One Green Granny Has Zero Carbon Footprint

When it comes to saving energy, a number of individual stories can inspire others to take action – including the ‘green granny’ who went to many lengths to ensure her carbon footprint was cut to zero.

Anne Brewer, 66, from Bookham took many drastic measures to help make her life more green. Why? To make sure the world is preserved for her two grandchildren.

Anne checked on two carbon footprint calculator websites, one showing she was at zero, and the other showing just 0.78 – where the average person is rated 11.

Anne states that they started making an effort two years ago. Both her and her husband are scientists, meaning they took an interest in climate change.

Some of the changes to their home and lifestyle include installing solar panels, insulating their home with double glazing, travelling by bike, bus and train, buying clothes second hand, using the service Freecycle, not using a tumble dryer, dishwasher or freezer and more.

The couple’s diet also impacts on their carbon footprint. Being a vegan, Anne already has half the carbon footprint of others. Meat and dairy add to your carbon footprint from growing the food necessary to feed animals.

The couple also aim to cut back their carbon footprint as much as possible so that they don’t have to feel guilty about flying to visit their son who lives in America.

Anne’s main message is that ‘if you look at it as fun, then it is fun, is our mentality’.

The Effect That Light Can Have on Your Mood

The way our homes look and feel can have a huge impact on our mood and concentration. Clutter, light, warmth: all of these can affect the way in which we relax and unwind at the end of the day.

Our senses are always picking up stimulation from around our homes. This stimulation has the ability to distract us from what we’re doing, leaving us finding it difficult to concentrate, and leading to stress in our lives.

What Have Our Windows Got to Do With This?

Our windows are extremely important due to the way in which they let light into our homes. The light that comes into your home can be influenced by a number of factors - most notably the position of the building - however, your choice of window can really help to maximise the potential light.

There are many benefits to choosing some of our specialised window designs, or even conservatories, built to let in as much light as possible:

• The light that shines in simply makes your rooms brighter. It’s been shown that a bright room greatly improves the mood.
• Having a view to an area such as the garden helps to merge the outdoors and indoors. This gives the refreshing feeling of being close to nature, as well as greatly expanding the apparent size of even the most enclosed, small spaces.
• The more light that comes in through your windows, the more heat that comes with it. This will naturally heat your home, and our double glazing will reduce any cold draughts.

In short, your windows can make a huge difference to the way in which you enjoy your home.

Double Glazed Windows Are Not Difficult to Maintain

When it comes to upgrading our homes, many options can mean harder work in terms of keeping the visual attraction as long as possible.

However, in the case of double glazing this couldn’t be further from the truth. When you replace your tired old windows with double glazing, you’ll also be making the job of looking after them a whole lot easier.

Our Double Glazing Materials

Both our windows and doors are virtually maintenance-free, meaning that they won’t need painting, they won’t rot, peel or deteriorate, and they won’t need much work to keep them looking as good as new.

We use Veka PVCU-U profiles with all of our installations. These are state of the art materials that are weather resistant, strong and durable, rivalling all of our competitors. No matter what style of windows and doors you choose, all of them will come with the same easy maintenance.

How to Keep Your Installation Looking Perfect

In order to maintain the neat appearance you needn’t do much. When it comes time to clean the windows and frames, make sure to do so using only soapy water.

Avoid using any abrasive cleaners or washing up liquid, as these could damage the material.

In short, maintaining your windows and doors is extremely easy if you follow the advice above and clean them regularly to avoid dirt building up.

Village Hall Gets Grant of £10,000

A village hall, near Halesworth, has received a cash grant of £10,000.

The St James Community Hall was faced with closure due to a lack of heat and the fact that double glazing was not installed.

However, a cash windfall came in the form of the £10,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme.

The village hall are using the money to replace all 20 of the large windows, and to give the building a complete revamp.

Secretary of the hall committee, Chris Bradley, put the bid together. He stated that the village hall is extremely important for the local community. However, the single glazed windows were draughty. Unfortunately, they were not sure how they could fund replacements.

Fortunately Bradley was not surprised to be awarded the cash, due to the important role that the village hall plays as the ‘hub’ of the community.

After the grant was awarded work was quickly arranged and is due to start. The original windows were in such a bad state that the hall was facing complete closure.

Head of the Big Lottery Fund East of England, Sara Betsworth, stated that ‘a relatively small grant can make a real difference’. £200,000 worth of grants were given away in the region in a month.

The grants work to help support projects that provide facilities for the young and old in local areas. This can include fun days, courses, or new facilities.

Average Cost of Going Green - £7,000 Per Home

A new report has stated that it will cost £16billion over the next 10 years to make homes across Scotland more energy efficient.

The report comes as part of the new action plan by the Scottish Government to get homeowners installing double glazing and replacing old boilers. The estimates stated that this work would cost a total of £7,000 per home, or £16billion in total.

The Scottish Government will be helping homeowners out with interest free loans in the range of £500 to £1000.

Senior policy officer of WWF Scotland, Elizabeth Leighton, stated that homes in Scotland account for a third of all carbon emissions. By reducing emissions of homes, this will bring Scotland closer to its 42 percent reduction goal by 2020.

Leighton also stated that it will create thousands of ‘green jobs’ and help reduce fuel bills. The figure of £16billion isn’t as large as it seems when spread over 10 years, with the cash coming from a variety of sources.

Chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, Duncan McLaren, stated that £7,000 may seem like a huge sum. However, taking into account average property values in Scotland, ‘it’s a small investment to make’.

Government plans have been criticised by some groups for not delivering enough, and only introducing these measures late in the day.

