KILANERIN COMMUNITY WINNERS AT THE SEAI NATIONAL AWARDS
THE Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) recently awarded the national prize for the sustainable energy community which is alive and well in Kilanerin, made up of a sub committee of members of the Kilanerin-Ballyfad Community Development Association and Kilanerin Tidy Towns.
With the Tidy Town’s group also coming out with a national runner up prize of €1,000 during the awards in relation to climate action and air quality, it’s clear that the community within Kilanerin and Ballyfad are all about sustainability but Karen Finigan, who is involved with the sustainable community group and Kilanerin Tidy Towns said that it has taken time to get everyone on board.
The sustainable energy community project aims to identify energy reduction opportunities within the community, specifically in relation to electricity, heating and transport, as well as looking at measures for potential to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
Judges at the sixteenth annual SEAI awards said that the community in Kilanerin is leading by example and has excelled since first beginning this journey just over a year ago.
It was Karen Finigan that took the first step by going along to a SEAI meeting in the summer of 2018 and afterwards thought to herself that this would be a perfect fit for her community.
‘After I had learned about what being a sustainable community was, I thought to myself there is no downside to this and from what I knew of Kilanerin, being a newcomer from the USA in the same year, it seemed like something that would suit this community quite well.
‘From there, I took the idea to the development group and presented it. They got behind it and I became the chair of the sustainable community element and we got a sub committee going. In the weeks and months that followed from when we started the work, we just really kept driving through it,’ she said.
The sub committee built a community charter, checked their skill set and then went about getting funding of €15,000 for the energy master plan, holding regular meetings.
‘ This was a big piece of work involving interviews and audits but we pushed through all of that, quite quickly and vigorously with no down time to keep the pressure up. It was key to achieve this in the first year, and we built up enthusiasm in the run up to our first sustainability fair in February, by visiting a group in Carlow to gather ideas first,’ she said.
Karen explained that there were pieces of the puzzle along the way that helped to spread awareness but that this was helped particularly in using local knowledge to enhance the community awareness.
‘Most recently we started giving SEAI courses and they have been phenomenal. In our area we have quite a bit of resources that are smart about climate for example Dr Connor Murphy. From Kilanerin, he is a researcher on climate at Maynooth University and he kicked off the seminar series. He is one biggest speakers across the country on climate change so it was great that we could just knock on his door.
‘We had over 50 people at the first session and Connor broke things down to look at climate change with a view to the world, to Ireland and to Wexford and how we fair,’ she said.
From there other speakers visited and word started to spread as more people made it their mission to come along to the talks.
‘ They are open to anyone in the area or any group that might think about doing this themselves. We’d be happy to talk to them about their options,’ said Karen.
In December 2018, Karen was appointed Cool Planet Champion for County Wexford, meaning that she is available to speak with schools and community groups about climate action.
The way Karen sees it, action and the reversal of certain thinking and habits must come from young children as well as up through the generations.
‘ There’s a multi generational element of this and at the lowest end it’s the kids, they are getting a lot done in the schools but at the other end, we taught people how to make beeswax wraps which was something in which the generations can talk to one another. With many of these things, we are going back to things we used to do.
‘ Twenty years ago nobody had a plastic water bottle in their hand as they walked around, we simply got marketed to do this by large companies who are making money hand over fist and don’t care about the environment as much as we would like them to. With something like beeswax wraps, this replaces cling film and it’s about reversing the thinking,’ she said.
A key element of the work of Kilanerin Sustainability Community was conducting surveys in the community around energy usage.
‘Over 350 completed the surveys and that would be our marker for how interest in this has grown. Going forward, our job is to take what was found in the master plan and the surveys and form this into projects that will help households become warmer and pay less for energy.
At the national awards that took place last month in Dublin, Kilanerin were up against 13 other communities but what impressed the judges was the approach taken by the group with regard to educating the community about sustainable energy.
Karen said that the awards presented an opportunity to meet with people who care about these topics, as she explained that climate action isn’t just about Kilanerin.
‘ This is just simply something we have to do, that we all have to do. It’s important to take a sustainability standpoint in your own home, and become more thoughtful about whether you need to buy something or not.
‘ The old phrase was reduce, reuse, recycle but we are changing that so that the first word is rethink and every family needs to decide what suits them realistically. When you’re in the supermarket, do you buy the loose green pepper or the wrapped bag of three? That thinking takes just a little time’.
Karen also suggested that families can do their bit by turning down the thermostat a degree, describing this as a big help to both your budget and the Earth.
‘ Thinking do I have to drive the kids separately or can I drive them together or carpool to save a bit of petrol or diesel, all these things require just a little bit of change and thinking,’ she said.
During the first year of the sustainability community, the group decided to focus on two everyday projects which were marketing and branding keep-cups and reusable drinking bottles.
‘We used the logo consistently and kept our message simple and consistent, particularly in the lead up to our sustainability fair. During the fair, we had opportunities for people to meet with local sustainable vendors, test drive electric vehicles and carbon footprint calculations as well as opportunities to hear from climate experts about home energy and more.
Karen has also been involved with Kilanerin Tidy Towns for just over a year, and judges at the national competition recognised the hard work of the community there too.
In the report, they said that Kilanerin Tidy Towns had excelled sustainability projects and initiatives undertaken, describing these as ‘ too numerous to mention’.
The adjudicators report also highlighted the installation of an electric vehicle charging point in the village.
Karen said that the sustainable energy community and Kilanerin Tidy towns are working together like hand and glove starting people on the path of change.
‘Anything a tidy towns group can do that raises awareness of sustainable waste management is more important than anything else. This isn’t about planting or cleaning, it’s about changing hearts and minds.
‘Our goal is to keep building in this area of sustainability and everything that we’re doing will be reported to the Tidy Towns as well as the SEAI because it’s useful across the board,’ she said.
To find out more about Kilanerin’s efforts and making changes, visit kilanerin.com/kilanerin-sustainable-energy-community.