Carbon Action News is the
quarterly news magazine of
the Carbon Action Network
and was formerly known
as HECA Network News
Past issues of Carbon Action News
and HECA Network News can
be downloaded from
www.carbonactionnetwork.org.uk
Carbon Action News - Autumn 2009
Thanks to everyone who filled out our online survey of CAN
members in October. The results are currently being analysed and
a full report will be published soon.
Congratulations to the prize draw winner, Amanda Martin from
Dover District Council, whose name was picked at random from a
list of the 142 respondents to the survey. Her prize is a free ‘Package
A’ delegate place at the 2010 National CAN Conference, which
will be held in Torquay from May 10 to May 12. For more details of
the National CAN Conference 2010, please see page 5.
In many parts of the country, autumn arrived well ahead of
schedule this year with trees changing colour weeks before
normally expected. The date at which bare trees are first seen is
one of the many signs used to mark the onset of autumn in the
science of phenology - the study of seasonal variations and their
influence on plant and animal life.
This is a pattern that has been repeated over the last few years, but
when we look back to 2005 and 2006 trees were hanging onto
their leaves until much later in the year. Some were even
predicting that by now we’d be seeing “green Christmases” with
leaves staying on the trees until the end of December! What is
clear, however, is that the pattern of the seasons are become
steadily more erratic. Of course there will always be natural
variations in the changing seasons but we are now seeing more
uncertainty in nature’s timing of autumn than in the past.
Please send any news items, articles
or pictures that you would like
to see in Carbon Action News to:
Helen Atkins at the
Carbon Action Network Secretariat [email protected]
Tel: 0116 299 5133
2-4 Market Place South,
Leicester, LE1 5HB
People are generally less keen to record the approaching winter
than they are to track the first signs of spring, which we seem to
experience earlier and earlier each year. The BBC’s Autumnwatch
programme has been successful in encouraging many more
people to take part in the Woodland Trust’s Nature’s Calender
Survey, which now has more than 10 years of mass observation
data. The Nature’s Calender website, provides interactive maps
and tables of seasonal events, and, whether or not you’re thinking
of signing up to contribute to the survey, is well worth a visit:
www.naturescalendar.org.uk
- Rob Leeson, Carbon Action Network
1
Toasty homes
this winter for 45
families in Worthing
Winter will be warmer for 45
families who live at Goring Chase
in Worthing after all three blocks of
flats have cavity wall insulation
installed. This ambitious partnership project is the first of its kind
for Worthing.
Unlike a house or even a house
converted into flats, the scale of
arranging funding for all the
residents is a huge and complicated task – making this a unique
scheme. Now residents can look
forward to lower heating bills,
cutting CO2 emissions and having healthier
homes.
Worthing Borough Council, the Goring Chase
Residents Association, West Sussex Healthy
Homes Partnership and contractors Mark
Group have worked together to get this
project off the ground and work started on 17
August 2009).
Most of the residents have contributed £99 of
the £175 full cost. Further funding has been
organised through the Warmer Home grants
scheme and subsidy from the Carbon Emission
Reduction Target (CERT) from power
companies.
Cabinet member for Health, Safety and
Wellbeing, John Rogers said: “This is a fantastic
achievement by all involved and it has taken a
lot of hard work to get to this point. It is
important that all of us do what we can to be
more energy efficient.”
Chairman of Goring Chase Residents
Association Bob Smytherman said:
“On behalf of the residents of Goring Chase
can I thank Rebecca Jones of the West Sussex
Healthy Homes Partnership and Joanne Ley
from Worthing Council for all their help and
advice over the last 18 months bringing this
project together.
“Despite a number of legal obstacles faced by
private leaseholders Rebecca continued to
work with the committee to find a solution and I
would urge anyone living in a private leasehold
flat to contact their managing agent to discuss
the options for insulating their building.”
