CFL LOW ENERGY LIGHT BULBS – WHAT ARE THE HAZARDS?

I was disturbed to hear the story of a couple who accidentally broke a low-energy CFL (compact fluorescent) light bulb over their bed. It was late evening and the woman was pregnant, so there were few sources of advice. But the advice they were given by NHS Direct and a light bulb manufacturer was to remove and destroy their bedding.
When I looked into this I found little UK information; the packaging of the CFL bulbs that I had in the cupboard did not have any warnings that caused alarm. Then I started delving on the internet and found that the source of this advice was based on incidents in the USA, which had also been picked up by New Zealand (investigatemagazine.com August 2008). http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=are-compact-fluorescent-lightbulbs-dangerous Was this an anti-CFL campaign by those who didn’t like this type of bulb, or are there genuine concerns? If the latter, then why isn’t the information readily available when we buy CFL bulbs in the UK?

Have the hazards of CFL bulbs been played down in the drive to reduce our energy demand? For a while these were the only alternative to conventional tungsten light bulbs, which are less energy efficient and generate heat as well as light. Maybe CFL bulbs were a stop-gap whilst other energy-efficient alternatives were being developed, e.g. light bulbs based on light-emitting diodes (LED). Maybe the benefits of reducing our energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions, through the use of these bulbs, outweighed any risks due to accidental breakages. After all, how often do you accidentally break a light bulb?

Here are a few facts I discovered:

CFL and ordinary fluorescent tubes do contain mercury;
Mercury is toxic, but whether the toxicity is manifested depends on what form it is in and the length of exposure;
The key issue seems to be to remove the mercury from the home in a way that won't disperse it around the house, that avoids it accumulating in organic material, e.g. fibres such as bedding, carpet or wood, and reduces the time that anyone is exposed to it;
The first thing is to ventilate the room for 15 – 30 minutes, with the doors closed, with any air circulation system turned off, and everyone out of the room;
Putting bedding in a washing machine, or vacuuming the floor just disperses the contamination. This should not be done as it then creates a need to decontaminate the washing machine or vacuum cleaner;
Instead the broken pieces should be removed using a dustpan and stiff piece of card (not a brush) or sticky tape for very small pieces;
The advice available strongly suggests getting rid of any bedding/carpet that was in actual contact with the broken pieces of the lightbulb, as the mercury could lodge in the fibres and just stay there. Any materials removed will need to be double-wrapped before being taken to a waste site;

For a discussion of the issues around CLF bulbs, and the LED alternatives, it’s worth looking at Holistic Health Talk. http://www.holistichelp.net/blog/compact-fluorescent-light-bulbs-the-dangers-of-cfls/

THE GOVERNMENT’S GREEN DEAL

The claims made for the Green Deal are that every one of the 26 million homes in the UK could benefit in some way, as well as many of the UK’s businesses. Putting a bit more detail on that, it has been estimated that there are 14 million insulation measures such as loft, cavity and solid wall insulation still to be done to make Britain’s homes more energy efficient.

Britain has some of the oldest housing stock in Europe and by 2050 most of our housing stock will not meet the modern requirements for insulation. So the Green Deal is to encourage us to improve these houses, including those difficult to insulate houses that haven’t been improved under previous measures. What does this mean? Well, apparently the most energy inefficient homes in the UK could save around £550 per year by installing insulation measures under the Green Deal.

The first step in the Green Deal will be an energy survey to give advice on the best options – so like an EPC then?

The second step is the finance for householders, which will be provided by energy companies and high street stores. Houseowners will then pay this money back over a period, the repayments being a lesser amount than the savings on energy bills as a result of the measures. The loan stays with the house.

The third step is that the householder (or business) receives their energy efficiency package. Only accredited measures will be installed by appropriately-qualified installers, overseen by Government – sounds like money generation for the training and accreditation bodies.

Our high street stores are already getting involved in green measures, e.g. providing vouchers in return for recycling in the Maidenhead area; provided you spend some money on goods from their stores! Our energy suppliers are under an obligation to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from homes, therefore they have an incentive for all schemes of this type to succeed.

