“A bit over a year ago I decided to put my head above the parapet and volunteer my time to explore the possibility of a green energy source for East Linton”

2021: A bit over a year ago I decided to put my head above the parapet and volunteer my time to explore the possibility of a green energy source for East Linton. After initial exploration, speaking to various people and organisations, I realised I would need help. Julia Edmonds kindly came forward to join me. Even then we knew just exploring the idea of a wind turbine, say, would be a massive task.

Julia suggested we start with a more manageable project and look at trying to make East Linton Community Hall as energy efficient as possible. Liz Dorrian was keen to help us (Liz and Julia are on the hall committee ). Liz had a report from a previous energy efficiency  survey and technical drawings of the Hall. This information was a very useful starting point for us.

We had two new up-to-date surveys carried out on the Hall; the most in depth was carried out by “Be Green Dunbar“. The surveys identified several areas that could improve the energy efficiency of the hall.

There are several actions that need to be completed before we can move forward and come to a decision about what the course of action should be. Any decisions on alterations to the hall will be decided by the Hall Committee.

Sustaining Dunbar kindly came and gave a presentation at one of the CAEL meetings. They gave us a some useful contacts for possible future grants and funding.

In between times David Metzer and Neil Armstrong have joined us on the sub group. However we would also welcome anyone who feels they could help us achieve our goals. Someone who has grant funding application experience would be useful to the sub group. 

Like many other areas of life the Covid 19 restrictions have prevented us progressing with the outstanding actions. We are now in the process of hopefully getting things moving once again!

Updates: February 2022

After many meetings, surveys, quotes and expert advice, the renewable energy sub group have made some progress. Like many of these types of projects we discovered there was much more too it than we first thought.

East Linton Community Hall has been the target of our efforts so far and will continue to be so for the time being. Towards the end of last year we managed to have the upstairs hall roof space insulated and the bar and storage area windows double glazed.

The insulation was supplied by Sisaltech a company based in Roslin Mid Lothian. The insulation contains sisal a plant grown sustainably and ethically by African farmers. When the sisal arrives here the fibres are then mixed with waste Harris tweed fibres. We installed the insulation ourselves.

The double glazing was supplied and fitted by a Lothian’s company called Project Glass. The double glazing was fitted into the existing wooden frames as the windows are covered by the preservation status on the hall.

We are currently looking at LED lighting, thermal fire doors, quotes for large hall double glazing, funding sources and heat regeneration units.

Last year Tim Hetherington and Pete Felton join our team, their knowledge and enthusiasm will be a great addition to the sub group.