Rebecca Jones, the county’s Fuel Poverty
Coordinator, working for the West Sussex
Healthy Homes Partnership said:
“It’s great news that we have finally managed
to help the residents achieve warmer, healthier
homes. Not heating your home to a sensible
level can make it harder to recover from colds
and flu as well as increasing the risk to
vulnerable people of respiratory problems,
heart attack and stroke. Don’t suffer in silence anyone worried about their fuel bills should call
the Home Heat Helpline 0800 336699 for free
help and advice or the Energy Savings Trust
0800 512 012 to find out about help to get your
home insulated and draft-proofed.”
2
New Masters at
Nottingham Trent University
The new and innovative MA Human Security
and Environmental Change at Nottingham
Trent University enables students to develop
their understanding of the relationship
between (global and local) environmental
change and human security, and of how risk
and change management are addressed.
It provides a unique opportunity for students to
reframe environmental change as an issue of
human security, and explore urgent issues such
as equity, justice, vulnerability and power
relations. Students consider whose security
may actually be threatened by environmental
change and, furthermore, what options exist
for managing issues of change. In particular,
the course addresses issues of carbon
reduction at a variety of scales.
As part of the course, students undertake a 100
hour placement with an organisation that is
addressing issues of environmental change
and human security, for instance, students
might work on the Carbon Reduction
Commitment with an organisation such as a
local authority or SME.
Hannah a current MA Human Security and
Environmental Change student said:
“I have always been fascinated in areas such
as sustainable development, and this course
builds on these issues in a unique way. The
environmental issues raised and their
interrelation to human security is particularly
interesting as no other course seemed to
address these important factors”.
For further course details please contact:
[email protected]
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The Carbon Action Network
Conference 2010
Monday 10 to Wednesday 12 May
The Palace Hotel, Torquay
The 2010 CAN Conference will be budget friendly,
as delegate and exhibition rates have been
lowered and the programme extended to 3 days!
What more could you ask for than a programme
bursting with over 12 hours of topical plenary
sessions, seminars and site visits, whilst networking
with colleagues in 25 acres of luxury grounds at the
Palace Hotel on the English Riviera. Booking will
open in January online at:
www.carbonactionnetwork.org.uk/conference
Sponsorship opportunities are available. For more
information, please contact the CAN Secretariat
on 0116 299 5258 email:
[email protected]
KNH wins national award
for being green
Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing's commitment to the green agenda has been
officially recognised as being the best in the
country.
KNH won the Award for Best Green Initiative at
the annual CORGI awards, which are
considered the Oscars of the heating and
plumbing industry.
Richard Garner, an energy officer for Kirklees
Neighbourhood Housing and author of the
winning submission, accepted the award at a
ceremony held in Coventry earlier in
September.
In the past year, KNH has successfully bid for
£13.6 million from Kirklees Council to install
renewable energy systems in many of the
council-owned houses managed by the
company.
This will include installing solar energy systems in
49 all-electric homes and all four-bedroom
houses and extending the use of air source
and ground source heat pumps (GSHP) to
other homes that are hard to heat.
KNH is also currently running a five year, £8.5
million project to fit thermal cladding on 1,100
non-traditionally built homes.
The new technologies help to save energy, cut
carbon emissions and save KNH customers
money on their fuel bills - from £60 a year for
solar systems to £120 a year for ground source
heat pumps.
The work is considered so innovative that Hilary
Benn MP, the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, recently
visited Kirklees to look at some of KNH's
initiatives.
Cllr Shabir Pandor, the council's cabinet
member for housing, said: “This is a great
achievement for KNH and everyone involved
and adds to Kirklees' growing reputation as a
pioneer in the way we use solar and renewable
energy. It's also testament to our strong
partnership with tenants, councillors and staff in
developing creative and innovative ideas.
“The work of partners like KNH is vital to helping
the council reduce its carbon footprint and
tackle fuel poverty. Working together, we can
make a real difference.”
KNH also have dedicated energy officers who
visit tenants in their homes to give energy
advice, help with fuel switching and advice on
using their heating and hot water systems
efficiently.
If you are a council tenant and would like a
home visit from an energy officer, please call
01484 416733 to make an appointment.
We are currently half way through both 60
domestic PV systems and 62 Domestic Solar
thermal systems. We will shortly be starting 7
large scale PV systems on sheltered
accommodation blocks.
