School Visits still ‘a big hit’ with the children

The team from StAndEN revisited Lawhead Primary School. The Primary 5’s listened to a Renewable Presentation and took part in practical demonstrations showing how the different renewable technologies worked. This was done using an S Cube and varied solar toys to demonstrate. Unfortunately the weather was not at it’s best to show off the wind technologies to their best.

Again on Monday 22^nd April, Lawheads P5’s invited us back to talk about Insulation and to test what they remembered about the previous meeting we had with them. The children responded very well and the team were impressed with their enthusiasm and keenness to learn and to ask questions. All enjoyed the presentation and particularly the practical demonstration and question time before the bell went.

Lack of Sunshine did not dull the Renewable and Energy Presentation at CANONGATE PRIMARY SCHOOL.

StAndEN’s Project Manager, Jane Kell, spoke to the primary 1 to 3 on Energy. The Energy talk was geared toward the younger age groups. Participation in answering the questions was high and the subject matter was understood by all. Two of the classmates volunteered to be dressed up in front of their classmates. They were to pretend they were houses and the dress up showed the children how houses should be INSULATED.

A different presentation, this time on RENEWABLES was carried out with the P4-5’s and then the P6-7’s. The presentation in both cases was broken up half way through with a practical look at how electricity can be made from light, demonstrating how solar photo voltaic panels work and using the S Cube gave examples of what the electric could power from a small PV. The children enjoyed the examples shown but it has to be said the sun was nowhere to be seen and disallowed the items requiring more voltage to be shown working. Before leaving the teacher asked if we could come back and do a more in depth talk with more examples when the weather improved.

SAVE MONEY NOW BY BEING PART OF SCOTLANDS BULK BUY SCHEME FOR GAS & ELECTRICITY

RECOMMENDED BY STANDEN

Scots Together is a free collective energy switching initiative that’s open to everyone in Scotland. It’s easy to join in and could save you money on your energy bills. A deal has already been negotiated with the supplier, so you’ll see instantly how much you could save. In addition to the collective deal the website will also show you the best market tariff for you for a fixed rate, a variable rate and the best greener tariff too. If you’re already on the best tariff we’ll tell you that too. There is no obligation, so there is nothing to lose by checking. It’s only open until the 17^th March, so act now to see how much you could save.

 How it works:

1. Grab a recent energy bill then go online to scotstogether.com
2. Enter your details and have a look at the deal organised by getting lots of people like you together to bulk buy electricity and gas. The more people that sign up, the better the deal becomes. If there’s a different deal that’s better for you or you’re already on the best possible price then we’ll be sure to let you know. We’ll also offer an option for energy from a more sustainable source.

1. Decide whether to switch or not. There is no obligation. If you would like to switch you’ll need to accept the offer by 17 March 2013.
2. Pass it on and don’t forget to tell your family and friends! The more people that sign up, the better the deal for everyone.

If you’d rather talk to an advisor first or you want to refer someone that doesn’t have internet access, we also have a freephone advice line – 0800 408 015.

Get Together= Save Money. Pass It On.

Boarhills & Dunino Community Council invite StAndEN to give a short talk as part of their monthly meeting

Project Manager, Jane Kell gave a brief talk to the community on the services StAndEN provide and advice on energy saving tips and the Green Deal and Fuel Switching.

Energy Efficiency Event at Kingsbarns Village Hall

Tuesday 26^th February the StAndEN team took over Kingsbarns village hall from 2pm till 8pm. The event was open to all and had been well advertised within the community.

Kingsbarns has a very mixed population of permanent residents and holiday lets within the community so it was a little bit uncertain as to how the day would pan out. The good news is that curiousity soon brought the locals in and before we knew where we were the event was over.

The StAndEN team were able to give advice to all that came along and all were invited to a cup of tea and a chat with an energy advisor. The day turned out a success with a few visits to follow up on and some referals for Loft Insulation and helpful advice given on energy bills.

School Visits ‘a big hit’ with the children

From January through to April/May StAndEN have been visiting as many local schools within the KY16 area presenting talks on a variety of subjects which all link into a ‘sustainable project’ within their school curriculum.

StAndEN have adopted two new mascots to their team who have been introduced to all the school children during our visits with them. The challenge for the children is to give our two friends a name linking their name to the subjects covered. StAndEN plan to review all names suggested to them by the children and to officially name them by summer time.

In January we visited Lawhead School delivering presentations on Renewables to both P5’s and P6 classes. Tying in with their projects in their curriculum ” Energy Sources and Sustainability Challenge”

We also visited Canongate School where we worked with Linda Birtwhistle (Head Teacher) to cover projects with the three schools Kingsbarns and Dunino which are also under her wing.

In February we attended Greyfriars School delivering an Energy Efficiency presentation to the class of P5

Also in February we did similar presentations, on separate days to Kingsbarns and Dunino primary schools. The children enjoying the interaction with the dress ups (pretending to be houses) and playing with the S Cube understanding how Solar Electricity works and seeing what it could power.

