7. Energy
In the UK households
account for more than a quarter of total energy consumption. Energy is used to
provide heat, light, in cooking and to power appliances. The typical household
is wasting around a third of its energy supply by using energy less efficiently
than it could. There are lots of ways to save energy at a low or even no cost,
and any improvement in the efficiency of a home (including insulation) always
pays for itself in lower energy bills!
More information is available free of charge from the
local Energy Efficiency Advice Centre on 0800 512 012 See www.bookmysurvey.com
for some competitive prices on
insulation.
Turning down your thermostat by just 1oC will reduce
the energy used for heating by around 10%, and replacing a single inefficient bulb
with a low energy light bulb saves up to £8 of electricity every year!
Switch off appliances instead of leaving them on
standby – between 6 – 10% of household energy is wasted because of this mode.
To save money when replacing or buying new appliances, always look for the ‘A’ energy
rating (A+ or A++ for fridges and freezers) - in the past 6 years, energy used
by fridges, freezers etc. has been reduced by 17% because they are now more
efficient to run!
If we were more energy efficient perhaps we wouldn’t
need to be considering more nuclear power stations – and with their past
leakages, security, and expense, this would surely be advantageous.
Shropshire, Herefordshire & Stoke Energy Efficiency
Advice Centre
74 High St, Madeley, TF7
5AH
T:
0800 512012
W:
www.eec.org.uk
Free impartial advice on accessing grants and cutting
your energy bills
Electricity
W:
www.electricityinfo.org
Independent website providing environmental information
on the UK
electricity supply industry
Local
contacts (accredited )
Clearview Stoves
Dinham House, Ludlow,
SY8 1EH
T:
01584 878100
W:
www.clearviewstoves.com
Produce high quality wood burning stoves.
Showrooms in Ludlow and Whitchurch.
Continental Fires Ltd.
Unit 1, Laundry Bank,
Church Stretton,
SY6 6PH
T:
01694 724199
W:
www.continentalfires.com
Suppliers and installers of biomass systems.
Domestic & General Insulation Ltd.
Energy House, Magnis Works, Roman Road,
Hereford, HR4 9QR
T:
0870 122 0059
W:
www.dgi.org.uk
Install both insulation (cavity wall, loft,
draughtproofing) and heating systems (solar thermal, gas, oil and LPG).
Dulas Ltd.
Unit 1, Dyfi
Eco Park,
Machynlleth,
Powys, SY20 8AX.
T:
01654 703000
W:
www.dulas.org.uk
Renewable energy specialists offering design, consultancy
and installation services.
Energy 4 Life Ltd.
Ganderbeach House, Hemford,
Shrewsbury, SY5 0HJ
T:
01743 891144
W:
www.energy4lifeltd.co.uk
Installers providing a complete design, supply
and installation service for heat pumps, solar thermal and biomass systems.
Energy Engineering
Cound Moor, Shrewsbury,
SY5 6BB.
T:
01694 731648
E:
energyengineering@btinternet.com
Installer of solar thermal systems, radon surveys,
30 years experience.
Green Earth Energy Ltd.
Unit 2a, Westwood Industrial Estate,
Pontrilas, Hereford,
HR2 0EL
T:
01981 241399
W:
www.greenearthenergy.co.uk
Installer of domestic renewable energy systems
including solar PV and thermal, hydro, biomass and wind.
Intelligent Energy
Lower Beach, Linley, Bishop’s Castle, SY9 6HR
T:
01588 650657
W:
richard.hill@intellergy.co.uk
Advisor and installer of appropriate biomass, solar,
wind, biodiesel and heat pump systems.
Renewable Energy
Households
can also help tackle climate change by buying electricity generated by a renewable
technology such as wind, solar, or hydro or by generating it themselves (see
below: micro-generation). All energy suppliers now have a ‘green tariff’ in
addition to their standard tariffs, and some companies only supply ‘green’ –
visit www.greenelectricity.org or
call 0800 512 012 for information on all tariffs.
www.electricityinfo.org/suppliers.php gives
details of the types of fuels used to generate electricity for each tariff, the
emissions of CO2 and volume of nuclear waste produced.
Llanisolar
The Old School Yard, Smithfield
St.,
Llanidloes, Powys,
SY18 6EJ
T:
01686 412552
W:
www.llanisolar.co.uk
Install solar thermal systems on domestic and
commercial properties.
Midlands Wood Fuel Supply Ltd.
The Barns, Harnage Grange, Cressage,
Shrewsbury, SY5 6EB
T:
01952 510001
W:
www.wood-fuel.co.uk
Supply wood fuel and wood fuelled boilers to
all sectors.
