Sixteen Years & 16 Answers to Green Eigg Questions

Posted on June 12, 2013 by isleofeigg

Today, 12th June 2013, is the 16th anniversary of the community buying the Isle of Eigg.  Over those 16 years, there’s been a huge amount of positive developments, not least of which on the ‘green’ front.

To celebrate, here’s the answer to sixteen things you might not know about Eigg.

1.    On average, how much electricity does Eigg household use by comparison to a household on the mainland?

Answer – in 2008, when Eigg Electric was first switched on – Eigg’s average annual electricity use per household was 2,160 kWh, compared to a UK average of 4,198 kWh.  Demand hasn’t increased significantly over the five years the system has been operating

2.    How much less plastic do Eigg people collect in their domestic rubbish than people elsewhere in Scotland?

Answer: Eigg people, plus their visitors, produces 70% less plastic in their household waste than the Scottish average.

3.    Over the last 12 months, what % of the electricity generated by Eigg Electric was renewable?

Answer:    Over the last 12 months 83%
Year 1 95%
Year 2. 75%
Year 3. 85%
Over 4 years Eigg Electricity has been 85% renewable

4.    By what % did Eigg reduce its carbon emissions by to win the Big Green Challenge?

Answer: 47%

5.    By how much did 1000 litres of heating oil, used in some Eigg homes, increase by over the last 3 years?

Answer:    an increase of 52%

January 2010 – £444.15
Feb 2013  -  £672

6.    How many cars does WestWheels Car Club  have?

Answer: Three

7.    If you added the generating capacity of the wind turbines, hydros and PV together, what is the capacity of the system in kWs (kilowatts)?

Answer: 164kW now, 184kW once the 20kW of new PV panels are installed in the summer of 2013.

8.    What month do mackerel first appear in the seas around Eigg?

Answer: Usually May,  but they have been caught as early as April.

9.    How many people on Eigg have solar hot water systems?

Answer: 12 houses (27%) and 2 businesses.

10.    How many households on Eigg keep hens?

Answer: 14 (31%)

11.    At the current rate of consumption, how many years’ worth of firewood is currently growing in Eigg’s biggest forestry plantation?

Answer: approx. 50 years

12.    Name 3 countries people have come from to find out about Eigg Electric.

Answers can include: Colombia, Ecuador, Canada, England, Ireland, France, Germany, India, Nigeria, Greece, Spain, Kenya, Ghana and many more

13.    How many people on Eigg own a bike?

Answer: 38  (38%)

14.    How many households have a poly tunnels to grow food on Eigg?

Answer: fifteen.    Many people also have a veg patch.

15.    How many trees are in the community orchard?

Answer: 95

16.    How many months of the year do Sue & Neil at Eigg Organics eat from their own crop of potatoes?

Answer: Usually all 12

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Volunteer Day

Posted on June 1, 2013 by isleofeigg

FAMILY VOLUNTEER DAY

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Easter Monday Craft & Produce Fair

Posted on March 18, 2013 by isleofeigg

Microsoft Word - Easter Craft Fair poster2013.doc

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Sustainability Courses at Earth Connections 2013

Posted on February 7, 2013 by isleofeigg

Lots of new courses announced for 2013 at Eigg’s Earth Connections Sustainability Centre

10% Discount if you book by the 31st March 2013 

5% Discount if you travel here by public or eco transport!

1. What on Earth? An Introduction to Green Living , 30 March – 2 April 

2. Low Energy Living, 6 – 13 April    

3. Reconnecting with Nature 27 – 30 April  

4. DIY Renewable Energy, 4 – 7 May 

5. Fun with Nature 11 – 21 May 

6. Beekeeping for Beginners, 25 – 28 May

7. Practical Green Living, 1 – 8 June

8. Ecorenovation in Action 15 – 20 June  

9. DIY Renewable Energy, 22 – 25 June

10.  What on Earth? An Introduction to Green Living  6 – 9 July

11. Eco Escapes 13 – 20 July

12. The ‘Good Life’ Experience 27 July – 10 August

13. Eco Escapes 17 – 24 August

14. Greening your NGO 31 August – 7 Sep

15. Food Glorious Food! 7 – 10 Sep

16. Human Ecology in Practise 14 – 17 Sep

17. International Voluntary Service (IVS) Workcamp 21- 28 Sep

For more information about Earth Connections Sustainability Centre, go to their website http://www.earthconnections.co.uk

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Voluntary Opportunities 2013

