South West HECA Forum Chair: Vice Chair: Secretariat: Colin Anderson 01752 307176 [email protected]Erica Pretty 01202 633 428 [email protected]vacent Contact Colin Anderson (see above) Welsh HECA Forum Chair: Vice-Chair: Secretariat: Nia Prys-Williams 01352 703766 [email protected]Steve Martin 01443 864645 [email protected]Erica Mason 01633 223111 [email protected]West Midlands HECA Forum Chair: Vice-Chair: Secretariat: Graham Jones 01584 813 377 graham.jones@ southshropshire.gov.uk Neil Morton 0121 3036 148 neil.morton@ birmingham.gov.uk Ellie Cooper 0121 262 6402 ellie.cooper @hestia-europe.com Home Energy Officers’ Network (HEON) - North West Secretariat/Vice-Chair: Chair: Brian Sexton MBE 0161 242 5803/5805 [email protected]Alison Hartley 0161 242 5810 [email protected]Deputy Chair: Revathi B 0161 342 2557 [email protected]North East Domestic Energy Forum Chair: Secretariat: Andy Stephenson 0191 3872134 [email protected]01642 777 970 [email protected]Vice Chair: Ian Bloomfield 01388 761 596 [email protected]Wendi Wheeler Northern Ireland HECA Advisory Panel Representative: Noel Rice 02890 240 588 [email protected]East Pennine HECA Forum York & Humber Chair: Darren Adams 0113 395 7156 [email protected]Alison Wilson 01302 736091 [email protected]Vice-Chair: Richard Smith 01302 862514 [email protected]Secretariat: London HECA Forum Chair: Secretariat: Gemma Moore 020 8736 6014 [email protected]Sarah Hitchcock 0845 450 3375 [email protected]Vice-Chair: Norma Nyaulingo 020 8921 6238 [email protected]Scottish HECA Officers’ Network (SHON) Chair: Secretariat: Stephen Cunningham 01506 773744 [email protected]Scott Restrick 0141 226 3064 [email protected]Home Energy Officers’ Network Eastern Representative: Secretariat: (HEON) - Chair: Bruce Pittingale 07918 601 931 [email protected]Steve Adelizzi 01279 655261 [email protected]John Davis 01733 262 431 [email protected]Home Energy Officers’ Network (HEON) - East Midlands Chair: Vice-Chair: Secretariat: Denise emheca@ Marsdon 01933 231853 dmarsdon@ wellingborough.gov.uk Alison McCafferty 0116 299 5129 alison.mccafferty@ leicester.gov.uk Ros Badley 0116 299 5126 leicester.gov.uk South East HECA Forum Chair: Secretariat: Kathy Alcock 01892 554 275 Kathy.alcock@ tunbridgewells.gov.uk Laura Russell 020 7922 0266 [email protected]UK HECA Chair: Oliver Myers 0207 9746370 [email protected]UK HECA Secretariat: Helen Atkins 0116 299 5133 [email protected]HECA Network News HECA HECA Network News UK Home Energy Conservation Association Disclaimer: The views expressed within this publication are individual and not necessarily shared by the editorial com- mittee, the UK Home Energy Conservation Association (HECA), Leicester City Council or our sponsors. Pelamis wins funding National Home Energy Conference 007 Programme photo copyright Ocean Power Delivery the race to 00 MPGe - page 3 E.ON turns up the HeatPlant - page 3 Creating a Carbon Neutral School - conference preview - page 8 HECA HECA Network News is the quarterly news magazine of UK HECA - The UK Home Energy Conservation Association Edition 19 - Winter 2008 HECA NETWORK NEWS Sponsored by Winter 007/08 UK HECA Annual Review - page 13 National Home Energy Conference 2008 Preview - page 7
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Disclaimer: The views expressed within this publication are individual and not necessarily shared by the editorial com-mittee, the UK Home Energy Conservation Association (HECA), Leicester City Council or our sponsors.
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Happy New Year to all our readers!Among the increasingly evident effects of climate change worldwide, was last year’s sudden and dramatic reduction in Arctic sea ice levels. The minimum extent, on September �6, saw record melting of the ice cap to 39% below the average minimum. More solar energy is absorbed by the darker exposed water, not only contributing to the ice loss by delaying the onset of winter re-freez-ing but potentially accelerating climate change worldwide. Estimates of the date by which we’ll have an ice free pole vary from anything between �6 to �00 years. In February, a team of British scien-tists will tow a ground penetrating radar device on a ��0 day, �000 km trek across the arctic, in an attempt to measure the thickness of the ice along the route, and pin down this date more precisely.
Last year’s ice loss opened up the Northwest Passage, connecting the At-lantic and the Pacific Oceans, which could become commercially naviga-ble within the next few years. International disputes have already started over whose territorial waters the route falls within, as well as the rich oil and gas fields that lie below the Arctic Ocean. Russia has signalled its intention to exploit the region’s fossil fuel reserves by placing a flag on the sea bed directly below the pole.
