Back on the case - latest renewables advice

No energy saving action since May? Has the summer sunlight, lack of cold draughts and central heating switched off put it all from my mind, or does it show that saving energy takes time, as I haven’t had much time since May.

After her visit on 16 April, I received my Home Renewables Adviser’s ‘Home Report on Renewables and Energy Efficiency’ on 16 June. Its 29 pages leaves nothing out and provides a comprehensive guide to energy efficiency and renewable technologies. Most of the information is generic, although angled to my stated interest in installing renewables, and including conclusions formed from the rather crude analysis of my property. But it does provide a more focused assessment of potential cash and C02 savings than the previous Home Energy Report. But these do not amount to much: the greatest annual saving of £83 they estimate would be achieved by carrying out unspecified additions to my heating controls – presumably a room thermostat which is the only heating control I do not have. The report rates my house in the D band for Energy Efficiency, with only modest improvements from a D55 to a D57 achievable if I carried out their lower cost recommendations (heating controls and some more low energy lightbulbs). Installation of solar water heating might save an additional £53 per annum and 0.3 tonnes of C02.

But with the renewables grant scheme (which would have provided 30% of the costs of such an installation up to £4000 maximum) closed by the Scottish Government with two weeks notice in July, will I even bother to get quotes now? My mind is instead turning to more draught-proofing on the sash windows.

At last - my home receives a visit from the Energy Saving Trust

At last - I received a visit from a Home Renewables Adviser from the Energy Saving Scotland advice centre, following the request I first made in November last year. With only two people to provide advice in homes in the whole of the south of Scotland, I am surprised I didn't have to wait for longer - it must be hard to drive up energy saving and renewables take-up with that number of staff.

The visit lasted about an hour and included a brief inspection of all 3 floors of the house (but not the attic where I was dying to get comments on the sufficiency of my insulation and the cupola draft-proofing), measurement of ceiling heights and a brief inspection of the roof from ground level to see if there was enough space to site solar collecting plates. Further data was taken and a report of some sort was promised, but I think the unspoken response was that anyone (particularly only two people) was crazy to live in such a house if they were really committed to keeping warm and using not much energy.

The main discussion, as expected, was about solar renewables, and the pros and cons of flat plate versus evacuated tubes and although I was disappointed not to get more categorical feedback about whether I had the necessary room to instal plates or tubes on the roof, and whether the necessary pipe runs inside would be prohibitively expensive, I can see this information is best left to be provided by potential contractors. The adviser certainly provided information to support and encourage one on to this stage, including lengthy lists of accredited suppliers and full information about the grant and loan situation - grants OK, loans backlog, future uncertain for both. As the house is in a conservation area, there are also the planners to consider in terms of permission to mount panels on the roof. Plenty to get on with.

Who do you buy your energy from?

I have never quite got my head round the supposed effects of de-regulation of energy and utilities supply, where the energy or service that is being delivered to you by one company can actually be 'bought' from another company - and not just from one other company but from at least 20 companies, judging by the number that come up on one of those utility switching sites. I can see why competition for the supply of some services is a good thing and in theory brings down prices but I also think that de-regulation or privatisation in this field is as much about ideology as about value, and that companies must have to increase their prices to pay for the costs of competing. But given that, with gas and electricity, it is the same stuff coming down the same pipe, and this can only be delivered to you by one company in any case, it does seem a bit crazy that you can buy this same stuff from such a supposed range of sources. Cutting your path through the jungle not just of 20 or 30 companies but for each company maybe 10 different pricing options (single fuel, duel fuel, direct debit, monthly payments, on-line only, fixed price, etc etc) makes you long to live in the People's Republic of China - or at least just stick with the companies you have been buying it from for the last 30 years.

Given the number of companies out there trying to flog you energy, and the existence of the switching sites to give you information about these companies, you would have thought your existing supplier would be making a bit more effort to convince you that they were the best for you and that you were on the best deal that they could offer (even the banks can manage to do that). Have I had one approach like this from Scottish Gas or Scottish Power? Not a tweet. And it was only when a man from Scottish Hydro-Electric knocked on the door and could demonstrate that I was paying Scottish Gas (actually British Gas or more correctly the multin-national Centrica) and Scottish Power (now owned by the Spanish company Iberdrola) a lot more than I would be paying Scottish Hydro-Electric that I thought the time had come to find out a bit more.

