The Green Room by The GreenAge

The GreenAge

The UK green energy podcast covering everything from solar panels to sustainability, and doing it all with a cup of tea.

  1. 11/20/2020

    The Green Homes Grant

    A new Government scheme has launched called the Green Homes Grant which will help homeowners in England improve the energy efficiency of their properties via a £5,000 grant. The grant can be used for a whole range of energy saving improvements including double-glazing, loft insulation, solid wall insulation and floor insulation. Improving the thermal efficiency of the envelope of the property (floor, walls and roof) in our opinion is the best way to help lower homeowner’s energy bills and also reach the Governments ambitious energy targets. In total, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak has put aside £2 billion for the Green Homes Grant scheme, meaning a minimum of 400,000 homeowners in England should benefit. It is expected that everyone will be able to apply for this grant – it will not be means tested. The Scheme is due to run until the end of March 2021.

    30 min
  2. Electric Boilers Explained

    02/28/2020

    Electric Boilers Explained

    What happens when you put two energy experts in a room and ask them about electric boilers? We’re answering all your burning electric boiler questions. Are gas boilers still legal? Are electric boilers better for the environment? Is an electric boiler more expensive than gas? Should I swap my central heating for an electric boiler? _________________________________________________________________________________________________   HOW DO ELECTRIC BOILERS DIFFER FROM GAS ONES? The short answer to this is that they use different methods of heating water. A gas boiler takes in gas from the national network supply and burns it to produce heat. This then goes through a heat exchanger, which heats the water used for both your central heating and hot water. With an electric boiler, it’s a similar process but instead of burning natural gas to create heat, an electric boiler heats the water using power directly from an electricity source (almost always the national grid). It works a lot like a kettle. This means that electric boilers are actually significantly more efficient than their gas counterparts. Modern gas boilers can reach as high as 95% efficiency (or even higher), but electric boilers can reach 100% efficiency. However there are a lot of issues with electric boilers that don’t come up with gas boilers. In this podcast, we explain the benefits and drawback or electric boilers, and discuss the governments move towards this type of water and space heating.   _________________________________________________________________________________________________   Read More: The Green Age: Electric Boilers - https://www.thegreenage.co.uk/tech/electric-boilers/ The Best Electric Boilers 2020 - https://www.boilerguide.co.uk/articles/best-electric-boilers Gas boilers could be banned from all homes by 2050 - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/02/08/homeowners-could-forced-replace-gas-boilers-ensure-uk-meets/

    35 min
  3. Big Energy Saving Week 2020

    01/22/2020

    Big Energy Saving Week 2020

    The Green Room: What happens when you put two energy experts in a room and ask them about Big Energy Saving Week 2020? We’re digging deep into one of energy’s biggest events of the year this episode, and giving our own take on the top tips that BESW20 published in aid of the event. From tariff switching to taps, we’re taking a closer look at which energy saving measures really do work.   _________________________________________________________________________________________________   WHAT IS BIG ENERGY SAVING WEEK 2020? Big Energy Saving Week is a national campaign to help people cut their energy bills and get all the financial support they are entitled to. This year it is running between 20th-27th January, and you can get involved on social media using the hashtag #BEST20.   WHO IS BIG ENERGY SAVING WEEK TARGETING? Everybody! BESW20 is al about getting people aware of their energy use and thinking about their habits. This year, there is a special focus of 4 major groups: people using electric heating, people in debt to their energy suppliers, people with hard-to-heat homes, and anyone that doesn’t have full access to the internet. These are the groups reckoned to be in the most need of energy saving and general energy advice, but really BESW20 is for everyone.   WHAT IS HAPPENING DURING BIG ENERGY SAVING WEEK 2020? There’s plenty going on this week to get involved with! Citizens Advice are holding events around the country for people to go and get free energy saving advice. There are also plenty of resources that have been produced, including lectures, social media, and a whole lot of content. Don’t forget to use the #BESW20 hashtag to be part of the conversation!   _________________________________________________________________________________________________   Read More: 20 Ways to Save Big Energy Saving Week 2020 official website Big Energy Saving Week 2020 on the Energy Saving Trust 100 Ways To Save Energy In Your Home Where Can I Get Advice on Saving Energy?

