Government encourage Warm Front scheme participation as Winter approaches.

Warm Front scheme - claim the help!

The Government has called on pensioners and those on low incomes to make sure they claim for the help they're entitled to, to help them keep warm this Winter.

The Warm Front scheme provides grants to people in poorly heated or insulated homes. Grants can be awarded for boiler repairs, new central heating systems and insulation.

If you're eligible, you could apply for up to £3,500 towards the costs of work - up to £6,000 if your home doesn't have mains gas.

Over the next two years, over 90,000 people are expected to be helped by the Warm Front scheme. 2 million have already been helped since the scheme launched in 2000.

To enquire about qualifying, all you have to do is call the Warm Front team on 0800 316 6004. If you're eligible, they'll handle all the paperwork and arrange a survey of your property to work out what measures will be most effective. These are tailored to each individual property.

Insulation measures include loft insulation, draught proofing, cavity wall insulation and hot water tank insulation.

Heating system measures include repairs to existing heating systems, new gas or oil central heating systems, electric storage heaters, electric heaters for bathrooms, conversion of open fireplaces to modern glass fronted fires and timer controls for electric space and water heaters.

Over £110 million has been set aside for 2011 with another £100 million set aside for 2012/2013 for privately owned or rented households in England.

More information can be found on the Department of Energy & Climate Change website.

photo credit: brett holt

Insulation companies urge us to act now.

With media warnings that our energy bills could rise by around £200 this year, insulation companies are urging homeowners to seek out any Government or local authority grants that they can use to insulate their homes.

They're warning that in the future, inefficient homes may even be penalised as the Government acts to meet it's CO2 reduction targets. Currently, british homes account for over 25% of total carbon emissions, due mostly to heating usage.

Even simple steps like fitting energy saving lightbulbs is a start. You'd have thought everyone had got the message about loft insulation but according to sources, many homes still lack this important energy saver, or at least the recommended level of insulation. Straightforward and easy to fit (typically in a single day), loft insulation cane save you around £145 a year off your heating bills.

The Governments "Green Deal' is pipped to be focusing heavily on loft and wall insulation. Whilst many properties are solid walled, they can still be insulated and the savings? Well, potential fuel savings are considerable. Cavity wall insulation can cut your energy bill by 15% a year and usually pay for itself inside 2 years.

With over 7 million homes currently not having any wall insulation, there's a very large area of emission and energy savings to be encouraged.

If you're considering exterior work to your home's walls - rendering or pointing, then it may be a great time to look into exterior wall insulation. Similarly, carrying our any major internal refurbishments? Getting a quote for internal wall insulation will save you undoing all your renovation and decorating afterwards.

Last but not least, insulation companies are encouraging even simpler energy saving steps like draught proofing. It's inexpensive but stopping heat escaping from your home should be a priority they say.

And that doesn't necessarily mean replacing windows and doors with energy efficient double glazed units (although this is the ultimate energy saver), try inexpensive sealing strips which you can fit yourself. Choosing heavier curtains and using curtains over doors in older properties will all help, as well as making your home 'feel' warmer, which will encourage you to turn down your heating a notch, saving even more energy.

If the draughts really are too much to bear but you're on a budget, why not think about just replacing the worst windows or doors and then completing the rest of the windows at a later date? Be sure to get comparison replacement window quotes from reputable companies.

This article first appeared in our weekly homeowner newsletter dated 20th June 2011 - click here to read our full homeowner newsletter.

photo credit: lululemon

When one homeowners efforts don't feel like enough.

I'm starting to get a little worried with the language some renewable energy champions are using.

Phrases  like "getting to know your power company" and "taking a greater interest in where our power is delivered from"… Like I (and thousands of others have a choice?)

Here's what I've been trying to get my head around:

I live in a pleasant terraced street, near a picturesque Derbyshire town centre.

My house is surrounded by neighbouring properties, amongst large leafy trees so not a lot of sunlight ever falls directly onto our roofs - this rules out solar panels.

The garden is more of a patio'd yard - certainly not big enough to install ground source heat pumps etc.

A wind turbine is obviously out of the question on a personal or even street level and I wonder how the town's important tourism industry would suffer if the neighbouring hill sides were covered in large plain wind turbines.