To cut short a long story of ridiculous amounts of time spent trying to compare offers and prices that are hard to compare, as from 1 April I ended up switching both gas and fuel supplies to Scottish Hydro Electric (part of the Scottish and Southern Energy Group but still a UK company with its headquarters in Scotland). For what reasons? One, by my own calculations and by those of the switching sites I should be paying less for the same thing. Two, they had bothered to try and help me save money. Three, they were a UK/Scottish company. Four, although the old hydro tag is a good one with which to back up your green credentials, they convinced me that they were as keen on developing more renewable energy as any of the other companies. None of the companies seem very convincing about their claims that they will help you reduce your energy use which is not surprising as they are in the business of selling you energy. Why did I not go for a 'Green Energy' company? Mainly because, given the choice, I was not prepared to pay what seemed to be a hefty premium for being assured that they bought x% of their energy from renewable sources, and also because I could not get it out of my mind that it was still going to be the same energy coming down those pipes to my house, regardless of who I 'bought' it from.

Once you have opted for a new supplier, gosh do your existing ones not half get on the phone to make all sorts of claims and offer all sorts of deals and incentives for you to stay with them. I can't help feeling that a bit more regulation might not be a bad thing to simplify this area, and certainly that only more regulation will deliver the required increase in renewable energy - consumer demand alone is not going to achieve that.

Energy advice - from Dunbar

Went to Dunbar yesterday to meet someone who works there and on my way back I popped into 'Be Green', the Dunbar Carbon Neutral advice shop, conveniently located just off the High Street. Be Green is a not-for-profit community trust supported by Community Windpower Limited - an independent company with a windfarm in the area. It works in partnership with Sustaining Dunbar, the wider initiative promoting a stronger more sustainable local economy for the Dunbar and East Linton areas, aiming at a smaller carbon footprint and less dependency on oil, following the Transition Town model. The advice shop had plenty useful leaflets and tips and, most importantly, an extremely helpful person. Amongst other things she was able to throw light on my difficulties in getting hold of the Energy Saving Trust - the person I have been trying to get hold of also deals with East Lothian and Fife! Sheila gave me lots of useful background information about grants and loans and even a short list of possible suppliers in case I wanted to get some idea of cost and feasibility while waiting patiently to pin down the EST people.

Much impressed by what I learnt about Sustaining Dunbar who are setting up allotments, planning a community bakery, improving cycling and walking, as well as the energy advice and much longer term plans.

Where are all those watts going?

Late last Sunday when I was alone in the house I went round with the OWL energy monitor to try and track down what was using those 160-190 watts when, in the middle of the night, you think 'nothing is on' in the house. Well in this house, this is what is still using power in the middle of the night -

Alarm system; fridge; fridge/freezer; two house phones on charge; broadband modem (but see below re BT's helpful little app for this); Dustbuster on charge; clock on the cooker; photocopier 'standby' light; heating programmer display; electric oil-filled radiator; dehumidifier on standby; hi-fi on standby downstairs; and then the big batch of tv/audio stuff in our sitting room - TV, DVD, VHS machine, Digibox, TV/FM signal booster, Hi-Fi, pre-amp.

Some of this stuff such as the alarm system and the fridges you can't really turn off; OWL finds it hard to sense switch-offs of equipment less than about 11 watts, and most of these things (like cooker clocks and even dustbusters on charge) are probably using hardly anything, BUT - and you have probably guessed it - OWL burst into action when that whole bank of TV/Hi-Fi stuff was turned off.

Because they were all connected to the mains with an unhealthy assortment of trailing sockets and adaptors, I thought that it would be good to buy a new trailing socket that could be switched off at one go, onto which I could put all the hungry beasts. I bought OWL's own 4-socket Power Saver Strip directly from OWL for special price of £19.19 and re-wired all that kit and stuff that was using about 35-40 watts 24 hours a day is now using nothing. Slightly wondered had I just become the consumer of an unnecessary additional item when I found in my cupboard a 4-socket strip with a switch on it - and why could I just not switch the things off myself at the end of the day, but on reflection I think this thing will make it easier for me (and others in the house) to realise that all this stuff should be properly off unless you are watching/listening.

BT modem Power Save option - if you have a BT broadband Home Hub, there is a Power Save function you can access on-line through your account which allows you to choose a period in the day (or night) when some clever gremlin will switch your modem off.

