Energy company British Gas is going on the offensive with a number of projects to help thousands of people on low incomes cut their energy use and lower their fuel bills.

A multi-million energy efficiency programme has seen British Gas sign agreements with ten communities across the country to help local authorities and charities assess the best energy efficiency measures to install on a community-wide basis.

British Gas say this will be a campaign worth around £70 million and measures will include insulation, draught-proofing and heating schemes, as well as home energy assessments across a wide range of housing stock.

The approach to be adopted by British Gas is known as ‘whole house’ and means that measures will be decided according to what best fits local housing and will involve the entire house instead of a single measure on a one size fits all basis.

British Gas use Walsall for an example, where work is expected to include external solid wall insulation and switching homes from high cost electricity heaters, to lower cost gas central heating.

Work in all the projects will not just take in energy efficiency measures, but will also include a range of related services such as benefits assessments. In the case of Walsall, it represents part of The Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) which is a joint initiative between energy suppliers, power generators and the Government. The total value of energy efficiency measures installed here will be around £350 million.

Over 90,000 households are expected to benefit from The Community Energy Saving Programme which targets low income families. The programme is unique in helping the hard to reach people who have typically not benefited from other national energy efficiency initiatives.

And the programme is also thought capable of saving four million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Phil Bentley, Managing Director of British Gas said:
“Households account for a quarter of the UK’s total CO2 emissions. By focusing on homes, and in particular vulnerable communities which have been traditionally hard to reach, we can make a significant impact on our national carbon footprint and cut the bills of Britain’s most hard-pressed families.

“As the country’s biggest energy supplier we are well-placed to take the lead in helping people become more energy efficient. This is why we’re very pleased to be the first energy supplier to begin CESP projects.”

On behalf of the Government, the Energy and Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock lent her support to the first wave of CESP projects and said:

“I’m pleased that British Gas has been so quick off the mark to begin work in these ten areas and identifying the communities that will benefit. The Community Energy Saving Programme will help some of the lowest income households across Britain tackle fuel poverty. I look forward to hearing about the other energy company plans which will ultimately benefit around 90,000 homes over the next three years.”

As well as working with local authorities, British Gas will also liaising with a number of charities including Scope, Help the Aged, Money Advice Trust and the RNIB.

Sian Mexsom, Head of Fundraising Partnerships at Age Concern and Help the Aged, said:
“We’re delighted to be able to support British Gas in such a tremendously important programme. Through our work, we reach out to disadvantaged older people across the UK who tell us how they’re forced to live in just one heated room of their house in the colder winter months. We’re hopeful the CESP projects will help change this.”

Homes in Birmingham, Chester, Dundee, Glasgow, Haringey, Swansea, Knowsley, Preston, Southwark and Walsall will be in the first wave of The Community Energy Saving Programme.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Two villages owned by the National Trust are about to be helped in a project funded by nPower to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The community led project is similar to the Government’s Low Carbon Community Challenge. It is designed to show how major energy efficiency improvements are achievable in homes of any age – not just modern buildings – with savings possible from the biggest mansion to the average family house.

nPower is the National Trust’s energy partner and the £600,000 project is being trialled at the villages of Coleshill in Oxfordshire and the Wallington Estate in Northumberland. Both are owned by the National Trust and in all, involves 62 houses at Coleshill and 73 cottages and 14 farms at Wallington, with properties dating from the 1850s and 1750s respectively.

Each village will make the decision as to what measures to take to reduce their carbon footprints with the added incentive of making savings to their energy bills.

The focus for residents at Coleshill was to initially find out their current energy consumption and carbon emissions as a starting point so that any success could be measured. It was discovered that they were slightly higher than the national average of 6.15 tonnes, coming in at 7.57 tonnes of CO2 every year.

In Wallington, they equated to an average of 9.5 tonnes of CO2 per property per year and the difference over the Coleshill residents is said to be because like a third of all rural areas in the UK, Wallington is off the gas network which means they have to rely on carbon-intensive oil and electricity for heating. This pushes up carbon levels as well as the bills.

Celia Robbins, the National Trust’s project manager at Wallington, said: “By introducing our energy efficiency measures and helping people understand their energy use we hope to make a real difference to both people’s pockets and to the environment.

“Installing sheep’s wool loft insulation and improving the efficiency of off-grid electricity generation will reduce Wallington’s carbon footprint by more than 10%.

“On advice from nPower’s energy advisor, we are also encouraging residents to monitor their electricity with a Smart Meter n which shows how much any appliance uses every six seconds. Using the display can be quite a revelation because although electricity is invisible this helps people see exactly how much they use and the associated costs.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

The UK and China have got together to form a joint venture to open up markets for innovative UK low carbon businesses.

The new joint venture goes by the name of the China-UK Low Carbon Venture Capital Company. It’s a £10 million joint venture between the Carbon Trust and the China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation (CECIC). It will support the development and deployment of low carbon technologies in China.

UK Government supremo Lord Mandelson oversaw the creation of the new venture along with Chairman Zhang Ping of the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China. The initiative was welcomed by the Institute of Directors and Greenpeace.

It is hoped that the new venture will help British business wanting to export low carbon technologies into China. It will accelerate low carbon innovation and technology transfer in China, opening new markets for innovative, British clean technology companies and, they maintain, reduce global carbon emissions. Two strategies will be in play, the first to incubate new and emerging low carbon technologies and introduce selected low carbon businesses from the UK to China; and, to provide financial investment for UK and Chinese low carbon businesses in China.

