the Carbon Challenge

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!!!

Green Tariffs?

OFGEM yesterday published a press release along with a consultation piece which was headed up "OFGEM Clears Up Green Tariff Confusion".  Unfortunately I wish it were so, as I believe there is every possibility that if the guidelines to customers OFGEM are proposing are adopted, this could lead to even greater confusion in the market itself.   There have been numerous studies commissioned, amongst them one by OFGEM, which consistently show that for most people "Green" in terms of "Green Tariff" is synonymous with renewable energy.   Therefore, most customers expect that all electricity included in a Green Tariff should come from renewable sources and we know that is simply not the case at the moment.

Under OFGEM’s proposals suppliers will be able to launch a series of options which will illustrate additional environmental benefits - such as proposals around demand management, renewable heat, or offsetting.  All of these I have no problem with, but they are environmental benefits and not what people expect of a Green Tariff.  The whole purpose, from a customer’s point of view, is that buying a Green Tariff  should result in more renewable energy being brought to market.  However, and to be fair to OFGEM they do make this clear,  just re-packaging what is already an obligation under Government plans is not likely to bring forward any additional renewable energy capacity to the Grid.  If these tariffs were offered as Environmental Tariffs that’s one thing, but to call them Green Tariffs means customers will not be able to exercise their buying power to drive even greater demand for renewable energy in the medium term.

One of the key reasons for the consultation and for OFGEM taking action was that customers consistently tell us they need to be able to understand the attributes of each tariff on offer. However, under OFGEM’s proposals suppliers will not need to provide information about how much renewable energy is included within individual tariffs only that they declare their overall fuel mix, which includes renewables, gas, coal even nuclear. 

So how do customers know what they are buying?  It’s as if Marks and Spencer were to label all of their sandwiches with the mix of ingredients contained in all the varieties of sandwich sold within its range, rather than the ingredients specific to that sandwich. What the customer wants is clear and simple information so that they can make informed choices about the sort of energy they buy.  I cannot see how this scheme will deliver on that aspiration. We will not doubt see this one run and run.  I am all in favour of giving the public an increasing choice around environmental benefits, but that is not the same as clearing up the confusion around Green Tariffs, far from it.

Philip Sellwood on Carbon Free TV

Just a quick post to say that I was interviewed for Carbon Free TV last week. Their aim is to assist in educating the UK population - residents, Councils, business and other public bodies - on global warming, and how to address the challenges it poses. Visit their website by clicking here. You can view my interview with Carbon TV below.

100 Ideas House - how you can incorporate energy saving in the home

I am always interested in innovative, exciting new ideas to promote - not only the issue of climate change - but more particularly those communications which talk to people who do not have three degrees in sustainable technology, i.e. the majority of humankind! This is a great idea developed by CSE in Bristol and it’s called a 100 Ideas House. You can view the YouTube video here. Basically the idea is to take a life size model of an interior of a modern home and show how you can incorporate energy saving measures into a normal aspirational life style. I think it is a really sharp piece of media work and thoroughly recommend that you have a look. As I understand it the plan is to take this around shopping centres and the like to see how it is received by the great British public, so go look at www.100ideashouse.com. I don't think you will be disappointed.

New Act on CO2 advice line launched

Yesterday saw the launch by Hilary Benn and Gordon Brown of the ‘Act on CO2’ advice line by Defra. As the organisation tasked with delivering this service, I believe it represents an exciting opportunity for us to advise even more people across the UK on not only on how they can reduce their energy use, but also on water conservation and household waste reduction too.


We know from our own research that almost 50 per cent of emissions come from the energy we use every day – at home and when we travel. We also know that 92 per cent of people now think they can do something to stop climate change from happening – but more than half want advice that is tailored to where they live.


With seventy per cent of householders saying it's time consuming to find the right information about environmental measures for their home it is clear that a demand for a "one-stop shop" already exists. Our research also shows that when thinking about the word ‘environment’ we no longer think about one area but about the whole package from energy to water and waste. The ‘Act on CO2’ advice line gives the public, for the first time, this ‘one stop shop’ of advice on all things environmental. You can call it by phoning 0800 512 012.

Read media coverage of the launch by following the links below.

BBC News online

Sunday Mirror

The Guardian

Sunday Sun

epolitix.com

Business Green

Press Association

Teletext

Liverpool Echo

Cavity wall insulation meets Kylie Minogue!

Before we get to the excitement of Kylie and cavity wall insulation, I was really pleased having read the relevant chapters of the Callcutt report on house building delivery published last week that there are strong recommendations for the Government to continue to give a sustained message that it is committed to enforcing building regulations in order to achieve zero carbon homes by 2016. The report also recognises that this task won't be easy and that Ministers are likely to be lobbied by a whole range of vested interests encouraging them to deliver a more conservative or less radical approach. It's my view that anything which undermines the confidence of industry would in its turn undermine the confidence of investors, so it was good to see Callcutt recommending that everybody hold fast.

I was obviously also delighted to see the view expressed that the primary approach will require the highest practical standards of energy efficiency first – and not as a retrofitted option. We're seeing too many projects dashing after the sexy end of remote generation, only to find that basic thermal energy efficiency hasn't been delivered in new build. It may do the headlines, it doesn't do the carbon!

I was also pleased to see that there is now recognition that the building control inspectorate are and will continue to face difficulties in terms of enforcing the regulation of the zero carbon agenda.. Failure to do so is starkly observed in the case study of the British Columbia condominium crisis, where failure to enforce proper standards cost somewhere in the region of three billion Canadian dollars. Yes three billion!

And finally, to Kylie Minogue. For those of you who aren't Guardian aficionados, I was intrigued by an article in last Friday's Guardian, on Kylie Minogue's comeback and new album. Despite the fact it says it is a bit disappointing to find Kylie nearly 40 and sounding more emotionally disconnected than ever, I was drawn to the following quote regarding her new album:

"A handful of great tracks, surrounded by stuff that's so obviously filler you could inject it into cavity walls and save up to 33 per cent off of your energy bills"!

I never thought Kylie and cavity wall insulation would appear in the same sentence. This must be progress!

Greener Homes are in sight!

Well credit where credit is due, I was delighted to help launch Defra's new Greener Homes initiative which essentially means that people, in addition to receiving impartial advice on energy saving, now have the option from April 1st - in selected areas - to be able to receive a green health check. This essentially is a green MOT for your home and life style. It will enable ordinary people to easily access offers from Energy and Water companies for energy saving products such as cavity wall and loft insulation, water efficiency products and the like. Plus access to financial and support packages through various Government and private sector funded programmes. It will also give the Energy Saving Trust a chance to utilise the much maligned Energy Performance Certificates to help individual households connect up with grants, loans and financial packages to get work done on individual houses to improve their energy efficiency rating and longer term help to reduce maintenance and on-going costs.

This Green Homes Service will form the first genuine one-stop-shop for citizens to access advice on all matters 'green' - whether that is energy efficiency, renewable energy, travel, water efficiency and waste reduction. At a time when both Government and particularly Defra's budgets are under such pressure, credit must go to Defra for holding out for this additional funding over the next three years.

Sorry if this sounds a bit like I'm being a cheer leader for Hilary Benn, but sometimes even the Government gets things right! I know that's not a very fashionable view these days, but let's at least give a small round of applause on this dark, grey and wet Tuesday!

You can view an excerpt from Gordon Brown's speech yesterday on climate change below - or read about it on BBC online here.