The Green Deal is also meant to provide employment, increasing the insulation sector from 27,000 to 100,000 employed. Does this mean that there will be reasonably paid work for Domestic Energy Assessors at last? Or will we have to jump through another £3,000 + VAT of training hoops to get a look in, only to find everyone else has done the same?

We should soon see some detail as a bill is shortly to be introduced – the Energy Security and Green Economy Bill, but it will be around 2 years before the Green Deal is available for take up. My own feeling about all this is that once again large companies will tie up deals between themselves to the exclusion of small businesses or products outside the mainstream, such as natural insulation materials; without any regard for the expertise of these people or the benefits of their products.

What I would like to see is a step change in the very near future so that our old houses are properly insulated, so that they are comfortable, cheaper to run and less costly to the environment.

Carbon Army & Thermal Imaging

I was talking to Stewart Little of IRT Surveys about the possibility of individual householders getting a thermal image of their own home. This is entirely possible through IRT Surveys, who use thermal images to quantify how much energy can be saved. So not only do householders get an image of their home illustrating where heat losses occur, but this is translated into possible carbon dioxide savings, i.e. reduced energy bills.

In addition, IRT Surveys have made a pledge to the Carbon Army that makes this service even more attractive.

What I really liked though was the IRT video on You Tube, The Carbon Army with Sgt Major Carbon and Captain Dioxide. It just tells it to you straight, and as it’s a couple of kids telling you I think they get away with their straight-talking approach. I recommend a viewing!

I have recently had a lovely weekend with friends staying in the Strawbale Cottage near Howden. This is a holiday cottage that is both spacious and cosy, with the wood burner providing heat throughout the cottage, as well as plenty of hot water. Although it is on a farm, with the Strawbale Cabin nearby, it is on its own secluded plot of land, with views of fields and trees from the windows.

There are plenty of walks accessible from the cottage itself, including the town of Howden. There are also many places of interest within easy reach by train or car, such as York, the Wolds, and nature reserves on the coast near Goole, as well as specialist shops selling local produce or artwork.

The strawbale walls are lovely and thick, giving deep window recesses. The spectacular clay tiled roof gives sloping ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom, which is not a problem as the rooms themselves are spacious. There is plenty of space downstairs with the large lounge and kitchen-diner, with a separate study-bedroom off from the lounge. Also off to one side is a large shower-room, together with an area for boots and coats. It's just so well thought out for an enjoyable stay in the Yorkshire countryside.

Still waiting for payment from Express-EPC

There are now over 30 DEA's who have contacted me to state that they have not received payment, or have had part payment from Express-EPC. I don't know whether we are a minority as others are still working for Express-EPC, so presumably are getting paid.
I had an email earlier this month from Express-EPC stating that I would be paid within hours. I went away that weekend thinking that soon this sorry saga would be over. But no, there were follow up questions - which invoices were outstanding? had I cancelled any of the EPC's? I replied to these and waited for payment.
On Monday I sent an email to chase up what had happened to my payment, but have not had a reply, nor my money.
We have highlighted our case through all avenues open to us, recently getting coverage in Estate Agent Today.
However, what is really needed is a change to a system that is still training DEA's when there are already too many. This is bringing revenue for training bodies but is making it possible for others to exploit DEA's by offering rock bottom prices for our work. Whatever we get paid we still have to pay our lodgement fees to the accreditation bodies.
For those DEA's who were doing HIPS their income was slashed at a stroke by a Government that didn't consult on the change and didn't appear to do a full regulatory impact assessment.
DEA's are usually self-employed individuals, so representing the smallest of companies. We work independently and have little contact with each other, so we are not a unified group. We are motivated and professional; we have been trained at our expense and set out on our own to make a living. We get little recognition or support for our efforts and find ourselves working at a pretty low hourly rate.

Express-EPC update

Since my blog in August Express-EPC have paid some of the money they owe me. However, they still owe me money for the rest of the EPC's I did in June or July.