One district heating biomass boiler is to be
started soon, two others await design, one
other been considered for approval funding
from Low Carbon Buildings Programme Phase 2
has just been received for up to 179 GSHP to all
electric properties, in partnership with E.ON.
4
Warm Front Scheme Changes
Since the inception of the Warm Front Scheme
over two million households have been assisted,
helping vulnerable households across the country
to heat their homes in order to stay healthy and
keep warm in the winter.
We are committed to continuous improvement,
and to ensuring that the customer is always at the
forefront of Warm Front delivery. Following
discussions with the Department of Energy and
Climate Change, a number of improvements will
be implemented to the Warm Front Scheme over
the coming year.
! Improved performance management of
Some of the key changes are:
! Enhanced customer service
Warm Front is strengthening the standards of
customer service throughout the Warm Front
process. This includes an improved installer
performance rating system, and introducing
tighter quality controls to increase the standards of
service that the scheme provides.
! A new surveying process
The survey process has been changed to provide
an independent specification of the full energy
requirements of every home. On survey
completion a customer will have had full energy
advice, a range of recommended measures and
will also now have a fully specified new or
replacement central heating system mapped out
for them during that visit, supported by a Computer
Aided Design (CAD) drawing that sets out exactly
what the new heating system will look like.
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installers
A new system for allocating installers will be
implemented. This will involve a new
electronic auction system to establish the
lowest price, thus driving greater competition
in the supply chain. In those cases where a
customer is required to make a financial
contribution towards the cost of the
installation, householders will now be
empowered to choose the installer, from the
auction bidders, to carry out work in their
property.
! An improved inspection process
The inspection service will be changing over
the course of the next few months to reflect
the need to provide our customers with a
more comprehensive quality assessment and
to ensure that the workmanship meets an
agreed high standard and is to
specification.
The changes will be phased out across England,
beginning in September 2009, with full coverage in
place by 1 May 2010. These changes, alongside
the increased grant maxima announced in April,
will bring significant benefits to the Warm Front
Scheme and make it more effective in helping
vulnerable people live in warmer and healthier
homes.
Please refer to the Warm Front regions map below.
The first region:
September across North Yorkshire region
Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield
(region 12 on the map).
The second region:
October across Mid & East Yorkshire region
Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield, Hull,
Selby, York and East Riding
(region 11 on the map).
The third and fourth region:
November across Teesside & Northern regions
Darlington, Easington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough
UA, Redcar and Cleveland, Sedgefield,
Stockton-On-Tees, Allerdale, Carlisle and Eden
(region 13 and 17 on the map).
We will share with you further details of the roll out
in due course.
The Warm Front networking team are committed
to partnership working with all our stakeholders,
and would encourage any CAN member with
further questions about the scheme changes to
contact their Partnership Development Officer to
discuss in more detail. We will be providing more
detailed information via face to face meetings
and roadshows in all up and coming regions
during the roll out plan.
Thank you
Shida Bassiti
Networking and Referral Generation Manager
This article in full, together with a more detailed
Q & A can be found on the CAN website at:
www.carbonactionnetwork.org.uk/wfchanges
6
Derby's Libraries
encourage residents
to switch off
Derby City Council's Home Energy Advice
Team will be visiting all of the City's 12 Libraries
from October to December 2009. The Team
will be giving residents advice and
information about saving energy at home,
energy grants/schemes and climate
change. People visiting the libraries will also
be able to:
!
take part in a quiz for a chance to win an
energy efficient prize
!
borrow from a selection of new books
focusing on saving energy in the home
and climate change and
!
learn about the ‘Electricity Monitor Loan
Scheme’ (see below).
From Monday 19 October 2009 all libraries
across Derby will have an 'Electricity Monitor
Loan Scheme' up and running. Through the
scheme, all 12 of the city's libraries will have a
small number of electricity monitors available
for the public to borrow free of charge for a
four week loan period.
It is hoped that residents borrowing an
electricity monitor will be able to identify how
much electricity they are using at any one
point and how much it is costing them.