There are several brooks and rivers nearby which could be 'harvested' to provide some form of hydro power.

"Who's going to pay for that?"

But who's going to pay for that? Will I and my neighbours have to pay more on top of already spiralling energy costs?

I travel 40 miles (each way) to work very day - I've looked at using a bus (there's no direct rail connection) but it takes twice as long and still involves a 20 min walk from the city centre to my work. That's assuming they run on time.

So my car is still the most cost effective means for me (if i don't what to be cycling 3 hours each way).

It's not a hybrid - not even a diesel; such options require more 'ready cash' than is available to our household at present, and given the local weather in winter, I'm thinking I'd gladly swap for a guzzling 4x4 just to feel a little more secure when driving in the Winter months (where snow does fall!).

And why would I want to get to know my energy company? In my experience, they're all pretty much the same. Happy to take your money, swap tariffs and charges with a frequency that only a person who's responsible for changing the prices per litre at a petrol station would be able to keep up with.

Sure they'll send you a few energy saving bulbs once a year but that's about it in reality.

I'm trying to imagine cosy chats with a posse of energy providers explaining the merits of their energy over others. Hmm.

"where does my power come from - I've no idea"

As to where does my power come from - I've no idea. Outside of the wall socket or light switch it could just as easily be coming from the moon. I'm the consumer here. I don't need to know which country the steel originated from that went into my shiny new car when I go to buy one, and would it make any difference anyway if I did know? No - I didn't think so.

What is happening (I think) is that certain energy companies are trying to win customers by claiming their energy is produced from greener sources than others. So by choosing these companies, we're effectively putting our own weight to a green sustainable energy future? Doing our bit for the planet - I hope so.

And if these companies are publicly committed to investing more and more into renewable sources, in  turn delivering more renewable derived energy to the end consumer then that's really good isn't it?

And assuming I change energy provider - what happens in a few months time when suddenly they're not as good value or as cheap as the competition?

So you see my quandary - one I suspect shared by the majority (if they even care. I care) - what do I do? I am aware that to sit back and do nothing isn't really an option, but what are the alternatives? Short of turning the kids pop-corn maker into a DIY nuclear fusion generator, or stumbling across a way of powering the whole street just by stringing a few speed humps across the road (they'll never notice - the road is so full of potholes anyway) that produce a wonder kinetic energy source, I feel somewhat helpless.

And before anyone starts on about energy efficiency, yes the loft is insulated, no we don't have any double glazing (can't afford it) and the walls are 2 feet thick derbyshire stone and not insulated and if I fit any more draught excluder, I'll have shares in it, and we are adopting a more 'walk and shop often' rather than 'one massive weekly shop that has to involve a car'.

"I want to be responsible"

So as you can see my head's in a bit of a spin. I want to be responsible, I'm taking my own small steps - I'm a bugger for switching off lights around the home - even when someone's still in the room (even though I don't feel my steps are  ultimately contributing much), and i live in a property that would require thousands to make it more energy efficient (like much of the neighbouring properties, nay most of the town).

My friend (who's always been able to speak his mind) said once - "all those flint built churches you see around the countryside. They should all be pulled down. Building a simple hall structure using modern materials would eliminate all that fund-raising over night".

I see where he was coming from and it may be an option for cash strapped governments faced with an ageing housing stock that can't be upgraded any better than it is now. I for one would hate to see our stone built victorian semi knocked to the ground for some cheap pre-fab replacement. That is until the first winter fuel bill arrives.

What say you?

Jonathan.

photo credit: gluemoon

p.s that's not me doing the break-dancing.

Energy Suppliers were lagging behind...

You may have missed last weeks announcement on the Department of Energy & Climate Change website that an increase in the amount of energy saving home insulation installed was "kick-started" by Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne.

Energy suppliers will no longer be able to post out free energy saving lightbulbs in response to their obligations to help consumers save energy.

Instead, they'll be expected to install loft, cavity and solid wall insulation - in fact 80% of their work will be focused on these measures compared to just 60% previously.

In addition, 15% of homes helped will be those on lowest incomes or at risk of fuel poverty.

The changes mean 3.5 million more homes will benefit from some form or extra insulation, building upon the 2.5 million homes already improved since April 2008.

Read the full announcement by clicking here

photo credit: vato bob