Hot water hot enough

Strictly following the advice in 'The little book of energy' produced by the Home Heat Helpline (0800 33 66 99) which I had picked up at Sarah Boyack's Energy Event (see blog post of 23 March) I turned down the thermostat on my hot water cylinder that tells my gas boiler whether it needs heat or not down from 62 degrees C to 60 degrees. Still seems hot enough.

18-21C - just right for most people?

Local MSP Sarah Boyack put on an Energy Advice event last week in a community centre in Dalry, in partnership with the 'green support service company' Eaga. The event was aimed at encouraging people to think about how much energy they were consuming, and letting them know about assistance they could get if their bills were too high and if they wanted to reduce their consumption. So there were stalls for the Home Heat Helpline, the Citizens Advice Bureau, Age Concern, the Energy Saving Trust plus a number of others including Eaga themselves. Picked up this handy little room temperature monitor which the EST give away. Compare it to the one that we found somewhere in this house, which like the first layer of insulation in the roof, must date from the late 1970's. It was issued by the Scottish Energy Efficiency Office. The messages haven't changed much, just the way they are delivered.

Sum total of costs so far

Here is a breakdown of what I have spent so far on this work.

New lightbulbs - £59
Bubble wrap for cupola - £44
Loft insulation - £49
Thermometer - £15
Double-glazing window film - £8
Door seal - £14
Energy Monitor - £33

TOTAL £222

More action on the cold windows

Used a spare roll of insulation to fill up the gap between the kitchen window and the back of the cupboards in front of it to ‘kill’ that block of cold air before it comes further into the room. It does feel warmer in there now, but think this window might be the first one to lok at in terms of draught-proofing and double or secondary glazing.

Still chasing the Energy Saving Advice people

Rang the Energy Saving Scotland advice centre again – does their not ringing me back mean that they have already looked down on my roof via satellite and found I’m not worth even visiting. I wish they would tell me.

Energy Saving Advice - where are you?

The Energy Saving Scotland Advice Centre and me kept leaving messages for each other since I called them again two weeks ago to find out why they had never called me back since November. Funny how hard it is to get to speak to someone about wanting to do what they encourage and install your own energy-saving equipment.

Yes - I do now have a Power Monitor

Finally spurred into getting my own power monitor by reading in February Prospect how Brian Eno claimed to have reduced his electricity use by 30% using one. Found the Good Energy Shop had the best information about available models and went for The Owl. Cost - £33. This one has the advantage over the ENVI that you can take the monitor round the house with you to see how much consumption goes down by switching off items. Minor difficulties with set up but Owl customer services extremely quick to respond and get me monitoring. While on the subject of electricity, I discovered that Scottish Power (whom I am about to change as supplier) provide historical daily averages of your energy usage in kWh.

Cutting out cold in the kitchen

One of the coldest rooms in our house is the kitchen which has a whopping window on one side and a tiny radiator on the other that we hang towels in front of. Thought that a Radiator Booster might get some of this heat up over the towels and into the room and bought one from the Good Energy Shop. Neat little device but found that it blew the heat along the wall in the direction of either the fridge or the door rather than directly into the room. The Good Energy people were good enough to allow me to send it back.

Good find with the other fireplace

The other fireplace did not lend itself so well to a wooden cover and I spent forever with my head up the flue trying to measure where I could fit a Chimney Balloon which I’d seen on the Good Energy Shop web site. Having been sent back up the flue by Chimney Balloon to get a better measurement I spotted a metal flange which turned out to belong to one of two cast-iron plates built into the fireplace designed to slide across the flue just above the top of the grate – presumably designed by their Victorian manufacturer to block off draughts. Well they did know a thing.

Door draughts

Fitted a new Weatherbar at the base of the front door; there was a tiny label saying EXITEX on the old one and through Google I tracked down the company (in Northern Ireland) and a local stockist D F Wishart in Edinburgh. Cost - £13.99 plus VAT. Fitted new rubber seal around the top and sides of the door and tore off the old plastic strip in the door frame to replace it with the wonderful Atomic Draught Excluder Strip (‘The original copper alloy strip – guaranteed for 10 years’) Easy to fit and even without the ‘Atomic Springing Tool’ quick to get it into its optimum draught-sealing shape with a ball-point pen.