Lucy Conway
Joins the expedition for week 1
Lucy Conway is a freelance arts & creative project manager. Thanks to the wonders of broadband, she is able to work from her base on the Isle of Eigg for clients across the UK including Channel 4 Television, North Lands Creative Glass, Landshare, energyshare, HI~Arts and a wide range theatre, dance, music, and visual art organistions.
Since moving to Eigg, Lucy has been very involved with climate change and environmental issues – particularly at local level – developing projects which enable individuals and small communities to reduce their CO2 emissions and tackle the challenge of climate change and peak oil.
She and her husband Eddie have a 20 acre croft (small holding) which, as well as providing them with almost all their vegetables and salads, is also the basis of their wild bluebell seed business. Community owned, the Isle of Eigg is situated in the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland. Importing products, materials and skilled labour from the mainland has always been difficult, but the island community of about 85 people has built a culture of self-sufficiency and careful use of resources.
Eigg produces almost all its own power in a unique scheme which brings together wind, hydro and photovoltaic renewable resources to provide islanders with 24 hour reliable electricity. Electricity consumption on Eigg has been kept low through a combination of demand management and behavioral change. Renewable energy, home insulation, solar water heating, local food growing and waste management have also contributed to reducing carbon emissions. CO2 emissions per house- hold are 20% lower than the UK average, and electricity use is 50% lower.
In recognition of their work to reduce their carbon emissions by 46%, Eigg was a winner of the NESTA Big Green Challenge and the Ashden UK Gold Award in 2010.
