A dream to create the UK’s first carbon neutral church is set to become a reality by the end of next month. St Michael’s and All Angels Church of Withington, Gloucester, has raised the £40,000 needed to carry out work through a number of means including a substantial donation from a private source, a grant from Gloucestershire Environmental Trust, funding from the DECC low carbon buildings programme and the Big Lottery Community Sustainable Energy Programme. The combined total will be used to drastically reduce their carbon footprint and transform monthly outlays of £1,500 to £500 per month income. Read more…
Gloucester Church To Become The UK’s First Carbon Neutral Church
Stoke-on-Trent Council Houses To Be Fitted With Solar Panels
Stoke council and maintenance provider Kier have together come up with a green technology project for some of the more deprived areas in Stoke-on-Trent. The aim of the project is to make the properties in Stoke more energy efficient and also reduce the cost of utility bills for social residents living in the council houses receiving the eco-retrofit by up to £100 per year. The council will be funding the project using finance from the Housing Revenue Account. The project will start in Chell Heath and Packmoor where over 50 south facing properties will be fitted with solar panels.
Young Royal Aspires To Be A Plumber
Speaking to the Daily Mail to promote Vocational Qualifications over attending University, Rose Llewellyn, who is the daughter of Sir Roddy Llewellyn, decided that university wasn’t for her and has enrolled on an NVQ level 2 plumbing Course. She explained to the Daily Mail that the call to pursue a vocation rather than academic study came about after doing a bit of DIY around her home. She was sitting with her father in the kitchen and carried out a repair to a leaking tap by replacing a washer. She called it her ‘light-bulb moment’. Read more…
British Gas Recruit Military Personnel As Engineers
Following a recent campaign by The Sun national newspaper to promote recruitment opportunities for ex-military personnel, Jobs for Heroes, British Gas has decided to back the drive by calling on all ex-servicemen and women to apply for jobs within the corporation. The energy supplier is one of the largest employers in the UK, and is looking to recruit ex-servicemen and women to retrain as engineers, experts in the energy field and professional insulation fitters.
British Gas recognises the important roles that military employees have performed during their time in the forces, and that there are a large number of transferable skills learnt and demonstrated by high calibre ex-military employees in their former roles that make them excellent candidates for positions with the energy giant. Particular skills that British Gas are keen to take advantage of are people skill, technical expertise, high levels of self motivation and discipline.
Hackney Council Investigates Carbon Monoxide Alarms
Hackney Homes, who are in partnership with Hackney Council, had supplied and fitted carbon monoxide alarms to safe guard their tenants from the silent killer, CO. Apart from this, they also followed up at each home fitted with the alarm with regular inspections and servicing, however when they had a high amount of alarms being triggered, the company wanted to know if they had a faulty batch of CO detectors or something more sinister was going on in people’s homes. Read more…
British Gas Customers Feel Left Out In Cold
UK giant British Gas this year have almost doubled their profits as a business by cashing in on a colder than normal winter. As a company they made more than £580million in the first six months of this year which is more than a 95% rise from last year in 2009 whilst its customers struggled to pay their central heating and electric bills. Centrica which is in the same group as British Gas also saw profits rise. They saw an increase of 65% which is equal to £1.56 billion during the coldest winter we have seen for over 25 years. Read more…
Huddersfield Tenants In Hot Water Over Heating Bills.
Kirklees Council could be in hot water after it has been revealed that hundreds of homes in Huddersfield haven’t been billed for their central heating systems for over a year.
Over the past 3 years a deficit of over three quarters of a million pounds has built up through the District Heating System, which is used to bill homes in Huddersfield for their energy consumption, breaking down, meaning people were either not charged the correct amount or were missed out when payment demands and bills should have been issued.
Pensioner Becomes Ill After Accusations Made By Kinross County Council
An elderly pensioner has become ill after accusations were made about her by Perth and Kinross County Council during a dispute between her neighbour and Council Officials. It all came about when William Swinton aged 61 complained to Council staff that he had to huddle around a portable radiator on cold nights due to his storage heater packing in. For 5mths he tried to get a new heating system installed into his home.
Local paper, The Courier, contacted the council about the response William had received, who explained that before the installation of a replacement heating system could go ahead, the electrical supply to the property would need to be upgraded. They said that,
“As the tenant’s neighbour (an owner occupier) is on the same electrical supply, we need the neighbour’s permission before this upgrade work can go ahead. This has caused a slight delay but we are doing our best to gain this permission.”
Irish Home Incinerated In Oil Tank Fire
A family home was burned to the ground, and left in total ruin as 12th of July bonfire celebrations turned into disaster in the East Mount Area of County Down. The blaze was started when a neighbouring bonfire ignited a number of domestic oil tanks, which set ablaze a neighbouring fence and house. A fire alarm alerted the family, and the local fire service was subsequently contacted.
Two other neighbouring homes were saved from ruin by the proficient actions of the local fire service. Remarkably footage of the incident was caught on a local CCTV system, which may at least be used for insurance purposes. It is believed that Northern Ireland building regulations were not adhered as the oil tanks were clearly not stored in a fire safe environment.
UK Government Needs to Act to Increase Energy Storage Capacity
The government face major plans to increase its gas storage capacity over the next decade as the population is growing and the reliance on gas and nuclear power is getting greater by the day. They will need to invest billions of pounds into their new energy policy to steer away from depending on imported gas. The engineering employers’ federation (EEF) have accepted public money will not be able to cover the most costly plans in the world. They are now urging minsters to act up on this now to make sure planning permissions are adhered to.