free energy audit

beev · Post by **beev** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:58 pm

Loan Action Scotland working to provide the solution to a greener Scotland:

As Energy Saving Week kicks off, there couldn't be a better time to review your energy bills and identify areas that can be improved on. Loan Action Scotland and the Energy Saving Trust are working together to provide free energy audits and necessary capital to help green your business.

Loan Action Scotland provides the necessary capital for investments in energy saving measures - alleviating one of the biggest deterrents for SMEs in their pursuit to become more energy efficient. Over the past eight years Loan Action Scotland has aided over 200 companies to purchase and install energy-saving technologies, enabling them to reduce their CO2 emissions and considerably reduce their annual energy spend. For these companies, the energy savings made during the loan period have been easily sufficient to return the initial capital.

Becoming more energy efficient can improve the profitability, economic sustainability and profitability of your business. Andrew Warren, Director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy highlighted this point in a recent article; "Using energy more efficiently is the fastest and most cost-effective way of cutting carbon dioxide emissions. It can also improve productivity, and can contribute to the security of our energy supplies, by reducing our reliance upon imported energy."

Businesses can apply for a loan between £5,000 and £100,000 interest-free and repayable up to 4 years. Loan Action Scotland is available for small and medium sized companies and can be used in order to support the installation of new energy saving measures. To be eligible the company must have been trading for at least 12 months, have fewer than 250 employees and a turnover less than £35 million.

Loan Action Scotland is supported with finance from the Scottish Government and the East of Scotland European Partnership (ESEP).

For more information on the loan visit http://www.thebep.org.uk/las or call 0131 651 6270. Alternatively, contact your local Energy Saving Trust business adviser on 0845 458 5040 or visit http://www.energy-efficiency.org

Probably we don't want a loan, but maybe worth getting the free energy audit? (We've had a couple before but who knows - we might learn something new...)

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:40 pm

That said, would we say no to a four year interest-free loan?

bill · Post by **bill** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 3:18 pm

as a charity we can get a free energy audit from some poeple whose namer i forget. hold on./.......

bill · Post by **bill** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:16 pm

ok this thing above is the same as i thought i was thinking of.

ceri from the energy saving trust says now. its pointless using the heating in the hall until there is some form of insulation which currently there is actually negative heating.

we should also look at our suppliers/right tarrif. for instance there is a charity tariff.we can make HUGE savings. size massive.

the contact details of the above person's post is currently vacant. ceri will chase this up for us.

dan · Post by **dan** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:32 am

it may be pointless in an energy sense but no-one will use the hall all winter if it's not heated. This is a facty. except for the poeple who are doing the winter wonderland in princes street, they might be into it.

swithun · Post by **swithun** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:08 am

I don't know much about heating, so this might be no good. But what about these electric heat lamps? They provide quick and focussed heat, rather than waiting for the boiler to fire up to pump hot water into the radiators and waiting for them to heat up, and then waiting for the room to heat up. OOTB was using them at the book fair.

chris · Post by **chris** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:11 am

each electric heat lamp is equivalent to plugging in a kettle..

ravanwin · Post by **ravanwin** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:51 pm

I say we should turn on the boiler. it has a timer. that would be nice to have.

if someone smart insulates the pipes in the cafe and other places we could conserva a bit of waste but, i think, it is unsafe to have electric heaters run by punters in the church hall. just another safety concern. I think.

bill · Post by **bill** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:38 pm

yes them smallie electric heaters are extremely wasteful

Shannon · Post by **Shannon** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:48 pm

Ryan is going to call Scottish Gas. The gas needs to be reconnected. Assuming there isn't a massive reconnection fee, I guess we'll try it and see how much of a difference it makes (I'm still not convinced it will heat up without costing a fortune & using loads of energy).

Dandolo · Post by **Dandolo** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:20 pm

Heating with gas would cost a third to a quarter with electricity. Sticking to electric, but from http://www.good-energy.co.uk would cost a similar fraction more than what we pay now, but derives entirely from small/medium scale renewable sources. Don't sign up for a green tariff from any mainstream supplier as you're only paying them extra to meet their renewables obligation, which they have to do anyway.

As for using heaters in the hall vs. electric boiler, safety considerations aside, having heaters in the hall is cheaper as heat can be directed to where it's needed and isn't lost along the way. This is also facty.

bill · Post by **bill** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:48 pm

some sort enquiry into what the insulative properties of the blackout curtain are?

in an average house 10% of heat is lost through glazing, 15% through an uninsulated roof. these percentages will be higher in an the hall as the hieght is massive.

are the windows small intividual panes of glass with lead inbetween. if yes this makes their heat loss humungous.

are we buying 50 sq metres of blackout?

vijay · Post by **vijay** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:30 pm

ahh..i know someone who works at the Bep (business environment partnership)- will enquire from her about this!