Category: Retrofit

Spray foam insulation scam warning

By Kate Royston

Our energy advice team would like to remind you about the spray foam insulation scam warning put out by Devon Trading Standards earlier in the year.

You can read the story here.

Some of the key points from the article are here:

“Customers are often cold called and subject to hard sale techniques to persuade them to agree to this insulation. Guarantees are often offered which are only as good as the longevity of the company providing them.

While spray foam insulation can be an effective way to improve energy efficiency, it is important to ensure that it is applied by trained professionals and is suitable for the property concerned. Adequate ventilation in lofts and roof spaces is required.    

Spray foam can lead to problems when the homeowner wants to sell, re-mortgage or release equity from their property so before any work is done it’s important to check with your mortgage provider.

Some lenders may not provide a mortgage or an equity release and if you sell your property some surveyors will advise that it is removed.

Traditional glass fibre* insulation in lofts is still the most widely used insulation in new houses, is accepted by Local Authority building regulations and provided a roof is properly ventilated will cause no issues. There have been no studies to show glass fibre quilts cause mould.”

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has produced a consumer guide for spray foam.  

Roll of loft insulation

*Traditional rolls of loft insulation are available in a number of different materials including glass fibre wool, mineral wool, recycled plastic and sheep’s wool.

Insulating a loft at the rafters can be done very cost effectively. Depending on the size of the loft and whether you DIY or get someone in, the cost may range from say £200-£1500.

There are also schemes available today which can insulate your loft for free depending on your EPC and Council Tax Band and in some cases your household income.

If you have any questions or concerns about loft insulation, or to have a chat about it, please get in touch with us (Tamar Energy Community) on 0800-233-5414 or via our enquiry form here.

Major Funding Win for Home Retrofit Advice Services

By Kate Royston

South West consortium one of six successful bids for new government funding

Plymouth Energy Community and partners of the Far South West Retrofit Consortium (FSWRC), including Tamar Energy Community (TEC) are about to embark on an ambitious £1.4m project to design and test new methods of retrofit advice delivery across the South West region.

The consortium comprises six community energy organisations in partnership with Plymouth City Council and Devon County Council.

The £1.4m grant for this new project comes from the Local Energy Advice Demonstrator programme, which is led by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero working in partnership with the South West Net Zero Hub. This project is one of six funded across the South West and will run for two years.

The project will drive engagement with housing retrofit to improve energy efficiency resulting in lower bills, reduced emissions and improved occupant health and wellbeing. Three population groups have been identified that represent a broad spectrum of homeowners across the region who are either often overlooked or seldom reached by the current advice provision available. These are the digitally excluded, low-income households and owners of traditionally built properties.

TEC Director and Project lead, Kate Royston said; “TEC is excited to be part of this new project working with this experienced and established consortia, together with our partners at Dartmoor Energy, and our sister community energy organisation in the South Hams, South Dartmoor Community Energy. The project will provide much needed resource to enable us to explore and refine new approaches to delivering in-person advice and engaging communities in housing retrofit, this is something that we don’t have the capacity to undertake under normal circumstances.”

Central to this project will be a focus on how best to conduct in-person retrofit advice visits in people’s homes, with high quality resources, advisor training and follow on support services all contributing to the solution. An iterative design and testing cycle will explore innovations throughout the customer journey. At the end of the project  the findings will be shared with other retrofit service providers across the UK.

Jon Rattenbury, South West Net Zero Hub Programme Manager, said; “We are pleased to be able to award this funding on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to six south west based groups that have shown a real appetite to support their communities to take action to save carbon and improve the energy efficiency of their homes. We look forward to working with these groups to share the learning from the pilot projects on providing tailored advice and developing the provision of advice to support as many people as possible.”

Justin Bear, PEC’s Project Lead for the Conssortium added; “This work is incredibly important as it addresses a number of important societal challenges – reducing regional emissions of greenhouse gases, improving living standards and occupant health and reducing bills at a time when many are struggling with the rise in the cost of living.”

Over the course of the project the consortium will aim to provide in-person advice to approximately 13,000 people from across Devon and Cornwall.

Draught busting and glazing

By Kate Royston

It’s getting much cooler in the evenings now and you might be starting to feel any draughts you have in your home. A draft is usually a sign of inadequate insulation which allows cold air to enter a home while warm air will leave the same way.

