WELCOME TO THE TWEEDGREEN ENERGY CHALLENGE

Save money, feel good & reduce your impact!

Firstly, thank you for getting involved in the Tweedgreen Energy Challenge. We hope that the challenges below will both inspire and engage you in ways you can save energy and money in your home. It is as simple as adopting a number of the tasks in your daily life in and around your home. By agreeing to take on the challenge you are showing that you are interested in joining a widening community that understands and appreciates the value of your environment, and is aware of the real cost of wasting energy. With rising energy prices it is useful to know how much you are spending on heating and lighting your home. The Challenge will help you save on energy consumption, reduce you carbon footprint and, as importantly, save you some money. Keeping track of your energy use can seem like a laborious task but understanding the money spent, and saved, makes the exercise a whole lot more worthwhile and relevant. Once you have established a routine that works for you, managing your energy bills will become second nature.

GOOD LUCK!

DID YOU KNOW?

Some eaSy wayS to Save energy and money.

Using Energy Saving Light Bulbs can save you as much as 60 per year / cost of purchase can be recovered in less than a year Hot Water Tank Insulation Spend 10 on an insulation jacket and save 30-40 per year / purchase cost can be recovered in less than six months Draught Proofing Invest some money in heavy curtains and draught excluders and you could save up to 80 per year / purchase costs can be recovered in 1 to 3 years Taking Shorter Showers If you have a power shower and teenage children you could save up to 50 a year by everyone spending less time in the shower! Loft Insulation Invest some funds in extra loft insulation and you could save 80-100 per year / cost recovered in 2-5 years Cavity Wall Insulation There are different options for materials to fill the cavity and offers available, you could save 130 per year / cost recovered in 3 years Replace Your Old Boiler Replacing your old boiler with a modern energy efficient one could save you 120-200 per year / cost recovered in 4-7 years Putting on a jersey Instead of turning up the heating put on a cosy pullover and save up to 115 per year / you could buy a really nice woolly for that money!

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WELCOME TO YOUR ENERGY CHALLENGE

How tHe tweedgreen energy cHallenge workS
We have divided the categories of tasks into three levels:

EASY MODERATE CHALLENGING

FOR EXAMPLE

EASY: Turn the lights out! MODERATE: Turn the heating off in rooms not used CHALLENGING: Investigate the potential for installing a biomass boiler
Tweedgreen has calculated the CO2 savings based on the above three challenge categories. The impact of a change in behaviour is matched by the number of points. Each point represents the carbon emissions for each task.

b EASY = 1 Carbon Point: Saves 0-1.5kg CO2 bb MODERATE = 2 Carbon Points: saves 1.5-50kg CO2 bbb CHALLENGING = 3 Carbon Points: 50-5000kg CO2
You will see that the savings are HIGHER for CHALLENGING tasks than for EASY ones, but by starting with small steps we hope you will feel able to achieve more ambitious targets as you progress. As you mark up your points you will qualify for prizes vouchers for local shops supplying items to help you reach your goals!

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week1
INSTALL THE ELECTRICITY MONITOR
Read the instructions for the monitor and become familiar with how it works. Work with the challenge cards and try some of them out. Read your electricity meter and record the figures in the boxes provided on your recording sheet. Have the display unit for the monitor in a prominent place and be aware of the readings that it is showing. Start to use the challenge cards to make small changes in your daily life. Start to build up your coloured bars on the recording sheet. Work out your first week's electricity use from your meter readings. Read through the challenges on the cards and think about how you will tackle some of them. Take a "start" reading from your electricity meter. Try to read your meter on the same day each week.

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week 2
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR HOME ENERGY USE
Go round your home and turn appliances on and off to record the usage of each one on the cards in the pack. Take your weekly reading from your electricity meter and record the numbers. Try more of the challenges from the cards. Take the display unit around your home and surprise yourself at how much - and sometimes how little - energy your different appliances use! Remember you are allowed to record the same task more than once - this lets us know that you are adopting these simple changes into your daily life - it also allows you to build up extra points! Become more knowledgeable about your energy consumption; start to take control of appliance use with more understanding of the costs. Keep filling in the bars on the recording sheet and see if you can reach the first 20 points score; when you do you will qualify for a gift voucher.

TWEEDGREEN CHALLENGE ENERGY 15

week 3
START TO USE THE MONITOR TO MAKE CHOICES
Take the third reading from your electricity meter record the numbers in the boxes on the recording sheet. By now some of the challenges you chose from weeks one and two will be daily habits! Try any of the challenges and see how you get on. Remember: points mean prizes! Decide how much water you need to put in the kettle. Decide that you will take a shorter shower. See if you can achieve a zero base-load on the monitor read-out. This is more difficult than your might think! Involve the whole household in this one! You will find that you are cutting down the amount of electricity you use without pain! By now you should have filled in enough bars on your recording sheet to qualify for your first, or perhaps even your second, gift voucher!