It's not clear from the payment which invoices they have paid but I know how much they still owe. I have contacted them to point this out and am waiting to hear, I'll let you know what happens.

It seems I am not alone; I have received emails from other assessors who state that they have not been paid by Express-EPC either. Let's hope that this situation is resolved in the near future; however we will keep reminding them of the amounts we're owed.

Express-EPC I haven't been paid!

I noticed today that Express-EPC have dropped their price for an EPC from £39.95 to £29.95. Does no-one ever question how they can run a call centre, accounts department and get domestic energy assessors to do the work for such a low price? I don't suppose clients give it a second thought. They don't seem to mind having to pay up front, with no guarantee they'll get their EPC at the end of it - if the process goes wrong with Express-EPC then they may have to find another assessor to do the work.

The reason Express-EPC are so cheap is that they set up a bid for each job, whoever puts in the lowest bid gets the job. The bid can be anything from £1 to the price Express-EPC advertise on their site; this guarantees them a margin every time. OK that's not great for assessors, but clients are probably happy so long as the job is done quickly and they get an EPC.

However, Express-EPC are bad payers! They say that they will settle the account for domestic energy assessors in 30 days. Not true, I now have 6 invoices outstanding for the period 23 June to 12 July and not one has been paid. They actually responded to my chasing of payment by sending emails stating that 3 invoices had been paid. Not true, I've not received a penny.

I'm probably not alone in this experience; they are likely to be other assessors who have not been paid. I hope they are not taking on any more work from Express-EPC.

Be warned!

And to all those people out there needing an EPC for sale or rent of a house or flat; cut out the middle man and go direct to your local Domestic Energy Assessor, an accredited professional giving you a fair price.

EPC's - Getting rid of the Cowboys

The Government department with responsibility for EPC's has finally made a move to tighten up the requirements so that the cowboys will find it harder to continue their bad practice.

There have been so many anecdotal stories of "the assessor was only there for 10 minutes" or "they didn't go up in the loft despite there being a loft ladder". These assessors have saved time on surveys by using the "unknown" or "no access" options on the survey form, so that the software made a default assessment based on the property age. Most of the EPC's they generated were almost identical.

Not only was this dishonest practice, but it meant that those householders who had made energy saving improvements to their home weren't getting the right score and banding for their property. This puts them at a disadvantage when selling or renting their house - if a house appears to be more expensive to heat than an otherwise very similar house, then surely anyone renting or buying would opt for the cheaper to run house.

As energy prices get higher the cost of heating a home is going to become more important. It's nice to move into a house with a modern bathroom or kitchen, but then if it's not to your taste you may opt to change it anyway, which is a one-off capital expense. Whereas a poorly insulated home means that your heating bills are unnecessarily high year on year, this expense doesn't contribute to the cosmetic improvement of your house, and lots of the heat is just leaking to the outside - you may as well burn money.

A properly assessed EPC will give you the information you need to choose well in terms of energy efficiency of a home and how it can be improved further.

Even though the cost of EPC's has really dropped some of us still strive to provide a really professional service and produce high quality EPC's.

So CLG please carry on getting tough on the cowboys and introduce some credibility to EPC'S.

Passivhaus

Last week I went on an AECB CarbonLite course on understanding the Passivhaus standard, principles and methodologies.

It was a really good day for learning what the standard means and getting an introduction to the software. It's encouraging that there is also a standard for renovation, not just for new build. It's great that it's possible to build new houses to a high standard of insulation and airtightness with proper ventilation that will use 75% less energy for heating than a conventional new build. However, we can't build new houses quickly enough to replace all our existing houses and we probably wouldn't want to. Therefore, if we are to have comfortable homes that don't cost a fortune to run then it's important to renovate our existing housing stock to a high standard, so that they are warm, properly ventilated and with good air quality.

One issue I have is that all the emphasis is on the use of energy post-construction/renovation to heat the house; the embodied energy in the materials used is not considered. This is something that must assume more importance in future so that there is a reduced energy demand to produce construction materials and build houses.

