The Energy Saving Trust's blog

Good energy and good advice

One of the four “pillars” of the Energy Saving Trust’s activity is our quality assurance endorsement. When we endorse a product or service, we put the full weight of our knowledge and research behind it, so that customers know it means they will get a good energy-saving deal.

Given our pride in this important work, we are very pleased to have expanded our field of endorsement to include advice services. This service assures consumers that energy-saving advice services meet our rigorous standard. We’re very pleased to say that our first Endorsed Advice Service client is Good Energy, with whom we entered into partnership earlier this year.

Good Energy is the only electricity company whose fuel mix is 100% renewable, generated from wind, water and sunlight. The company has 26,000 domestic and business customers, and one in 25 of their customers generates their own power.

Good Energy’s chief executive, Juliet Davenport, wrote on this blog in February:

We've worked out that our customers use around 10% less electricity than the average, and one in twenty five generates their own energy. Our job is trying to work out how much they are going to save this year.

There’s always room for improvement, and that’s why we are very excited about working closely with the fantastic people at the Energy Saving Trust. They provide high quality information on energy efficiency that is independently verified, and we are looking forward to be able to use it.

The Energy Saving Trust has a vision for our energy future that should be shared by every electricity company and consumer alike.

So we put Good Energy’s customer care, sales, operations and credit control teams through their paces, training and assessing them as rigorously as if they were our own.

In fact, here is what one Good Energy staff member had to say about it:

"Because the trainer had installed many of the energy saving devices and technologies, I felt this gave the training an extra depth and understanding of the advantages and disadvantages. Moreover I feel that I have gained an excellent applied knowledge of energy saving and the costs and savings involved. I am now happy to discuss money savings, costs and installation processes for all types of energy efficiency products and I feel that I can offer our customers a much better service because of it.”

Another one said:

"When customers call complaining that their meter is faulty I will be able identify the real reason for their high energy consumption and avoid expensive call-outs by our engineers."

We're very pleased to give our Endorsement to Good Energy’s service. We're sure that their customers are getting the best advice on saving energy – and that’s what we’re all here for.

Raising the home standard

Tackling our least energy-efficient homes is an absolutely key priority here at the Energy Saving Trust, and we're delighted that our new report - published yesterday - shows that we can make a massive improvement to the worst of them for under £3,000 on average.

The message seems to be getting through, too, as the story's been taken up by key media including the Guardian, Google's hosted news (via the Press Association) and MSN.

Now, we realise there is a lot to do. Is getting F & G homes to an E banding enough to hit our 2050 80% carbon reduction target? Of course not, but it will take us a step along the way. It’ll also help protect the health and monthly outgoings of a lot of people living in cold homes. The Energy Saving Trust wants to see as many existing homes as possible being brought straight to an A or B standard. That's why, as well as research into the least energy efficient homes, we work so hard providing guidance on advanced low-carbon refurbishment!

The real message we're getting across today is that, where the least energy-efficient homes can emit over 22 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, bringing these up to an E rating would save 14 tonnes of C02 for each home, every year. (By comparison, a very average British home emits five tonnes of CO2.)

And the really good news is that, even among these worst F and G-banded homes, quite a few could be brought to Band E for well under £1,000, just by insulating the loft.

In 2008, 17% of English homes were in the F and G bands. In 2006 it had been 22% - so, as our report on F and G-rated properties shows today, we are moving in the right direction.

Click to download our F & G Banded Homes report.

West Midland Low Economy Awards - Winning Results

Guest post by Karen Lawrence – Director of Delivery, Energy Saving Trust

As Director of Delivery at the Energy Saving Trust my focus is on ensuring that we provide individuals and organisations with the practical advice and information they need to help them save energy, money and reduce their carbon footprint.

An endorsement of this ‘delivery’ based approach was evident when I learnt recently that we had won the Low Carbon Employee Engagement and the Best Transferable Business Practice Awards at the annual West Midland Low Economy Awards.

The event funded by Business in the Community and although the Prince of Wales wasn’t physically present, he is president of the organisation which presented us with the two awards for a project we organised with the Environment Agency.

Judges were impressed by our partnership with the Environment Agency to encourage their staff at centres in Shrewsbury, Solihull and Lichfield to reduce energy waste at home and work.
Between us we organised events such as our popular smarter driving sessions, which can help drivers reduce their fuel consumption by around 15% or £250 a year.

We also hosted a number of roadshows at the three Environment Agency sites focusing on home energy efficiency, insulation, renewable electricity and heat generation and greener travel options.

50 home energy doctor visits were offered and staff were provided with 100 real time display monitors so they could track how much energy their households were using at any moment and make changes that show immediate savings.

The staff were impressed by what they discovered during the course of the activities and we drove home the key message that loft and cavity wall insulation should top everyone’s to-do list.

