ENERGY MATTERS

[Tardis]

Newshound found it too.

http://www.visitbarnoldswick.co.uk/even ... ventid=352


Also - has the camera found any (significant) difference in properties with Double Glazing and those without ?

Yes, I was twittered the link to the news story today,

There was quite a significant difference between double and single glazed properties, but you might need to ask at the meeting to see if Gill got the permission to show off the pictures.

The greater difference was actually between those that had solid fuel heating and those with CH. There was a marked difference in temperatures of different storeys, and the vivid yellow ribbons on gable ends that rose from the floor to the chimney pot was quite a contrast.

In my picture the windows are double, the upstairs had the curtains drawn, the downstairs did not, and the CH had been on for about 90 minutes when the picture was taken. The dog was toasty inside.

[Tardis]

Last night I went to full Council in Nelson and asked this:

Barnoldswick Town Council is currently undertaking a low carbon project in the town. The area selected contains a large amount of houses considered to be hard to heat and their occupants in fuel poverty. These properties also lie within a conservation zone.

What is Pendle Council prepared to do to ensure that the impact of the conservation policies on these dwellings are minimised to effectively tackle these pronounced issues and alleviate the householders personal conditions?

Response

"The Council is guided on how to approach development in conservation areas by both national planning policy (this is due to be revised this month with the introduction of the National Planning Policy Framework) and statute. The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, as primary legislation, sets the framework for considering any development in conservation areas. Section 72 of that Act requires that special attention is given to preserving or enhancing conservation areas. Any development must therefore, as a starting point, preserve or enhance the appearance of a conservation area. This is not an optional approach that can be ignored and the duty must be applied to all development in conservation areas.

"Incorporating alternative energy sources into homes and other buildings is important. That can often be achieved in ways that preserve the character of the buildings. English Heritage produce useful guides on how this can be undertaken in sympathy with the historic fabric of individual buildings and conservation areas."

[Stanley]

The biggest advantage with double glazing is the elimination of draughts. Insulating properties are secondary.
Thanks to Deadly, replacement back fire brick delivered free yesterday by FedExUK. Well done Morso.....

[Big Kev]

Thanks to Deadly, replacement back fire brick delivered free yesterday by FedExUK. Well done Morso.....

Did it break? Have you kept the broken bits?

[Tizer]

Stanley, if you are caught out any time needing a new fire brick the shops that sell stoves can cut you a new one out of a block of vermiculite. Handle it carefully when you first get it because its friable but it toughens on the first heating.

Increasing thermal resistance of the shell of the house is now a big advantage of double glazing. It was less so when the walls were less insulated but modern walls are now becoming so well insulated that single glazing would be almost like having open holes in your walls by comparison.

[Stanley]

Kev, simple fracture straight down the middle. Not a big problem and I doubt if it is any detriment because it is so tight. Spare is held just in case. We used 'Plibrico', a plastic fireclay that had to be hammered into place in the arches on the Lancashire boilers and front plate insulation on economics.
Remember me posting about the transference from British Gas Essential Customer status to the new Warm Home Discount Scheme? I applied on January 24th and according to the information, I was promised an answer within 28 days. As I had heard nothing after almost two months I rang the BG customer care number. We hear so much about BG's communication faults but I have to report that they were brilliant. I got a young lady who took the trouble to contact the government department involved, she told me they were running behind with the applications due to high demand but that I should get a £120 discount on my bill at the beginning of April. Better still she is going to monitor the account for me and call me at as near 9am as she can manage on April 2nd to let me know whether it has happened. She also gave me an identification code for my query. Hard to fault that sort of service! She also looked at my previous bills and said that I would be £70 better off with the new discount.
If you know anyone who qualifies by age or poverty, get them to apply. (Ring 0800-072-8625)

[Stanley]

When the power went off yesterday I boiled my kettle for tea on the stove......

[Pluggy]

We were out in Colne yesterday afternoon, I was wondering why there was an hours gap in my monitoring graphs until I saw my alarm clock flashing which it does when the power has been off. They couldn't process a prescription at the chemist this morning which they were blaming on the power outage.

[Stanley]

Looks as though fuel tanker driver's strike is on for Easter. One thing I don't have to worry about in the short term but I commiserate with anyone who has to use a car to make a living. Ossie is still going ahead with the automatic increase in August.

[Stanley]

Warm day, no CH, no stove, no energy burned apart from base leccy. A good day!