This week I've been up to York for a meeting of a working group called Renewable Building TWG. A summary of the meeting will appear on the group's page.

The group exists to facilitate the development of the renewable building products supply chain in the UK and members come from agriculture; or are suppliers, distributors or manufacturers of renewable building products; or designers and builders; as well as Government and researchers from academia, SMEs and large companies.

Since the group formed, some members were involved in a demonstration project, 'The Renewable House', built at BRE Innovation Park, Watford (pictured here). The house used renewable materials to deliver a low cost, affordable house that meets Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes through materials. Group members have also been involved in other projects such as the strawbale houses at Waddington referred to in my April blog. Other members of the group manufacture and supply products based on renewable materials such as sheep wool or hemp insulation, wood fibre boards and others.

How does your garden fare?

We have had some prolonged dry spells this year already, in central and southern England in particular. So how do you cope with dry spells in your garden?

In our own garden we try to keep water needs to a minimum; our water is metered and it just seems crazy to put high quality drinking water on the garden. You wouldn't pour bottles of mineral water over the garden, so why use tap water, which is of similar quality? We collect rainwater, but there is a limit to how much you can save in water butts, so we don't want to create a big watering need as this can take some time with a watering can.

Our main strategy is to have perennial plants in the garden, these are well established and their roots tap into underground water supplies. Plants in our garden have to be fairly tough anyway as there are mature trees in our neighbour's garden on our north boundary and they take quite a bit of the water.

In addition, we have not only one rainbarrel on each downpipe, but two in series, and if there was room we would have more on each downpipe. During a rain shower lots of water comes off the roof and into the downpipe - what doesn't go into rainbarrels just goes straight into the sewer system. Therefore, if we collect as much as possible it can be used to water the garden and it doesn't contribute to the flood risk created by excessive run-off of rainwater. Thanks to my former colleague, Phil Wildbore, for this bit of inspiration.

We never water the lawn in summer when it's dry. OK a well-tended green lawn looks wonderful, but grass is adapted to dry climates and actually survives a drought much better than some other plants. It will always come back when the rain returns, so just look after it well in other ways and it will reward you.

We do have some hard surfaces around our garden. By far the largest part of these is covered with gravel, rather than tarmac or paving. This is also a good strategy because gravel soaks up rainwater, which is then available beneath the surface for the beds and lawn. Where there are impermeable surfaces the rainwater will run off, be lost to the garden and contribute to localised flooding problems.

It's been illegal for some time now to put down new impermeable areas in your garden. I've noticed the impact of this in our locality as people are opting to have gravel drives rather than paved drives. Our drive is looking worse for wear after several years and at some point we will have to consider one of the new permeable surfaces to replace the present tarmac.

I'll keep you posted!

Mechanical ventilation - to use in summer or not?

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is great for the cooler months, you get that fresh air feel without having to open windows and without losing all that heat you've built up with your central heating.

The question is though, should you leave it on during the summer or should you rely on opening windows? If you leave it on then it is using energy to ventilate your home, although with a summer bypass function there will be no heat recovery. The other advantages include not having insects coming in to bite at night or buzz around your food, and it reduces the disturbance from the inevitable increased noise in summer - planes flying, children playing, barbeques in the garden.

But it does use energy and you could just open the windows to create air movement and a cooling effect.

The first year we had our system we kept windows shut and the MVHR switched on - we knew the horrors of a fly infestation and didn't want a repeat! In a hot spell it was quite hot in the house, but then it would have been hot if we opened the windows; the MVHR certainly didn't act like an air conditioner.

This year we are using windows and blinds during day to keep sun out and allow fresh air in; we're putting up with daytime insects. Once there are lights on in the evening we close all the windows and use the MVHR to ventilate the house and that's successfully kept away the mosquito bites!

We try to keep our electricity bills down in other ways, i.e. nothing is left on standby, broadband is turned off when we're not using it, we use a laptop rather than a pc and this is put on standby if not in use for more than 10 minutes and turned off at other times when not being used.

So maybe the MVHR is our electricity indulgence, along with the fridge/freezer and phone. However, used intelligently we feel it contributes to good ventilation of our home without excessive energy use.