The project also threw up alternative transport suggestions following an in-depth transport audit. Staff were advised to walk or cycle for short journeys as the first five miles of every journey use more fuel when the engine is cold. Other suggestions included car sharing, using public transport, signing up to a cycle to work scheme which sees employees able to buy tax free bikes, working from home and adopting smarter driving techniques.

And not only did we win these two fantastic awards but one of our green communities in Snitterfield in Warwickshire also left with a prize – the Low Carbon Communities Award, for a scheme we had run with them encouraging residents to use real time display monitors to measure their energy consumption.

It was a fantastic night all round and wonderful to have recognition – and from people in such high places – for all that hard work in delivering a project that has delivered tangible, on-the-ground, reductions in energy use and carbon dioxide emissions.

 

Back row - names from left to right
Rosanna Miller - Local Authority Community support Officer, Energy Saving Trust
Anna Bird - Energy Advisor, Energy Saving Trust
John O Shea - Operations Manager, Energy Saving Trust
 
Front row - names from left to right
Joanna Clement - Communications Officer, Environment Agency
Lynn Melling, Centre Manager, Energy Saving Trust
Gretchen Moeser - Principal Environment Planning Officer, Environment Agency
Lynda Guest - Regional Environment Management Advisor, Environment Agency
Ruth Meek - Principal Environment Planning Officer, Environment Agency

Energy Saving Trust at Ecobuild

Guest post by Marian Spain, Director of Strategy, Energy Saving Trust

Tuesday was the launch of Ecobuild 2010 at Earls Court and it certainly went with a bang! The day kicked off with Department of Energy and Climate Change Secretary of State Ed Miliband visiting the Energy Saving Trust stand. I got to show him around our ‘Eco-Home’ and introduce him to members of the Energy Saving Trust team. He was especially interested to hear how the Pay As You Save pilots were going.

He was visiting the event to launch the new Warm Homes, Greener Homes: A Strategy for Household Energy Management. We all know how expensive it can be to upgrade our homes; I especially can understand as at the moment as I want to insulate the solid wall and flat roof in my home (so I took the chance to get some expert advice from other exhibitors at Ecobuild).  The Warm Homes, Greener Homes announcement plans to roll out a Pay As You Save scheme nationwide and will give homeowner’s access to innovative financing mechanism. This would help me upgrade my home and I am sure other home owners will appreciate this Government support.

This year’s Ecobuild is heavily populated with the Energy Saving Trust spokespeople – already Mat Colmer (Head of Housing and Supply Chain), Rob Lewis (Strategy Manager - Renewables) and Philip Sellwood (Chief Executive) have been in action on the main stage. More to follow over the next few days. I recommend popping down as it’s a free event and lots of interesting stands to visit, talks to attend and people to meet to discus an eco upgrade to your home.

Cold weather keeps Scotland advice centres busy

by Mike Thornton, Director, Scotland, Energy Saving Trust

Just down the road from where I live, at most 100 feet above sea level and less than a mile from the sea, there is still snow. Banks of snow, piled up in a school car park at the beginning of the big freeze, which started here in Edinburgh on 23 December, are still there, albeit much diminished and slowly melting.  It is not a coincidence that ever since this snow fell our network of Energy Saving Scotland Advice Centres has been the busiest it has ever been.

As the cold weather lasted and bit ever deeper, more and more people in Scotland dialled the Freephone number for assistance. Many wanted help because they foresaw high heating bills which they could afford to pay but, like all of us, wanted to minimise.  Others however, sought help because they couldn’t afford to heat their homes to a reasonable level of comfort - these are the fuel poor. In Scotland the route to the Scottish Government’s flagship Energy Assistance Package for the fuel poor is through the advice centre number – it’s the gateway to energy advice, referrals for benefits checks and social fuel tariffs and for free insulation, heating systems and other measures for those eligible. So it was no surprise that the network was taking up to 2000 calls a day; we extended their opening hours into the evenings and weekends to meet demand.  And unlike the snow, this demand has not largely melted away as the weather improved. We are still very busy indeed; people know there will be more cold weather to endure before the winter is over.

Winter cold is a strong motivator to call the network and it is satisfying to be able to help people. But there is also a pointer to a desired future in this frenetic activity.  The Energy Saving Trust aspires to engage with every household in Scotland and in the UK and support them in saving money, energy and carbon. We need to succeed in doing so to help meet climate change targets. The advice network’s reach is growing; a year ago, 500 calls was a busy day for the network; now it’s a quiet day if we don’t take more than 1000 calls. But we need to raise our game still further for years to come: to reach our goal we probably need to deal with 2000 calls a day, every day, for a decade. So visiting one of the centres when call numbers were at their highest, hearing very busy yet calm advisors providing professional and useful advice, talking to callers about their circumstances and referring them for relevant services, I was struck by the fact that I was seeing the network’s future and it was ready for the challenge.