[Wendyf]

The solar panels have been producing between 20 and 21 units a day in this sunny weather.

[Pluggy]

Nearly fell off the chair when I got my latest energy bill today. Some thing happened that has never happened before, EDF reduced my monthly payments because we're using less than we were budgeted for. Normally they say nowt and let it run up to hundreds of pounds in credit and they do something when you complain. The solar panels and the old backwards running meter have a lot to do with that (we've used 4 units in a week according to our meter, reality is around 10 units a day). Not quite up to Wendy standards here, we've generated around 12.7 units a day the last few days. A much smaller system and less than ideal terrain (we don't see the sun until about an hour after sun rise and we lose it about an hour before it sets).

[Stanley]

I'm looking forward to my next gas assessment at the end of this month. Their assessment of my annual usage should drop dramatically and trigger a reduction in the direct debit payment. If not I shall be at their throats!

[Pluggy]

Go geddum, Stanley.....

I just love legally cheating the energy companies out of revenue, electric meter reading last wednesday morning :



And this morning.



Nothing in 8 days, thanks to the panels and some freakish spring weather.

The figures on the unofficial import meter next to the main one that doesn't run backwards say I've imported 55 units in the same period. They are at liberty to stop it when they choose ( they come and fit an official meter that doesn't run backwards, but its their problem, not mine ).

[Stanley]

Good lad Pluggy, nice to see evidence that a fight back is possible!

[Tardis]

Interesting presentation and questions answered by JBA last night on renewables, Quite illuminating really

Hydro, extreme environmental concerns and lowest possible outputs. Not impossible but very expensive
Wind, unlikely to be big, more likely small scale single on farms
Solar PV, good opportunity
Solar Thermal, larger enterprises show promise
Combined Heat and Power, opportunities on big sites like school/leisure centre/nearby houses
Heat source possible, all possible
Anaerobic digestor, possible using biomass (silage)

Biggest problem identified is around the Conservation Area. A caveat introduced by the Lib Dem Energy minister means that your property will have to be at least Band D for insulation to obtain the feed in tariff. Most of the houses within the Low Carbon Zone study area are Band B and the rules of the Conservation area might stop them getting to Band D.

Asked about it last night, Cllr Whipp said "some people might want to see the retention of the Conservation Zone".

Highlight of the evening: meeting Heather

[Tardis]

Now that the first bit of the Low carbon Zone study is done, you might not be surprised to discover a next step. Open to all:

Project Name West Craven and Southfield Low Carbon Zone Project

Project area Southfield and West Craven

Brief project scope
1,200 households in West Craven and 400 households in Southfield (Nelson) have been identified as living in an area which has a high concentration of people living in fuel poverty.

It is hoped that by making these areas ‘Low Carbon Zones’ we will have an opportunity to talk to households about how they can save money on their energy bills by heating their houses more efficiently and using less resources.

We hope that by having quality conversations with households and showing them how to use some energy saving gadgets and reading their energy bills (part of a household energy efficiency pack), residents will see saving the planet as a great way to save money.

As a result of better insulation, using less energy , the houses will be more energy efficient and more importantly for our residents, we hope this will be the first step to get them out of the fuel poverty trap.

The first part of the project will involve taking a group of interested Pendle residents (with priority given to those living Southfield and West Craven) to the Prospects Project in Hyndburn. The PROSPECTS Foundation is a community owned charity, working for lasting environmental change in Hyndburn.

On the day of the visit, a short workshop event will be held afterwards. At this workshop residents will be consulted about what information they would find useful in a household energy efficiency pack.

We will also talk to the group about the opportunity of becoming a Green Champion. These Green Champions will talk to other Pendle residents about community led action around Green issues and energy efficiency. Follow up from the Hyndburn trip will focus initially on Southfield with a view to rolling out this model in Barnoldswick from June. The Barnoldswick project will build on the work undertaken by the Town Council (the Local Energy Assessment Fund initiative) delivered throughout March/ April 2012.

Green Champions across Pendle will be trained in basic energy efficiency awareness learning skills such as; how to read energy bills; how to swap energy suppliers and how to make homes more energy efficient. The Green Champions will then help members of the locality team to distribute the household packs initially to residents in Southfield over a series of door knocking events in July 2012. Pending on the uptake, further packs will then be ordered for distribution in Barnoldswick. Fuel tariff drop in clinics will be delivered by PBC in the 2 areas to allow all residents to discuss their specific energy bills and potential opportunity for savings. In Brnoldswick, those who have received an energy assessment as part of the LEAF project will be prioritised for this service.