Organic Energy
Severn Road, Welshpool, SY21 7AZ
T:
0845 458 4076
W:
www.organicenergy.co.uk
Distributors and advisors for Okofen automatic
wood pellet boilers and Gasokal solar water heating systems.
Wind and Sun Ltd.
Humber Marsh, Leominster,
Herefordshire,
HR6 0NR
T:
01568 760671
W:
www.windandsun.co.uk
Design, supply & installation of wind and solar
electrical systems.
EcoGen Projects Ltd.
Trelawney House, 30
Fore Street,
Chancewater, Cornwall,
TR4 8PT
E:
enquiry@ecogen.co.uk
Help communities develop wind projects –office
in Shrewsbury.
Marches Energy Agency
23 Swan Hill, Shrewsbury,
SY1 1NN
T:
01743 246007
W:
www.mea.org.uk
Provide energy consultancy services, advise communities
on renewables & energy efficiency, and instigated a low carbon community
engagement approach in Bishops Castle (the Wasteless Society), Ellesmere,
Cleobury, Melverley and Ilam, in various forms - ranging from the whole works
to the community becoming incandescent-bulb free.
The Wasteless Society
2 Market Square, Bishop’s Castle,
SY9 5BN
T:
01588 638 738
W:
www.wasteless.co.uk
Offer a Household Energy Survey Service in BC,
using volunteers, including carbon footprinting.
WREMS Ltd.
Station Road, Hodnet,
TF9 3JF
T:
01630 685147
W:
www.wrems.co.uk
Web-enabled energy monitoring & control for
industry and small businesses.
Further afield:
Carbon Trust
W: www.carbontrust.co.uk
A Government-funded, independent company promoting energy
saving and renewable generation in business and the private sector.
Energy Saving Trust
W: www.est.org.uk
Government-funded organisation promoting household energy
saving with a useful website for information and advice.
National Energy Foundation
W: www.nef.org.uk
A national educational charity encouraging energy saving
and renewable generation.
Micro-generation is the
production of heat, electricity or both at a small scale such as a household,
which can use the energy, or in some cases, sell to the National Grid through a
special contract with an energy supplier. Grants are available from the
Government’s Low Carbon Buildings Programme towards the cost of solar
photovoltaic (PV) and thermal, wind, hydro, biomass, combined heat and power
(CHP), and heat pump systems – visit www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.
All households should reduce their energy demand as much as possible before thinking
about how it is produced.
Carbon foot-prints and offsetting
A
carbon footprint is the amount of CO2 emissions an individual is responsible
for during one year as a result of their daily activities in terms of energy
use in the home and travel. In the UK
an average individual is responsible for 9.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions which is
below the 10–11 for a US
citizen. By February 9th, an individual in Britain
will have used the same amount of energy as someone in India in a
year! Contraction and convergence means reducing our consumption so that
everyone in the world consumes the same.
One
scheme that has been suggested to try to decrease the impact of our wasteful
and greedy lifestyle, is carbon offsetting. The idea is that you can compensate
others for the impact of your ‘foot-print’ by paying a company who will then
help other people to live more sustainable lifestyles. Examples include a
scheme giving energy efficient stoves to Mexican villagers (www.climatecare.co.uk),
so they don’t have to cut down more forests, and the local initiative is
Project Carbon of Marches Energy Agency which promotes energy efficiency
measures and gives free advice to community buildings in the Marches (www.projectcarbon.org).
While
this is obviously useful, it would seem that offsetting abroad should be part of
any foreign aid package. It also doesn’t really do much to reduce climate
change. Before we consider offsetting our emissions we should first of all do
all that we can to reduce our impact as much as possible such as being more
energy efficient. Offsetting then allows you to ‘offset’ the effect of your
unavoidable emissions.
Low Energy Light Bulbs
Replacing
inefficient light bulbs with low energy equivalents is one of the most cost
effective ways for any household to save energy. Bulbs shaped as candles,
globes, bullets, spirals and ‘look a likes’ can be purchased from larger shops
and online, as can energy saving replacements for R80, R63 and R50, GU10
halogen spots and fluorescent 6 foot strip lights.
Available
from hardware shops, Screwfix, and B + Q have a good supply. Also:
Efficient Light
T: 08702 425 384
W: www.efficientlight.co.uk
Low energy bulbs in shapes and sizes – put ‘mea’ as
discount code on web or phone for 5% discount and donation to local climate
change charity.
Lyco Direct
W: www.LycoDirect.co.uk
Ebulbshop.com
W: www.ebulbshop.com
Energy Savers Direct
W:
www.energysavers-direct.com