As well as the initial £10 million investment funded by the Carbon Trust and the China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation hope to use their influence to leverage money via third party funding from the public and private sectors.

Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, said:
“As we enter a new era of innovation driven by the rapidly expanding low carbon economy, we must ensure that UK companies benefit and develop overseas markets for their commercial propositions. This new joint venture is a win win, as it helps UK companies access the important Chinese market but also helps China in its move to develop new clean technologies.”

Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust, said:
“This is great news for the UK as China represents an exciting new market for clean technology businesses. The new venture will act as an important bridge for UK companies entering the Chinese low carbon marketplace. Our approach to low carbon innovation, coupled with CECIC’s expertise in clean energy in China, will open up new exciting opportunities for UK companies at the cutting edge of carbon reduction.

“We want this joint venture to become a successful example of an international collaboration to accelerate low carbon innovation and technology transfer and a framework for future international agreements.”

Mr. Wang Xiaokang, the President of CECIC, said:
“As the only national investment corporation specialised in the fields of energy conservation, emission reduction and environmental protection in China, China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation plays a unique role without any substitute.

“China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation and the Carbon Trust are both fully committed to tackling climate change, improving energy efficiency and promoting low carbon innovation in our respective countries. We share the same important mission of pushing forward energy conservation and emission reduction. We look forward to the new achievements brought about by the new joint venture.”

Miles Templeman, Director General of the Institute of Directors, said:
“It is important that UK businesses are helped to benefit from the rapidly growing demand for low carbon technologies in China and in other emerging market economies. The Carbon Trust’s new joint venture is a good start in opening up the key Chinese market to UK companies.”

John Sauven, Executive Director of Greenpeace, said
“China will need to substantially increase its spending on curbing greenhouse gases in the next 20 years. All economic studies have found that early action on emissions is cheapest, and that deferring curbs to emissions leads to far greater costs in the medium term. But China will need help and financial assistance to overcome a lack of intellectual property rights and the research capacity to develop new technologies. The opportunities for UK business with initiatives such as that being developed by the Carbon Trust will be enormous.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

The Energy Savings Trust (EST) reckons that the combined output of the UK’s small-scale domestic wind turbines could provide just over 3% of the country’s power, equivalent to powering 800,000 homes.

This goes against previous reports which stated that domestic turbines would have little impact upon the energy generating market.

The EST study involved a 12-month period of monitoring small wind turbines ranging in size from 500 watts to six kilowatts in nearly 60 locations, rural and urban, throughout the UK.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the best results came from rural parts of Scotland which generated over 18,000 kilo watts of power. This equates to nearly £2,500 of electricity and a saving of 7,500kg of carbon dioxide every year.

And the research showed how sensitive wind turbines are to local turbulence and obstructions. Typical urban installations (especially those mounted on buildings) on average generate less than 200 kilowatts (something worth around £25).

But what makes this new study so effective, is that it is based on research into wind speeds. It concludes that houses within urban areas are not ideally suited to generate useful amounts of electricity. Even so, it identifies nearly half a million sites which are ideal locations for domestic sized turbines.

The research into wind speed locations is available to the public on www.est.org.uk. Residents can enter their postcode and discover the suitability of their property for small-scale wind generation.

And the EST’s estimate that domestic wind turbines could contribute over 3% of the UK’s energy needs is good news for the Government’s target for cutting carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. And home energy consumption accounts for around 25% of the UK’s emissions.

Simon Green, head of business development at EST, said:
“If the government is going to achieve the 80% carbon targets, particularly for the domestic sector, retrofit insulation isn’t going to cut it. You’re going to have to invest in lower-carbon energy generation. Generally, pole-mounted in areas of good, clean air with unobstructed air flow gave better than expected performance.”

EST carried out their study with a number of partners, including The Department for Energy and Climate Change, the University of Southampton and a number of power companies.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

If you’ve ever wondered how you calculate your carbon footprint, then a website created by the Welsh Assembly Government will give you a clue.

It helps if you live in Wales of course, but they think that people need a helping hand when it comes to learning about their carbon footprint and what they can do personally to reduce their emissions.

It asks users of the website questions about their lifestyle, then calculates an approximate footprint and finally suggests a plan as to how they can be reduced.

Hannah Emmott, the Welsh Assembly Government’s senior communications officer, said:
“It points out the good things you’re doing and the bad things. The idea is that people go away and look at all of those things and think about what they can do to improve. Some of them might be just little things like changing a light bulb, but others might involve changing the insulation in your house or something like that.”

The website firstly asks about where the user lives, their type of home and then, most importantly of all, their heating system.

According to Ms Emmott:
“Heating is essential in the winter months, there’s no getting away from that, but there are ways that you can minimize energy so you’re not so reliant on it – things like insulating your house.”

The calculator then asks about appliances, especially how often the kettle is boiled for tea. Miss Emmott again: “This may be a tiny thing, but if you do it consistently, if every time you boil the kettle for one person you fill it to the brim, it does make a difference over a period of time.”

Then there are a series of questions about how many electrical items are in the house, then the daily habits of the user of the website.

Once that’s all completed, a carbon footprint is calculated and the user can see for themselves their personal impact upon the world. For most people, it’s sobering moment.

Guest Article by Neil Camp