Alex Neil, Minister for Housing and Communities listening in to a call when visiting an advice centre at the end of January

“I had heard about the Energy Assistance Package when it was launched…. And knew they wanted to hear from people like me; someone with a young family.  I contacted the helpline and with some support from the advisor who guided me through the application process, we received a new boiler and new radiators.  It has been brilliant and the whole process was faultless."

Tracey Corrigan, Energy Assistance Package customer

"Pay As You Save" : a win-win solution that could save energy and money

With talks getting underway at the UN Climate Change Commit in Copenhagen, it was timely to hear Ed Miliband - UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary - announce steps that will help householders to be more energy efficient and cut their carbon dioxide emissions too.

I am delighted that the Energy Saving Trust has been entrusted by Government to provide overall management of the  Home Energy ‘Pay As You Save’ (PAYS) pilots which will give households the opportunity to invest in energy efficiency and microgeneration technologies in their homes with no upfront cost.  Householders will then make repayments spread over a long enough period so that repayments are lower than their predicted energy bill savings, meaning financial and carbon savings are made from day one.   It will be interesting to see – in due course - whether PAYS is the catalyst that makes relatively expensive energy saving measures become a viable and mainstream option for householders across the country.

Homeowners in Birmingham, Sunderland, London Borough of Sutton and Stroud will be testing out new ways to finance whole house energy makeovers under the Government’s £4m Pay As You Save scheme.  Following an open competition, Birmingham City Council, Gentoo Sunderland, British Gas, B&Q UK and Stroud District Council have been chosen to deliver individual projects in the first ever UK trials.

A total of around 500 homes across England will take part in the trial which will provide evidence of how to foot the bill for the Great British Refurb – the Government’s plan to make the 26 million existing homes in the UK more energy efficient.

Energy Saving Week - part 1!

Phew – well, it’s nearly the end of another successful Energy Saving Week, and whilst I promise to give you a full round up next week of the key media highlights and successes, I thought I would take the opportunity to quickly mention two other stand-out events of the week.

If you managed to catch the highlights of Prime Minister’s Questions on the news this week, you may already know about the first one – especially if you spotted a flash of very bright green just behind David Cameron.

This was intrepid Conservative MP Bill Wiggin, who was the only MP courageous enough to sport one of the ties were giving to MPs to show their support for Energy Saving Week. I understand that Mr Cameron was somewhat startled by Mr Wiggin’s attire when he turned round at one point during the session! But here at the Energy Saving Trust we are delighted that he so publicly demonstrated his support for our message that energy efficiency is cheapest and cleanest way to cut your carbon emissions and your energy bills.

Bill Wiggin MP (unfortunately without the green tie!)

As well as giving this message to the public, we also want to make sure that MPs are aware of this important issue and indeed, pass on good advice to their constituents. So during this Energy Saving Week, we held two advice stands, complete with Energy Doctors, in Parliament, giving information to MPs and the many other people who work there.

We were pleased to receive a visit to the stand from Energy and Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock MP (pictured here with our Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Chris Watt – sporting one those ties so you can see just how bright they were – Energy Doctor Salim Njonga and Shelley Green from our Consumer Marketing team).

I

n all, we gave some 80 of the ties to MPs who support Energy Saving Week. But sadly only Bill Wiggin was brave enough to wear one on national television!

The second event - a real coup for us – took place on Monday, when I invited local authorities from across England to join me for a roundtable discussion with Iain Wright MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The event focused on the challenges local authorities face, what role they see themselves playing in reducing emissions, what barriers they have faced and how Government can help local authorities going forward.

The local authority roundtable in action

One of the outcomes from the event was in showing that local authorities do need and want leadership from government and other local authorities on the ‘green’ agenda - and that working in partnership with other organisations is crucial to tackling the issue of climate change. Another issue discussed was the problems local authorities face when trying to install renewable technology in their area.

I was also pleased the local authorities present were in agreement that the issue of climate change needs to be raised, and that to secure real progress involves us all working together to win hearts and minds.

Anyway, as I promised at the beginning of my rather long post, I shall send round the key media highlights and successes early next week. I won’t give away any more information – other than to say we even secured coverage in the Daily Sport. This surely has to be a first for any environmental organisation?!

Land fit for heroes?

I was really taken by two contrasting, but complementary pieces of news coverage yesterday. One of them was on MSN news online about the launch of the new “fat map” for the UK pointing out where the highest levels of obesity across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland occur. (I was intrigued as to why the Shetlands should feature so highly - any ideas from the Islands?).

As an aside I was also amused by a quote from a Senior Project Manager at Doctor Foster Research who, with a poker face, talking about obesity was still able to say that there does seem to be a “growing” problem in some areas.  Oh well - some people just don’t do irony! 

