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Elham Going Green: September 2008
Club together to combat rising oil prices and cut your carbon footprint
Worried about the rising cost of heating? If you want to cut your fuel bills this winter, we have a solution. The Elham Environment Group plans to organise a fuel club which would pool deliveries of heating oil to homes in the Elham valley.
Currently over six companies deliver oil to the Elham area, averaging a minimum of 10 trips every week by tankers, large and small. By clubbing together, Elham residents can combine their purchasing power to obtain significant discounts and cut the number of tankers driving into the village, helping to reduce our carbon footprint and congestion.
We aim to arrange regular deliveries and negotiate a discount of at least a 3p per litre on your behalf. We will try to source oil as locally as possible.
If you want to find out more, fill out the questionnaire and hand it in to the Valley Stores by 1st October. We will send further information and details for joining the Fuel Club. Any information will remain confidential.
To contribute to the Elham Going Green column in the Elham Newsletter, contact Kay Hoar on 840631 or email kayhoar@talktalk.net
Elham Going Green: July 2008
Elham Parish home energy survey
As a community we have a greater problem than average because of older housing (77% were built before 1965). But as most houses in the Parish are owner-occupied (91%), we have a powerful opportunity as owner-occupiers to act now.
Steps we can take include installing loft insulation and switching to energy saving light bulbs. Over 90% of all households in Elham do not have the required standard of roof insulation. That is much higher than the average of all surveys in Kent. And while most households in Elham have some energy saving light bulbs, only 12% have all such bulbs.
Without mains gas, 71% of households in Elham are dependent on oil for their main heating systems. It may be worth considering alternative technologies, such as solar panels to heat our water or generate electricity. About 4% of households have installed a renewable technology and 5% use a green electricity tariff.
Nearly all of us have a car and 54% of households have two or more. Anyone interested in cutting down on car journeys through a car share scheme should contact the Elham Environment Group (EEG).
To contribute to the Elham Going Green column in the Elham Newsletter, contact Kay Hoar on 840631 or email kayhoar@talktalk.net
Elham Going Green: June 2008
Green electricity
Elham resident Marilyn Milton tells how she cut her electricity supplied by 69% by installing solar electricity panels on her house in Water Farm
(This is a longer version of the article that appears in the June issue of the Elham Newsletter.)
Our photo-voltaic panels, for generating electricity, were installed on our roof in August 2007. Our installers were contractors approved by Kent Energy Centre.
We were first contacted a year earlier, after filling in one of the home energy efficiency questionnaires and expressing interest in a greener approach to energy production.
We received a grant of £2500, about 14.5% of our cost, through the Low Carbon Buildings programme administered by the Energy Savings Trust.
To qualify for the grant, you have to have done the usual things: thermostatic control valves on radiators, 10” loft insulation, cavity wall insulation. You also need details of proposed equipment, approved installer and planning permission if required.
Shepway Planning Department advised us to apply for planning permission because of implications in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, although we are outside the Conservation Area. The process went quite smoothly, with the added expense of photographs, Ordnance Survey maps and details and pictures of the equipment.
The installers were responsible for obtaining permission from distributor to connect the output (converted to AC) to the house electric supply so that we could use what we make and export the excess to the grid. They also provided the completion certificate and wiring diagrams etc so that the grant process could be completed.
We then investigated electricity suppliers to see which would give us the best price for our exported units. We found it difficult to get the right person either through the websites or by phone. Some companies only pay as much as they charge and some charge to install an export meter. Most will undertake the bureaucratic chore of applying for ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates) and incorporate the money from the scheme into the payment they make to the householder for the green electricity.
The best rate we found was 18p per exported unit, charging 12p for imported units. Costs are difficult to compare because of different tariff structures, standing charges etc. One electricity supplier estimates that most private generating systems export half their production and will pay for half the generated units rather than installing an export meter.
Between 1 January and 1 April 2008 we generated 501 units and used 725 units, so theoretically we cut our electricity by 69%.
Until our export meter is installed on 20 May, we will not know how much will be exported and paid for by our new supplier. We shall have to remain aware of the price paid for ROCs and current electricity prices in case we have to switch suppliers.
We have also now installed solar water panels, but it is too early to know the benefits.
For information on grants for solar electricity or hot water panels, call the Kent Energy Centre helpline on 020 8683 6683.
To contribute to the Elham Going Green column in the Elham Newsletter, contact Kay Hoar on 840631 or email kayhoar@talktalk.net
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