The orchard site - a beautiful location with loads of potential

We’ve now signed a lease for a community orchard space at the new Ravenscraig allotment site. We have been fortunate to get some funding from the Peoples Postcode Trust to develop the orchard and and are looking for volunteers interested in working with us on this project. We are looking for people interested in short term volunteering to help clear and prepare the orchard space and build some raised beds for soft fruit. We’re also looking for anyone interested in helping develop the orchard on a longer term basis including the planting and care of the trees. We have funding for training volunteers and hope to establish a team to work together to develop this community orchard. We’ll arrange a visit to the site for anyone interested in helping out.

To register your interest or ask any questions please email jackie[at]greenerkirkcaldy.org.uk.

The Kozy Kirkcaldy Kids project will help to provide children with a better start in life by helping their families to stay warm and comfortable while spending a lower proportion of their income on fuel.

We are delighted to have been awarded this funding by the Scottish Power Energy People Trust. Kozy Kirkcaldy Kids will run alongside our Kirkcaldy Goes Greener! and Lang Toun Energy Savers projects.

The past five days have had fantastic news for us. They started with the award of funding from the Climate Challenge Fund for three years and ended with the award of funding from the Energy People trust for two years.

The Kirkcaldy Goes Greener! project will help households reduce their carbon footprints and learn about positive community-based solutions to climate change. Our food and waste projects will encourage people to grow and cook local, seasonal food and to reduce waste, and our energy project will help householders, charities and community buildings to save energy, money and carbon.

We are delighted to have been awarded this funding by the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund. It is a vote of confidence in our ability to deliver results. It is also a vote of confidence in the hard work of staff, board and volunteers over the years to make Greener Kirkcaldy such an effective charity. Kirkcaldy Goes Greener! will run alongside our existing Lang Toun Energy Savers project, which is funded for another year by Ebico and Comic Relief.

Our food project will work with adults and young people to increase growing and cooking of local, seasonal food. This will be done in conjunction with other local organisations working on food. Our energy advice project will concentrate on areas of Kirkcaldy with older ‘hard to treat’ properties, particularly in Bennochy, Pathhead, Dysart and central Kirkcaldy. Our waste work will look at ways of minimising waste with workshops and community events.

Greener Kirkcaldy organised fuel efficient driving sessions last summer. The drivers who took the training reported it was very  worthwhile. If you missed our sessions you can still get this training, by getting in touch with the Energy Saving Trust. Why not sign up for fuel efficient driver training?

If you would like the chance of winning a condensing combination boiler then the Energy Saving Trust are running a competition you may like to enter. Details on the link.

• help you access free or subsidised insulation or heating improvements
• check that you are getting the best deal from your energy supplier
• carry out simple energy saving improvements in your home, free of charge to eligible people
• advise on other ways you can save energy and do your bit for the environment

Our advice is free and impartial. Pop in for a chat and a cuppa to find out more. If you are unable to visit our centre we can arrange a visit to your home.

Home handyman Sandy on left, plus assistant

Our handyman provides simple measures to reduce your heating bills. These can make a real difference to your comfort too.

What will the handyman do? Things like draughtproofing doors and windows, insulating pipes, putting an extra jacket round your hot water tank or fitting low-energy lamps. The measures will be agreed at an initial visit, and we will also offer advice on other ways to get your bills under control.

How much will it cost? The service is free of charge to those who struggle to pay high fuel bills. For other people we charge £15 per hour and materials at cost.

To find out more call 01592 858458, email info[at]greenerkirkcaldy.org.uk or pop into our Advice Centre at 254a High Street.

The Greener Kirkcaldy energy advisors will work with older people who are struggling to pay high fuel bills, giving help from our High Street advice centre, at community events and by visiting people in their homes. Electricity and gas bills keep going up, and more and more households, especially older people living alone, find it difficult to pay them. Greener Kirkcaldy’s advice helps people stay warm while saving on bills. The advice centre welcomes older people, and visitors can have a cup of tea while chatting to the energy advisors.

To book a home visit simply call us on 01592 858458, pop into the advice centre at 254a High Street (its open Friday 12-5 and Saturday 10-5), or email info[at]greenerkirkcaldy.org.uk.

Free cavity wall and loft insulation is available in Glenrothes.

An interest free loan is available for solid wall insulation. This offer is only available in NE Fife, except for the area around and between St Andrews and Newburgh.

Discounts off utility bills for the vulnerable.

A discount scheme for installing solar PV panels.

The Energy Saving Scotland advice centre South East has been running a promotional offer in partnership with an installer and Fife Council. They wrote to households within target areas who they thought might be likely to be interested in PV, and offered them PV panels at particular prices.

About a week after the launch the UK government announced reductions to feed-in tariffs, which caused a rush to install before mid-December.

This offer is now extend to all of Fife, with new lower prices (to be announced on the 10th of January). The installer is also happy to take on community buildings, businesses and installations larger than 4kW, the price depending on the project.

Despite the lower rate of feed-in tariff, because the price of PV has come down such a lot in the past year, the payback time on a 4kW setup is about the same as it was a year ago – between 10 to 12 years.