Residents will also be able to identify where
they are wasting electricity. If residents act on
these findings, there is a good chance that
their electricity bills and carbon footprint will
be reduced.
For further information about the monitor
scheme and the libraries tour contact
Heather Caldicott on 01332 255622, or email
[email protected]
7
Herts Essex Energy
Partnership
Fuel Poverty remains a major problem in the east
of England, with many vulnerable people
forced to choose between warmth and food in
winter. A new scheme aimed at homeowners
across Hertfordshire and Essex has been set up to
save homeowners money on heating and
insulation measures.
Herts Essex Energy Partnership (HEEP) are
offering substantial grants and interest free loans
for the installation of a choice of suitable energy
efficiency measures. If you live in Brentwood,
Broxbourne, Chelmsford, Dacorum, East Herts,
Epping Forest, Harlow, Hertsmere, North Herts, St
Albans, Stevenage, Three Rivers, Watford,
Welwyn Hatfield or Uttlesford you could benefit
from this scheme.
Residents have been asked to keep an eye out
for ‘Grant Warmhome’, who has been making
appearances in the region offering loft or cavity
wall insulation for £99 each. As around half of
heat loss in a typical home is through the walls
and loft effective cavity wall and loft insulation
could save you over £265 every year.
Basic insulation measures may be free for
homeowners in receipt of qualifying benefits.
Homeowners can also obtain grants and interest
free loans for solid wall insulation and renewable
energy measures such as solar hot water
systems.
Since the launch of Herts & Essex Energy
Partnership (HEEP) in July many people have
realised how simple and effective insulation is. All
works are carried out by accredited and
approved installers to allow homeowners peace
of mind.
If you have any questions or would like to
apply for a grant please call today on
0800 980 6026 quoting reference HEEP8 or log
on to www.heepgrant.org.
The Solar Panel is the New
Designer Kitchen
People in the East of England would pay
more for a green home
! Over a third of people across the region would pay
more for a home that had been fitted with a
renewable energy source
! Half want to know if their home is suitable for
renewable energy
Changes in the environment and changes to their
income are changing the priorities and attitudes of
householders across the country.
Research recently released by the Energy Saving Trust
reveals that almost a third of East of England residents
are happy to speculate to accumulate when it
comes to house buying decisions.
Of those polled, more than a third (34%) said they
would be willing to pay more for a home where some
of their energy supply came from renewable
resources such as wind, solar or hydropower.
And it seems they are more interested than ever
about installing a renewable energy source to their
property. Of those surveyed, 50 percent said they
would like to know if their home is suitable for
renewable energy.
The Energy Saving Trust's website:
www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/renewableselector/start
allows people to find the answers to questions like this,
and any other energy related queries.
Philip Sellwood, Chief Executive of the Energy Saving
Trust, said: “It seems people from the Eastern Counties
are willing to pay more for a home with a renewable
energy source so investing in a solar panel or a wind
turbine could add to the resale value of a property
and could be as attractive to househunters as a new
kitchen or solid wood floors.”
Mr Sellwood added: “Forty-four per cent of carbon
emissions are from the home, and with depleting fossil
fuels, government is looking at ways to incentivise
householders to install domestic renewable energy.
Next year will see the introduction of feed in tariffs
where householders will receive a set payment for the
electricity generated and exported.”
The research also reveals that three out of five (60%) of
East of England residents said that the price of
renewable energy is putting them off investing in them.
However, there are grants available to help with the
cost of some installations. Householders can call the
Energy Saving Trust and find out what grants they are
eligible for towards the cost of purchase and
installation of renewable technology. They can help
advise and sign post them to the right support.
One popular domestic renewable energy source is
solar energy.
There are two ways to capture solar energy for use in
the home: by installing a solar water heating system or
a solar electricity system. Solar panels collect free
energy from the sun converting this into heat or
electricity for the home.
Solar water heating systems cost between £3,000 and
£5,000 and typically save around £50 a year when
replacing gas. Typical solar electricity systems (around
2kW) cost between £8,000 and £14,000 and can save
around £200 a year. Investing in both together can
save a household around £250 a year off bills. If using
the solar electricity system, any excess electricity
produced can be sold back to the national grid for
cash.