The impact of the ice loss is felt heavily amongst the region’s native people and animals, who rely on a familiarity with their surroundings for their survival. For the indigenous people of North Baffin Island, the climate is “uggianaq-tuq” - their word for a friend who is acting in a strange and unfamiliar way. Many small islands are no longer connected to the mainland by the ice, which previously allowed dog sleds to reach communities off Greenland’s coast - It won’t be long before huskies become little more than a tourist attraction in the arctic region. For reindeer, and the indigenous people who depend on them, the ice is essential for migration at the end of every winter. Although the polar bear usually receives the most media attention, the list of species threatened also includes wolves, musk oxen, seals, sea-lions, walruses, whales and several species of migratory seabirds and fish.
Here in the UK, the climate could also be described as uggianaqtuq. Met Office data showed the summer of 2007 to have been the wettest in Eng-land and Wales since records began in �766. Over twice the average rain-fall was recorded between May and July, causing flooding which claimed numerous lives and cost the insurance industry over £3 billion.
�008 is set to be a milestone year for home energy conservation. The results of Defra’s public consultation on the �995 Home Energy Conservation Act, will determine England’s future domestic energy efficiency agenda. Thank you to all those HECA officers who took the time to respond to our survey on HECA’s future. UK HECA’s response to Defra is now available to download from our website at ukheca.org.uk/consultations. It’s critical that Defra uses this opportunity to develop a clear, effective strategy that will help us in our efforts to mend our strained relationship with our environment.
- Rob Leeson, UK HECA
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Providing sustainable energy solutions to the public sectorSustainability is increasingly high on the agenda for the world’s companies, governments and individuals – and it isn’t going away. The EU has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by �0% by �0�0, but there is still a long way to go.
Already, 6.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO�) are emitted globally and people’s actions in one part of the world are having a direct impact on those in another. Ultimately, building a sustainable future means rising to a mix of challenges. More of our electricity needs to come from renewable sources and we all need to use it more resourcefully.
As a business, we aim to achieve a �0% reduction in the carbon intensity of our generation by �0��, having already reduced carbon intensity by �0% since �990. We’re also investing over a billion pounds in new renewable energy schemes over the next five years.
The government target for the UK (set in the �003 White Paper) is to reduce CO� emissions by 60% of �990 levels by �050. The public sector – local authorities, schools or social housing providers for example – are increasingly expected to lead the way in reducing their carbon emissions. Local authorities across the country are adding weight to this message by sign-ing up to voluntary carbon reduction schemes such as The Merton Rule and Nottingham Declaration.
After carrying out lengthy interviews and research with schools, local authorities and social housing organisations E.ON has been able to further understand public sector needs and developed a bespoke solutions approach for its public sector and business customers all over the UK to help reduce their carbon footprint and fuel bills.
Sustainable Energy Solutions is a unique business area, which complements E.ON’s compa-ny wide commitment to sustainability and carbon reduction. Sustainable Energy Solutions is designed to help public sector groups achieve their low carbon objectives by providing an end to end solution.
Sustainable Energy Solutions encompasses everything from energy efficiency to microgen-eration helping to achieve carbon reduction targets. It is designed to deliver low carbon energy solutions for the public sector, by working with customers to identify and implement the right low carbon solution for them.
An important part of integrated solutions is microgeneration technology; this is the ability to generate heat and/or electricity locally from a low carbon source. Sustainable Energy Solutions includes a range of microgeneration technologies: small wind turbines, solar pho-tovoltaic, solar thermal energy, biomass boilers, micro CHP, air source heat pumps and ground source heat pumps, of which E.ON is one of the UK’s leading suppliers.
As one of only two energy companies awarded contracts under the Low Carbon Building Programme (LCBP) Phase 2, E.ON is committed to finding sustainable energy solutions to help with the challenges faced today. Through the scheme, public sector organisations and charitable bodies can apply for funding of up to 35% of the cost of purchasing and installing some microgeneration technologies from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when purchased through E.ON.
To know more about Sustainable Energy Solutions, visit eonenergy.com/sustainableenergy or call 0800 051 5687.
Arctic sea ice minima(Source NASA)
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Leeds, Bradford and Hull EEAC migration to call centreThe Fuelsavers Team (see photo below) at Leeds City Council operate the Leeds, Bradford and Hull Energy Efficiency Advice Centre (EEAC). After a year of planning and preparation, the Team have success-fully transferred frontline call answering operations to Contact Leeds (Leeds City Council’s Call Centre) on �5 October. Con-tact Leeds staff have been trained to City & Guilds in Energy Awareness, using the Team’s in-house Health and Warmth Train-er, and can now advise on many energy related enquiries including cavity wall and loft insulation, high efficiency boilers and heating controls as well as directing cus-tomers to sources of financial support. More complex queries will be passed through to existing staff for assistance. It is expected the Call Centre will handle up to �0,000 en-quiries per year and, in addition, will seek to direct customers seeking other Coun-cil services, for example environmental or benefit queries, through to energy advice.
