Alan Bouquet
100 ways to save energy in your home
The ‘cost of living crisis’ is the expected to be most challenging event for families up and down the country as general price increases have now been coupled with exponential rises in energy costs. With these tough times ahead we…
What is the best brand of boiler?
When your boiler packs up, it is sometimes easy to just take the first quote you see and get your heating back up and running, but you could be making problems for yourself if you take the wrong option. A…
What is a Life Cycle Assessment?
A life-cycle assessment, or LCA, is the name for a technique used by _ to give a rough idea of the environmental impact of a given project, process or service. It attempts to take into account the entire process, all…
Should I replace my conventional boiler with a combi?
If you have just bought a new home, your existing boiler has broken down or the boiler that you have is over 12 years old, then you should maybe consider a replacement. Combi boilers are fantastic, as they provide space heating…
How Efficient is my Boiler?
Finding the efficiency of your boiler The first thing to do is to check your boiler for a little sticker with an energy efficiency rating on it. Most modern boilers should have this sticker either on the boiler itself, or…
5 energy saving measures with the biggest payback
When comes to energy saving, the average homeowner will want to make sure that any investments made in their property have the best payback possible. In this blog we are going to go through the five best ways to improve your home,…
Top 10 tips for improving your domestic EPC rating
Here are some useful tips on what makes a difference to your EPC rating and what you can do to boost that rating: Top up your loft insulation – this is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve your…
What is smart lighting and can it save you money?
A term we see banded about online nowadays is ‘smart lighting’, but what exactly does it mean, and is it something we can all can take advantage of? The age of LEDs Over the past 10 years or so, lighting…
Foil insulation: does it work?
When we talk about insulation in lofts, we are usually referring to rock wool or glass fibre insulation. There is another- sometimes overlooked – category of insulation: foil. We know that foil makes a good insulator because of its very…
Which type of window frame is best – wood, metal or PVC?
There are several main types of material that window frames can be made out of: wood, metal and uPVC. Can they be used interchangeably? Is it simply an aesthetic consideration? Or is there a ‘better’ type of frame? Let’s take…
Lighting controls – Choosing the right control for your business
Lighting can be a major drain on the electricity bill in an office. In this blog, we are going to look beyond the obvious switch to LED lighting and ask what else can be done to lower your lighting costs,…
How safe is my boiler?
In this blog we are going to answer some common questions about boiler safety. Remember – if you have any immediate concerns, always call a Gas Safe plumber for further advice, and if you smell gas, turn the mains supply…
How much ECO funding will I get? The new easy ECO Scoring Tool
The Energy Company Obligation has been going for several years now. It is a scheme whereby the energy companies help pay for energy saving improvements, with each company bidding to pay for these improvements via a rather complicated bidding system.…
5 reasons to get floor insulation
Often the forgotten aspect of home insulation, floor insulation is either hung under a suspended floor, or laid on top of the floor to create an insulating layer above the floor. Without further ado, here are our thoughts on why…
Will a new extension cost more money to run?
Extensions are a great way to add more space to your home and to add value as well. However, it is important that your extension will be comfortable to live in and not add more to your bills. We are…
Installing central heating – does it make sense?
Central heating is the way most of us heat our homes, whether that be with a gas, electric or a renewable heating system. Heat is generated in one ‘central’ place in the home and then distributed around the building. This…
What are the potential problems with air source heat pumps?
Air source heat pumps are a popular way to heat your home off-grid. They are efficient, take up little space, and can heat your hot water as well. So, what are some of the pitfalls and problems that come with…
Can I get an air source heat pump if I live on the coast?
A few people have asked us whether it is possible to have an air source heat pump if they live near the coast. This might seem an odd question at first, but there are good reasons to be careful when considering getting an…
What is an air to air heat pump?
Heat pumps are an often misunderstood way to condition your home, so in this blog we are going to demystify the air source heat pump and find out if they could be a good option for your home. How do…
Should I get a borehole or a trench for my ground source heat pump?
Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP) are a great way to heat a modern home, especially if you are off the gas grid. They do require a bit of room in the garden though, so they aren’t for everyone! How does…
Suspended floors vs solid floors
There are two basic ways to make the floors of a building. You can either have a concrete base or a suspended floor, usually made out of timber. There are various pros and cons to these types of floor, some…
An energy saving challenge
Last September, on a particularly glorious late summers’ day, my colleague James here at The GreenAge made me a particularly challenging bet. After more than one beer, he suggested that I couldn’t halve my energy bills this winter compared to…
Expanded polystyrene and the environment
EPS is the most commonly used material in external wall insulation. Whilst Rockwool is sometimes specified, the fact that it needs a greater thickness to achieve the same results and costs more to supply and install means that EPS is…
Can I get cavity wall insulation for free?
Cavity wall insulation is a great way to increase the energy efficiency of your home – and increased energy efficiency means lower energy bills. Until relatively recently, pretty much everyone was entitled to free cavity wall insulation. However in the…
What are lux and how much light do you need?
Lux is a unit used to measure the intensity of light hitting a surface, typically a wall or floor in a lighting design. One lux is equivalent to one lumen per square meter. They differ from lumens, which measure the brightness of the…
Kilowatts and kilowatt hours
What is a watt? What is the difference between kilowatt-hours and kilowatts? To help you get a better idea of how much energy you are using, and how that relates to the power of your appliances, we have tried to…
Is sheepwool insulation resistant to rodents and moths?
In the past there have been numerous reports of sheep wool insulation attracting all types of pests and it is a question we get frequently asked here at TheGreenAge – are the sheep wool fibres going to become a home…
Do I Need a Commercial EPC to claim the Feed in Tariff for my Business?
If you are a company looking to benefit from the feed in tariffs, there are a few prerequisites that you need to meet. And just like a domestic property, you will need a valid EPC to get the payment. What…
What does external solid wall insulation look like?
What does External Solid Wall Insulation look like? Solid wall insulation can be a big investment – it is not something that should be rushed in to. You want to know as a customer that a job which will cost…
How effective is solar in winter?
Solar power can be a great addition to a home – it certainly saves you money in the long run and will help cut your bills. We all know that solar power uses the suns energy however, and during the…
Energy Saving Tips for Winter
After the British summer, you may be forgiven for thinking the weather could get much more miserable. Yet the colder weather is almost upon us and that means the boiler is getting fired up and the lights are going on…
How can I soundproof my home?
Noise is everywhere, especially in London. It can be distracting, keep you up at night and even lead to health problems. So making sure your home is adequately soundproofed is really important. Reduction and absorption Let’s first understand the principles…
How to read your gas meter
We have discussed how to read your electricity meter here, but today we are going to look at gas meters. Gas meters are a little different to electric meters, but there are a few variations to look out for: Digital…
Is my meter working correctly?
It makes you wonder sometimes- you seem to get through hundreds of pounds in electricity and gas, but you don’t know where it has all gone… We have come across customers in the past who have actually had malfunctioning meters…
Identifying damp in my home
Unfortunately, damp is a really common problem in UK homes. Despite this, many people don’t understand what causes it and how to help mitigate the problem. In this blog, I am going to take a look at the different types…
Energy saving tips for your kitchen
Save energy around the kitchen – 10 simple tips! The kitchen is one area in the home where we use a lot of energy, but unfortunately many of us are very wasteful with much of that energy. Whilst the technology on our…
What are the alternatives to solid wall insulation?
Is solid wall insulation still an option? As you may now know, the grants for solid wall insulation have disappeared, since the government closed the GDHIF scheme very abruptly a few weeks back. The GDHIF grant was extremely generous –…
Should I get my heat pump reassessed for the RHI?
