Interest Free Loans For a Low Carbon Economy

The government should offer loans to help homes reduce their energy bills and boost their home's efficiency, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).

According to the LGA, there are ten million homes that do not have adequate insulation, a fact which contributes to their carbon emissions and could keep them in fuel poverty. If all these homes were insulated fully the UK could reduce its carbon footprint by up to 12m tonnes, and shave over £1bil off our annual fuel bills.

In anticipation of the LGA's climate change conference next week, chief executive Paul Bettison called on the government to "give councils more powers to unlock the job-creating potential of the low-carbon economy" as they predict in the "Creating green jobs: developing low-carbon economies" publication that investment in this area could create 150 000 jobs in the current economic downturn.

"We want the government to introduce a national loans fund to allow residents to invest in solid-wall insulation – where they have an older home – and install other measures such as solar power."
Paul Bettison, Chief Executive, Local Government Association (LGA)

Last year Gordon Brown launched a plan to offer all homes free or low cost insulation. Grants are also available to households through the Low Carbon Building Phase I scheme.

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Reducing Energy Costs The Green Way

In recent years householders have seen the cost of energy rise sharply and therefore more and more people have been turning to more energy efficient methods. One such noticeable area for improving home efficiency has been in home heating. Householders are looking to cut heating bills by installing more resistant and efficient wall and roofing insulation. The trend of rising home insulation use is plain to see these days as big companies such as Tesco have entered the market place. The government is also doing its bit by setting up a £3bn fund to help householders insulate their homes. This is part of their much wider green campaign which aims to reduce emissions by 2015.

Although there are many home insulation products on the market there are very few that actually make use of an environmentally friendly product. This is where a company like Sprayseal differentiates itself. Sprayseal is a specialist insulation company that uses a unique brand of spray foam insulation that is completely environmentally friendly. What’s more is that the Sprayseal formula contains no toxic fibres or materials and can be used in almost any environment.

Sprayseal itself feels that offering a green alternative is extremely important in today’s climate because environmental change is very much at the forefront of people’s agenda. Pushing people towards greener products can only be a good thing.

Sprayseal’s commitment to the environment has essentially changed with the times as the family run business started out in 1987 and originally made use of more traditional insulation methods. When the opportunity arose to using a new modern and more efficient product came along the directors jumped at the chance. The pair was initially impressed by the products ability to reduce heat loss by up to 80% but on further use they found it was ideal for installing insulation quickly and easily.

Sprayseal as a company has also been growing as a result of it’s environmentally ways and has recently launched a new website. The interest stemming from the product means that they now operate home insulation services across the country and have a growing workforce. In the future it will be interesting to see how insulation and other energy saving methods will evolve.

Sprayseal also is a unique product in that it can be adaptable to any situation, and must be the sure choice of industry, where large scale projects can be carried out with the minimum of disruption. Their previous clients include some prestigious companies, including Endemol, creators of, Big Brother, who had the house insulated, the Tate Gallery, and many local councils and health authorities.

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The Sky is the Limit to Find Uninsulated Homes

Members of the Coventry Partnership's Environment Theme Group have proposed an innovative aerial thermal survey of the city to be carried out this winter in order to help people insulate their homes.

Coventry Partnership brings together public, private and voluntary sector organisations in the city in order to make Coventry a growing, accessible city where people choose to live, work and be educated and where businesses choose to invest. One of the key themes is tackling climate change and the Environment Theme Group has recently been re-launched to help achieve this goal.

Over 40 delegates met on Friday 12th September at Coventry Transport Museum for a lively event which discussed practical ways in which collaborative working can really begin to make a difference to the city's carbon emissions and deliver the climate change strategy.

The top project idea was to carry out a thermal survey of the city using an advanced infra-red camera to spot areas where buildings are losing heat and require additional thermal insulation.

This will be the first time that such a high resolution camera has been used to survey a whole city from an aircraft.

The results will be more accurate than ever before due to the use of advanced GPS mapping which will mean that a heat source as small as a shoebox can be detected.

The survey will be carried out on a cold night this winter with the results available early in the New Year.

"I am very excited by the idea of being able to actually see heat losses from buildings and provide advice and support to residents to help them keep their fuel bills low and reduce their carbon footprint. We all think we've done enough but this will let us check whether we can do more in a very visible way. Personally I can't wait to see whether the work I've done to insulate my house has paid off!"
Nigel Lee, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Housing and Sustainability

It's envisaged that this will allow the identification of houses that would benefit from additional thermal insulation and ensure that residents make full use of the various grants that are currently on offer from the government and other sources.

This survey should help ensure that Coventry residents take full advantage of the additional funding for insulation announced by the Prime Minister on 11th September.

This new package comprising £910 million from the big energy suppliers intends to help people with soaring gas and electricity bills by providing free or half-price insulation to lofts and cavity walls as well as a freeze on this year's bills for the poorest families.

