LAKE RENEWABLE ENERGY BLOG

Fuel Poverty in Britain

Fuel poverty in rural England is defined when an off gas mains household spends more than 10% of its income on the fuel costs. In England the worst hit areas are Suffolk, Northumberland and Nottinghamshire.

A new energy efficiency scheme funded by Calor has match data to show the poorest hit areas, Calor says, "Rural fuel poverty does not always neatly align with social poverty but is more closely associated with the quality of housing stock in the area or by single or elderly households living in larger, hard-to-heat homes. In a climate of rising household bills and economic uncertainty, many people are worried about the cost of energy as well as the environmental impact of their energy use."

The proposal is to work in communities to offer advice to create a better understanding of the energy options open to them.

Calor will be working with the charity National Energy Action and the Rural Community Action Network across England, Energy Action Scotland in Scotland and the National Energy Action Cymru in Wales, where local energy officers, will offer free independent advice to off-gas grid households and communities on the availability of various grants for insulation and heating systems to help increase energy efficiency and lessen their carbon footprint.

Check how energy efficient you are and get ready for Energy Saving Week 25-31^st of October 2010 at http://bit.ly/dBL5ia Reading: Energy Saving trust.

More energy saving products to combat fuel poverty include ... Low energy lightbulbs...Radiator insulation panels...ecosaver letterbox flap..

The Benefits of Solar Panels

 

I have been reading up about solar panels and how much you can benefit from installing them, with different governments and countries around the world starting to do so such as Jordan and other Arab states. The governments of these countries fund these programmes and they will start generating up to 2000w of power every day for nearby towns and villages.

 As these places are in the middle of the desert solar panels are perfect for powering towns and villages, as it harness the suns free energy it can heat a boiler, generate stream for turbines creating and electrical charge without having to burn anything and pollute the atmosphere even more than it is already.

Governments in our own country are starting to become wise to how much solar panels can help a country or city, British Gas have started a scheme which will come into action in 2012 to clean up the country for the Olympic Games in London.

British Gas have two schemes in mind, the first one is where they give you an interest free loan for 2 years to cover the costs of fitting solar panels this could be £10,000 – £15,000 depending on the size of the roof, with this deal you have to pay British gas back with payments of up to £625 a month across 24 months, you own the panels attached to your house and you pocket the Feed In Tariffs (fits) payment from the government which is estimated at £1000 a year for the length of the scheme and you also benefit from your cheaper electricity bills.              

Basic 80W home power station £995.95

The other scheme is where British Gas attaches the panels at your roof for free, you do not own the panels and British Gas pocket the fits money for 25 years which is the length of the scheme, and you benefit from cheaper energy bills however this scheme is limited to the first 1,500 British gas customers who apply for it. (Managing Director of British Gas says it will revolutionise the energy of Britain)

The same type of scheme is in place in Florida America but the state can make up to £100,000 a year in cheaper energy if you add all of the savings up together off people who use the panels. This is like the same type of scheme that British gas is trying to do in Britain.

 

We have just tested the Evo 56 Solar Security Light and it is surprisingly bright, very easy to install and there are no operating costs, as electricity prices and environmental pressures soar the evo security light range are proving to be a clear winner .

The other advantage of using solar lights being that there is no need for mains wiring, these lights can be placed in areas where mains lighting cannot or is too expensive to fit , with solar lighting there is no need to have a qualified electrician to install either.

Technology has moved on, the evo range has Passive infra red sensitivity adjustment, Lux setting so you can choose how dark it is before the light starts to operate and lighting time adjustment, giving it more features than your standard security lamp.

The Evo Security light is also designed to work during the winter months as it is supplied with high capacity 2000mAh batteries and if you live in a low light area an additional 2W booster panel can be fitting to the unit to ensure the lamp will continue to work in the worst weather conditions.