I’m sure that if you have a heat pump, you will have heard of the Renewable Heat Incentive. It is a government scheme that pays you for generating renewable forms of heat for your home, including both ground source and…
Top 5 energy saving myths
There are still plenty of myths out there stopping people from being more energy efficient. So we have pooled together some of the biggest in a number of categories, from appliances, to energy bills, to insulation, to help you sort…
Solar planning requirements being relaxed for larger systems
Over the last few years we have seen the restrictions on solar PV systems relaxed considerably, and it is now possible to install a solar PV system of up to 50kW on a rooftop without requiring planning permission, so long…
Do dimmer switches save energy?
Lighting has become so much more efficient in the last few decades. We have moved from old fashioned incandescent bulbs to CFL and LED bulbs, which can save up to 90% on your lighting costs, but people know less about…
Honeywell Challenges Nest with the Lyric!
We really liked Evohome, the nice colourful thermostat / programmer from Honeywell, which allows you to automatically control your heating even when you are away from your home. It also has the ability to change the temperatures of individual rooms…
How to save money on your energy bills
Energy costs having been increasing above inflation over the last few years, which means that in these tough times these outlays are becoming quite a big part of everyone’s domestic budget. The purpose of this page is to take you…
Vacuum Insulation Panels
If you read our blog the other week, you will be aware that there are three different modes of heat transfer – convection, conduction and radiation – if you missed it, you can read it here! Both convection and conduction…
Minimum energy efficiency standard for private rented homes
The UK has one of the oldest stocks of housing in Europe and unfortunately with age comes inefficiency. Older properties, particularly those built prior to the 1930s with solid wall construction, leak heat. This is a particular problem in the…
Will my neighbours complain about my solar PV or Wind Turbines?
As long as solar PV and wind power have been around, there have been neighbours who complain about them. Whether it spoils their views or makes too much noise, there is always someone ready to complain. What I want to…
Can I get loft insulation for free?
[Update: Although the Green Deal has now finished, some people are still eligible for funding under ECO. Find more information here.] Why bother installing loft insulation? Loft insulation is a great way to increase the energy efficiency of your home…
How important are windows for retaining heat in the home?
I am sure most of you have had a double glazing salesman tell you how important windows are for keeping heat in the home and helping to save you money on your heating bill. Just how important are double glazing…
How much does a new boiler cost?
Maybe it has come to the point where your old boiler has packed up, and the part you need is no longer available. Or perhaps you are pre-empting all those problems by changing your boiler before it gives up the…
Is it worth buying a water butt?
Water butts are essentially big storage units that catch and store rainwater as it falls. They are normally located near a drainpipe leading off the roof of your home, so you can take advantage of a much bigger rainwater catchment…
Using solar film to prevent solar gain
What is solar gain? During the summer a big problem in homes with a large amount of glazing is solar heat gain. The glass seems to act like a magnifying glass making the home unbearably hot. This can be compounded…
How to make air conditioning more energy efficient
Air conditioning is often considered wasteful, energy intensive and a big source of carbon emissions. Unfortunately for some buildings, especially commercial premises, air conditioning may be essential to ensure staff are comfortable and able to carry out their work. Here…
Can I get cavity wall insulation for my flat?
Can you get cavity wall insulation if you live in a flat? It is an often asked question at Green Deal Assessments, but the answer is not really straight forward. You live in a flat or maisonette, it has cavity…
Selecting the right thermostat for your home
It may seem a simple device, but thermostats are often poorly utilised and misunderstood. In this blog we are going to look at some of the different types of thermostat available and how you should best use them in your…
Conduction, Convection and Radiation
In this blog, we are going to look at the various ways heat can be transferred and what that means for both heating and insulation. Convection Heating Radiators and storage heaters are two of the most common heating systems in…
What can other countries teach us about insulation?
We talk a lot about the UK insulation industry; the products, the costs, the methods. For once, we thought it would be worth looking around the globe at other countries and if we could learn anything about insulation that could…
What is a Green Roof?
