When people are looking to prepare their households for the winter months they are often busy concerning themselves with looking at ways to make their home energy efficient such as checking loft insulation. However, many people often overlook safety measures related to their property and buying the most important safety device of them all – a carbon monoxide alarm.

A recent service has shown some frightening statistics with only one in three households owning a carbon monoxide alarm and only one in five people knowing that this odourless gas can kill. Last year 50 people in the UK lost their lives through carbon monoxide poisoning and a further 4,000 people were hospitalised because of the gas, so households really need to take heed.

Carbon monoxide gas becomes an issue if a gas appliance such as a boiler becomes faulty or poorly ventilated. When this happens the appliance could leak carbon monoxide into the household and because the gas is odourless, colourless and tasteless it will be unknowingly breathed in by the occupants of the property. By inhaling the gas it will mean that the blood’s ability to transport oxygen around the body will be reduced and this can lead to confusion, coma and death in severe cases.

To ensure that your gas appliance isn’t leaking carbon monoxide then it will be important to get your appliance serviced regularly. You can also look out for tell-tale signs that your appliance may be leaking gas. These signs include the appliance burning a yellow or orange flame instead of a blue flame, soot appearing on the appliance and more condensation on inside windows than usual.

Your household should also have a carbon monoxide alarm installed for early warning against any leaking gas. These alarms aren’t expensive and are easy to fit so there is no excuse for not having one within your home. Prices for the alarm range from £12 to £50 and when purchasing one it is recommended that you buy one with an audible alarm which activates when carbon monoxide is detected. You should also ensure it has a British Standard EN 50291 mark or shown with the CE mark and have a British or European Kitemark, Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) or equivalent testing approval mark.

Once the carbon monoxide alarm is purchased you will then ensure an appropriate position for this device in your home. Ideal locations include a hallway or landing and the alarm should not be fitted to a ceiling but be visible at head height. The alarm should also be placed at least one metre away from gas appliances.

Guest Article by Sarah Wain

Making your home operate more efficiently is quite straightforward. First you need to know where your energy or heat is being lost so that you can address this. The best way is to get your home properly assessed for it’s energy efficiency.

An Energy Performance Certificate or EPC will give you a picture of how energy efficient your home is and how much carbon dioxide it is emitting. Government statistics document that around 30% of the UK’s total carbon dioxide comes from domestic dwellings. Your home’s EPC can tell you what your carbon footprint is at home (excluding your car of course). An EPC costs around £40 and does not just tell you how energy efficient your home is but it will contain recommendations in order to increase the energy efficiency rating of your home. It should always be carried out by a government registered Domestic Energy Assessor or DEA.

To find a local DEA for your EPC try the official government sponsored database run by Landmark or contact your local estate agent who should be able to recommend one.

An EPC for your home will last for 10 years and an example one can be viewed here on the Communities and Local Government Website.

If your EPC recommends either cavity wall or loft insulation then you may be eligible for some financial assistance. The Government are running a scheme called Warm Front who can help in providing householders with insulation costs in England. A similar scheme runs in Wales called Warm Wales and new applications are still be taken. For people in Scotland there is an Energy Assistance Package which provides help in making your home more energy efficient.

If you are not eligible for financial assistance try to source OFGEM approved products and suppliers when insulating your loft or cavity walls or speak to Energy Saving Trust for help and advice. They have approved lists of installers throughout the UK.

The benefits of installing a good heat insulation system for your home cannot be understated. Good loft insulation could save you around £145 annually which will mean that this pays for itself in TWO YEARS.  But don’t take our word for it, check out the figures yourself for both loft and cavity wall insulation at the Energy Saving Trust’s Energy Savings Assumptions page.

So with a new energy efficient boiler plus all round insulation that’s you all up and running isn’t it. You’re ready for winter and you’ll be saving the maximum amount you can. WRONG. There are so many ways to make your home SUPER energy efficient and next time we will address energy saving gadgets that you can pick up at your local builder’s merchants that will help further.

 Guest Article by Caz Williams

Centrica has expanded British Gas Insulation with the acquisition of ECL Contract Ltd.

Centrica wants British Gas Insulation to be the largest of its kind in the UK and this latest acquisition is a key part of their growth strategy.

ECL Contracts specialises in external wall insulation and cost Centrica £4 million in cash. By adding the specialist skills of the ECL team, Centrica believes it will add to their ability to help British Gas customers cut their energy usage, carbon emissions and fuel bills. Before this acquisition, the main skill set of British Gas Insulation was loft and cavity-wall products.

Rugby-based ECL has 31 staff and markets its services to the roughly nine million homes in the UK which are of solid-wall construction.

British Gas reckons that the next five years will see a dramatic rise in the demand for home insulation, especially as the figures show that currently for every £4 homeowners spend on domestic energy fuel bills, around 25%, £1, is completely wasted due to bad insulation.

At the moment, some £0.6 billion is spent on home insulation which is set to rise to £1.4 billion in 2015. Apart from the economic incentives to improve house insulation, the Government has a number of incentives in which to actively encourage people to insulate their homes. This includes the Green Deal.

Managing Director of British Gas New Energy Jon Kimber said:
“This acquisition is part of the continuing success story of the British Gas insulation business. At British Gas, we are building the country’s leading insulation business, reducing household carbon emissions, and helping our customers lower their energy bills. The insulation market is growing, and insulating homes is the cheapest way to reduce energy bills. ECL Contracts Ltd, like British Gas, has a real passion for great customer service, and we are delighted to have secured the skills of such a great team.”