Has anyone else out there had experience of using these systems in their own home?

Clever use of blinds and curtains

Curtains and blinds can help improve the thermal performance of your house - more information. Since having ours installed we have learnt a lot about their effectiveness.

The first big shock was the effect of having our house decorated over the period early October up until Christmas last year. We had approached the decorator in May, but that was the best time we could get. Anyway we didn't have any curtains or blinds at our downstairs windows for that whole period; also doors were left open quite a lot during the day and on top of that we had snow from November. All of that led to a massive increase in our use of gas - it came as quite a surprise.

We have noticed some real benefits of our blinds since then. We have a Luxaflex Duette insulating blind on our patio doors. This stops quite a lot of the cold air coming through that large expanse of glass - and it does come through despite being double-glazed. If we raised the blind first thing in the morning we could feel that cold air trapped between the blind and the window and that was then coming into the room. So what we've been doing is waiting for the morning sun to warm up that layer of air, then we open the blind. We can then make the most of the solar gain from the sun coming in through the glass and warming the room.

During very cold weather we often left the blind closed all day as it gives the room a nice light feel even when closed and it's kept the room that bit warmer. At night we add thermally lined curtains to keep the house even more cosy.

Also when it is hot or too sunny we've used the blind to stop too much heat coming into the house. Glaring sun can be excluded by partially closing the blind; too much heat coming in can be prevented by closing the blind altogether to prevent that solar gain. The room is still nice and light but it is a cool oasis when it's been really hot outside. When it is cooler outside at night we've raised the blind to reduce temperatures indoors.

We have a north window that has a Luxaflex Architella blind, which must be about the most insulating blind on the market. We keep it firmly closed in the winter, which definitely reduces the icy draught coming down our stairs! In hot weather we can open it to help us lose some of the heat indoors.

We are seriously thinking about having these blinds in other parts of the house as we are so pleased with how they have worked. If we have another cold winter we hope to also notice the difference in our gas bills - it's clearly not enough just to have double-glazing.

Solar Panels working - it's great

Since we've had the sensor replaced our solar panels seem to be working better than before. As well as being replaced the sensor was also put in a slightly different position, so maybe that's why.

Between May 7 and September 24 2009 the panels were working for 246 hours total, about 1 hour 45 minutes each day on average. Between 18 May and today, 28 May 2010, they have operated for 56 hours, an average of about 5 hours 36 minutes a day. In addition, the water has been getting up to maximum temperature and has been working in clould as well as sunshine.

If it goes on like this then our gas bills will be even lower, which is great news.

We just need to make sure that squirrels/other wildlife don't take a fancy to the cable again!

The Mystery of the Solar Panel Sensor

I was saying 2 days ago that the sensor had broken on our solar hot water system. Well, the guys have now been out to fix it and the problem wasn't the sensor, it was our wildlife!

The cable had been chewed through and the sensor taken away. We don't know who the culprit was, but grey squirrel is at the top of the list of suspects. But magpies or jackdaws, with their liking for shiny objects, might be possibles, although it would be harder for them to break through the cable.

The squirrels have a track reocrd too! When the power to the garage was linked to the house by a cable along the top of the boundary fence they chewed through that wire and broke the connection. Every so often there would be a bright flash outside, like someone taking a flash photo, it took ages to work out what was going on. Presumably each flash was an electric shock for a squirrel, but it happened more than once so they weren't easily put off!

Let's hope that we don't have a repeat with the solar hot water sensor. This time black cable has been used instead of white and the sensor has been tucked away a bit more.

I'll keep you posted! I'd also be interested to know whether anyone has had the same problem - please let me know.
Carol Hawthorn

Bluebell Woods

Over the weekend we visited our local woods to see the bluebells in flower - they are a bit later here than in most places, but spectacular once they are in full bloom.

What struck me was that there were more people than usual in the woods and most of those had come to see and, in some cases, photograph the bluebells. Maybe some of these people only visit the woods at this one time of year. If so, they no doubt expect the woods to be still there and the bluebells to be in flower, which gives me hope as it means they care about the future of this patch of nature.

