the Carbon Challenge

Green Voice of the UK

2009-11-04T16:57:19+00:00

We have now announced the winner of our competition to find the ‘Green Voice of the UK’. We wanted to find a member of the public to represent the views of the nation on climate change, and become an independent voice on sustainable living. The winner was announced at an event at Portcullis House, Westminster, where we had a huge green throne awaiting the winner for photo opps. The winner was announced by the Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Joan Ruddock, as Piper Terrett, author of a ‘frugal living’ blog. Piper gave a speech then got asked Joan some questions about her climate policies.

Piper said:

“I am very excited and looking forward to getting stuck into my role. It’s high time that ordinary people – not just politicians or experts - were involved in the dialogue on climate change. We know the planet is in jeopardy, and we each have our part to playing in saving it, so what is stopping us from introducing more energy saving measures around our homes and businesses? Are people worried about the cost implications in the recession? Are they confused about the options or just tired of being nagged? I want to talk directly to people and hear their concerns because it’s vital that the Green Voice of the UK is also an ear. I think we need to pinpoint obstacles preventing us from going green before we can encourage more people to do so. We must also find ways to make it easier to save energy and recycle items. By engaging directly with people in the UK, we may come up with some innovative new suggestions and schemes.”

Below are some photos from the event.

Piper, myself and Joan Ruddock

Left: I try out the throne for size Right: Piper on the throne with Joan and myself

Energy Saving Trust Parliamentary Reception at the House of Commons - caption competition!

2009-10-21T13:01:27+01:00

We held a parliamentary reception to showcase our work and launch Energy Saving Week (19 – 25 October) which is this week. For more info on the week see our website.

The reception was attended by a good mix of politicians and stakeholders from the public, private and voluntary sectors. David Kidney MP, Parliamentary under Secretary of State at DECC and the Conservative Shadow Minister for Climate Change Greg Barker MP addressed the event.

The evening also included a short video, shot by one of the families taking part in the Energy Saving Week ‘waste detectives experiment, who also said a few words about their experience. We had a variety of Energy Saving Experts on hand to talk to guests about Green Communities, Pay As You Save Home Energy Pilots, Water Pilots, Microgeneration, Housing Programme and our work with Local Authorities.

We had lots of comical photos from the event, so I thought a caption competition might be fun. (I’ve left out the more embarrassing ones!) Send your suggested captions by adding a comment and the best will be published with the photos!

Photo 1 David Topping, Non-executive Director of EON and EST, and our Chief operating Officer, Fraser Winterbottom, are engrossed in conversation – but what could they be talking about?

Photo 2 Justine Prain, Head of Services Delivery, works her magic on fellow colleague Simon Green and Andrew George MP

Photo 3 Could my position be threatened?

A four day week – the future of energy saving?

2009-10-15T14:37:15+01:00

According to an article I read recently (Time Magazine, October 5 ‘Thank God it’s Thursday’ by Bryan Walsh), shifting to a four day workweek could save energy, cut traffic and make you happier.

A year ago the US state of Utah mandated a four day week for most state employees, closing offices on Fridays to reduce energy costs. It’s certainly an interesting way to save energy – not only in the office, but from travelling to and from the office too. Our London office is pretty green in terms of transport – with most people using public transport and those that don’t cycling or walking, but driving to central London wouldn’t be a sensible option!

The state of Utah found that its compressed workweek resulted in a 13% reduction in energy use and estimated that employees saved as much as $6 million in gasoline costs. Those are pretty significant savings! I’m sure this scheme would be popular here!

Any volunteers?

The Energy Saving Trust at the 2009 Conservative Party Conference

2009-10-12T12:59:50+01:00

Guest blog from Eddie Hyams, Chairman of the Energy Saving Trust

Last week I attended a number of fringe events at the Conservative Party Conference where we participated, alongside a wide range of organisations at the Climate Clinic. It was a busy few days and we took the opportunity to hold quite a number of meetings with policy makers and opinion formers all of which were thought provoking and of real value.

I enjoyed chairing the Energy Saving Trust’s own fringe event ‘’Citizen Action – cracking the politics of climate change’’. The subject was tackled by three interesting and thought provoking speakers, Philip Blond, Professor Erik Bichard and Ben Page which led to a lively question time discussion.

