Interest-free loans to improve home energy efficiency

Interest free loans are to be offered to householders to help them cut their fuel bills and reduce emissions.

A sum of £2 million is available this year for a pilot loans scheme to help people improve insulation, replace inefficient boilers or install small scale renewables.

The Energy Saving Scotland home loans scheme is managed by the Energy Saving Trust in Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government.

 Loans of between £500 and £10, 000 are available. The loans are interest free so you only pay back what you borrow. Applicants can pay back the loan in monthly instalments over a maximum of eight years. 

Loans can be combined with grants such as the Energy Saving Scotland home renewables grants and funding from fuel suppliers under the Carbon Emission Reduction Target.

 You can borrow money to:

• Install cavity wall or solid wall insulation and/or loft insulation;
• Install renewable energy systems, such as wind turbines, solar water heating, heat pumps, small scale hydroelectric schemes and wood fuel heating systems;
• Replace old, inefficient boilers.

For more information, go to http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/Scotland-Welcome-page/At-Home/Grants-and-offers/Energy-Saving-Scotland-home-loans

Carbon Offsetting – Fact or Fiction?

Have you booked a flight abroad recently? (And no, that’s not a trick question to see if you’ll own up to having a huge carbon footprint!)  If you have, you may have been offered the chance to tick a box to pay an extra few pounds towards ‘carbon offsetting’. The idea behind this is that the airline then invests that money in a scheme which will lead directly to a reduction in greenhouse gases, equal to your share of emissions from the flight. Typically this will be a scheme such as planting trees in a developing country, or supporting the development of renewable technologies -but where does the money really go, and do these schemes ever work?

The biggest criticism of carbon offsetting would appear to be that it encourages the idea of ‘paying to pollute’ rather than changing behaviour. It’s not just flights; you can offset your household energy use, your car travel, your business activities – buyers of Calor Gas patio heaters can even pay to offset the impact of their heater on the environment.  It would appear that the conscience of the developing world can easily be salved, despite the fact that there is no real regulation to ensure that schemes actually exist, that the measured carbon savings are accurate, or that the offset has not already been sold to another customer.

Many of the schemes advertised do not stand much scrutiny – tree planting is a favourite, but while some appear to be well thought out and carefully monitored, such as that of RippleAfrica, in Malawi, others have led to disruption of communities and loss of water supplies through inappropriate land use. In some cases poor management means that the trees do not even survive to maturity – in 2002, Coldplay offset the environmental impact of their latest CD by planting 10,000 mango trees in southern India. Just seven years later, most are already dead.

There have also been claims that some schemes are inadvertently leading to an increase in child labour. In one scheme – ironically, recommended by ‘Which’ as a good buy – farmers in developing countries are being paid to abandon their polluting diesel -powered irrigation pumps and use human-powered treadle pumps instead. Is it right that the world’s poorest should work harder so that the world’s richest can pollute more?

If you do want to offset, look very carefully at the scheme on offer. Does the organisation make it clear how much of your money goes into administration and profit? The UK offsetting industry was worth £60 million in 2006 and is forecast to reach £250 million by the end of this year, but there is no clear indication of how much has reached the projects being promoted, and no accurate measure of the actual carbon savings. If the scheme is one which you feel worthy of support, then it may be that making a direct donation to its organising body is a more efficient way of doing that.

Government organisation DEFRA has set up a Quality Assurance scheme for offsetting projects, to try to reassure consumers – most of the schemes involve development of renewable energy projects and none involve tree planting. DEFRA stresses that offsetting is a measure to be taken ‘after avoiding and reducing emissions as much as possible’- in other words, forget the patio heater, put on a jumper.

If you would like any more information on carbon offsetting, fuel bills or any other energy related matter, or if you’d like to borrow one of our electricity monitors, feel free to call in to the Islay Energy Trust office in Main Street, Bowmore, or contact Lindy on lindy.maclellan@islayenergytrust.org.uk , tel. 301413. If you have a monitor which is due for return, please drop it into the office or call and we can arrange to pick it up. We also have a large stock of low energy light bulbs available free at various points around the island – if you don’t spot any locally, there are lots in the office!

Newsnight Scotland

The Sound of Islay Tidal Energy Project was featured on Newsnight Scotland on Thursday 3rd September.  The report by Douglas Fraser of BBC Scotland included interviews with Alan Mortimer from ScottishPower Renewables, Philip Maxwell from Islay Energy Trust and Kevin Sutherland from Diageo.

The programme is availabel on the BBC’s iPlayer until Thursday 10th September at the following link:

http://bbc.co.uk/i/ml1hq/

Tidal Energy in the News

Philip Maxwell, chair of IET - photograph copyright Murdo Macleod

Islay and the Sound of Islay Tidal Energy Project has been in the news recently with articles inThe Guardian and on Reporting Scotland and Newsnight Scotland.