The other piece was an article in the Guardian by Claire Armitstead discussing the contrasting and probably conflicting need to invest in sports facilities for cycling (following our results in the Olympics) compared with Philip Insall - the self styled bike fixer general of charity Sustrans who, quite rightly, is pitching for greater investment in general cycling facilities and infrastructure.  What sensible parent is going to allow their kid onto the road without the appropriate cycle lane and associated safety features? This is one parent who won’t be.  Regardless of whether it is to do with congestion charging, obesity levels rising, or sporting excellence in Beijing - what is vital is that we understand cycling could, should and is for everyone. As Insall is quoted as saying “we have more obese children and much lower levels of daily cycling than Germany with its two cycling medals and Sweden and Switzerland who did not even feature on the medal board in Beijing.  The difference being, of course, is that they invest five to ten times the amount of money in sustainable transport compared to the UK”. There is a lesson there, both for those who want to be off the “fat map” and those on two wheels.

(Credit: Chris Hill)

Without the proper infrastructure investment, cycling will remain a potentially hazardous method of travel.

Achieving 'Energy Affordability' in Northern Ireland

Philip is away on holiday this week, so in his place Noel Williams, Head of Energy Saving Trust Northern Ireland has written a guest post.

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Over 70% of Northern Ireland homes have oil as their primary fuel for heating and hot water.  This is in stark contrast to GB where over 90% of homes use natural gas.

Natural Gas is going to take some years to reach the ‘Really Rural’ areas of Western Northern Ireland.  Government therefore needs to look at taking a range of short, medium and long-term measures to reduce carbon emissions, energy use and by doing so save the householder money.  ‘Energy Affordability’ is a term I much prefer (as opposed to Fuel Poverty), but it is a particular issue in these times of high fossil fuel costs.  It is also very much on the political agenda at present with the Minister for Social Development establishing a Task Force to explore possible measures to alleviate Energy Affordability needs.

I would like to see a Rural Grant Programme in Northern Ireland to encourage the uptake of energy efficiency measures in areas where choice is limited.  This would need to be combined with outreach work, face-to face advice and home visits, to provide the householder with the most appropriate advice tailored for their needs.  This could be a tailored version of our Home Action Plan within our Green Homes programme.

In the short term, we must ensure that there is maximum take-up of gas along the North West and South North gas pipeline to provide critical mass for extending it into the ‘Really Rural’ areas of Northern Ireland.  In the ‘temporary’ absence (probably 15 years) of natural gas in the Really Rural West, we need to put in place specific measures to ensure that householders are not unduly disadvantaged by being in an off-gas area.

Householders would be able to apply for a grant to replace old, inefficient or broken boilers with new high-efficiency condensing boilers, providing that they have had fabric improvements made to the property to improve the thermal efficiency of the building (i.e. cavity wall and loft insulation).

Regarding insulation, we also see the potential for a rural-only top-up grant being made available to provide these measures for free, or at little cost to the householder.

Also, the proposed Rural Grants Programme could, and ought to, provide a top-up grant for the installation of a renewable energy heating system in Really Rural areas where there is a proliferation of households suffering with Energy Affordability difficulties.

If I had a £150 windfall...

How will you spend your £150?


Well, rumours continue abound that Gordon Brown is set to give a one-off cash payment of £150 to the UK’s seven million family households in order to help alleviate the financial burden being caused by rocketing fuel prices. I've no doubt it will be seen as a positive gesture by many people, but personally I think the Government has missed a trick here by not offering households £150 worth of energy saving measures.

Our own stats show that with £150, a householder could:

Draught proof an entire house, saving around £25 a year with an outlay of around £90.
Buy a hot water tank jacket, saving around £20 per year, with an outlay of just £12.
Fully insulate all pipe work, saving around £9 per year, with an outlay of just £9.
Replacing existing light bulbs with energy saving ones. With a typical cost of around £3 per bulb it would be possible to replace every light bulb in the house.  This could save around £45 a year or £600 over the lifetime of the bulbs!

My maths was never much good, but even I can see that by spending this £150 on energy saving measures means saving around £100 this year, next year, the year after....well, you get my drift!

Plus – there are also a current round of grants available from energy suppliers (due to the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target) meaning many people are able to get cavity wall insulation or loft insulation at much reduced prices, especially those on benefits. Alternatively, the £150 could be put towards a DIY loft insulation top up.

I am really surprised that the Government’s solution to rising fuel prices seems likely to be giving householders a cash lump sum, rather than investing it in a longer term solution like energy saving, which will not only help to permanently reduce fuel bills, but also significantly contribute towards the Government meeting its own challenging carbon emissions reduction targets. Watch the sales of lottery tickets rise!!!