    40 min
  4. Energy Saving: Your Questions Answered

    01/16/2020

    Energy Saving: Your Questions Answered

    What happens when you put two energy experts in a room and ask them your questions about bills, energy, and the environment? We’re back for 2020 and we’re answering all the questions you asked while we were away. We cover insulation, triple glazing, the DECC, and celebrate the 2019 energy mix. If you have questions about energy saving, we have the answers. _________________________________________________________________________________________________   WHAT IS DECC? DECC is the Department of Energy & Climate Change, a now defunct department of the British government. Controversially, DECC was scrapped and became part of Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy in July 2016. We’re wondering if it’s likely to come back any time soon.   WHAT IS TRIPLE GLAZING? Put simply, triple glazing is 3 panes of glass instead of 1 or 2. The claim is that by having an extra pane, you will increase efficiency and reduce noise. We already know that double glazing makes a significant improvement over single glazing, but even so, upgrading from single to double glazing takes a long time to pay back in terms of energy efficiency. So would making the jump to triple glazing make that much of a difference?   WHAT IS A U-VALUE? The U-value signifies the heat lost through a given thickness of a particular material. You don’t really need to understand the mechanics of how it is calculated; instead it is useful to be able to compare different substances by their U-values. The lower the U-value is, the better the material is as a heat insulator.   WHAT IS THE UK’S ENERGY MIX? We haven’t had the full figures released yet for the last quarter of the year, but the first part of 2019 saw a significant shift towards renewbles, providing 38.9% of our electricity. Nuclear provided 18.4%, gas 38.8%, oil 2.9%, and coal 1%.  _________________________________________________________________________________________________   Read More: Internal and Cavity Wall Insulation (The Insulation Masterclass Series Pt 3) Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Triple glazing – Is it worth it? Should I get external wall insulation on cavity walls?

    45 min
  5. Biggest Energy Guzzlers in the Home

    12/11/2019

    Biggest Energy Guzzlers in the Home

    What happens when you put two energy experts in a room and ask them what is causing your energy bills? We’re looking at energy guzzlers today, aka energy vampires. It’s all about appliances this week, and how much energy they use. We cover heating, washing, and more. There is also a significant amount of discussion about tea. _________________________________________________________________________________________________   SOME TOP TIPS TO SAVE ENERGY Familiarise yourself with your heating controls! A bit of fiddling can make a big difference to your bills. Dropping your thermostat by just one degree should save £60 over the course of a year.  Switch to efficient LED lighting. In halogen bulbs, 90% of the electricity used is given off as heat, and only 10% as light. With LEDs, this figure is reversed, making them far more efficient. Heating hot water is an expensive business, so try to limit your usage. Avoid electric convection heating – electricity costs 4x as much as gas. If your property is off-gas, you have other options. Infrared, for example, is powerful and efficient. Don’t wash your clothes at unnecessarily high temperatures. A 40°C wash uses a third less energy than a 60°C cycle. Also, be sure to fill up your washing machine every time you use it. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Read More: Winter-proof your home and save energy 100 ways to save energy in your home Which appliances use the most energy? The cost of leaving appliances in standby mode