Posted on February 7, 2013 by isleofeigg

Are you interested in volunteering? How about on the Isle of Eigg?Image

The Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust offers a variety of different volunteering opportunities from April to August. We invite you to spend time working with the community to improve the island’s natural environment, complete essential conservation tasks, monitoring and practical projects. You can expect to carry out tasks like beach cleans, marine litter monitoring, litter picking, bramble & bracken management, herb garden weeding, natural regeneration management, helping with community events and ceilidhs or if you can bring a specific skill to the island then please let us know in you application form. We are looking for enthusiastic caring folk that work well as part of a team and at times will be without supervision so it is essential that you are self motivated and can work independently. A very small nominal fee of £15/wk is asked for to cover household running costs only. If requested, references can be written for you after your period volunteering with us. Volunteers make an enormous contribution to the island of which residents are eternally grateful. Accommodation is provided by the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust in Tigh Corraigh a semi detached house situated in Cleadale on the northwest side of the island approx 4 miles from the pier. For an application form, further information or queries please contact volunteer@isleofeigg.net or for more information on the island look at www.isleofeigg.net

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Wave Wonder – the renewable energy solution generating electricity every day of the year!

Posted on June 1, 2012 by isleofeigg

Eigg Primary School pupils have been busy creating a wave powered generator designed to produce safe and renewable electricity.   It’s called Wave Wonder.  And a wonder it is; Eigg Primary have reached the final of the Junior Saltire Prize, organised through the SCDI.

With the Wave Wonder, electricity is generated when a magnet slides through copper wires wrapped around an inner tube containing a magnet.  The complete generator is sealed in a strong protective outer tube.  In between the two tubes there is a bulb to show electricity has been made; two red LEDs light up when electricity is being generated.

Movement of the waves will move the magnet.   As the weight of the magnet can cause Wave Wonder to sink, the design includes the construction of a raft to maintain buoyancy.  The raft will be attached to either the sides of the test tank or to permanent fixtures on the seabed.

The pupils used a fish tank filled with water to which different shapes, sizes and types of materials worked best when waves passed through.  After testing lots of different shapes, they decided to use a snake design, but they also looked at the design of a shake-torch (Faraday torch) to help understand the concept of the electromagnetic induction.    They spent £56.09 on materials to build their test wave generator.

The advantages of Wave Wonder are:

  • It does not make carbon dioxide.
  • It will not run out of waves
  • There is lots of sea around Britain.
  • Northern Scotland is windy
  • Wave Wonder has rubber stoppers so will not be noisy.
  • There is no metal in the design which can rust.
  • It produces no waste.
  • No harm to wildlife.
  • Its simple design means it is low maintenance and all its electronics are self contained.
  • It is cheap to make and it does not ruin a view.

Wave Wonder was designed by Struan, Erin, Murry, Heather, Hannah, Mia and Logan. Struan, Erin, Murry and Heather developed those design ideas through to the plans for final submission to the competition.  Together they all did a lot of discussing and had meetings at the end of each session to see what everyone had done in the lesson. They also worked in partners and trios and always included everyone when making important decisions.

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Eigg households collect 70% less plastic waste than Scottish average.

Posted on April 10, 2012 by isleofeigg

ISLE OF EIGG DOMESTIC PLASTIC WASTE SURVEY  – 18TH to 25TH MARCH

  • There are 43 households on Eigg.
  • 37 households were on the island during the survey week
  • 26 of those 37 households took part in survey week (70% participation) and collected 12.15kg of plastic.
  • 21% (2.55kg)of plastic collected is currently recyclable by Highland Council.  (PET & HDPE)

No.

Weight grams

% currently recyclable
Milk Carton – 2.272Ltr/4 Pints

31

1270

100%
Milk Carton – 568Ml/1 Pint

38

630

100%
Plastic bottles (4 non recyclable)

46

1990

91%
Carrier bags (3 from Eigg Shop, all other from mainland shops)

29

320

50%
Beer can 4 ring plastic holders

17

20

0%
Animal Feed bags

7

710

0%
General food wrapping (non rigid plastic)

1980

0%
Plastic food tray (rigid plastic)

1690

12%
Yoghurt & margarine pots, their lids & milk carton lids

1010

13%
Postal/delivery plastic packaging

1850

0%
Oddities (e.g. cycle helmet)

680

0%

Total      .

12150g

21%
No. of households on Eigg

43
No. of households on Eigg present during survey

37
No. of households participating in survey

26
% of households present taking part in survey

70%
 Eigg Households per week       
Total grams plastic collected by 26 participating h’holds in survey week 12150g
Grams of plastic waste per household participating in survey / week (12150kg / 26 households) 467g
For 43 households, the total Eigg domestic plastic per week would be 20094g
Of which the recyclable content / week would be 4220g

Eigg Households per year

Eigg’s 43 households would generate 20.094 kg x 52 weeks = 1045 kg of plastic waste / year

Adding 25% for visitors = 1306 kg of plastic waste / year

Of which 21% is recyclable or 274 kg / year

Scottish households per year

Scottish household plastic waste is 100kg per year, of which 30kg is recyclable.  Source.

Eigg households, plus visitors, produce 30.34kg per year, 70% less than Scottish average.

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