The Guardian August 26 2009

Switch and Save

Fuel bills are rising and set to rise again this winter. Heating our homes is becoming more expensive, and it is becoming more important that we stay up to date with deals and offers to keep our costs down.

Whoever your current electricity supplier is, you can almost certainly save money by switching if you haven’t already done so. Switching suppliers sounds complicated but it really isn’t – I’ve just done it and it was very easy to set up (although I’ve yet to receive my first bill from my new supplier or the final bill from the old one so I’ll keep you posted.) If all goes according to plan, by switching supplier and signing up to online billing with a monthly fixed payment, I’ll save a whopping 29% on next year’s electricity.

The easiest way to switch is by using a price comparison website – there are several of these, USwitch  being the best known. I also found  Energy Choices very user friendly, but  for those who do not have access to the internet ,  Simply Switch offers an excellent telephone switching helpline  – 0800 011 1395. Whichever method you use, all you need is your postcode and an idea of your monthly or annual electricity spend. It’s worth looking out your last few bills to get a reasonably accurate figure for this as the tariff you pay will depend on your usage.  Before you call or go online, you should also think about how you’d like to pay and whether you’d like to receive paper bills or are happy to be billed online. The cheapest deals available are for online billing and fixed monthly direct debit payment, as these cost less for suppliers to administer. If you want to continue to pay a quarterly paper bill then that will cost slightly more, but if you don’t have internet access at home you can still make a reduction by signing up to monthly payments.

Once you’ve decided to make the change and supplied your details, your new supplier will take over without any further action from you. You don’t need to contact your old supplier as that will be done for you, and they will send you a final bill –it’s worth checking your meter reading on the date the switch is to happen just so you can check this is accurate.

Many people are entitled to cheaper electricity without realising it – all energy providers must by law offer a social tariff to what are termed ‘vulnerable’ customers, and this must be equal  to or cheaper than the provider’s cheapest deal.  To qualify, customers generally need to be in receipt of either means tested benefits, Disability Living Allowance or pension credits but this varies from supplier to supplier. Those living in fuel poverty (defined as spending 10% or more of household income on fuel) also qualify. If you fall into one of these categories it’s well worth calling your supplier to ask if you qualify for their social tariff. Information on these tariffs is hard to find on suppliers’ websites, but the helplines do seem to be manned by helpful and well-informed staff. Scottish and Southern appear to offer most, with a 20% discount on costs, regardless of payment methods.

Many people opt to use prepayment meters, but you should think carefully before making this choice. Suppliers need to recover the cost of administering this system and you will typically pay up to a third more for your electricity than if you have a normal account. The exception to this is Scottish Power, which is the only firm to set its prepayment meters at a lower cost than standard. If you are with another supplier, on a low income and a prepayment meter is your only option, think about switching.

Marine Renewables Potential

More than 12,000 jobs in marine renewables could contribute £2.5 billion to Scotland’s economy by 2020, according to a report by Marine Energy Group.

The study charts a course for wave and tidal power around Scotland, and highlights actions to build further success in the sector. Its recommendations, for Government and its partners, include:

A call for the Scottish Government to repeat its Wave and Tidal Energy Support scheme

A review of grid infrastructure required to support growth

A fresh look at the levels of support available under the renewables obligation

Calls for the Treasury to do more to help the sector, including the release of the Fossil Fuel Levy surplus funds to help promote renewables in Scotland

The full report can be found on the Scottish Government website.

Roseanna Cunningham visits IET

Roseanna Cunningham MSP visits Islay

Roseanna Cunningham, the Environment Minister, visited the Islay Energy Trust on 28th July as part of her summer tour programme.  The discussions covered the carbon savings project with Lindy Maclellan and the Tidal Energy project with Andy Macdonald.

The visit to the IET offices was followed by a trip to Port Askaig to see the Sound of Islay and take the ferry on to Jura.

Argyll Renewables Communities Consortium

Offshore Wind - Crown Estate Leases

The community-owned Islay and Kintyre Energy Trusts and the Tiree Community Development Trust have formed the Argyll Renewables Communities (“ARC”) Consortium to investigate fully the impacts, both positive and negative, on their local communities of offshore wind and marine energy exploitation.

The seas west of Argyll contain some of the main tidal, wave and offshore wind energy resource areas in the UK. In March 2009, the Crown Estate announced exclusivity agreements with developers to investigate three large scale offshore wind projects: Airtricity off Kintyre (378MW) and Islay (680MW), and ScottishPower Renewables off Tiree (1500MW).

