Clare McCutcheon from Ballineaspaig Parish sent ECI this update of their work:
We’ve had a busy few months here in Ballineaspaig Parish!
Sustainable Energy Community
Faith in Action Ballineaspaig have joined the national ‘Sustainable Energy Community’ (SEC) Network as the first step in promoting energy efficiency and wider use of renewable energy. Members of our group met Conor O’Brien, Sustainable Energy Community Mentor, in November and again in December. Conor explained to us the SEC partnership approach, which aims to enable bottom-up community energy solutions.
A Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) is a community working together to develop a sustainable energy system. To do so, they aim to be energy efficient, to use renewable energy where feasible and to develop decentralized energy supplies.
An SEC can include all the different energy users in the community including homes, sports clubs, community centres, churches and businesses.
Over a 3 year time frame, communities can access supports to help them establish a baseline Energy Master Plan which will help them identify energy saving opportunities, put a plan in place, track the progress and review.
There are 3 steps – extracts below in italics are taken from the SEAI website – see https://www.seai.ie/sustainable-solutions/community-projects/
Step 1 – Learn
Your community joins the SEC Network, where you can learn about community energy and start thinking about what they can do on the ground.
We have registered as a Sustainable Energy Community (SEC).
Step 2 – Plan
If your community decides to progress, we will support you in doing an Energy Master Plan. You enter a partnership with us, and we provide further supports as you plan. We provide funding for your community to hire a consultant to help you collect local energy data. Examples of energy data collection may include establishing a Building Energy Rating (BER) baseline on homes.
We have recently applied for the Partnership phase 1 (Planning). We identified BERs on homes in the parish as our data collection element. We also flagged the possibility of commissioning a transport study, if sufficient funding is available.
Step 3 – Do
Your community makes a decision on the best energy project to undertake. Then you can identify grants or supports to help achieve your plan.
We held a public information meeting on Tuesday, 20th March to brief everyone on the scheme and to enable us to decide on next steps (e.g. which homes to select for BERs and what follow on actions we can achieve). Our mentor, Conor O’Brien led the meeting, which was very well attended.
Lenten Talks
The first speaker in our 2018 series of Lenten talks was environmental biologist Kevin Corcoran.
Kevin is an author and an ecologist who has spent many years teaching, as well as encouraging people to engage with nature as a powerful tool to aid positive mental development as much as protecting the Earth’s fragile environment.
Kevin’s talk focused on the close relationship humans have had with nature in the past and its present serious decline, with associated negative consequences for people’s ‘well being’. He also discussed how we can reverse that trend to improve people’s quality of life.
Our second speaker was Dr. Micheál Lehane, Director of the Office of Radiation Protection & Environmental Monitoring. Micheál’s talk provided an overview of the state of Ireland’s Environment, with a focus on the main challenges for the country in the coming years and how as individuals we can help.
Our final speaker was the renowned Zoologist, Dr. John Breen. John introduced us to the biology and ecology of ants, concentrating on species found in Ireland, but also including short accounts of interesting species from outside of Ireland.
Gardening Demonstration
During March we also organized a free gardening demonstration in Atkins Garden Centre, Carrigrohane Road, Cork, facilitated by Sheila Crean. Sheila’s knowledge and enthusiasm were infectious!
Topics:
- Flowers: Preparation and planting of seeds and bulbs
- Vegetables: Lettuces, Seed Potatoes, Tomatoes
- Lawns: Treatment and Feeding
- Plants: Pruning
- Question and Answer session
Vegetarian Cookery Demonstration
It takes on average ten times as much energy to produce animal meat as to produce an equivalent amount of plant food. We can do our bit, for our health as well as for our climate, by cutting back on the quantities of meat we eat. To encourage people to think about this, we organised a free vegetarian cookery demonstration on Wednesday, 21st March to coincide with the Cork Lifelong Learning Festival, hosted by Cork Institute of Technology.
The evening was both informative and thoroughly enjoyable. One of the lecturers from the Department of Tourism and Hospitality in the Cork Institute of Technology, supported by some of the Culinary Studies students, demonstrated a very tasty vegetarian dinner – starter, main course and dessert, with plenty of tastings for all. We were also plied with delicious baking treats during the coffee break!
