Edinburgh health charity cuts gas use by 25% with simple boiler tweak
Pilton Community Health looked at their gas usage and found an energy saving measure has shrunk their carbon footprint
Pilton Community Health Project (PCHP) is over 40 years old and is Scotland’s oldest community health project.
Through a Community Wellbeing Programme the charity works alongside people and families in North Edinburgh to take steps to better health and wellbeing and in turn, create a healthy community and environment. Based in the local neighbourhood, PCHP has a community hub, three meeting rooms, a training kitchen for cooking and shared office spaces.
As part of their environmental commitments, Project Assistant Rita Visakaviciute took part in the Edinburgh Chamber’s Net Zero Edinburgh cohort* in late 2023. The Project wants to ensure they are doing all they could to reduce their impact on the planet.
Like many charities, they are aware of rising operating costs and the challenges of securing funding to continue to deliver a wide range of health promoting activities in the heart of the community.
“We have a responsibility to the people we support and to be accountable to our funders. One of the ways we do this is to know how much energy we use,” says Rita. PCHP want to be able to show they take their environmental commitments seriously.
In December 2022, they reduced the flow temperature on their gas boiler, which they understood could increase their boiler efficiency.
It wasn’t until they collected their energy data for one of the ECCI-facilitated workshops that they realised this quick change had cut their gas use by a quarter – around 20,000 kWh – in a year. A huge decrease in energy use by one simple adjustment.
Taking a closer look at the gas meter, they discovered the boiler was set to run seven days a week, instead of five days the Project is in use. They also adjusted the daily start and finish times for the gas heating.
Rita made a call to the building’s maintenance team, who changed the boiler settings two days later. “It was super super simple,” says Rita.
The charity is now on track to cut their gas consumption by 40% compared to last year, based on previous and current usage. Besides, with the data they gathered as evidence, the team are ready to decide which areas to tackle next on their net-zero journey.
Top tips from Pilton Community Health Project:
- Read your energy data. If you don’t know your usage, you can’t make changes
- Changing people’s behaviour can take time. Start with reducing emissions from the systems and parts of your building that are easy to change.
- Take it step by step. You don’t need to tackle everything in your carbon footprint all at once.
Learn more:
🔗 Pilton Community Health Project’ website
🔗 Should I turn my boiler’s flow temperature down?
*Pilton Community Health Project participated in a cohort delivered as part of the Net Zero Edinburgh project which is managed by the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce. The project is funded by the UK Government and the City of Edinburgh Council and supports Edinburgh’s SMEs on their net zero journey.
Our next cohort will be starting in January 2025 so please get in touch with the team at projects@edinburghchamber.co.uk if you are interested in participating in the cohort or learning more about the project.