MSP Patrick Harvie has stated that, to see a real difference in the most difficult homes, the fund would need to amount to tens of millions.

Get Involved With the 10:10 Campaign With Some Simple Changes

Campaigners are now fighting to get more householders involved in the government’s 10:10 campaign, which seeks to reduce emissions by 10% by 2010. Here are a few changes that can be made to help make sure you’re doing your part.

1) Buy Fewer Gadgets

Modern technology means that many of us are replacing our computers, televisions, games consoles and more after just a couple of years. This can increase our carbon emissions due to the fact that they have to be sent from countries far away, and our old models aren’t properly recycled. Enquire with authorities in your local area to help you recycle old electronics.

2) Think About How Much You Use Your Car

Many of us use our cars a lot more than we need to. Instead of popping to the shops, think ahead and combine food shopping with times you’re already out, or share journeys with others. You can also save petrol by re-learning good driving habits.

3) Learn More

The more we learn about our environment and what needs to be done, the more we’ll be compared to make positive changes.

4) Improve Your Home

There are a number of home improvements that can literally mean hundreds of pounds worth of savings each year when it comes to fuel bills. This includes getting replacement double glazing and making sure your boiler is up to scratch.

Tories Call for Insulation in Homes and More Local Produce in Stores

Speaking at the recent annual party conference, spokesman for climate change Greg Clark called for homes to become more energy efficient.

His proposals included loans of up to £6,500 for households to install measures such as double glazing. These loans would then be paid back through electricity bills.

The Tories estimates that £1,500 worth of improvements would cost £10 each month to repay. However, in total this could save the household £240 a year on bills. Therefore, it will benefit householders as well as moves towards reducing emissions nationwide.

Clark stated that the cost to households would be reduced due to the fact that retailers, such as Marks and Spencer, would be competing to offer services. This would mean a ‘green deal’ where homeowners would invest in energy saving technologies.

The environmental spokesman of the party, Nick Herbert, also called for more food to be sourced locally. This is especially important in institutions such as schools and hospitals.

Herbert stated that all Whitehall departments would need to produce and use food that meets British standard. In effect, this means much more local food.

The Tories claim that locally sourced food can, in fact, cost less and that the measure will be put in place because “we care about the countryside”.

The current government’s food buying standards were recently criticised, after it became apparent that no measures were in place to monitor how much was bought locally.

Would A Scrappage Scheme Work for Double Glazing?

The Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF) have recently launched a petition to the government, asking them to introduce a scrappage scheme subsidy for new double glazing in the UK.

The petition was launched through the official government website to ask for a scrappage scheme, like the current car scheme, to be extended towards double glazing in homes.

One motivation behind this petition is based on the fact that the industry believes it is entitled to government support, after the effects of the economic downturn.

However, the main reason why the idea seems to appealing is that it would support the employment the industry provides, as well as the government’s targets to cut carbon emissions. It is widely known that installing energy efficient double glazing is a great way to reduce the carbon footprint of any home. The glass ensures that the heat is kept in, whilst the cold is kept out, reducing energy bills and saving homeowners money.

The car scrappage scheme also had similar environmental motivations. The government claimed that urging people to replace their more polluting, older vehicles for more efficient, newer ones would have a positive effect on the environment.

If the government were to meet the demands of the position, it would prove their commitment to helping homeowners reduce their carbon footprint. Not only this, it will provide them with the perfect opportunity to add value to their home that continues to pay off year after year.

How Sound Waves Work and How to Reduce Noise

Out of all complaints you can have of your home, noisy neighbours is one that can be extremely difficult to do anything about. You might even live next to a noisy airport or railway, in which case there may not appear to be any solution short of moving home.

However, there are ways in which you can help to make your home more peaceful, with a number of soundproofing measures that are essential for many aspects of our modern living. Fortunately, many of these measures are not as complicated as you might think – and they are perfect for those who need to keep the noise in (from home theatres or musical instruments), as well as blocking noises out!

How Sound Waves Work

When it comes to soundproofing, understanding how sound travels can help you to take the measures necessary.

Sound is made from waves, which can travel in all directions from the source of the sound. They will only stop travelling when they meet resistance, like a wall, though they will bounce off these items and reverberate around a room.

The main things that you need to do within your home are to create more space in which the sound waves have to travel and eventually die out, use heavy, thick items to absorb sound, and stop vibrations using soft materials.

Your windows are the most important area when it comes to sound entering and leaving a room. Double glazing can greatly reduce noise simply to the space and variety of materials they create, reducing the size of the sound wave as it enters your home.

Pub In Didcot To Open Late Thanks to Noise-Reducing Measures

A local pub in Didcot has been given a licence to serve alcohol until 3am, despite worries over the noise pollution that will result.

New opening hours mean that the Wallingford Arms in Broadway will be allowed to stay open until 3am on weekends, 2am on Thursdays, and 1am every other day. These changes come about after the landlord claims taking were dropping as it closed early.

Landlord, My Brewerton, said that customers in the past would leave the pub to drinking elsewhere, and late night trade will help to boost takings. Nationally, many pubs now stay open as late as 5 or 6 in the morning.

Neighbours in the past have stated that the pub was a huge source of noise, leading to the atmosphere and peace of the area being slowly destroyed.

However, the pub has taken measures to help ease minds of worried locals, and has impressed police with its measures. This includes installing more CCTV cameras, hiring bouncers and only serving drinks in plastic glasses.

When it comes to the biggest complaint – the noise of having a local pub open all night – the landlord has tackled this by installing double glazing which can greatly reduce the amount of noise leaving the building.

The landlord has also agreed not to repeat past club nights such as drum and bass which had the local residents up in arms about the noise.