On average 15-20% of the heat loss from a home will be as a result of draughts.

Some ventilation or airflow into a home is important. This is particularly true of rooms where high levels of damp air are generated such as bathrooms and kitchens. These should be ventilated to prevent the warm damp air collecting on colder walls and condensing which can result in damp and mould. Hydrostatic extraction fans work well in these areas. They are generally low powered and only come on when humidity levels are high.

Ventilation is also essential in rooms with open fires and open flues.

How to find draughts

A good way to start to find draughts in your home is to choose a cold breezy day, and walk around your home, holding the back of your hand up to the gaps around doors, windows, light fittings, your letterbox, loft hatches and cat flaps. External doors are often a priority; and you may also find draughts coming between the wall and the window/door frame, and windowsills. Chimneys can also be a source of draughts if not in use.

Dealing with draughts

There are different ways of dealing with draughts, many of which can be low cost and DIY. These include letter box brushes, door brushes for the bottom of doors and draught strips for around windows and doors.

Chimney balloons/sheep can be used for chimneys but be sure to follow the instructions and remember they are there.

Draughtex can be a good solution for filling in the gaps between floorboards and can be easily removed if needed: https://www.draughtex.co.uk/

A good reference is a guide from the Centre of Sustainable Energy: https://www.cse.org.uk/advice/advice-and-support/diy-draught-proofing

Glazed areas and insulation

The glazed areas of your home (windows and doors) can be a source of heat loss, particularly if single glazed, or where double glazing is old or has failed (e.g. you have misting between the glazing layers).

Secondary glazing can be less expensive than replacing your existing glazing. There are a number of options which include:

  • Glazing film – a sort of cling film attached to the window which needs to be reapplied each winter
  • A sheet of Perspex material attached to the inside of the window. Designed well it can be reused each year. Magnaglaze is a version of this. It uses magnetic strips attached to the window frame, and strips attached to a sheet of Perspex cut to size. This allows the secondary glazing to be removed easily.
  • A more expensive solution is to have an internal window fitted. This can be a solution in situations such as listed properties where double/triple glazing is not favoured.

Heavy curtains and thermal blinds can also help keep the heat in but remember not to let them cover the radiator.

Sources of information

There are a number of different sources of information if you want to find out more including:

Join us as a Home Energy Advisor in our Energy Advice Team

Join us as a Home Energy Advisor in our Energy Advice Team

By Kate Royston

Hourly rate £15 –  Flexible working  –  1 year fixed term contract (Self Employed)  

We’re looking for a Home Energy Advisor to join our Energy Advice Team.

Looking for a new role?

Why not help to deliver grass roots action on the journey to Net Zero in West Devon, reduce fuel poverty and address the climate emergency.

Interested? Apply by Sun. March 20th 2022.

Read on here …

Retrofitting your Home. What’s it all about?

Retrofitting your Home. What’s it all about?

By Kate Royston

We’re being encouraged to improve the energy efficiency of our homes. What does this mean for me in practice?

We held a Zoom talk in late September to discuss the topic and to learn more about the practicalities of retrofitting your home, and the importance of taking a whole house approach.

You can download the presentation here.

We’re working with Devon County Council and our Community Energy colleagues across Devon to launch a Retrofit Service for Devon in spring 2022. This will provide a ‘one front door’ approach for retrofit advice and support.

If you’d like to know more, please drop us an email to hello@tamarenergycommunity.com.

It would also be helpful if you could take a few minutes to complete this Retrofit Devon householder survey to help us understand more about about what the levels of interest in retrofit across the county. You can find it here: Retrofit Devon householder survey (typeform.com).

Great Big Green Week 2021

Great Big Green Week 2021

By Kate Royston

Great Big Green Week is all about local events taking place across the country as part of a national week to raise the profile of climate change and nature. Importantly, it’s to show why it is relevant to our community and to celebrate our local activity.

Across West Devon and the Tamar Valley we’re working with the West Devon Climate Forum, WDBC, Transition Tavistock, Tavistock Library and others to encourage individuals and communities to take part.

Moths to a Flame

As a unifying theme for Great Big Green Week in the Tamar Valley and West Devon, Art & Energy Collective, supported by Tamar Energy Community, invite groups to join in their inspiring Moths to a Flame project.