    41 min
  6. General Election 2019: Comparing Energy & Environment Policies

    12/05/2019

    General Election 2019: Comparing Energy & Environment Policies

    The Green Room: What happens when you put two energy experts in a room and ask them about the upcoming UK general election. James, Nick and Harri are today discussing the political agendas of all the main political parties, and getting to the bottom of what we’re being promised. How soon can we be carbon neutral? How many trees should we be planting? How much should we be investing on improving the energy efficiency of our buildings?   _________________________________________________________________________________________________   WHAT ARE THE BIG ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT ISSUES FACING US IN THE 2019 UK GENERAL ELECTION?   Cutting emissions All the main parties want the UK to move toward being carbon neutral, but they have very different timelines on when they think we can achieve this.   Improving UK housing stock A huge number of buildings in the UK are woefully underinsulated, making them very inefficient with energy. Politicians are aiming to tackle this in many different ways, with wildly different levels of priority and expenditure, and significantly different focuses.   Transportation Whether it’s investing more in cycle lanes and buses, or ending the sale of petrol and diesel car in favour of electric vehicles, the future of the British transportation and how it affects the environment is a policy for all the parties.   Renewable energy There’s a lot of variation between the party positions here, including policies on nuclear power, wind farms, fracking, and more. Where does our energy come from and what should we be investing in? _________________________________________________________________________________________________   Read the Party Manifestos: Conservatives Labour Liberal Democrats Green Party SNP Plaid Cymru

    46 min
  7. General Election 2019 - Can Labour Save The Planet?

    11/08/2019

    General Election 2019 - Can Labour Save The Planet?

    What happens when you put two energy experts in a room and ask them about Labour’s proposed energy policy? We’re getting into election fever this week, talking through the newly announced energy policies of the Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party. What is the ‘Warm Homes For All’ plan, and will it work? Is it just another Green Deal?   Subscribe: Itunes - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-green-room-by-the-greenage/id1450172106 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0mrSwzL4dKtNhm90fUEo63 Sticher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/greenage/the-green-room-by-the-greenage Podbean - https://thegreenage.podbean.com/   _________________________________________________________________________________________________   By 2030, Labour plans to: Cut carbon emissions by 10% – the equivalent of 72% of the emissions of all the cars in the UK. Prevent 1,500 deaths from cold and up to 560,000 cases of asthma due to reduced damp. Bring energy bills of 9.6 million low income households down by an average of £417 per year. Eradicate the vast majority of fuel poverty by the mid-2020s, benefiting the 1.14 million elderly people and one quarter of single parents currently living in fuel poverty. Create an estimated 250,000 skilled jobs in the construction industry like insulation specialists, plasterers, carpenters, electricians, gas engineers, builders and window fitters – with the quality of work and rights at work guaranteed. The investment will generate another 200,000 jobs across the economy. _________________________________________________________________________________________________   Read more:  Warm Homes for All -  Am I in Fuel Poverty? -  Labour plans to make 27m homes energy efficient

    40 min
  8. Ultimate Guide To EPCs (ft. London-EPC)

    10/23/2019

    Ultimate Guide To EPCs (ft. London-EPC)

    What happens when you put not two, but three energy experts in a room and ask them all about energy performance certificates? Today’s episode is a full A to Z of EPC, most domestic and commercial. We have special guest Alan Bouquet in the studio today from London-EPC, answering all our EPC questions. There’s also a tangent about nuclear power, and James wears another neon polo shirt. Visit London-EPC _________________________________________________________________________________________________   Energy Performance Certificates were introduced by the government back in 2007 for both domestic and commercial properties. They are designed to give a reflection of the energy efficiency of a building, based on various factors such as the insulation present, heating systems, glazing and any renewables.   WHAT DOES AN EPC INVOLVE? A qualified energy assessor will need to come and visit a property to produce an EPC, taking measurements and photos. The assessor will then put the information into a software package, which creates the EPC document. The EPC is ‘lodged’ onto a government EPC register, where you can find any property in the UK.   WHEN DO YOU NEED AN EPC? The EPC is required when you are selling a property, or when you are letting it. It can also be requested for various government schemes, and from institutions like banks when applying for a mortgage.   _________________________________________________________________________________________________   Read more:  Does my EPC rating affect my house price? 5 Cheapest Ways to Increase your EPC Rating Introduction to EPCs What is MEES? An Introduction to Non-Domestic Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES)

    41 min
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About

The UK green energy podcast covering everything from solar panels to sustainability, and doing it all with a cup of tea.

Information

  • Creator
    The GreenAge
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2020
  • Episodes
    34
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2019 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Green Room by The GreenAge