npower have introduced free home energy monitors for new customers. This customer incentive is available for all new Go Fix customers but is not available for signups to npower Juice green energy.

Switch energy provider to npower to claim your FREE Home Energy Monitor:

Recommended retail price: £39.99

Home Energy Monitors are estimated by the Department of Energy and Climate Change to help save up to 15% on your fuel bills.

Features of the Home Energy Monitor are:

• Check and monitor how much energy you are using in real time
• See what your electricity is costing you in Pounds and Pence
• See an instant response when you turn on an appliance – how much energy are your appliances using?
• Compare your usage from one day to the next

How to claim your Home Energy Monitor:
Switch your energy supply to npower online – once your energy supply with npower commences, you will be sent an email to which you’ll need to respond and confirm that you still want to receive your FREE energy monitor.

<< Click here to switch energy supplier to nPower and get your FREE monitor >>

Subject to terms and conditions:
† Maximum of 1 monitor per household. Offer to residents of Great Britain only (not Northern Ireland). This offer is subject to availability. Monitors will be distributed on a first come first served basis. There will be no alternative or cash offer. You will be sent an email once your supply with npower commences to which you will need to respond and confirm that you still wish to receive this offer. Your personal details will be used for cross checking for Ofgem compliance and may be used for marketing purposes. By accepting this npower home energy monitor you agree to receive survey’s from us about your usage of the device.

Article by Alan Potts
 

Now that the 2009/2010 winter season is nearly upon us, lets not forget those pesky cold draughts.

And despite people moaning about their heating bills and the continued high cost of energy, the average household will still lose 20% of its heat thought draughts and bad ventilation.

So draught proofing is a must for all householders. And people are going to have to consider the worst offending spots – such as letterboxes, skirting boards, floorboards, window and doorframes, and down chimneys – if they want to help reduce their heating bills.

And it needn’t be an expensive job, with many products comfortably under the £20 price tag.

Lets take an obvious one first. In many houses, letterboxes are veritable gaping holes to the outside world. Here you must employ a draught excluder that lets letters in, but also one which is sealed enough to keep the icy air out unless the postman is doing his business. Buy one which is strong, blends in with your style of door, but also does the trick when the wind blows.

Now, cold air whistling down an unused chimney is only slightly worse than all that expensively generated hot air rushing up it. So the modern way to prevent that happening is buying a chimney balloon. Usually made from a strong laminate, a chimney balloon is basically a bag which is inflated in the cavity to make a snug fit and keep the cold air outside and the warm air inside. The bags are tear resistant and long lasting.

With floorboard draughts. so much heat can be lost that it is worth spending a little time and money seeing how you can keep the cold air out. The best solution here is to use a filler which fills the holes without spoiling the look of the floorboards, or falling away when the boards naturally expand and contract with the changes in temperature. This technique has the added advantage of keeping out noise, insects and smells.

Door draughts are often over-looked, but a door that is not snug to the floor, can be equivalent to having a window open on a winter’s day. And here it’s a very simple solution and one which has stood the test of time. Invest in a snappy snake door draught excluder. Basically a long length of hard wearing material filled with say grain, or other absorbing material, a snake draught excluder will help keep those chilly blasts out of the room.

So, be prepared for the winter. Stop those draughts and help your energy bills.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

According to many eco-experts, the current government is in danger of setting too many targets that it firstly cannot hope to reach and secondly, seeking a way out with loose definitions.

And a large number of organisations and activists are becoming a little worried as to the increasing levels of confusion.

Take carbon zero homes for example. The government has a target that all new homes after 2016 should be carbon neutral. Very laudable, yet since the government announced this target in 2006, the construction industry has spent years trying to define a carbon neutral home.

The backdrop to this target is more government ambitions, such as reducing U.K. CO2 emissions by 2050. And housing is one of the areas where many hopes are invested. This housing sector is responsible for around 25% of all U.K. emissions. And given that 35% of the housing that will be around in 2050 is likely to be built from now, it is clear why such an emphasis is being placed on low and zero carbon new homes.

When the target was first envisaged, carbon zero status was achieved when a property, over the course of a year, would emit no carbon emissions from its appliances, heating and lighting. This usually meant that a housing development would be carbon neutral by making use of off-site technologies.

Great, but there followed some months of studies which examined the feasibility of such off-site measures. In short, many of the original recommendations and methods of achieving a zero carbon status home were deemed to be unworkable.