In early March the team took on all the classes at Guardbridge Primary school incorporating pupils from their sister school Largo Ward primary school. Presentations on both Insulation and renewables were carried out to all the classes throughout the day gearing them for the varied classes. The children all came over as very interested and in many cases very knowledgeable on the subject matter. This the team found was the same for every school we attended.

COSMOS LIGHTS UP

St Andrews Environmental Network were delighted to contribute low energy light bulbs to the Cosmos Centre St Andrews as a help towards further reducing their energy bills. Established in 1971, the Cosmos aims to support community education and provide facilities for recreation, sport and leisure for people of all ages in St Andrews and the surrounding areas.  The Centre is open to everyone.
The Cosmos is no different from any of the householders in St Andrews who are having to cope with ever rising fuel costs. StAndEN staff have been visiting the Cosmos Centre offering advice to the centres users and were delighted to be able to assist the Cosmos Centre at the same time.

ATTENTION KY16

Your local energy advisors bring to your attention the following information about what we have been doing since our new project started in March.

Firstly, a slight name change. Originally known as St Andrews Energy Network, this has changed to St Andrews Environmental Network.

StAndEN have engaged with the local primary schools and are embarking on energy projects with head teachers that will fit in with this years curriculum. The energy team are very keen to show off a dolls house that has been specially designed to allow children to change the rooms from non energy efficient to energy efficient.

The KY16 area is a large area to cover but many of you will have already received a letter through your insulated or non insulated letter box inviting you to invite us to visit you in your homes and carry out an energy audit for you and advise on how best you can reduce your energy costs, your carbon footprint and offer information of how this can be done. Many clients have already pledged to adopt new behavioural habits to reduce their energy useage and allow our advisors to follow up on.

StAndEN’s office is in the local council office in St Mary’s Place and is open to all on a Wednesday afternoon from 2.00 pm till 4.30 pm. Just call in and have a chat with us or leave a message on our phone 01334 659315. We will get back to you.

We attended THE BIG TENT in Falkland along with Transition St Andrews where we spent two fun days talking to interested folks from all over and were able to help a number of people on home insulation and other energy issues.

In June St Andrews Environmental Network opened up our own Facebook account which we thought more accessible to the younger generation. Do have a look at it when you have time.

Working with Transition we have done a studied walk of some of the Core Paths in StAndrews. Looking at where improvements can be made and mapping where they are so that locals can make better use of them. This project hopes to promote good health and reduce car use in the town.

Renewables are of great interest to us and we want to ensure that all home owners that are interested in installing renewables are aware of what they should be looking for. Our team are all knowledgeable about each type of renewable, their advantages, disadvantages and what to check for before installation. We advise you talk to us before going ahead.

We are currently trying to collate the savings home owners have made after installing Solar Photo Voltaic Panels in our area that we know of. We plan to produce information on that at a later date and if this is of interest to you please contact us on standen2010@btinternet.com.

Transition and StAndEN will be very active during Freshers week.

StAndEN have branched out and are now delivering an energy efficiency project in Glenrothes. This project is known as Save Energy Glenrothes and will be working with households and schools in that area hoping to reduce home energy bills.

Our clients interested in Carbon Conversations, Reducing Food Waste, Recycling, Home Composting, Community Gardens are being referred to Transition and will hear through time where these meetings will take place.

Our team are on hand to carry out home energy chats with you and help you reduce your energy bills. All you have to do is just pick up the telephone and make the call to 01334 659315. We shall take it from there.

StAndEN in Partnership with Direct Savings and St Andrews University.

Project Infranomic

Some time ago StAndEN became aware of a new heating system called Infranomic and of the low consumption of electricity it used. Problem was we had no where to test it, that is, till recently. We found a home that had storage heating and high in electricity consumption, the house is well insulated and has no draughts and is ideal for such a project. We approached this client along with the company Direct Savings who agreed to install a free system worth 5K in our clients home. This is about to take place soon and when installed we shall be monitoring it very closely to find out what savings are made. While this is happening our partners, the University, have pinpointed three university linked properties to do an in depth study of the energy consumption in each one, one being gas central heating, another storage heating and the third storage being converted to infranomic heating. We are all, to say the least, very excited to learn the results from this joint project. We shall keep you posted.

The picture shows our client testing out the heater prior to installation.

StAndEN and FRESHERS WEEK

Freshers week was in full swing, and StAndEN and Transition St Andrews and other Communities could be found working together in the Students Union. It is so important that todays’ students get off to the best start when moving from home to their own flat or University accommodation.

StAndEN’s main part at Freshers was to explain to new students how to work towards not receiving any high energy bills in their privately rented properties, and how to learn new energy saving habits and stick to them and hopefully result in reduced energy bills. An open invitation was given to all new students spoken to by our advisors, an invitation to invite us now, or in the months to come to their flat/accommodation and show them how best to use their heating controls, reduce draughts, keep warm and save money. Our advisors on duty, handed out tips, thermometers, information on reading meters, shower timers, book marks and a number to contact us for advice in the future.

The attached pictures show St Andrews Communities working together.