What is a Green Roof? To many of us, a green roof seems very ‘out there’. Something only the most hardcore ‘greenies’ would even contemplate. But they aren’t quite as unusual or impractical as they would first appear. In fact,…
How to have a green BBQ
With the warmer weather now upon us, and BBQ’s being dusted off across the country, we at TheGreenAge thought it was a good time to talk about whether you can have a more sustainable green BBQ. BBQ’s actually can be very…
How do you insulate a loft conversion?
With all the demands on space and the value of homes rising rapidly, loft conversions are becoming a great way to expand the floor space of your home and increase its value. As you might know, the roof is one…
LED versus CFL?
Compact fluorescent lights have been around for many years, and their energy saving properties have been touted by the Government, energy companies and green organisations alike, but how do they compare to the new kids on the block – LED…
What makes a good composter?
This week is international compost awareness week as I’m sure you know!! As a result, we thought we would just do a quick composting FAQ. What is composting? Composting is nature’s way of recycling decomposed organic material (think fallen leaves…
How bad are tumble dryers?
Tumble dryers are energy intensive – we all know that. It is one of the few appliances we ask about as part of a Green Deal Assessment, above items such as computers, TVs, Dish washers and a number of other…
Insulating your Hot Water Tank
For those with hot water tanks, insulating them is really important. The tank is where your hot water gets stored after being heated by the boiler, and if it is poorly insulated, it will lose heat much quicker. This then…
Are biomass boilers worth it?
Biomass boilers offer a great heating solution that really does pay for itself and then some. Combined with the great savings to be made with biomass fuels and the government’s domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), it really does make sense…
Can I remove cavity wall insulation?
Cavity wall insulation is a great way to keep your home warm and cut your energy bills, but there are instances where cavity wall insulation is not the right solution and can actually lead to big problems further down the…
Do energy efficient homes sell for more?
One rebuttal we hear so often from customers is that they are planning to move home at some point in the future, and so they don’t need to install energy saving measures – it would just be a waste of…
Camping or caravanning on 12 volts – renewable generation
Camping can be a great way to get away from busy urban life, but most of us still want to use electrical appliances even when we don’t have access to mains electricity. 12 Volts, renewable electricity generation kits give you…
7 things you need to consider before installing solar PV
In this blog, we take a look at some of the key considerations you should be aware of before installing a Solar PV system. 1. Is your roof strong enough? Some buildings, especially older ones, may not have the roof…
How do I keep my home cool without an air conditioner in summer?
Air conditioning is expensive to install and expensive to run. For a country like the UK, where we only get about 10 warm days each year, there has to be another way to stay cool. Here we give you our…
Do building regulations go far enough?
Building regulations have gradually become stricter over the years. Before the 1960’s, there were no regulations saying that a wall had to have a cavity, or loft insulation had to be present. This all changed with the introduction of a…
How to Maximise your Domestic RHI Payments
In the blog below we highlight two ways you can take maximum advantage of the Domestic RHI that is due to launch in the Spring. Maximising the RHI payments from Heat Pumps So if you are reading this, you are…
Can too much insulation cause overheating?
Last summer the Daily Mail published an article claiming that too much insulation installed under the could cause overheating of homes and endanger old people. Since we are now approaching warmer weather (or what passes for warm weather in the…
Can you get solar panels for free?
It is great to see our customers interested in Solar PV, and we regularly answer questions about solar at our Green Deal Assessments. One of the questions we get asked a lot is, ‘I heard about a company that does…
Can I get the Green Deal on a Rented Property?
There was a low-key announcement by the Green Deal Finance Company last week that could finally see the successful take off of the Green Deal Energy Efficiency Scheme. Previously the Green Deal has only been available for homeowners who pay…
How Energy Efficient are Homes in London?
London has undergone many waves of house building, with each type of home creating their own energy efficiency problems and areas for improvement. It was 1965, that Building Regulations introduced the first limits on the amount of energy that could…
Where does our gas come from?