An earlier but less detailed aerial survey carried out in 2007 has allowed the council to contact hundreds of residents to offer help with insulation and highlighted the need for a detailed survey to pinpoint hotspots.

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Is The Government Right to Scrap the One-Off Winter Fuel Payment?

The government today announced that it would not be providing the much anticipated "Fuel Payment Plan" of £150 to seven million households, which was originally announced in the media last month after it was leaked by a senior civil servant travelling on a train. Is this the right decision?

Our homes consume energy, copious amounts of it. 83% of domestic energy is used for space and water heating, and in the huge majority of homes this is done in an inefficient way. One-off payments purely provide assistance in the short-term, delaying the issue and exacerbating the situation further. In addition by providing a "subsidised" fuel, encourages the user to continue to use energy in an inordinate way, becoming reliant on benefits to subsidise their existence. Reduction of consumption has not be ingrained into the mindset of the individual, increased consumption, increased demand, and whilst on a global scale, relatively minor, increased prices, inevitably leading to further hardship.

By focusing on reducing energy consumption, via energy efficient technologies such as cavity wall insulation and loft insulation, this assists with the core aims of a reducing dependency of fossil fuels and lowering CO2 emissions. It is an investment for the future and progresses the nation towards a low carbon economy. It alleviates the burden on the tax payer, freeing up future revenue to be invested in further projects. By empowering individual awareness of the environmental and economic benefits of reducing their consumption, this kick-starts a revolution of energy savers.

According to Uswitch, this year the average annual household bill will be £1,467, up 61% on last year. As a whole, this equates to an annual spend for domestic households of £31bil annually, of a total UK consumption expected to exceed £200bil (three times the level of 1998). If all households that could install the two measures mentioned above did so, with the help of government grants or assistance, we could reduce UK energy use in monetary terms by 0.88% per annum, and reduce UK CO2 emissions by approximately 8.4m tonnes.

Political benefits from energy efficiency in the long-term oppose to "short-term gimmicks", reduced reliance on imported 'old sun' energy, sustained decreased in energy consumption, reduced CO2 emmissions from point of implementation year-on-year, improved air quality and decrease in associated illnesses.

Whilst I believe the that the government has made the right decision, those that will suffer from this announcement, are those most in need of support, however there is genuine help available to those who are fuel poor, individuals on certain benefits, and even for those that are not.

Specific advice is available, you can contact the Energy Saving Trust or, if you contact us via email, with information about your current energy use, type of housing, installed heating methods, your location, energy supplier details. We will try to find the best solution to reduce your energy bills right now for free, through grants, support and practical advice.

Further information on how you can reduce your energy consumption this winter is available on our Winter Energy Saving Ideas page.


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Tesco Launch Home Insulation Service

Market leading supermarket Tesco have launched a Home Insulation Service offering cavity wall insulation and loft insulation at bargain price. It doesn't matter if you own a 4-bed detached house, or a 1-bed apartment Tesco offer each service for the great price of just £199. In comparison to the guide prices you could save anywhere between £98 and £541.

For those in receipt of certain benefits you can install the measures for free. If you are a homeowner, residential landlord or private tenant and anyone in your property is over 70 or in receipt of one or more of the following benefits, you may be entitled to free insulation (subject to survey).

• Child tax credit
  (with household income less than £15,592)
• Working tax credit
  (with household income less than £15,592)
• War disablement pension
  (must include constant attendance allowance or a mobility supplement)
• Disablement pension
  (must include constant attendance allowance)
• Attendance allowance
• Disability living allowance
• State pension credit
• Income support
• Housing benefit
• Council tax benefit
  (single persons allowance does not apply)
• Income based job seekers allowance

83 per cent of domestic energy is used for heat. Cavity wall insulation can help prevent the 25% - 40% of heat in a building lost through uninsulated walls. The potential savings is about £120 on your annual heating bills and up to 1 tonne of Co2 a year. The cost of installation should be recouped in less than 2 years, however with the Tesco prices this is just over one year. Loft insulation will help prevent the 25% of heat in a building lost through an uninsulated loft. The potential savings are about £155 on your annual heating bills and up to 2 tonnes of Co2 a year.

Overall if all the homes in the UK that are uninsulated at the moment were insulated the annual savings would be equivalent to £2.5 billion and 14.3 million tonnes of Co2 emissions annually.

Tips when Choosing an Installer

• Ensure what you are getting there are many types of insulation used, at the moment the standard is bonded bead, this is available in white and graphite, the graphite is 20% more effective, and slightly more expensive.
• Ask whether they will install ventilation guards, many installers will not mention this, it is essential that these are installed to prevent beads from blocking the vents, this can lead to advanced rotting in floor boards.
• Ensure the company is CIGA registered, check their site and look for the logo

Tesco Home Insulation Service do not operate in every area of the UK, if you are still interested in insulation in your area, you can contact use the Energy Saving Trust search to find details of installers in your area. The Energy Savings Trust can also give further advice on grants available.


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