Managing Director, ECL Contracts Malcolm Smith said:
“This is great news for ECL Contracts and a reflection of the hard work and skill of all our people. I joined ECL Contracts 14 years ago and I’ve seen the company go from strength to strength. We are now starting a new chapter and are thrilled at being part of one of Britain’s most successful companies.”

Centrica believes that its growth of British Gas Insulation will make it the leader in the home insulation market and together with its position as number one with energy efficiency and microgeneration products, will give its customers a complete energy solutions package.

British Gas is also organically growing its insulation business which will eventually employ over 1,000 employees. In 2009 alone, it completed well over quarter of a million installations involving insulation products. The Company has calculated that that level of profits saved its customers over £30 million from their fuel bills.

Guest Article by Neil Camp 

The Labour Government has been reported to be considering a scheme by which a homeowner could fund eco-improvements through a long term loan, possibly provided through the energy companies.

And although an inevitable row has broken out between the political parties as to whose idea it is – both the Tories and Liberal Democrats claim they had the idea first – it is a genuine attempt to help people afford home improvements with the environment in mind. We have already seen the boiler scrappage scheme has been welcomed with open arms as lots of people have jumped on the chance to buy a new gas boiler at a discount. So if it goes through it will hopefully have a positive affect.

It has always been a dilemma for anyone contemplating making changes to their house and more energy efficient, is that the pay-back can be decades.

Take double-glazing which undoubtedly makes a property warmer. Although it will save hundreds of pounds off an average energy bill every year, that won’t cover for a long time the actual cost if installation which will cost thousands of pounds.

Even the simpler job of installing loft insulation is not that cheap, especially if a householder cannot do it as a DIY project.

So the Government plan is simple: provide people with access to long term funding so they can make their home more energy efficient.

The crux is of course, can the Government afford such schemes, especially as over the coming years the public purse is going to have to be considerably tightened and home grants will be hit hard? If you look at the welcomed boiler scrappage scheme, this has proved very popular, but the scheme itself has a limited shelf life, grants for new gas boilers cannot last forever. What’s more, various consumer groups are already complaining that a number of home improvement grant schemes are being withdrawn, or wound-down. Will this result in many of the government boiler grants being forgotten by the power companies as well?

So, it’s perhaps inevitable the Government will want to involve the energy companies in the scheme. Maybe not to wholly bank roll-it, but to act as a clearing house, although you could see the temptation of ministers asking the big energy companies to put their hands in their pockets for people’s house improvements; almost a corporate tax by proxy.

But the cynics might also point out this is the period before the general election, when the Government and opposition parties alike will promise many things which are then conveniently forgotten when they become leaders.

So, it’s a great idea, but don’t hold your breath!

Guest Article by Neil Camp

It’s a well known fact that today’s government doesn’t hand out freebies very often however they do have a relatively good scheme to help some households with their central heating and boiler needs. A few hundred pounds off or some other kind of incentive is a great way to provide a helping hand. There are three separate government heating grants available to apply for, these being:

• The central heating grant,
• The cavity wall insulation grant
• The loft insulation grant

With the economy being the way it is any help to those in need is a welcomed gift and it doesn’t hurt that replacing an old boier for a more energy efficient one is also kinder to the environment.

The main grant is the central heating grant and the particulars are covered by the Warm Front Scheme. This grant can pay up to £2700 for central heating installation and boiler replacement however there are some quite strict criteria for applicants to meet. For example, to get a free grant your household has to have either a person of 60+ years, a child under the age of 16 or a pregnant woman with a valid maternity certificate. In addition, the household also has to receive at least one of the following benefits:
• Income support,
• Housing benefit,
• Council Tax benefit but not single person occupancy,
• Pension credit,
• Job seekers allowance.

The Warm Front Scheme recently re-opened in April 2011and aims to help 90,000 of the most fuel poor households in the UK. It will help homes that do not have central heating and are poorly insulated.

Other householders that don’t meet the above criteria can still apply for the central heating grant however they have to be in receipt of one of these benefits:
• Working tax credit,
• Child tax credit,
• Attendance allowance,
• Housing benefit,
• Income support,
• Council tax benefit.

All of the benefits have conditions attached and it may be that you receive them but still don’t qualify for the grant. Saying that it doesn’t cost anything to apply and you can do it easily online, plus you might be awarded a partial grant even if you don’t get the full amount. People who don’t receive any of the mentioned benefits can also apply and they can often get up to £300 to help with central heating costs. The grant is awarded to the property and so if a previous owner has already applied for and been awarded a grant then you won’t be eligible for another one.

The other two government grants – the cavity wall insulation and the loft insulation grants – have the same kind of restrictions if you want the full amount however even those people who don’t receive benefits can claim between 40-70% of the total cost of installation from the government. This is well worth doing as 35% of your home’s heat is lost through the walls and another 25% disappears through the roof. If you can get a 70% grant then you personally will only have to pay around £100 to insulate your house – an amount which will easily be saved in the first year alone on heating bills.

You will not have to pay anything unless the work exceeds the grant given to you. As well as cavity and loft insulation the grant can also be used for draught proofing, hot water tank insulation and glass coverings for open fires.

The government have made it easy to apply for the various Heating grants and there are numerous websites available that will actually apply for you. All you need to do is fill in some details and let them do the rest. Even if you don’t think you qualify it’s worth a few minutes to fill in a form as you never know what the person at the other end will decide.

The Green Deal

The Green Deal is another government intitiative which is supported by a conglomerate of some of the UK’s largest companies, including, British Gas and JP Morgan, it will be called the The Green Deal Finance Company. It is set to begin in 2012 and aims to reduce the cost of green energy production for domestic and commercial users. The scheme will hopefully enable people and companies to purchase on finance and install and produce cleaner energy as well as save money on bills at the same time.

Guest Article by Clare Lynock