Philip Sellwood our CEO attended a timely breakfast meeting on Smart Grids and Smart Meters and this event neatly coincided with the release of our own research on customer attitudes to smart meters. This emphasised again the importance of a compelling and clear displays in every home. At the same time I participated in an interesting breakfast briefing arranged by the UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy to discuss Campaigning for Energy Efficiency in Local Communities.

Another well timed event in the light of Ofgem’s newly published report on Energy and Prices in the next decade was a Social Markets Foundation event on ‘’Guaranteeing an efficient, secure energy supply for the UK’’ As you might expect, in my contribution I emphasised the vital role of energy efficiency in and around the home.

SMARTEST WAY TO DISPLAY

2009-10-07T16:23:15+01:00

We launched a report today ‘The Smart Way to Display’ that explores consumer preferences for home energy display functionality.

Read the report on our website

Read about it on BBC online

The national roll-out of smart meters is a great opportunity to improve consumer understanding of energy consumption and to encourage more efficient behaviour. In-home displays offer an important way of engaging and informing consumers about their energy consumption. However, to be most effective such displays must present meaningful information in an accessible and understandable form.

The research project used a series of focus groups to evaluate different home energy display designs. The research identifies the need for a minimum functional specification to be introduced, to ensure that displays provide the most useful information to consumers. The research also sets out the basis for this minimum specification.

We held a roundtable event on Friday 2nd October with display manufacturers, energy companies, consumer groups, academics and others to discuss the findings.

There was some discussion over whether smart meters were really the best way to display information about energy use and if some people might find it easier for example to look at the information online or on their iphone, such as my grown up kids. While access to more detailed information from lots of different sources is great – I don’t have an iphone and looking up my electricity usage online won’t give me immediate feedback on how much energy my kettle uses. A stand alone display linked to a smart meter in the home would mean instant access to real-time feedback data that consumers need and they would be available to everyone. Those most interested who want to learn more would also then be able to take advantage of online services if they wished.

We also had two experts on smart meters from The Netherlands (Henk van Elburg from SenterNovem and Ivo de la Rive Box from Home Automation Europe) who spoke about what makes a good smart meter. It was very encouraging to hear that they had come to similar conclusions and liked the minimum specification set out in the report. It’s really important we listen to real peoples concerns in this debate ahead of those who stand to gain!

The Energy Saving Trust at the Liberal Democrats Party Conference

2009-09-25T15:10:50+01:00

Last weekend I attended the Liberal Democrats party conference in Bournemouth. We had an Energy Saving Trust Energy Doctor, Chess Sharpe, on the Green lib Dem stand - Chess is an Energy Advisor at the South West England Energy Saving Trust Advice Centre – she did a great job.

I chaired our Energy Saving Trust fringe event on Sunday 20^th September, entitled Citizen Action: Cracking the politics of behaviour change. The event looked at: “How can we avoid the Catch 22 situation of green behaviour change, 'I will act, once you have'?”. We wanted to discuss how the government can provide a framework for people to live greener lifestyles and help create the political mandate for change amongst the electorate. Others on the panel were, Simon Hughes MP, Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change, Dave Sowden, Chief Executive, Micropower Council and Faye Scott, policy advisor at the Green Alliance.

I also had the chance to meet Susan Heinrich, Chair of the Green Lib Dems as well as Martin Horwood MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for Environment and for Climate Change, and discussed with them the work and services of the Energy Saving Trust and discussed Government’s Home Energy Pay As You Save pilots, the Government’s Low Carbon Transition plan, and Feed in Tariffs.

We also attended a breakfast meeting organised by Consumer Focus. The event was chaired by Lord Whitty, and discussed a range of consumer issues including the White Paper, consumers and energy policy.

Finally, I was pleased that we held smarter driving lessons for the following three MP's: Sir Robert Smith, Lembit Opik and John Leech.

Meet Dave

2009-09-22T13:23:29+01:00

Our new marketing campaign launched yesterday – you may have seen it on TV or heard it on the radio. The star of the ads is a fun loving chap by the name of Dave, accompanied by his pet penguin and some rather unruly appliances around his house.

Dave wants to help everyone stop wasting energy and money at home. He will be tweeting his favourite tips on how to stop wasting energy on Twitter and Facebook. He will also be editing our community networking site Britain Unplugged this week. Catch the TV ad on the shiny, new look Energy Saving Trust website.

