News

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Grants of up to £3750 for Solid Wall Insulation

As of midday on Monday the government will be offering grants of up to £3750 for solid wall insulation. People living in older homes with no cavity can claim up to a maximum of 67% of the cost of installing the insulation.

Also on offer: up to £1250 if you install two of the following measures in your home:

·         Cavity wall insulation
·         Condensing mains gas boiler
·         Secondary glazing
·         Double/triple glazing (replacing single glazing)
·         Flat roof insulation
·         Replacement warm air unit
·         Fan-assisted storage heaters
·         Energy efficient replacement doors
·         Floor insulation
·         Room-in-roof insulation
·         Waste water heat recovery
 
You can also claim up to an extra £500 if you have moved into your home in the last twelve months. Finally, you can claim up to £100 towards the cost of a Green Deal Assessment.

These grants are not dependent on income – they are simply available in your home needs this work doing. You will need to have either an EPC certificate or a Green Deal Assessment which has been carried out in the last two years.

The grant funding for solid wall insulation is likely to run out very quickly. We recommend applying as soon as possible after the funding is released.

More details about the scheme and its requirements can be found here.

Belper in the Lead In East Midlands Energy Race

 

Transition Belper are currently ranking first on the leaderboard for the East Midlands region in Global Action Plan’s Big Energy Race, and, at the time of writing, are fifth nationwide! The Big Energy Race is a national challenge for community groups and individuals, designed to help those taking part to reduce their household energy bills. Transition Belper are now calling for any East Midlanders who'd like to sign up to support Transition Belper's efforts to secure some community funding by doing well enough to win a prize. From the end of February the top team from each region will compete for a final prize of £20,000 towards a community energy project. The Big Energy Race runs until the 31st of March, it's easy to enter and entrants can do as much or as little as they like.

Sign up: www.bigenergyrace.org

Transition Buxton Take on Former Council Plant Nursery

Transition Buxton's Food group, with volunteer support, is setting up 'The Serpentine Community Farm' - a community-run food education project - by transforming a run-down and derelict council nursery. The group’s objectives are to encourage more home-growing of veg by improve gardening and food preservation skills in the community; and to supply our produce to local kitchens.The group are currently seeking donations to pay for vital renovations, construction(glasshouse, composting toilet, raised beds, polytunnel) and obligations (soil tests, planning applications, insurance etc).

Donations can be made online: www.gofundme.com/lewb9s

More information: www.facebook.com/serpentineprojectbuxton

The project has also featured on the national Transition Towns website:

www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2015-01-14/transition-buxton-take-former-...

plant-nursery

Floods Cause Rise in Belief in Climate Change

The results of a new study show that the British public’s belief in climate change has risen over the past year to levels not seen since 2005. Researchers at the University of Nottingham and Cardiff University are attributing the rise, at least in part, to the flood of December 2013 and January 2014. Although is very difficult to attribute any single set of weather events to climate change, such extremes of weather are predicted to happen more frequently as the climate changes.

Plug to be Pulled on Tax Breaks for Community Energy

Many community energy schemes may struggle to get off the ground following an announcement that tax relief will be withdrawn from schemes launched after the end of March. In recent years some schemes have offered returns as high as 13% but some believe that returns could fall to 4.5% at most once the changes come into force. Some schemes are now in a race against time to get their share offer documents published as soon as possible.

www.theguardian.com/money/2015/jan/31/treasury-tax-breaks-green-energy-s...