Saving Energy and Keeping people warm in Leeds steps up a gear…
Leeds Affordable Warmth Strategy 2007-2016The Leeds Affordable Warmth Strategy was launched on �3 October and outlines the Au-thority’s Action Plans to tackle fuel poverty in the City up until 2016. The Strategy contains a unique Code of Practice containing four levels. Partner organisations are asked to sign up to one stat-ing how they will assist or refer their customers to the most appropriate advice and support. Eight organisations signed up on the day, more will be encouraged to sign up.
Energy Advisors on Electric Mountain BikesThe Leeds, Bradford and Hull EEAC Energy Advi-sors are now using electric mountain bikes to travel around Leeds and carry out talks and home visits. This, we believe, is a first in the country. The special bikes have a range of up to �5 miles have a maxi-mum speed of �5 mph and are charged up from renewable electricity.
For further information, contact Darren Adams, Assistant Fuelsavers Manager on 0113 3957156 or e-mail: [email protected]
Attendance at the launch of the Leeds Affordable Warmth Strategy.
Peter Williams, Energy Advisor for the Leeds, Bradford and Hull EEAC
Perfect PowerAs part of Brentwood Council’s Environment Campaign to help conserve the planet and minimise impact on the environment, a new PowerPerfector device has been installed at the Town Hall.
The PowerPerfector system has been con-nected to the electricity supply at the Town Hall in order to even out voltage and mini-mise power supply in order to ensure that maximum efficiency of electricity usage is achieved, whilst reducing carbon emissions by up to �0%.
The Carbon Trust, who recently carried out an independent energy audit at the Town Hall expect that the new system should re-duce the Council’s energy consumption by at least 12%, equivalent to 33.9 tonnes of CO� emissions per year.
Not only does the PowerPerfector reduce energy usage and therefore energy bills, it also lowers maintenance costs on electri-cal equipment, improves power quality and prolongs the life of electrical components through reduced voltage and electrical stresses.
Leader of the Council, Councillor Brandon Lewis said, “The PowerPerfector is just one of the measures that the Council is looking at in order to continue to save energy, reduce costs and minimise negative impact on the environment”.
Heather Ziervogel Environmental Health Officer3 �
Contact Leeds Energy Advisors and the Fuelsavers Manager
Brian Sexton MBECongratulation to Brian Sexton MBE, who was appointed as a Member of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for his serv-ices to the domestic energy industry. Brian has been Chair of the North West Home En-ergy Officers’ Network since 1997 and has re-ceived numerous awards since taking his de-cision to retire, including the Baroness Mad-dock Lifetime Achievement Award at the �006 National Home Energy Conference.
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Spooky goings on at the North West Regional HECA meetingAs the recent North West HECA meeting was held on the 3� October, coinciding with Hal-loween, the chair of the group Brian got up to some devilish behaviour in providing witches hats and uniforms for his assistant HECA-retts, Alison and Revathi.
Dressed in a black cape, complete with devil horns and Fork, which he used to encour-age the guests to speak, his sparkling crystal ball revealed the background of each of the speakers.
The first speaker seen through the mist of the crystal ball was introduced as a person of great wealth that had come to the aid of the HECA movement. It was of course our spon-sorship colleague from E.ON.
All other guests were introduced from the vi-sions that the Chair saw in his crystal ball.
With a record turn-out of �8 people, the meet-ing ended with ghoulish sweetie treats for all.
Manchester’s Eco-House wins double awardNational Home Improvement Award
The Manchetser Eco-house has won the top award in the Sustainable Home lmprovement Category at the prestigious annual National Home Improvement Awards.
Manchester’s Eco-house is a unique facility pro-viding the opportunity for everyone to view test and observe a variety of measures for energy conservation, energy generation and environ-mental initiatives within the home.
The Judges commented, “The Eco-house pro-vides an outstanding facility for the general public and professionals as well, to make up their own minds about the best ways to achieve low carbon footprints through energy saving measures. Every Town and City should have an Eco-House to encourage the much wider take up of initiatives to help reduce the effects of glo-bal warming.
Awards for excellence
The Eco-house success has resulted in a per-sonal award for Brian Sexton MBE of the City Council Corporate Award for Excellence for the Environment.
Brian took along some of his “Energy Angels “ to the Gala Evening presentation (see below).
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Lighting by Pedal PowerChristmas is an expensive time for energy, how-ever, this year Chester-le-Street District Council has changed its Christmas lighting from stand-ard light fittings to LED or Light Emitting Diodes. The new lights use so little energy in compari-son to the old ones that the energy bill for the lights has been reduced by 9�%. This is enough energy to light approximately �80 houses every night that the lights are on.