As long as there are sufficient people who care about these iconic sights in nature then maybe they won't disappear altogether. We need lots of people to care and to stick up for their local patch when it comes under threat, which means at other times they should be able to enjoy it. In the meantime though we need our local Wildlife Trusts, the Woodland Trust and the National Trust, etc to own and manage these sites, which means funds from subscriptions or grants, so that we can continue to take these places for granted.

Connected to the sun by solar hot water

The sensor has failed in our flat plate solar panels. This event has made me realise the effect on me of having solar panels to generate our hot water. I have become attuned to how they work, almost subconsciously noting what the sun is doing when and whether there's any need to boost the hot water using the gas boiler.

It's not a case of keeping a record, using data or even feeling the pipe connecting the panels and the tank. It's not a technical process, it's an awareness of the outdoor environment.

I hadn't realised it had happened until the panels weren't working. Even though I knew the panels weren't working I got caught out and found there was really cold water in the morning. I had based my decisions on use of the boiler on the amount of sun, completely forgetting the link had broken. Normally, with solar panels, there would still be hot water from the effect of yesterday's sun. However, without solar panels you have to use your boiler every day to get hot water, so it's in use throughout the summer when your space heating is turned off.

I am really looking forward to the new sensor being fitted so that I can get back into my solar cycle again. It's about more than the savings on our gas bills, which incidentally are noticeable following installation of the panels. Payback on the capital outlay may take time, but our bills now and into the future are lower, so worth doing.

We are losing our beautiful insects

Butterfly Conservation have serious concerns about the threats to butterflies and other insects. Almost a third of Europe's butterflies are in decline and nearly 1 in 10 species is threatened with extinction. The European Red List also shows that 14% of dragonflies and 11% of those beetles that rely on decaying wood are at risk of extinction. Loss of habitat is stated to be a cause, such as loss of traditionally farmed grasslands, woodlands and wetlands.

Loss of biodiversity I think is as important an issue as Climate Change. In fact the Rio Summit in 1992 put most emphasis on the biodiversity issue, I remember being at the Natural History Museum and hearing the scientists speak who had been at that summit. Natural ecosystems and the species within them are a vital life support system for the planet. These species and ecosystems are becoming fragmented and disappearing, perhaps without most of us noticing. But we really do not know what we are losing, just how these ecosytems support us in terms of air that we breathe, pollinating our crops, and probably in many ways we don't understand.

I think for our own wellbeing it is important to connect with the natural world around us, it makes us feel better and increases our awareness of what is going on. It's very easy in our culture to live in a virtual world, where what we see and hear through electronic media seems more real than what is outside our own door.

Just making our own garden a haven for wildlife can be very rewarding. A quick walk around my own garden can reveal slow worms, butterflies, signs of a hedghog or fox, a robin having a drink, the changes in the flowers. It is easy to grow the right plants, allow a few native species in odd corners, provide shelter and not be obsessively tidy so that wildlife can share your garden.

Sharing our experience

I try to make my website useful as a resource for others by sharing my experience of installing and using different environmental measures. This week I went a bit further, I invited someone to come and see technology we had had installed in our house. I think this can be really important with environmental technologies that are not commonplace and where it's not possible to properly demonstrate them in a showroom. How do people decide whether to commit their hard-earned cash unless they can see something in action and understand what's involved?

There was a Government report a few years ago that referred to quite an important principle in take-up of any new technology, called 'I will if you will'. Basically when people see that others are taking up a new technology and that they seem happy with it then they are more likely to take it up too.

So those of you who have installed renewable technologies, water harvesting sytems used for toilet flushing, or mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, etc I would encourage you to share your experience. It's good to talk through the pros and cons based on your experience, you get to meet some nice people, and there may be things they've done that you want to find out more about.

If you share your experience with others then maybe we'll get more take up of green ideas and technologies - well, the good ones anyway.

Numbers - what do they mean?