This involves hosting moth-making events or mini-installations where people can hang moths they’ve made (from milk bottles – instructions here!), before or during the week.

The installations will be collected up, during the first week in October, in plenty of time to be taken to Glasgow for a mass participation artwork to the COP26 climate summit. When you’re making your moths you can also record your messages and these will be shared online.

There are two online moth making sessions planned over the next few weeks, and subject to demand more could be added. It may be possible to arrange a session for specific groups as well subject to availability of team.

Once you’ve made your moths as a community, come together and hang them somewhere for everyone to see as part of a mini-installation.

On Saturday Sept. 18th we’ll be touring the area looking at your mini-installations and having conversations with you.

To let us know about your plans, get involved, find out more, seek support, offer help … please email hello@tamarenergycommunity.com.

This is an enjoyable opportunity for people to come together. We hope this can also provide a stepping stone to developing collective action to combat climate change across the area.

Other TEC Events during the week

The first of our evening supper talks will be on Thu. 23rd Sept at 19:00. The topic will be the importance of Whole House Retrofit. This first event will be via Zoom: ‘Retrofitting your home. What’s it all about?’. You can register here.

Meet us at Bedford Square, Tavistock on Saturday 25th September. We’ll be at the Farmers Market and look forward to discussing whole house retrofit with you between 09:00 and 14:00.

More events …

Transition Tavistock and Tavistock Library are planning a programme of displays and activities as well.

If you have an event, or ideas for an event please get in touch (see below) and/or sign up to get your own event on the map – anything from an open garden to a film showing. If your event is in West Devon, pick out “West Devon Green Week” from the drop-down list of area events to link to.

Transition Tavistock is aiming to pull together local publicity for Great Big Green Week activities in the Tavistock area. If you are running one, let us know on info[AT]transitiontavistock.org.uk by 6th September 2021, as well as listing it on the national site.

Vacancy: Home Energy Advisor Roles at TEC

Vacancy: Home Energy Advisor Roles at TEC

By Kate Royston

Looking for a new and exciting role, that not only helps local residents with energy efficiency issues but also tackles climate change at grass roots?

Community energy groups across Devon are expanding their domestic energy efficiency and retrofit services. Read on to learn more about flexible work opportunities.

The Role

Due to the success of home energy projects across Devon, and an increasing awareness around climate change and energy efficiency, community energy groups in Devon, including TEC, are seeking additional Home Energy Advisors (HEAs) to work on various existing and new projects. Immediate start date.

HEAs are required to provide tailored advice and support on a 1:1 basis, helping residents to cut costs and energy consumption and help make homes warmer. Work is carried out via telephone assessments and Home Energy Visits. Participation at drop-in energy advice clinics in the community, talks to community groups, training sessions with frontline workers and partnership building with key local organisations are other activities that make up this role.

This is a paid self-employed role with hours to suit the successful applicant’s needs and availability.

HEA’s play an important role in the overall aims and objectives of Devon’s Community Energy Groups, working as part of an innovative team, directly helping to improve the lives of those living in our local community, as well as promoting a low-carbon life style.

There will be opportunities to progress to ‘Retrofit’ roles for those interested in developing a long-term career in this industry.

The skills and requirements:

  • IT literate and own laptop or tablet
  • Have own vehicle/access to vehicle for carrying out visits
  • A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be required.
  • Enthusiasm, dedication to problem solving, and ability to build rapport with residents and colleagues in the community
  • A team player, able to work on own initiative with limited supervision
  • Have previous experience of working with the public
  • A caring and understanding approach and ability to show empathy
  • Excellent written and oral skills
  • Experience is preferred, but not essential, as training can be provided to the right candidate. A willingness to study and take a few exams would be required.

Full Role Specification is available on request. Download a pdf with this description here.

Tamar Energy Community (TEC) is a non-profit community energy organisation. We work across West Devon and S. East Cornwall. We’re an active member of the network of community energy groups in Devon, working closely with local authorities.

If you, or anyone you know, would like to know more about this opportunity, please contact Kate Royston, Director at TEC and Project Manager Warm & Well. kate@tamarenergycommunity.com. 0800 233 5414.

If you are interested in HEA positions elsewhere in Devon check out Devon Community Energy Network’s page here for vacancies.