To demonstrate the low amount of energy that the lights use, Chester-le-Street in partnership with npower put on a display of LED lights that were lit by members of the public peddling a bike. The display consisted of a Christmas tree with lights and two snowmen. The first demon-stration took place on the day of the christmas lights switch-on and since then a series of dis-plays and shows with schools has taken place to demonstrate it to the younger generation. The EST advice centre were also in attendance and gave general energy advice out to people as well.
The reduction in the energy consumption plays a part in Chester-le-Street’s commitment to re-duce the effects of climate change through re-duced energy consumption and its goal of car-rying out awareness campaigns for the public across the district.
Andy Stephenson - Senior Sustainability Officer
UN Conference on Climate ChangeFor detailed information and reports on last December’s United Nations Cli-mate Change Conference in Bali, visit: www.unfccc.int. The Conference, at-tended by around eleven thousand par-ticipants, saw signatory countries of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change agree on the “Bali Roadmap”, which will chart a course for new negotia-tions, to be concluded by �009, that will ul-timately lead to a post-�0�� international agreement on climate change to replace the Kyoto protocol.
Full IPCC Report Now AvailableThe last volume of Climate Change 2007, the IPCC’s fourth Assessment Report, was released in December and is now avail-able to download from: www.ipcc.ch
Nobel Peace Prize Recognizes Climate ChangeFormer US Vice President, Al Gore, shared this year’s Nobel Peace Prize with the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Al Gore accepted the award alongside the head of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, at a star-studied cer-emony in Olso on �� December.
Mr Gore says world leaders need to sum-mon the moral authority that was on dis-play during the fight against Adolf Hitler in World War Two. “We must quickly mobilise our civilization with the urgency and re-solve that has previously been seen only when nations mobilise for war,” he said.
Brian Sexton MBE and his “Energy Angels” with The Lord Mayor of Manchester Cllr Glynn Evans
Alison, Brian and Revathi at the North West HECA Coven on Halloween
5 Andy Stephenson lights the display
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Reading Borough Council Energy Saving Week 2007 Hundreds of Reading residents will be fitting new low energy light bulbs after visiting the Civic Centre during this year’s Energy Week activities. Over 700 free light bulbs and other energy effi-cient goodies were given away to householders who visited stands hosted at the Council’s head-quarters as part of its drive to help people save energy, save money and reduce their impact on climate change. Displays offering practical infor-mation and advice were staffed by council offic-ers alongside partners from British Gas, eaga plc and Thames Valley Energy Centre.
Reading Borough Council took the opportunity of Energy Week to publicise two important insula-tion schemes for Reading residents who own their own home or live in private rented property.
The new scheme, in partnership with British Gas, offers residents the chance to get discounted in-sulation and up to £�00 paid towards their council tax bill once they have fitted the insulation. The first 200 applications will get £100 paid towards their council tax bill, and after that, applicants will get £50 off. Call 0845 971 7731 (quoting READ) to find out more.
For residents on low incomes and in receipt of certain benefits, the Warm Front scheme, a gov-ernment-funded initiative from eaga, can offer a grant of up to £�700 for improvements that in-crease the warmth and comfort of your home. For more information call 0800 316 2814, or visit www.warmfront.co.uk.
And for residents aged 60 or over, Warm Front of-fers up to £300 towards the cost of repairing or installing a heating system. Call 0800 316 6012 to find out more.
Tracey Foster, who works in reception at the Civic Centre, shows what can be done. She has been watching her energy bills come down after she fitted new energy saving light bulbs throughout her house and adjusted the timer and thermostat on her hot water boiler. She also doesn’t travel abroad by plane. Tracy says, “I’m not green but I do my bit and I do like watching the bills come down”.
The following activities took place during energy savings week at Reading Borough Council:
Monday 22 October
Photo with Cllr John Ennis, Richard Hughes (Brit-ish Gas), Fiona Perry (Reading Borough Council). Launch of the Reading Borough Council sup-ported “£100* off your Council Tax Bill” insulation scheme, in partnership with British Gas.
Wednesday 24 October
BBC Radio Berkshire on the afternoon show, Chris Thomas (Reading Borough Council) and Clive Palmer (St James homes) offered hints and tips about energy saving and talked about energy efficient new homes.
Thursday 25 October
Photo with Noeleen Mc Nally (eaga Warm Front Team) and Fiona Perry (Reading Borough Coun-cil) attending the Age Concern Drop in Session at the Civic Centre. Promotion of the Government’s Warm Front Scheme in partnership with eaga plc, and low-energy light bulb giveaway sponsored by Scottish and Southern.
Friday 26 October
Photo with Jackie Williams (Thames Valley En-ergy Centre) and Thalia Carr (Reading Borough Council) giving out advice, lightbulbs and Pow-erDown plugs (when you switch your computer off, the plug switches off the printer, the screen and other peripherals automatically). Over �00 people pledged to cut their household emissions by taking simple steps such as fitting low energy lightbulbs and turning down the thermostat.