The household energy efficiency packs will contain: energy efficient gadgets such as waterpebbles, Hippos (for toilets) and energy saving light bulbs. The pack will be delivered in a bag for life which residents can use again for shopping. To reduce paper, 10 Top energy efficency/ money saving tips could be printed on the bags.

During door knocking a household will receive an energy efficiency pack once they have:
• Have discussed the Top 10 Tips about how to save money by saving energy
• Been given information about what each gadget in the pack does
• The gadgets have been installed (if permission has been granted for us to enter/ fit the appliances)
• Had advice about their energy bills and how they could save money if they switched supplier/ switched from a meter to a bill

Once the energy efficiency packs have been delivered to houses, this information will be recorded on the Southfield Profile database to inform future work in Southfield and any further work in West Craven.

Once the work in Southfield has been completed, the project will contact those households again in 6 months time to see if they have made savings to their energy bills. The results will then be recorded and inform future work in West Craven and other parts of Pendle.

[catgate]

"We hope that by having quality conversations with households..........

We will also talk to the group about the opportunity of becoming a Green Champion. These Green Champions will talk to other Pendle residents about community led action around Green issues and energy efficiency........"

Don't you love it when the real bovine excrement speaker get in on the act.

[Whyperion]

Are they going to free off my stuck thermostatic valves , replace the radiators in the house with ones correctly sized and located , produce a controllable gas thermostat that doesnt work like an on / off switch and one that delivers hot water at a trickle without needing to demand niagra from ones taps to get any kind of usable hot water in the system. Didnt the electricity companies already send round energy bulbs to the older persons ? ( Can I have some that are bright enough to work in the wall lights while being short enough to fit in the holders provided? I'll see if I can get in some more loft insulation ( good fun fitting through the hatch that is smaller than anyone over the age of 5.

[Tardis]

I would have to agree about some of the language, but I believe that I cut and pasted from an 'internal' document. Sometimes it is just trying to be clever and filled with buzz words to hit the right bits of the committee who will decide upon funding for the projects. It maybe prior to running through the fogging index too to make the English much plainer.

I have sat in far worse marketing meetings, where at the end of the pitch someone will ask "what did you say?"

As to the practical issues mentioned I'm not sure:

If you are a tenant, then your landlord would need to have a licence from Pendle, and some of those issues could be raised during the annual service check. I'm not sure about wrong sized radiators being covered but there is something about the dwelling being able to be heated and all equipment supplied to work.

If you are a homeowner I do recommend those yearly "central heating insurance schemes" from people like British Gas. You get the yearly checks of your appliances, but also cover if any of it breaks. We got pumps, timers and other bits replaced included in the price which is essential if you have aged equipment. The one fault is that they might recommend that you replace the boiler.

As to insulation, fitters will do it for you

[catgate]

I am not affected, nor in any way involved in this matter, but I do feel that an opportunity has been missed to create a system of rankings, for the Green Champions.
They could be graded according to their number of "converts gained" and awarded garish lapel bandges and shoulder flashes according to the number of "scalps" taken.

[Tizer]

"...residents will see saving the planet as a great way to save money. "
Here we go again - when will they get it through their heads that the planet doesn't need `saving', it doesn't care what the global temperature is, it would be quite happy to be boiling hot like Venus or cold like Neptune. Let's be more honest - what we are trying to save is our comfy lifestyle, perhaps what we call civilisation, and at the very extreme the human race. The Earth will be here for a long, long time yet and will happily shrug us off if we aggravate it too much, and then carry on as usual. We need to accept that the Earth is in charge, not us, and that we have to learn to live by its rules, not our made-up ones.

[Tripps]

Great post Tizer. I think you have just totally refuted James Lovelock's Gaia theory in one fell swoop. You are absolutely right of course, though I don't think I've ever seen it in print before.

[Stanley]

Funny, I thought Tiz had just utilised the Gaia Theory......

[Whyperion]

The Radiators are oversized ( and wrongly located for engery efficiency and where the room stats are is anyones guess ) so system is consuming too much gas, and Landlord not happy to replace them as only fitted a year ago half of them ( leaving old , inefficient rads in place as skimped on changing pipe runs ) , as long as bolier works and doesnt kill you the latency in trigering hot water circuit at present isnt covered in Landlords Service check , looks like I am expected to run a torrent to get (and keep ) the water hot.