On my website I try to include information that will be helpful to people in making environmental changes to their homes, businesses or lives. Where possible I try to include numbers to show what difference any particular measure will make, e.g. how it will reduce heat loss through your walls, windows or roof.

But where do these numbers come from and what do they mean in reality?

To what extent does people's own behaviour or even poor workmanship undermine these theoretical benefits? There doesn't seem to be much real data out there.

For instance, I quote the Energy Saving Trust advice that topping up your loft insulation to 270 mm could save you £45/year if you already have 50 mm insulation in your loft, and £150 if you have no insulation in your loft. This seems to be saying that adding 220mm to your existing insulation is only saving you £45; whereas starting from scratch with 270mm saves you £150.

How does that work? Why does that first 50mm make such a difference?

Does it matter whether the old insulation is all dusty and looks disgusting?

Is the insulation that was already installed when I moved into this house in 1994 still saving me money on my bills each year?

Do I top it up or does there come a point when I should replace the old stuff and start again?

Don't get me wrong, I do think it's the most important thing to do, to draught proof and insulate your house properly. I just wonder what's behind the numbers we all so glibly accept.

Does anyone know? I would love to hear from you.

Good Energy Guide to Energy Efficiency

Good Energy have made available a guide for householders on how and why they should improve the energy efficiency of their home. There's a useful chart too showing the relative contribution of different uses of energy in the home.

This is a really useful guide as it starts with the very important first steps, such as draught-proofing and insulation, giving information on costs and savings from doing this. These relatively cheap and effective steps can sometimes be missed in the excitement of generating your own heat and power, for this chapter alone the guide is worth downloading.

The chapters on saving gas and saving electricity are packed with useful information to help you choose energy efficient appliances and use them most effectively. The tables at the back giving running costs and electricity consumption for various appliances just the type of information you can't often get hold of easily.

If everyone made use of this guide it would make a big difference to energy use in our homes. Why not start now?

If you don't want to go it alone with the guide, why not contact me for help to green your home?

21st Century Living Project

The 21st Century Living Project has been launched http://21stcenturyliving.edenproject.com/
a major new report from Acona, Eden Project and Homebase.

The study tracked 100 households over a period of one year as they tried to reduce their environmental impact. They were audited at the beginning and at the end; given £500 to spend as they wished; a few starter goodies such as energy monitors, shower timers, etc; and an on-call project manager. Various other activities happened during the year, such as thermal imaging some of the houses and an interactive website.

A really good outcome was that people were willing to act and make significant changes, including spending their own money on top of what was given to them. People expected techno-fixes to these problems, but by the end they had changed their behaviour and found it easier than expected to save energy.

A difficulty they had was working their way through the information that’s out there – the claims and counter claims – people are desperate for clear authoritative information. That’s the main reason I set up Hawthorn Environmental Services Ltd, to help people through that.

Ah, but now another difficulty – people don't know what they are consuming in terms of gas, electric and water. They know the cost but that’s different to knowing how much is being used, as cost per unit varies over time. Again, this is a difficulty we have had with our own house case study.

To measure change we need to know where we’re starting from, so how do we know whether we are meeting Government targets?

However, to me the more important issue is that we effect change and make it happen, that we know how to reduce our energy and water consumption, and waste production.

New straw-bale houses, Wadddington, Lincolnshire

The straw bale houses at Waddington, near Lincoln, are now finished and were open for viewing last week (Tuesday 6th - Friday 9th April). My Mum went and had a really interesting visit; she especially liked the rounded edges to the walls and big window sills. Apparently they were built for £110,000 each.

The insulating properties of straw bale are such that there is need for central heating. There is a wood burner for the coldest days and this has a flue going through one of bedrooms. With the open plan nature of the houses this should provide plenty of warmth in the depth of winter, such as we’ve had recently.

The north-facing windows are triple-glazed, whereas those on the south are double-glazed. The most is made of solar gain on the south side, and the upstairs balcony prevents too much solar gain in the summer whilst not stopping the sun coming in during winter. There is a solar hot water system too that should provide the entire household’s hot water in the warmer months.