- Fiona Perry, Reading Borough Council
National Award for Easington’s Warm Homes CampaignEasington District Council have scooped a prestigious national award for their works in helping vulnerable households to keep warm in the winter. Easington’s Warm Homes Campaign has been named as one of the �� national winners of the NEA’s Affordable Warmth Award.
NEA, the national fuel poverty charity, hosted an award ceremony on �7 No-vember where the award was presented by local MP John Cummings to Cllr Mrs Joan Freak to celebrated ten years of work carried out by Easington District Council to tackle fuel poverty.
“We are delighted to be one of the win-ners of this national award for our Warm Homes Campaign. Fuel poverty is a real and serious problem affecting many families and individuals. The award high-lights the success of our Campaign to provide residents with advice, support and free home insulations measures,” said Cliff Duff, Energy Manager at Eas-ington Council.
“All homeowners aged over 60 qualify for free home insulation measures aimed at keeping them warmer and reducing fuel bills. Working with a wide variety of part-ners including Eaga Partnership, npower and ScottishPower we have insulated over 13,000 private sector houses in Eas-ington District, equating to almost £7 mil-lion of external funding”.
The Warm Homes Campaign steering group were also commended for their work in helping to promote help and as-sistance to local residents.
7Cllr John Ennis, Richard Hughes (British Gas) and Fiona Perry (Reading Borough Council) at the launch of the Reading Borough Council supported “£100* off your Council Tax Bill” insulation scheme
Noeleen Mc Nally (eaga Warm Front Team) and Fiona Perry (Reading Borough Council) attending the Age Concern Drop in Session at the Civic Centre. Promotion of the Govern-ment’s Warm Front Scheme, and low-energy light bulb giveaway.
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Thousands of residents will have a warmer future thanks to an additional £700,000 Government funding for a £�0 million heating and insulation scheme up and running in east and west London.
The Defra Community Energy Efficiency Fund (CEEF) gave this phenomenal boost to a joint venture between the West London Housing Partnership, East London Renewal Partnership, London Warm Zone (LWZ) and EDF Energy. The scheme’s aim is to improve the energy efficiency of Londoners’ homes by providing cavity wall and loft insulation at up to 75 per cent discount. And those in receipt of certain means-tested or disa-bility benefits could have the work done for free.
With LWZ’s help, homeowners and private ten-ants can apply for grants from local and central Government to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, meaning they can be heated more cheaply and they will have less impact on the environment. The grants are available for peo-ple with any income, and people who receive certain state benefits could also get heating upgrades and new central heating systems with LWZ’s assistance.
The CEEF cash is part of a £7.5 million pot aimed at reaching out to 300,000 of the most vulner-able households in the UK. The east and west London partnership aims to target the money at promoting the grants available by increasing its activities - such as �0,000 more door-to-door assessments and 3,000 households receiving ex-pert beneft case work by the LWZ advice team. The money will be split between east and west London boroughs with the west London partner-ship (Hounslow (lead) Ealing, Brent, Hillingdon, Harrow, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensing-ton) receiving £���,000 and the east London boroughs (Newham (lead) Redbridge, Haver-ing, Hackney, Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets
and Barking & Dagenham) getting £�76,000.
A four month £�50,000 promotional campaign in partnership with the boroughs kicked off in November to generate awareness using local media, such as newspapers, council maga-zines, posters at train stations, local buses and billboards.
Assessors, all wearing Warm Zone uniforms and carrying id cards, have already hit the streets and aim to visit the extra �0,000 homes in areas pinpointed by the partner authorities as need-ing energy efficiency improvements.
All residents need to do is answer a series of questions on their doorsteps designed to de-termine whether or not they qualify for grants. And people who may be entitled to benefits they are not receiving will be referred to LWZ’s welfare advice team who can offer advice and help complete benefit application forms.
A similar scheme, which has been running for five years in east London, has seen 25,000 homes receive £30 million worth of insulation and heating, and helped residents claim al-most £1 million of benefits they were entitled to.
Jim O’Sullivan, director of LWZ, said, “Cold, damp homes affect the most vulnerable mem-bers of our community such as the elderly, families with young children, people with dis-abilities and others on low incomes. Working together with the east and west London bor-oughs demonstrates a strong commitment not only to improve their quality of life by fighting fuel poverty, but also fighting the ever present threat of global warming.”
In addition, the LWZ project will also look to in-stall around �� solar hot water systems for vul-nerable homes.
For more information visit www.londonwarmzones.co.uk
£10 Million East & West London Heating & Insulation Scheme Gets £700,000 Boost
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The theme of this year’s National Home Energy Conference is “Targeting CO� - the expanding role of the Energy Officer” and will focus on the range of new targets and challenges being introduced by the Government.
Presentations on climate change, health and fuel poverty will form the central theme of the Conference which will include site visits to relevant projects.
Seminar sessions will look at how to secure the necessary resources to enable local authorities to maximise funding from the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target funds (CERT) and the Govern-ment’s Green Homes Initiative.