Up until about 10 years ago, most of the UK’s natural gas supply came from its own reserves in the North Sea. Unfortunately, from peak production of 1.2m GWh around the turn of the century, production has fallen steadily to…
How to run your storage heaters efficiently using Economy 7
[Update: As nuclear and coal stations are wound down in the UK, this could mean the death of the Economy 7 tariff. This would mean storage heaters becoming more expensive to run, and as such we no longer recommend people install…
Is the Green Deal Worth It?
UPDATE: As of 30 March 2016, the government has stopped funding and the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund is closed to new applications. You can read about it here. When the Green Deal launched in early 2013, it had set the ambition…
How Do I Apply for The GDHIF Cash Back
The Cashback scheme for the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund, GDHIF, is a great way to help reduce the cost of important energy efficiency measures for your property. The process can be a little confusing though, so we have come…
Should I get a wood burning stove?
Wood burning stoves have become incredibly popular over the last few years, and it’s easy to see why. With spiralling energy costs, people are really keen to find ways to save money and not only do wood burners save money,…
What is a Passivhaus?
Put simply, a Passivhaus is one that is extremely well insulated, and uses superior design to maximise the efficiency of the property. They typically use just a fraction of the heating of the average home to stay warm. To maintain…
How much loft insulation do you need?
How much loft insulation do you need? Over the years, insulation has become an increasingly worthwhile investment for homes and businesses. Energy bills have soared over the last 10 years and loft insulation is a relatively cheap energy efficiency measure…
What does a Green Deal report look like?
UPDATE: As of 30 March 2016, the government has stopped funding and the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund is closed to new applications. You can read about it here. So what exactly does a Green Deal Report Look like? We get a…
A Green Christmas!
The Christmas season is already well under way and I’m sure you’re busy wrapping presents, decorating the tree and planning what exactly you are going to have for Christmas lunch! It is a fantastic time of year, but it is…
UK going nuclear – Hinkley nuclear plant given go-ahead
Hinkley C – Our first Nuclear Power plant in a Generation! The UK has utilised nuclear power to meet its energy requirements since 1956. Nowadays, the UK has 16 operational nuclear reactors situated across 9 power plants and these contribute…
Heating your home without mains gas
The Traditional Off-Gas Options For the 15% of people in the UK that are not connected to the gas grid, heating the home can be expensive and options limited. Usually these are older properties with poor efficiency and many use…
The potential environmental effects of fracking and shale gas
What is Shale gas and fracking? Shale gas is natural gas found in shale rock formations underground. Due to the lack of permeability of the shale rock, the gas is trapped and cannot be extracted through a conventional well bore.…
What you need to know about an EPC
What is an EPC? An Energy Performance Certificate is a document which details the energy rating of your property (much like the rating system for appliances). This includes a breakdown of current efficiencies of certain aspects of the home, like…
Infrared Heating Panel FAQ
How do infrared heating panels work? They work by turning electricity into infrared energy, which is directed at surfaces (ideally the floor), to warm the room. They work differently from convection heaters, which heat the air rather than surfaces, which…
What is Economy 7?
What is the Economy 7 tariff? Economy 7 is simply a 2-tiered tariff that charges you less for using energy at off peak times. Usually this means that energy is cheaper from around midnight to 7am, although this may vary…
Don’t wait to swap your light bulbs to LED!
Change your light bulbs now So you are contemplating getting some energy saving light bulbs in your home, but you’re thinking, ‘I’ll wait until they blow, there’s no point in changing them while they are still working’. This is a…
Self Funding the Green Deal – Is it still worth doing?
UPDATE: As of 30 March 2016, the government has stopped funding and the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund is closed to new applications. You can read about it here. Funding mechanisms There are three ways to fund energy efficiency improvements – through…
The Green Deal and tackling fuel poverty
Research by the Debt Advisory Centre has revealed some startling facts about fuel poverty in Britain and the extent to which people are struggling to pay their fuel bills What is Fuel Poverty and how big is the problem? Put…
Home Energy Efficiency Misconceptions
Continuing on from the blog last week, discussing some of the early feedback on the Green Deal, I want to look at some of the misconceptions people can have when considering energy efficiency improvements. These can stem from a variety…