Energy
Energy Saving
The Top Priority: Insulation and Draught Exclusion.
Avoid wasting expensive energy and make big savings at once. Take advantage of the heavily subsidised loft insulation you see on offer in DIY superstores, discounted installation services, and Draught Busters intiatives. Cavity wall insulation can pay for itself in 2 years. The Green Deal will allow you to install energy saving at no up-front cost.
Wickes are now offering a cavity wall and loft insulation service and have a "Sustainable Home" section in their 2012 catalogue. B&Q have a similar Eco-Section.
Expectations
Big savings can be made without large investment in sophisticated technology such as new boiler, a new car, etc. A great deal can be done by simply changing expectations - of how warm your house should be; of which journeys merit the use of car, or how hard you want to accelerate when driving, etc.
Knowledge is Power
Savings can be made without spending any money, or accepting a lesser "service" from your energy use - by investing a little of your time and know-how to avoid waste. Examples of this are adjusting your heating timer so that you don't heat the house when there is no-one indoors to appreciate it, or learning to drive making the best use of gears and fuel economy.
Stop Press! Feb 8th 2012
Macc2020 awarded £75,000 of LEAF funding
EcoTeams
One way of furthering these objectives is the concept of EcoTeams, and we have had good experience of this in Bollington and we are now training facilitators in Macclesfield for a programme of ecoteams starting in January - enabling New Year's Resolutions!
What is an Ecoteam?
A group of people who get together to learn how to reduce their environmental impact and save money. Ecoteams of six to eight people meet once a month for four months. At each meeting, Ecoteam members share experiences, ideas and achievements on the environmental actions that they have taken. Over the course of the four months they measure the reduction in their environmental impact.
Click here for more about Bollington EcoTeams
Explore the links below:-
Calculate your Carbon Footprint with this easy to use calculator from WWF.
see details of the "Green Deal"
The Energy Saving Trust is an excellent source of impartial information about energy saving.
Bollington has a number of energy saving projects including water power and eco-teams.
An Infra Red camera can be hired for £10 per week from Tania Sayer at www.epplus.org.uk at Crewe.
Old Home - SuperHome
You don't have to move to have an energy efficient home.
These organisations are promoting eco-refurbishment of existing homes.
The Sustainable Energy Academy promotes education and action to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings and communities. They are currently spearheading Old Home SuperHome - a network of exemplar, old dwellings which have undergone an energy-efficiency retrofit. They aim to create a network of homes that are local and publicly accessible, within 15 minutes, to nearly everyone in the country.
There is one such home in Macclesfield more
Books
A very clear source of facts about the energy problem by the government's chief scientist David McKay. A free download.
Links
The following page hosted by Better Generation has lots of useful links about
alternative energy sources
Salix delivers interest free funding to accelerate investment in energy efficiency technologies across the UK public sector.
CWEC have their own Climate Change pages
and organise an annual area sustainability conference .