The Conference will also focus on the HECA review, what this may mean for HECA Officers and the expanding role they are likely to have in achieving these latest Government aims and targets.
To book, or for more information, visit ukheca.org.uk/conference.
Delegate prices are as follows: Package* Accommodation Public Sector** Private sector A �� & �3 May £�80 + VAT £395 + VAT B �3 May £��0 + VAT £3�5 + VAT C None £�50 + VAT £�65 + VAT
*All packages include admission, lunch and refreshments for both days for the Conference (Tues-day �3 and Wednesday �� May) and the Conference Gala Dinner on the evening of �3 May.
**Public sector organisations include Local Authorities, local and national government bodies, housing associa-
tions, charities, not-for-profit organisations and EST funded organisations such as EEACs and LASPs
Exhibitor rates:3x1m shell scheme stand with two nights accommodation - £1500* + VAT3x1m shell scheme stand without accommodation - £1250* + VAT
*Both exhibitor rates are for one exhibitor’s attendance per company/stand.
Additional staff can book via the delegate rates.
to book your place, visit ukheca.org.uk/conference
the national home energy conference 200813-14 May 2008, in Solihullwww.ukheca.org.uk/conference
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Warm Shropshire Homes that don’t cost the EarthA new countywide initiative is heating up Shrop-shire and saving many households money in the process. Keep Shropshire Warm is being launched throughout Shropshire in a bid to reduce fuel pov-erty in the county, improving the living conditions of thousands of households across Shropshire.
Steve Winmill the Keep Shropshire Warm Coordi-nator states that Fuel Poverty affects thousands of households in the county. “We have large off gas-grid areas, many isolated communities, a predominantly elderly population and huge num-bers of hard to treat homes! All these issues help to create fuel poverty, cold and damp homes and exacerbate poor health. Shropshire also suf-fers from a high rate of excess winter death partly due to the elderly population but also due to the effects of fuel poverty. Keep Shropshire Warm can have a positive affect in changing these is-sues, benefiting those households that have been historically missed because of the isolation that occurs in rural areas.”
Keep Shropshire Warm, managed by Steve Winmill and Joanna Meakin of Marches Energy Agency, in partnership with the Shropshire Energy Efficien-
cy Advice Centre, The Shropshire Partnership and all local authorities in the county, seeks to identify households that are struggling to afford a rea-sonable standard of heating through innovative training of relevant professionals, tailored market-ing campaigns and effective energy efficiency schemes including grants to help finance afford-able warmth measures in your home.
Keep Shropshire Warm offers practical energy saving advice, DIY measures to ensure a warmer home and, dependent on your circumstances, can help you in securing grants and discounts for the installation of affordable warmth meas-ures such as central heating or insulation. The campaign will also work closely with the benefits agency to ensure that households are receiving their full benefit entitlement.
There really is help available for everyone regard-less of their circumstances. However, Keep Shrop-shire warm is aware that fuel poverty is a bigger problem for “vulnerable households” and as such has put in measures to ensure that we reach as many of these vulnerable households as possible. The scheme will be unique in its delivery, utilising
the care infrastructure which is already in place in a bid to reach these vulnerable households. From early next year, key professionals in the care industry such as social workers and health workers will receive training on fuel poverty enabling them to recognize a household which may be living in fuel poverty. They will then refer these households through to Keep Shropshire Warm who will look at each household individually in order to assess and deliver the appropriate assistance and advice.
Keep Shropshire Warm recognizes that a ma-jor barrier to tackling fuel poverty is the lack of awareness surrounding the problem. The public in many cases just aren’t aware of the help avail-able or who to contact for advice and assistance. To help address this, there will be a major public-ity campaign launched throughout Shropshire to raise the awareness of fuel poverty and to make the public aware of the help available to them should they need it. There will also be a website which, as well as allowing key professionals to re-fer households directly through to Keep Shropshire Warm for help, will also offer the general public practical advice and updates on the best energy
tariffs for the county.
Statistics show that there are around �0,000 households within Shropshire who live in fuel pov-erty and those are just the households we are aware of. There are, of course, the households who aren’t officially in fuel poverty as they do not pay �0% or more of there annual salary on fuel bills, but many of these households may still live with the cold as they may not be able to afford to heat their homes sufficiently. It has been an-nounced that energy prices could possibly rise by a staggering �0% meaning homes will become even more costly to heat, leading to a dramatic increase in the amount of household’s fuel pov-erty affects.
Shropshire County Council’s Cabinet member for Economy and Environment, John Everall said “I’m delighted to see all the Shropshire Local Authori-ties working together to address this important is-sue which affects many people in the County”
For further information, contact Steve Winmill: Keep Shropshire Warm Officer at Marches Energy Agency on 01743 246007 or [email protected]
Kids put pen to paper on energy savingTwo Salford pupils will help hit home the impor-tance of energy efficiency when their award-win-ning art work goes on display in public buildings across the city.