Dave is just part of our drive to be even more friendly and approachable, to ensure people know the Energy Saving Trust is the place to come to stop wasting energy and water and reduce waste.

Don’t let your money run down the drain!

2009-09-14T16:55:06+01:00

Guest blog by Jacob Tompkins, Director of Waterwise

Ask most people to guess how many litres of water they think they use a day and they will most likely come up with a relatively small number. The real answer is on average 150 litres per person, per day. The reason we don’t notice this large amount is that often water is used thoughtlessly and all too often simply wasted; for example, a dripping tap can waste as much as 5,500 litres of water a year. And it’s not just the waste of water; heating water for use in taps, baths and showers makes up around 30% of average household's gas bills - that's around £200 a year.

The Energy Saving Trust, in partnership with Waterwise, have received EU Life+ funding to pilot a water and energy advice service, the first of its kind in Europe. With 6% of the UK’s annual greenhouse gas emissions related to water use, and nearly 90% of those emissions resulting from water use in the home you can see it’s high time for householders to stop wasting water.

Since January, we have been developing our understanding of existing consumer perceptions of the connections between energy and water, and developing integrated energy and water messages. Our research tells us that consumer understanding of the impact of water, especially hot water use, is low so there will be much work to do to raise awareness in this important area. For instance, research commissioned for the pilot has established that only 8% of householders would currently make the link between saving water and saving energy

This water advice service launches today will be available for householders living in our three pilot areas of Cardiff, Edinburgh and London, and will be running until September 2010. We have developed many new tips on how to save water that will also save you energy from unnecessarily heating water. For instance, did you know that every minute you cut off your daily shower could save you between £5 and £10 off your energy bills over the year?

Other water and energy initiatives include Shower Power, an educational campaign to encourage shorter showering, which is a collaborative project with Waterwise, the Energy Saving Trust and 12 UK water companies. A shorter shower not only saves water and energy and reduces your carbon footprint, but it also saves you time, meaning you can spend longer in bed, have more time for breakfast or ensure you don’t miss your train. For more information and to enter our competition to win one of thousands of water efficient products visit www.waterwise.org.uk/showerpower

Waterwise will also be promoting joint action on water and energy through the Defra funded SHARE project – Social Housing Action on Resources and Environment. We have teamed up with Global Action Plan, water companies and social housing associations to deliver a scheme to retrofit water efficient products into homes and encourage behavioural changes. This is a first in the UK and we hope to deliver savings of up to 25%. This project is part of the Government's Greener Living Fund which is being assessed by the Energy Saving Trust.

Waterwise’s remit is to act as the main voice taking forward water efficiency and to do this we work closely with partners. If you are interested in working with us please feel free to contact us.

Low carbon - high hopes

2009-09-09T14:58:55+01:00

I am always keen to champion any step, however small, that takes us in the right direction, the direction of creating low carbon communities of low carbon citizens. One of the steps towards this goal has to be the new scheme to develop low carbon zones in London boroughs. Ten London boroughs have won funding to make changes and will have access to resources such as energy advisers and products such as solar panels.

Our own Energy Saving Trust advice centres will also be ready to offer them advice and support along the way. Each winning borough will be awarded at least £200,000 to pioneer energy efficiency and carbon reduction measures in the capital covering 13,000 homes, around 1,000 shops and businesses and 20 schools. And there is good news too for the boroughs who did not make the grade this time. The Energy Saving Trust will be advising them on how they can improve their carbon footprint and create a lower carbon community.

Find out more about the low carbon zones.

Or make your own steps towards being a low carbon citizen by following our tips and advice

The shape of things to come?

2009-08-24T17:08:56+01:00

I read an article in the Sun last week (Friday 21 August) about a new eco-car that has been developed by whiz kids at Cambridge University. The car looks like something out of Star Wars, and would stand out like a sore thumb on the roads. But it can do 60 miles per hour using the same energy as a hair dryer!

It may look like something from outer space, but it is apparently the most efficient electric vehicle in the world. Its lightweight aerodynamic design means it is 90% efficient – compared to the 30% efficiency of petrol cars! The aerodynamic look may point towards the way cars will look in the future.

The vehicle proves how important design can be in determining efficiency. Smarter driving techniques are one way of reducing emissions – but if we had smarter vehicles who knows what carbon savings we could achieve!