For more information on using renewable energy in
the home or community, contact your local Energy
Saving Trust advice centre on 0800 512012 or visit:
www.energysavingtrust.org.uk
8
Potential million ton
CO2 saving for the
terrace walk-through
There are about 4 million pre-1930s terraced houses
in the country which are very well-built, but suffer
large heat losses through their solid brick walls.
Sadly, insulating solid walls is very awkward. External
insulation means all windows, doors, gutters, roof
edges have to be altered, while internal insulation
means altering round all windows and external
doors, and moving skirting boards, coving, radiators
and electrical sockets. As a result it costs many
thousands of pounds.
Terraced houses have an advantage over
detached or semi-detached designs, that their
exposed wall area is smaller, with two party walls.
However, many terraces are fitted with “walkthroughs” (passages to access the rear). These are
usually open and effectively increase cold wall area
by up to 50%, as cold air passes through them.
When delivering to such houses, I noticed that one
had a tight door at one end of the walk-through,
which was noticeably warm. I found another with a
door at both ends, and inside it was very warm,
perhaps 12C on a day of 3C, even though one door
had a half metre deep open grill above it. If the
temperature in the walk-through rises to that
indoors, then losses through the house walls will stop.
As each walk-through has two walls, two properties
benefit. Fitting a couple of doors should cost no
more than £500, and possibly nearer to £300 if done
on a large scale. The energy cost savings put this
measure into the same category as cavity wall
insulation for fast pay-back.
I have calculated below that each walk-through
loses about 5000 kWh/year and that this implies that
we could save (allowing 85% reduction in losses)
about one ton a year of CO2 emissions. Each
householder could save around £100/yr on gas bills.
There may be a million walk-throughs in the country,
so we have a very simple measure that could save
as much as a million tons of CO2 emissions.
9
One major advantage of such a proposal is that the
work of fitting doors to the houses can be done with
no disruption to the householder as we do not even
need access to the house. The proposed arrangement will also feel more secure. Given the current
situation in the building trades, labour availability
should not be a constraint on rolling out such a
programme. It is also notable that such properties are
often occupied by priority groups (low-income
and/or over 70 years old) so fuel poverty can also be
tackled in this way.
John Dunkley - Chairman and Technical Director
Atomising Systems Ltd
Harlow’s Green
Water Gardens
Harlow Council has worked with The Water
Gardens Management to reduce electrical
consumption in the lower Water Gardens car
park, in Harlow, Essex (post code CM20 1WG).
The car park was developed in 2004 and
illuminated to more than 240 lux 24 hours a day
seven days a week. The car park was fitted
with 633 twin fluorescent units that consumed
around 880,000 kWh per annum.
A decision was taken to reduce levels to
around 75 lux in accordance with the CIBSE
guide. This was done by replacing the existing
fluorescent units with 56W T5 fluorescent units
wider spaced than the original fittings. This
resulted in a 68% reduction in energy
consumption and reduced CO2 emissions of
250 tonnes per annum. The payback time is 14
months and the energy saved by the Water
Gardens Management is around £42,000 per
annum.
The work was made possible by the forward
thinking of the Water Gardens Management
who recognised the value of investing in
energy efficiency measures.
David Taylor, Harlow District Council
Can you sponsor CANews?
The Carbon Action Network relies on the
generous support of sponsors to produce this
free news magazine, Carbon Action News. We
has previously been fortunate to receive
sponsorship from companies such as: British
Gas, eaga, E.ON, EST and npower.
This magazine is distributed in hard and
electronic format to over 1,000 recipients.
Articles are contributed by CAN members and
focus on energy efficiency, climate change
and fuel poverty news and best practice.
If you are interested in sponsoring one or
more editions of Carbon Action News,
please contact:
The CAN Secretariat on 0116 299 5258
[email protected]
2-4 Market Place South
Leicester, LE1 5HB
Benefits of Magazine Sponsorship:
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cover
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energy professionals
! Copies sent to sponsor for their own distribution
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