climate Action Hub Programme ensuring a just transition to Net Zero. 

Our vision for Community Energy Projects is that by 2045 every town, village, or community council catchment/ward in Scotland owns the infrastructure to generate and/or store their own renewable energy and heat for domestic and community buildings; to meet their energy needs and provide an income for their communities directly. 

SAVE: An essential aspect of a Just Transition to Net Zero is retrofitting existing buildings to be more energy efficient, which improves health and wellbeing, reduces fuel poverty, and reduces carbon emissions. At present, there is a lack of leadership and no national plan for retrofit. Communities are moving forward into this space with community led retrofit academies springing up, such as NESFIT, and a desire for community led mass retrofit housing projects, alongside the more usual retrofit of community buildings. These innovative projects have the potential to lead the way and be demonstrator projects that commercial retrofit projects and training and education providers can learn from, build upon, and work in partnership with. They are, however, currently finding it difficult to get funding. The Climate Action Hub Programme should work at a strategic level to help push for a national retrofit plan with the communities’ needs at its heart, and community-led retrofit being supported, resourced, and incorporated as an integral part of its delivery. 

ENABLE: Hubs are tasked to ensure that ‘local communities are empowered to be involved in and influence policy and decision-making.’ This is crucial, as community climate action faces 

  • Policies that are barriers to effective energy-themed climate action
  • Often over-consulted communities that get frustrated when they don’t see change coming from their consultations
  • A lack of enablers or incentives to get communities involved in often complex and time intensive energy-themed community climate action initiatives  

Influencing policy at the local level is ongoing. However, many of the policies relevant to energy are at a national level, and influencing policy at that level is an incredibly complex system. Hub staff are not necessarily trained in this, but many outside of the Programme are stepping up as advocates and allies in helping us understand when, where, how, and with whom to influence national energy policies; to enable and incentivise community-based energy climate action.

ALIGN: The Energy Design Sprint represented our ambition and priorities at a single moment in time. The work, however, will be ongoing; it will need to be able to pivot based on changes to the landscape and requirements. In the future, the Hubs will need to be able to make decisions collaboratively on upcoming opportunities related to the Energy theme (and others), swiftly.

The Energy Design Sprint provided a structured platform for the Hubs and partners to collaboratively explore innovative solutions. We are meeting regularly to develop and implement plans to achieve the above goals. This work will continue to emphasise the critical role of community climate action in achieving energy and heat decarbonisation at scale. This collaborative work is beginning to inform both national strategies and the ongoing work of the East Lothian Climate Hub and others across Scotland.

 

The East Lothian Climate Hub is developing a dynamic, strategic approach to addressing energy and heat challenges, combining grassroots engagement with strategic alignment to the above goals of the national Climate Action Hub Programme. Key priorities include:

  • Fundraising: The Hub is actively applying for additional funding, in collaboration with other groups, and through a variety of funding routes, to secure a Community Energy and Heat Development team. 
  • Policy Influence, Advocacy and Partnerships: The Hub works closely with East Lothian Council, Community Energy Scotland, and other organisations to align efforts, including on the East Lothian LHEES and collaborative energy and heat projects.
  • Empowering Communities: The Hub aims to actively support community groups to explore full and shared ownership of renewable energy projects, including solar and wind.
  • Heat Transition Support: With a focus on reducing fuel poverty, the Hub is piloting initiatives to raise awareness about and support adoption of low-carbon heat solutions, such as heat pumps and district heating. 
  • Supporting Retrofit Projects: Our Scaling Community Heat Teams initiative, funded by the Tyne & Esk Local will play a central role in delivering practical support.
  • Education and Awareness: Round table learning sessions, demonstrator events, a Community Energy and Heat working group, and policy-influencing campaigns are being rolled out to facilitate collective action towards energy and heat decarbonisation, efficiency, and community ownership.
  • Collective Action to improve home and business insulation: The Hub has supported the establishment of Community Heat Teams (by scaling out the model seen in West Linton) by distributing nine sophisticated thermal heat cameras (funded by Scottish Ministers in conjunction with the Tyne & Esk Local Action Group). These cameras have now been distributed and communities across East Lothian are being trained to conduct free Community Heat Team Surveys.

If you are interested in joining a Community Heat Team, or booking a free Heat Team survey, please contact the closest community climate action group which has received the hardware and doing the work.

  • Sustaining Musselburgh 
  • Garvald & Morham Climate Action
  • Climate Action East Linton
  • Sustaining Dunbar
  • Insulate Innerwick

In the face of the climate crisis, the East Lothian Climate Hub aims to inspire, drive, enable, and connect local action and community empowerment in the Energy and Heat Theme, supporting the county’s resilience and ensuring equitable access to clean, affordable energy and heat.

 Home Energy Scotland: Advice, tips and support on energy and renewables at home, certified local renewable installers and funding options.

ChangeWorks: ChangeWorks is the local delivery parter in East Lothian for Home Energy Scotland. Energy saving advice, financial support and retrofitting advice including EcoCosi, the retrofit service for homeowners.

The Wise Group: Home Energy Advice Service: Free, impartial energy advice through the phone and occasional home visits.

Community Energy Scotland: Supporting community renewable projects.

West Lothian College retrofit courses: Skills Centre for Sustainable Living’s retrofitting and energy efficiency training.

Heat Hack: A programme of group sessions and materials for use in community buildings to save energy.

Business Energy Scotland: Free support and energy assessments for businesses to save money and information about the SME loan scheme.

West Linton’s Community Heat Team: Teams set up to conduct heat surveys in the local community, create Heat Survey Reports for households, and make referrals for further advice and support.

Brighton and Rosefield Energy Efficient Home Association: Residents coming together to retrofit their homes collectively, saving costs and sharing the mental load.

Loco Home Retrofit Glasgow based Cooperative: A cooperative of householders, contractors and advisers promoting energy efficiency within homes.

People Powered Retrofit: An initiative in Manchester offering a service for householders to help them plan, procure and deliver their home retrofit; and working with those who deliver retrofitting

NESFIT: NESFIT’s work in the North East of Scotland provides a Retrofit coordination service from house energy assessment, assistance in finding contractors and monitoring after installation.

Interested in getting more involved? E-mail the East Lothian Climate Hub Manager and Energy and Heat Theme Lead Bobby at bobby@eastlothianclimatehub.org for any questions, comments, or if you would like to volunteer and get more involved with collective action in this theme across East Lothian.