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government is conducting a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of offshore wind resources. Looking ahead, it is expected that the Crown Estate will begin the process of opening up areas off the Argyll coast for marine energy exploitation in the near future.

All three Trusts already have experience of involvement in renewable energy projects. In February 2009, the Islay Energy Trust signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ScottishPower Renewables for the development of a 10MW tidal energy array in the Sound of Islay; the Tiree Community Development Trust are in the process of installing a 900kW community wind turbine, and Kintyre are also developing a wind turbine project. In addition, the Trusts have a wide range of relevant skills and experience available to them through their members and Trustees.

Local communities often have the feeling that industrial-scale renewable energy developments are imposed by remote forces with little or no effective local participation, let alone influence or control. This can fuel responses which vary from helplessness through apathy to active opposition. On the other hand, if development goes ahead, genuine collaboration between community and corporate interests can lead to enhanced value and beneficial impacts for both the project and those affected.

Members of the ARC Consortium wish to be considered active participants in both the assessment and development processes and any eventual operations, rather than merely bystanders, and thereby to ensure the best possible outcomes for their communities, as well as for all stakeholders. They are studying options for communities becoming more involved in the development of offshore renewable energy projects. They are also negotiating with the developers and consulting with other key stakeholders, such as Crown Estate, Scottish Government, Argyll and Bute Council, etc.

Jim Mather, MSP for Argyll and Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism in the Scottish Government, attended a recent meeting of the consortium, and gave a warm welcome to the ARC project. He said: “this is a ground-breaking, collaborative initiative by voluntary community groups, whose proactive involvement with developers and other bodies could help in making local communities in areas with fragile economies more sustainable”.

Time to say goodbye to standby?

bye bye standby

We all have them – little lights around the house telling us that our appliances are ready and waiting for us to need them again. Collectively, these appliances are costing customers in the UK an estimated £1 billion per year, and are thought to be responsible for up to 800,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. It is a bizarre fact that this is roughly equivalent to the emissions from flying the entire population of Glasgow to New York and back. So why don’t we switch things off? Lots of reasons – for one thing, crawling around the floor pulling out plugs at night takes too long. We might not be sure whether our mobile phone is fully charged – so let’s leave it on overnight just in case. Or we just don’t think it’s worth it – surely that little red light isn’t using much power? The little red light is only part of the story however – what we often don’t realise is that the light is just an indicator of the slow trickle of power which is being drawn by the appliance to keep the electronics ready to switch on immediately.
One easy way to deal with the standby problem is to buy a device which will switch them off for you with one click. In the Islay Energy Trust office we use the Bye Bye Standby – this comes as a pack with two special sockets and a wireless wall switch. All our computers, printers etc are plugged into these using a multi-socket adapter, and the switch is stuck to the wall beside the door (sticky patch included!) It took about 5 minutes to set up, and now the last person to leave can switch everything off at once. The pack costs about £30 from most electrical retailers and you can buy extra sockets separately.
This works equally well at home with the TV and DVD… but not, supposedly with your Sky box. These seem to be in league of their own in needing to be left on standby permanently – Sky very cleverly describe the standby setting as the ‘green’ setting. There are approximately 8 million Sky boxes in the country, supposedly consuming enough electricity while on standby to keep a small power station in business. When I called the Sky helpline to ask about this I was told that this was to ensure that the box could receive software updates overnight, and that switching it off regularly could result in the box not working correctly. However a second adviser told me that there was no reason the box couldn’t be switched off as updates are received through the phone line and can be processed when the box is next switched on. Not being a Sky engineer, I don’t know who was right – but I know of at least one person who switches off their box at night without any problem so I will give it a try too and keep you posted…..
By 2010, all new appliances will be required to have a standby power consumption of between 1 -2 watts, with a further reduction to 1 watt or less by 2013. Unless we’re going to buy all new appliances however, we still need to think about switching off – the standby consumption needs of present day appliances are up to 10 times that.
All our electricity monitors are currently out on loan but some are due back very soon, so if you would like to borrow one, please get in touch and I’ll add you to the list. The latest interesting thing mine has shown is that my computer draws more power with the screensaver on than when I’m actually working on it. There was I thinking the screensaver was an energy saving device – wrong again!

Survey Work in the Sound of Islay

ADCP Recovery

The ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) Sound of Islay Tidal Project is progressing well with the completion of the latest flow measurement activities.  Detailed measurements of the flow across a full day were recorded and the seabed measurements devices that were placed last month were recovered with data over a full tidal cycle.

This new data will enable SPR to identify the best locations for the tidal devices and allow the turbine designers to optimise the design of the units and blades for the conditions in the Sound of Islay.