Nicholas Miles
Co-founder of TheGreenAge. Green Deal Assessor and Energy Advisor.
The Green Homes Grant Scheme – Comprehensive Consumer Guide
The Green Homes Grant is back! In early July 2020, the UK Government announced another raft of funding to kick-off in September 2020, to help fund energy saving improvements to UK homes and public sector buildings. The £2billion scheme will…
An Introduction to Non-Domestic Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES)
The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards( MEES) are pretty simple; if you are a landlord who is responsible for letting properties in England or Wales then you need to ensure that the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) asset score of your rental…
Why install energy saving and low carbon technologies when building homes?
It is easy to be short-sighted when building homes. Many developers are out to maximise profits, and they fail to see the benefit for them in adding costs by installing energy saving technologies. In this blog, we want to show…
Is 2017 the year I can finally live off the grid?
Now, this year you may have heard many stories about solar panels, battery storage systems and smart meters; but are any of those technologies really going to make the key difference in you or me being able to live fully off-grid?…
External Wall Insulation in Essex
Essex is in large part a ‘rural’ county, with the urban sprawl concentrated around the Thames Estuary towns of Thurrock and Basildon, and larger towns away from the Greater London Metropolitan areas such as Colchester and Chelmsford. The common construction…
Looking for a more intelligent heating control system?
Are the old dial thermostats destined for the scrapheap? For most of us, the room thermostat is a simple dial on the wall that allows you (in theory at least) to control the temperature of the home. I say ‘in…
Looking for a grant to help pay for a new boiler?
Unfortunately the days of completely free boilers has come and gone. You can however get help towards the cost of installing a new boiler if you meet certain criteria detailed below under a scheme called the Energy Company Obligation (ECO).…
What are Quantum Storage Heaters and are they more energy efficient?
What are storage heaters? Storage heaters store their heat when the electricity is cheap or ‘off-peak’ and then release it as and when needed, which is during the daytime when electricity is more expensive. Most homes that have storage heaters…
Other Intelligent Heating Control Systems
Since writing the original “Looking for a more Intelligent Heating Control System” article earlier this year, we are pleased to say that other manufacturers have now entered the area and their products are worth a review. We have also had numerous…
Should I install an air source heat pump?
Air source heat pumps essentially move heat into the home, utilising the energy in the outside air. During the process, they use a compressor to drive the temperature to a level sufficient to heat homes and provide hot water to…
Can I get a grant for solar panels?
Solar can be a bit of a complicated area: governments make complex announcements, cold calling companies promise the world, and the subsidies change all the time. It is quite hard for the consumer to fully understand how everything works. So…
Can I get a grant to replace my storage heaters?
[Update: For the latest advice on funding, contact your local council or visit our ECO page here.] We often speak to customers who have old storage heaters installed in their homes, many of whom reside in flats without access to…
7 ways to lower your energy bills
With energy bills increasing over the last few years and household budgets being quite tight, wasting money by paying too much to your energy supplier is not the way to go. What we have done here is to show you…
Green Deal Home Improvement Fund GDHIF
GDHIF is relaunching on the 10th December 2014 at 9am The original GDHIF scheme was so popular, the funding lasted just 6 weeks, however the great news is that GHDIF is set to return! [amazon_link asins=’B071NGHJWB’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’the0c3-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’7b20402e-3dd6-4dfe-b2f1-b4123b5b3c4b’]What is…
Can I still get a grant for a free boiler?
Can I get a grant for a boiler replacement? Can I still get a grant for a free boiler? For many years, the Warm Front scheme helped disadvantaged and vulnerable members of society get a new boiler and up to…
Should I replace my sash windows?
I have draughty wooden frame sash windows. What should I do? There are lots of homes across the UK with draughty wooden sash windows, and we often get asked the best way to make them more energy efficient. Should you…
Is shale gas the right answer for the UK Economy?
Shale gas and the ‘potential’ it has to drive a new energy revolution in the UK has once again been dominating the news headlines in recent weeks. The process of ‘fracking’, which is the drilling for gas trapped inside rocks…
Energy Efficiency and Soap Star Homes
Britain’s Best Loved Soap Homes Reveal Real Life Energy Dramas For many of us, there is nothing better than sitting down with a cuppa and tuning in to our favourite soaps on a nightly basis. While we may pay a…
Changes to the Energy Company Obligation
What is the Energy Company Obligation? The Government has announced this week that it is to change one of its key components of domestic energy policy, the Energy Company Obligation (ECO). This change comes only a year after the scheme…
Top 5 ways to save energy in the home (costing over £100)
Top ways to save on your energy bills if you have some money to invest! Unfortunately not all energy saving measures are free – so while previously we showed you how to save on your energy bills with little to…
5 Ways to Reduce your Energy bills for Under £100
Looking to reduce your energy bills? We are pleased to bring you the second part of the fortnightly series on ways to save on your energy bills – this time focusing on the most cost effective measures to reduce your…
Ecoease Secondary Glazing Reduces Condensation on Your Windows
As soon as the temperature begins to drop outside and we start firing up our central heating systems, it is quite common to witness condensation appearing on windows throughout the home. Many of us blame the “shoddy” windows and immediately…
Free ways to save energy in your home
Free ways to save energy in your home – Nicks Energy Saving Tips! Over the next six weeks I am going to share an energy saving guide with you each fortnight. This content will combine some of our favourite energy efficiency tips…
CHP boilers – a comprehensive buyer’s guide
The CHP boilers – or domestic micro CHP – is a new type of boiler available for homes. This guide answers all your burning questions and looks at whether these boilers are a worthwhile investment. Every time we come out…
Cavity walls and the benefits of insulating them
Cavity wall insulation has been around for years, and it remains one of the best ways to help reduce your energy bills. So we at TheGreenAge thought that we should give you a quick guide on what you need to…
Insulating a period property in London
Why a period property is so expensive to run On our day-to-day basis (with some 10,000 people visiting the website per day), we tend to get asked plenty of questions about ways to improve the energy efficiency of pre-1930 properties up…
10 Key Features of the New UK Energy Bill
1. Fairer prices & more power to consumers OFGEM, which is the regulator for gas and electricity, is set to get sweeping powers to protect consumers from unfair increases in energy prices. It will be able to impose stricter fines and…