A group of around sixteen international students and staff from Flensburg University in the north of Germany will be staying in Dunbar for five weeks from the end of January.
All from the Global South, the young professionals are visiting at the invitation of Sustaining Dunbar as part of their Masters course in Energy and Environmental Management. They will be staying at the Dolphin Inn, independent hostel, and whilst in Dunbar will be working on a range of projects to look into how to reduce local fuel bills and at how it might be possible to establish community-owned, renewable energy projects which could generate a long-term income stream for local investment.
As household energy bills become unaffordable for many, Sustaining Dunbar is working with other local groups to investigate how local housing could be made much more energy efficient and much cheaper to keep warm and comfortable through a retrofitting programme. As well as exploring options for retrofitting, the students will be looking into low-carbon alternatives to using gas and oil for heating. They will also be supporting Sustaining Dunbar with a feasibility study and detailed technical design work for a possible large-scale, community-owned solar farm project. If successful, this project has the potential to build up a significant, community-controlled investment fund to support local resilience and wellbeing in Dunbar, and more widely across East Lothian, over the next twenty years.
A number of events are being planned whilst the students are in Dunbar and members of the public will be welcome to take part. These include an evening talk and workshop with Katherine Trebeck, co-founder of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance. This will take place on Tuesday 31st January, 7.30-9pm in Dunbar Parish Church Hall. Places at this talk and workshop can be reserved on Eventbrite: Creating a Wellbeing Economy with Community Energy