the Carbon Challenge

If you can't stand the heat.......get energy saving light bulbs

Low and high ... thermal imaging show the bulb on the left is far more efficient

Today The Sun used fantastic thermal imaging techniques to show the wasted heat emitted by incandescent light bulbs. And pictures really do speak a thousands words. Next to an energy efficient bulb we can see the contrast – not so much in black and white – but in a range of rainbow colours indicating temperatures. The Energy efficient bulb is a coolish green all over, whereas the incandescent bulb is shown to be reaching red hot temperatures of up to 150° - a difference if 100°. Wasted heat, whether it comes out of windows, walls or the lights is wasted energy, wasted C02 and wasted money. If every household in Britain installed just 3 energy saving light bulbs, you’d save enough energy to light the streets of Britain for a year....It all goes to show that energy efficient light bulbs really are cool!

Click here for more information on what bulbs to buy and where, so that you can save

Click here to get details of The Sun light bulb giveaway

Time for a quiet revolution

The Government launched their long-awaited Heat and Energy Saving Strategy consultation today.

It was good to see CLG and DECC coming together to create a joint consultation – and indeed sharing the platform at the launch event today which I had the pleasure of chairing. Ed Miliband drew an analogy between the shift needed on home energy efficiency and the roll out of the gas network in the 1960’s and ‘70s. Hazel Blears stressed the importance of communities and Margaret Beckett talked about a ‘quiet revolution’ in the lofts of the nation – an image which I quite like and a phrase I think I'll steal!

We very much welcome the proposal for a more centrally co-ordinated approach to energy efficiency advice and measures.  The current measures-based approach has been successful in delivering basic energy efficiency improvements.

However, as we move past light bulbs and loft insulation to more expensive measures, as we move from single measures to whole house solutions and as we seek to engage entire communities in a low carbon future - we will need a more co-ordinated approach.

This goes beyond policies or structures. This is about putting people at the heart of climate change and what people want is advice, finance and measures all in one place from a trusted source. A centrally co-ordinated approach would enable us to invest in bringing new technologies to market, shape green finance schemes and co-ordinate the refurbishment of homes street-by-street. We already have a network of advice centres across the UK and are well placed to deliver this.

I hope the consultation leads to concrete proposals in the summer and swift action – we have no time to lose.

 

 

Look behind you, Lewis!

As we expand our consumer transport advice at the Energy Saving Trust, helping to make the way people get around less damaging to our environment, it never occurred to me that motorsport might take up the green transport mantle. After all, a normal road car would struggle make 10 miles per gallon if driven in a race around Silverstone by Lewis Hamilton!

But that is exactly what some leading researchers at Kingston University are doing, designing a motorcycle to take part in the first Zero Emission Grand Prix which will be held at the famous Isle of Man TT race that will average 80 miles per gallon.

I was put onto this by Kingston MP Ed Davey, who tells me the hope is that this project will lead to the development of an electric road vehicle that will go even longer between charges.

The Energy Saving Trust is certainly behind any initiative which might help us to curb our ever increasing emissions from transport. People obviously need to get around, but we hope that they will think about how they can do this in the greenest way, perhaps by walking to the shops instead of driving (which is also good for your health) or investing in a more fuel efficient vehicle. I am always heartened when I see increasing numbers of car adverts boasting about their vehicle’s efficiency.

So I am very excited by Kingston University’s innovative project. I am certainly wishing the Kingston University team, whose bike will be ridden by Isle of Man course record holder, Maria Costello, the best of luck when they take part in the race on 12 June. Their local MP tells me he is convinced they will win; it would certainly be a triumph for those of us working for greener transport.   

   Edward Davey MP tries out the motorbike.

 

Have a look at this short video from Reuters about our fight to keep the A-G energy rating system for appliances.

There’s snow escaping the facts

Travelling on the train in the snow (those that were running this week!) was not just a poetic experience but also an educational one. One look at each house told the true tale of that house’s insulation levels. Well insulated homes kept their snow covered look, whilst other houses were leaking so much heat that they were melting the snow off their own roofs. Around half of a homes’ heat loss occurs through the walls and loft, so cavity wall and loft insulation are simple measures to make your home warmer for less. No-one wants to pay to heat the area around their house, but that is what many are doing – and this week we didn’t need thermal imaging cameras to see it. So from loft insulation to double glazing, find out how you can keep the heat you pay for in your home. Heating up the outdoors when you’re indoors – well there’s just snow point!