14-year-old Rea Bardsley from St. Ambrose R.C. High School in Swinton and �0-year-old Lucy Al-lington from St. Mary’s R.C. Primary School in Swin-ton have been selected as this year’s winners of Salford City Council’s ‘Save Energy in the Home’ art competition which more than 360 pupils across Salford entered.
The mayor of Salford, Cllr Val Burgoyne and MP for Eccles, Ian Stewart unveiled the winning pic-tures and presented the pair with £500 each for
their schools and a £50 voucher for themselves in a special ceremony at The Digital World Centre, Salford Quays (30 November).
This competition was the only event in Greater Manchester to be selected by National Ener-gy Action (NEA) as part of its high profile Warm Homes campaign �007, aiming to raise aware-ness around measures people can take to save energy in their homes.
The posters based on the children’s art work will encourage householders to claim a Warm Front grant of up to £�,700 to insulate their homes or repair or replace their boiler and will carry the lo-cal energy efficiency advice centre’s freephone number: 0800 �080 683
All the entries will now be entered into a national competition organised by Worcester Bosch.
Cllr Burgoyne was one of three judges in the competition: “It was a difficult job selecting the winners. We were impressed by their eye-catch-ing art work and the effective way they have put across the energy saving message in two very different ways- Lucy by giving clear tips on how to save engergy and Rea by focusing on why we need to make changes in our behaviour.
“Young people are known for their ‘pester power’ and that can be a very positive force if it’s taking home the messages they’ve learned through this competition and encouraging their families and friends to become more energy efficient.”
To find out more about the grants available to make your home warmer this winter, contact Sal-ford City Council’s affordable warmth team on 0�6� 9�� 873�
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National Home Energy Conference 2007The �007 conference was hosted in Belfast and was the second conference to be held in one the devolved countries. Attracting delegates from across the UK, the event was another great success for UK HECA, with the introduction of a choice of three site visits where delegates could make use of their time away from the office by visiting local projects as well as seeing some of the surrounding area.
Chairs’ training day – Future of HECAHeld annually, a training day enables chairs to meet to discuss a chosen subject without distractions of day-to-day activities. In March �007, the chairs met to explore the future direction of UK HECA and de-velop the �007-08 workplan.
WebsiteWith over 30,000 visits per year, the website is ever increasing in pop-ularity. The main visits were around May, when members can book online for the annual conference, and months when HECA Network News is published.
Additional activitiesAlong with the core activities highlighted in the annual work programme, UK HECA also undertakes ad-ditional work when appropriate to raise the profile of the Network and nurture relations with its partners. Some examples are outlined below:
HECA Network NewsletterPublished quarterly, HECA Network News is now read by over �000 members and we will be shortly increasing circulation to include housing associations.
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UK HECA Annual Review August 2006 - July 2007
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Consultation ResponsesThe UK HECA Executive endeavours to respond to relevant consultations and, where appropriate, consults with its members. This year, responses include: ‘EEC3 initial consultation’, ‘Building a Greener Future: To-wards Zero Carbon Development’ and ‘Planning Policy Statement: Planning and Climate Change’.
SponsorshipThis year saw active development in securing sponsorship for UK HECA. A two year sponsorship deal has now been entered into with E.ON, which commenced at the start of the new financial year (August 2007). This sponsorship will enable UK HECA to run its core activities, including the National Home Energy Con-ference, as well as additional activates (see below) and will provide E.ON with opportunities to raise the profile of its energy efficiency and environmental initiatives.
Creating a Carbon-Neutral School ConferenceIn �006, the idea of hosting a schools’ conference was put to UK HECA. Out of these initial discussions the concept of the Creating a Carbon Neutral School Conference was formed.
National government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative fo-cuses on improving school buildings and facilities, particularly through ICT. Although the government has announced an additional fund to create eco-schools, there has not been any training events specifi-cally focussing on energy efficiency and renewables which could as-sist stakeholders within BSF partnerships to include and integrate such measures from the outset. This conference will seek to address this gap and is being held on �� March �008 at The Athena in Leicester.
To book your place, visit www.ukheca.org.uk/schools
Local Authority Energy Day Toolkit LaunchUK HECA played a vital role in the development of the Local Authority Energy Day Toolkit, a resource to enable officers to plan, market and deliver an energy day within their council, and assisted the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes (EEPH), who funded the project, to launch the toolkit by disseminating it to members.
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This period has seen UK HECA consolidate its status as an independent organisation and begin the process of renewing itself in the context of the increasing profile of climate change. We have secured our financial viability with a two year exclusive partnership arrangement with E.ON. Meanwhile, the Stern Report, Defra’s HECA Re-view and the Local Government White Paper, with its proposed carbon management indicators, gave us the incentive to start thinking about our future direction. We have responded to a number of Government consultations and have worked on strength-ening our links with Defra and the Local Government Association. We have laid the foundations to ensure that over the coming year, UK HECA is well placed to become a key network in the emerging climate change and fuel poverty policy arena.
