After devising a unique electricity capping system and dramatically reducing household carbon emissions by 47%, the community of a Scottish island was last night (1st July) announced as the overall UK winner in the 10th annual Ashden Awards, the world’s leading green energy awards. The Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust won the Gold Award of £20,000 to invest in future sustainable energy work. The other low carbon energy champions, including schools, local authorities and businesses, won prizes of £10,000. All the energy champions have made significant carbon savings through the use of renewable energy or energy efficiency measures.
 
The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy champion and reward life-changing ideas, from smokeless stoves in Ethiopia, to green schools in the UK, to solar powered education in Bangladesh. Six UK and six international projects were chosen as winners and received their awards from internationally renowned natural history filmmaker Sir David Attenborough.
 
David Attenborough said: “The Ashden Award winners are champions at delivering real and practical ways of protecting our planet and its precious biodiversity through the use of sustainable energy. They are reducing carbon emissions and protecting local eco-systems, while at the same time improving the lives of the people they touch and reducing their level of poverty. They greatly deserve to be celebrated for their important role in tackling both climate change and poverty. ”
 
The Isle of Eigg, off the west coast of Scotland has embraced energy self-sufficiency and a green lifestyle by carefully managing its energy use, actively encouraging energy-saving in everyone’s daily life and generating 90 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. Household CO² emissions have fallen by 47 percent and are now about 20 percent lower than the average UK household. Meanwhile, electricity use is now about 2.2MWh per year per household, which is nearly half the average UK household.
 
In a joint statement, the judges said: "The Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust has been selected as this year's Ashden Gold Award winner for their community's refreshing and inspirational work that shows that any group of people – a street, neighbourhood or village can take giant strides towards sustainability by working collectively for a common purpose. The islanders show us that it's not hard to be green, and it can be highly enjoyable and rewarding. The judges commend their positive achievement in cutting energy consumption by carefully managing energy demand, and using renewable energy. In giving this award we recognise Eigg's initiative can offer inspiration and motivation for communities everywhere to pull together and benefit the planet."
 
Sarah Butler-Sloss, founder and chair of the Ashden Awards, said: “This project is an inspiration to others, whether they are living on an island or in a city, and is a great example of what can be achieved with renewable energy when communities act together. The scheme has had a positive economic impact, with new businesses started and jobs created to maintain the energy system. It just goes to show how simple measures can have a big impact.”
 
Local residents have come up a with novel way of limiting electricity demand through a cap of 5 kW for households and 10 kW for businesses. If users go over the limit they are automatically cut off, requiring an engineer’s visit to reconnect them. Every user has an energy monitor with an alarm built in, which goes off when they are close to the cap. The system works: fewer than ten households have been cut off in the first two years of operation.
 
The community set up its own £1.6 million electricity grid, generating most of its energy from a 100 kW hydro turbine, a 10 kWp solar PV array and a 24 kW wind farm, alerting residents by email and word of mouth to how much energy is available through a green and red light system. On ‘red light’ days locals cut their electricity consumption by using their appliances less.
 
The Trust makes green grants available for energy efficient light bulbs, insulation, thicker curtains and other energy saving measures. A community transport scheme is being planned and new energy supplies are being developed, including sustainable harvesting of the forests to supply wood for heating.
 
Islander Lucy Conway, chairman of the island’s Green Team, a group of volunteers who develop the sustainability projects puts their success down to people power: “In a community-led scheme people have more responsibility, but if it’s organised by the government, people leave it to the authorities to manage energy.”
 
The Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust is a partnership between the residents of Eigg, the Highland Council and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. It was set up in 1997 to buy the Isle of Eigg and manage it for the benefit of the residents and wildlife. It has one full time equivalent employee, thirty volunteers and an annual budget of about £200,000.
 
Ashden Award winners around the world have helped at least 23 million people have a better quality of life and have saved nearly three million tonnes of CO².