So, a new set of standards were prepared which introduced a range of allowable solutions. This included such old on-site stalwarts as low energy lighting, better insulation and alternative fuel use.

In short, the construction industry is still somewhat confused as to how new homes can become carbon free by 2016, given that the debate between on-site and off-site solutions continues.

And this, say the experts, is one of many areas in which confusion reigns. If the government worthy targets are going to have any hope of being met say many in the sector, then some joined up thinking will be needed, and quickly.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

It isn’t often that we get something free in this world however British Gas are offering a free heating and energy assessment to anyone who rings and makes an appointment. Obviously you have to be at least interested in buying either a new boiler or a new central heating system from British Gas to take advantage of the offer but it is a no obligation quote and you aren’t held to anything once the assessment is done.

The Assessment
The process is simple – you just ring up British Gas on 0845 074 5994 and make an appointment for a fully trained heating advisor to visit your property. Once they arrive they complete a full energy assessment of your property and of your existing central heating system to see where improvements can be made. Following the assessment, your personal heating advisor will calculate how much money you could be saving on your gas bills by having a new system fitted and they will also make a number of recommendations regarding which gas boiler and heating system to have installed. At the same time the heating advisor will explain the payment options available to you so you can make a decision without worrying about where you’ll find a few thousand pounds.

Following the Assessment
Obviously British Gas don’t expect you to make your mind up on the spur of the moment and so the no obligation quote they give you stays valid for a number of months. If you decide to take advantage of the quote then it is another simple phone call to book the installation date. However, if you decide against it then you haven’t lost anything and you won’t be continuously contacted by British Gas in a bid to change your mind.

Why take Advantage of this Offer?
The main reason as I see it is because it is absolutely free and even if you decide to ignore the quote and the heating advice that British Gas give you then at least you have found out how energy efficient your home is – or isn’t as the case may be. Plus because British Gas are such a reliable and well-known company you can trust them to be telling you the truth with regards to the efficiency of your heating system and the improvements that can be made, should you decide to have the work done.

So in conclusion, it doesn’t take a genius to see that the free no-obligation heating assessments being offered to all householders by British Gas are a top idea and that at the end of the day you have absolutely nothing to lose by taking advantage of the service. You might even find that with the variety of payment options and plans available you can actually afford to replace your boiler or your central heating system and start saving the money that British Gas say you can.

Guest Article by Clare Lynock

Most people haven’t heard of the term ‘Power Flush’ however the process may help to quieten your heating system and give it a few more years of service. Basically this is a full cleansing process which uses a series of chemicals to wash out rust, sludge and other contaminants from your radiators and pipes so that they work much more effectively. Not every system needs a power flush however and having one when you don’t need it can be expensive, so how do you know when the process is needed?

The signs to watch out for

The main indicators that your central heating system could do with a flush include cold areas on the radiators, a noisy boiler and pipe work, radiators that are slow to warm up and discoloured water coming from the radiators when you bleed them. Most of these symptoms can be due to a simple ‘air in the pipes’ problem and bleeding each of your radiators might fix them. If not however then a power flush could be the only answer and although the process can be expensive, you’ll notice the difference in terms of heat efficiency almost immediately.

What does power flushing involve?

The whole point of the power flushing process is to clean out the central heating system so that hot water can circulate to all areas. The first step is to find a good plumber that has previous experience of this process and that has the necessary tools to do the job. This may sound like an obvious thing to say but bad plumbers have been known to cause more damage to the boiler and heating system than it’s actually worth.

Your plumber will begin by attaching a high flow/low pressure pumping unit to the central heating system before adding the necessary chemicals. These strong cleansing chemicals help to break the crust that develops on sludge before breaking it down and washing it away. They also clean out any other gunk that may be lurking in the pipes, including particles of sand and flakes of rust. When the system is deemed to be clean a descaler is added to combat limescale and a corrosion inhibitor to stop any further rusting.

The entire power flushing process takes around 6 hours for the average sized central heating system although some badly effected homes may take an entire day. Not surprisingly, the process doesn’t come cheap and in some areas of the country a full flush can cost upward of £1200; the average price however is around £500 if done properly and by a reputable company. You should make a point of asking though if all of the chemicals are included in the quote as some companies charge extra for the descaler.

Although the power flush process is quite expensive it can save you an equal amount of money on your heating bills within a couple of years and in most cases your central heating system will run as quietly and efficiently as it did when it was first installed.

Guest Article by Clare Lynock