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Yvette Cooper MP supports Wakefield Home Energy TeamPontefract and Castleford MP Yvette Cooper met one of her constituents as part of the national Warm Homes Campaign to see how they were coping in the winter weather amid fears that energy prices could increase later this year.
Yvette Cooper heard how Brian Booth, 73, of Pontefract, had been helped by the Council’s Home Energy Team and Warm Front, providing him with vital assistance to help him to keep warm this winter.
The campaign aims to cut the number of excess winter deaths and reduce cold-related illnesses by raising awareness of the help available to people who cannot afford to heat their homes in winter.
Yvette Cooper was one of 70 MPs, Members of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly Members around the country that supported the Warm Homes Campaign by visiting con-stituents to learn first hand how energy efficiency measures can provide affordable warmth this winter.
Brian Booth contacted Wakefield Council’s Home Energy Team for help with his heating system. He was subsequently referred on to Warm Front who provided him with a new gas central heating system through the scheme. Now the whole house is a much warmer and more comfortable place to be and Mr Booth’s fuel bills have benefited too.
left to right: Alison Webb (Home Energy Officer), Mark Hooton (Home Energy Manager), Yvette Cooper MP, Mr Booth
HECA Network News
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Sponsorship £62,815
Cash in Hand £50,509
Misc £9612007 Conference£62,881
Income £177,166
Warm Front Strategy MeetingsUK HECA and eaga host the bi-annual Warm Front strategy meetings, where Network members and other related organisations meet to discuss the Warm Front programme and raise and resolve any issues about its delivery. This is a vital meeting to further communications and working relations between key organisations.
Partnership BuildingEEPH were undertaking a national request for information and experiences about data sharing, which UK HECA undertook and shared officers’ views with the Partnership.
To further our already established partnership with the UK Public Health Forum (PHA), a joint ab-stract between UK HECA and NEA (National Energy Action) was submitted to facilitate a workshop at the annual UK PHA conference. Unfortunately, unlike previous years, the application was not successful.
HECA ReviewAs a key stakeholder in Defra’s forthcoming review of HECA, chairs from the HECA Executive rep-resented local authority HECA officers by participating at the two HECA review workshops, jointly facilitated by Defra and the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes (EEPH). UK HECA has previously assisted Defra by carrying out a piece of research in �00� and submitting its recommendations for inclusion in the initial planning stages of the review.
Financial Management
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2007 Conference £64,193Staff/overheads£66,970
Sundry £11,012
Expenditure £155,651
Misc £7,567Legal /professional£5,909
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Spreading the word for Energy Saving WeekDoncaster Council’s theme for this year’s Energy Saving Week campaign was ‘a community a day’ with an emphasis on the community’s power in en-couraging residents to do their bit to save energy. The Council brought together representatives from key community groups within the borough to raise awareness of the subject of climate change and the services available to residents to save energy.
Doncaster Council encouraged all community groups to make a collective effort to save energy throughout Energy Saving Week and beyond. The theme for Energy Saving Week �007 emphasised the power of communities, demonstrated how net-works, clubs, societies and community figures could spread the word and help people to play their part in tackling climate change.
Throughout Energy Saving Week, Doncaster Coun-cil staff were available to offer free impartial ad-vice to residents and give away free energy saving recommended light bulbs at various locations with-in the borough. The Council also hosted a Local Au-thority Energy Day to emphasise how community focused organisations including local authorities can come together to raise awareness and move people towards the fight against climate change.
Doncaster Council joined by Doncaster Rovers to mark Energy Saving Week 2007To mark National Energy Saving Week Doncas-ter Council and Doncaster Rovers Football Club united to make a commitment to saving energy.
The football team made a pledge to save �0% on their own energy use and the Council urge peo-ple to follow in the Rovers footsteps and make their own commitment to saving energy in their home.
Deputy Mayor Margaret Ward, said: “It is very pleasing that communities are coming together to save energy and reduce the cost of their bills. We can all make a difference by small every day changes to our lives.”
National Energy Saving Week highlights the is-sues of climate change and this year’s campaign showed how community focused organisations, including local authorities and sport groups can come together to raise awareness about how people can help tackle climate change. If eve-ryone steps up to the challenge of saving energy, together we can help make Doncaster a low car-bon community.
Doncaster Rovers Football Club officials are gathered together to spread the word, save energy and help in the fight against climate change. The team is making a pledge to save 20% on their own energy use and urge members of the public to make their own energy saving commitment.
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As one of the UK’s leading energy suppliers, and accredited under theGovernment’s Low Carbon Buildings Programme Phase 2, we’ll share ourexpertise to help your business achieve a lower carbon future.
So, don’t miss out.
Call us on 0800 051 5687or visit eonenergy.com/sustainableenergy
*Grants available to public sector and charitable organisations applying through the Government’s Low Carbon Buildings Programme Phase 2.
HECA Network News
HECA
HECA Network NewsUK Home Energy ConservationAssociation
