PEDAL wants to help local people and businesses reduce the amount of energy (power and heat) they use, and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels for the energy they do use. This means, for example, insulating and draft-proofing buildings better and encouraging better design of new buildings. It also means helping people to become more aware of how much energy they use and reduce this, for example by monitoring their fuel bills, using less hot water or switching off household appliances.
We also want to encourage the generation of energy from renewable sources, right here in Portobello, using the plentiful resources we have such as sunshine, wind and waves.
Lots of energy is also used in transporting ourselves and goods around, so we also want to make public transport, bikes and walking more attractive than using the car, and also encourage the production of more goods locally as well as reducing our water use wherever possible. Click here for more on transport.
Why is changing our energy use important?
PEDAL was recently awarded a grant from the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund to take forward a range of projects focussed on helping people in Portobello to use less energy, and increasing the amount of energy we generate from renewable sources. For more information on the projects, click on the links below.
Portobello Community Wind Energy Project
If you have an interest in developing local renewable energy sources and reducing energy use why not join our Energy Group?