Buckinghamshire Community Energy Champions Network Toolkit Buckinghamshire Community Energy Champions Network Toolkit INDEX INTRODUCTION & HOW TO USE THIS TOOLKIT .............................................................................. 3 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................ 3 HOW TO USE THE TOOLKIT .................................................................................................................. 7 A GOOD PLACE TO START ........................................................................................................................ 8 CALCULATE YOUR FOOTPRINT ............................................................................................................ 8 HOME ENERGY ADVICE CHECKLIST ................................................................................................ 11 SECTION 1. space & water Heating systems and their controls ................................................................. 15 CENTRAL HEATING SYSTEMS ............................................................................................................. 15 STORAGE HEATERS ............................................................................................................................... 20 ROOM HEATERS ...................................................................................................................................... 21 SECTION 2. Lighting and appliances ......................................................................................................... 22 LIGHTING ................................................................................................................................................. 24 APPLIANCES ............................................................................................................................................. 27 SECTION 3. Reading Meters and understaNding fuel bills ........................................................................ 32 TYPES OF METERS AND HOW TO READ THEM ............................................................................... 32 INFORMATION INCLUDED IN GAS AND ELECTRICITY BILLS ..................................................... 33 SECTION 4. Tariffs, Fuel payment methods and Switching Suppliers ....................................................... 37 TARIFFS ..................................................................................................................................................... 37 FUEL PAYMENT METHODS .................................................................................................................. 38 SWITCHING SUPPLIERS ......................................................................................................................... 38 SECTION 5. Cavity wall, Solid wall and Loft insulation .............................................................................. 41 LOFT INSULATION ................................................................................................................................. 41 CAVITY WALL INSULATION ................................................................................................................. 41 SOLID WALL INSULATION .................................................................................................................... 43 OTHER TYPES OF INSULATION ........................................................................................................... 43 SECTION 6. Renewable Energy .................................................................................................................. 45 ELECTRICITY GENERATING SYSTEMS .............................................................................................. 45 HEAT GENERATING SYSTEMS ............................................................................................................. 49 HEAT AND ELECTRICITY GENERATING SYSTEMS......................................................................... 52 SECTION 7. Sustainable Transport ............................................................................................................. 53 A MATTER OF CHOICE .......................................................................................................................... 53 TIPS ............................................................................................................................................................ 56 SECTION 8. USEFUL information, financial help and CONTACTS ......................................................... 63 FINANCIAL HELP .................................................................................................................................... 65 ANNEXES ................................................................................................................................................... 69 ANNEX 1: USEFUL CONTACTS ............................................................................................................. 69 ANNEX 2: BULK OIL ............................................................................................................................... 69 ANNEX 3: COMPARING RENEWABLE ELECTICITY SYSTEMS ....................................................... 71 ANNEX 4: COMPARING RENEWABLE HEAT SYSTEMS ................................................................... 73 2 Buckinghamshire Community Energy Champions Network Toolkit INTRODUCTION & HOW TO USE THIS TOOLKIT INTRODUCTION The Community Energy Champions project is a Buckinghamshire-wide initiative which brings together individuals and groups with similar interests to share knowledge with the joint goal of reducing carbon and tackling fuel poverty. Help to reach lower income families who are vulnerable to fuel poverty through Be a source of rising fuel bills information on local Increase awareness within the local community on schemes and resources Leaflets Stands energy efficiency and sustainable transport Talks Facebook Events BCC community Twitter energy champions Set up of social Training workshop media accounts Email and phone Toolkit Buckclimatechange.com support United Sustainable Buckinghamshire Energy Agency Local Authorities Carbon reduction background Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is produced every time we burn anything for energy or heat (driving our car, heating our home, using our fridge, cooker, etc…) and has been recognised as the primary cause of current climate change. The UK government is committed to an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. In 1990 UK emissions averaged 10 tonnes per person a year so we will need to fall below 2 tonnes by 2050 to meet this target! As can be seen in the graph below, we are definitely going in the right direction but a lot of work still needs to be done. A good starting point is to take the message home as the UK’s domestic energy consumption accounts for a considerable percentage of the country’s overall carbon emissions. Cutting our carbon emissions will not only help us reach the targets set but will also bring us closer to living within our share of the planet’s environmental resources. Living a more carbon efficient life can also reduce energy costs and therefore will help tackle fuel poverty. 3 Buckinghamshire Community Energy Champions Network Toolkit Figure 1 and 2: Overview of UK and Regional emissions as they compare to targets and England average Source: AEA and DECC Fuel poverty background Fuel poverty is the term applied to households that spend more than 10% of their income on energy bills. The United Kingdom is one of the world’s wealthiest countries, yet a large proportion of its population suffers from fuel poverty1. The proportion of people in fuel poverty varies as incomes rise or fall, as energy prices fluctuate and as the amount of energy consumed changes. As can be seen in the figure below for a period in the early 2000s, because of falling energy prices and a period of rising benefits for low income households, the numbers of people in fuel poverty fell. However from 2004 onwards, the trend has been upwards and rising fuel prices have been largely to blame. There is a pressing need to tackle cold, unhealthy homes and it is generally recognised that the best way to protect people against fuel poverty is through energy efficiency improvements. Figure 3: Total Fuel Poverty and Fuel Poverty in vulnerable households in the UK Source: Department of Energy and Climate Change 1 One in five UK households (21%) are fuel poor, but around the constituent nations the picture varies: the figure is as high as 44 per cent in Northern Ireland, one in three homes (33%) in Scotland, a quarter of households in Wales (26%) and 18% in England. 4 Buckinghamshire Community Energy Champions Network Toolkit Whether a household is in fuel poverty or not is determined by the interaction of a number of factors, but the three main ones are: Cost of the energy The energy efficiency of the property (and therefore, Household income the amount of energy required to heat and power the home) As shown in figure 4, in the UK the majority of our domestic energy is used to heat our homes (space heating) with the second largest energy consumption coming from water heating. Space heating and water heating are therefore considered key areas on which to focus when tackling the risk of falling into fuel poverty. Figure 4: Domestic energy Use Source: USEA graph by Energy Saving