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week 4
CONSIDER SOME OF THE MORE DIFFICULT CHALLENGES
Do some investigating into renewable alternatives for your home heating. Try air drying your hair or your washing! Take a lighted candle around your home and check for draughts at doors and windows. Hang your winter weight curtains at the windows or consider putting a curtain preferably of thermally lined material behind your front door. Or perhaps you could make a draught excluder "sausage" for your sitting room door. Make your habitual electricity meter reading and recording on the form. Become more aware of alternatives to the norm. Instead of turning up the heating, look at ways of keeping the heat you already have in the places you need it. Your recording sheet should be looking quite full and colourful by now! You might even have bought yourself a pair of cosy socks with your first voucher.

TWEEDGREEN CHALLENGE ENERGY 17

week 5
AROUND THE HOUSE

Have a look at your fridge and freezer. Make sure that they are working to their optimum efficiency. Try some of the challenges that relate to them. Check that the door seals are clean and working properly. Clean the back of your fridge and remove the dust (and the children's plastic toys!) De-frost the fridge or freezer and re-pack carefully. Would you consider buying a more energy efficient fridge or freezer when your old one needs replaced even if the initial cost is higher? Make small changes to how you look after and utilise your white goods. Once you clean them you might just find that they are using less energy to keep cool than they did before. Keep recording the data on the sheet.

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week 6
GETTING THE HANG OF IT BY NOW
By now you should have tried all of the Easy tasks and quite a few of the moderate ones. It might be time for you to look at the possibility of changing from oil or electric central heating to a more efficient biomass solution. Maybe you could add some more insulation to your loft. Take the "end" reading from your electricity meter. Think about what you might be able to do to make your home more energy efficient do some research about costs and grants that might be available. Tweedgreen can help you with contacts and websites that will have more information to help you. Greater awareness of what might be available as an alternative to your existing heating system. Being more pro-active in retaining the heat in your home. You should have a full six weeks figure of your electricity use. You should have a very full and colourful recording sheet and you should have "won" some gift vouchers.

TWEEDGREEN CHALLENGE ENERGY 19

1. Turn the lights off when you leave the room - it is something we all forget to do and the amount of money and energy we waste in a year is staggering! 2. Air dry your hair (easier for some than others!) better for your hair too! 3. Wash your clothes at 30C modern machines and washing liquids make this possible with great results! 4. Use a hot water bottle rather than an electric blanket. Cosy toes! 5. Wear slippers instead of outdoor shoes around the house. Keeps your feet warm and your carpets cleaner so you dont need to vacuum so often! 6. Switch your computer and monitor off - switch your computer and monitor off when you leave the room and especially overnight. This small habit can save you s

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ONE CARBON POINT EACH // EASY

your energy cHallenge StartS Here...

ONE CARBON POINT EACH // EASY

7.

De-frost your fridge and freezer regularly and keep it organised ice build up in your freezer does not allow it to work efficiently

8. Shut the doors into and between rooms don't let heat escape into rooms and hallways 9. Iron less - only iron the clothes that really need it 10. Make sure that the radiators are not being shielded by furniture! you could be losing your heat into the back of the sofa!

11. Investigate the cost of changing to a green energy supplier it might not cost you less but at least you know that your electricity is coming from a renewable source 12. Talk to your neighbour about your challenge sharing ideas is always good

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15. Turn your water cylinder thermostat to 60C turning your water cylinder down to 60C will still give you hot water but with less possibility of scalding 16. Put extra insulation around your hot tank and pipes a cuddly jacket for your tank! 17. Re-site the fridge away from beside a radiator or the cooker! having your fridge too close to a radiator or beside the cooker can mean that it uses more energy to keep cool 18. Try to fill the washing machine each time rather than doing more half loads an easy way of saving energy and detergent 19. Air dry clothes rather than using your tumble dryer, tumble dryers are heavy energy users invest in an old fashioned pulley! 20. Put reflective material behind your radiators don't let the heat disappear through the walls 21. Turn off the heating in rooms that are not being used you could save up to one fifth of your energy costs and reduce your carbon footprint! 22. Cut your TV watching time down by 40% read a book yes that one you have always meant to! 23. Make a draught excluder sausage for your sitting room door! keeps your room warmer by stopping the draughts from outside doors 24. Hang a heavy curtain (preferably thermally insulated) behind your main door dont let the heat out or the cold in

TWEEDGREEN CHALLENGE ENERGY 23

TWO CARBON POINTS EACH // MODERATE

14. Make sure that there is sufficient air space behind the fridge and that the condenser coils are free of dust if your fridge is too close to the wall it will use more energy to keep cool. If the back is covered in dust it will have to work harder to keep cool!

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13. Turn off appliances when not in use. Look out for those little red lights!

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THREE CARBON POINTS EACH // CHALLENGING

25. Put a jersey on instead of turning up the heating 500,000 sheep cannot be wrong! 26. Take shorter showers: electric power showers use a huge amount of energy. Put a cooking timer in the bathroom it could save you s! 27. Change to low energy light bulbs they are not as dim as they used to be! 28. Install individual radiator thermostats this could save you up to 17% off your gas or oil bills 29. Increase your loft insulation to the current minimum of 27cm (10 and a half inches!) loft insulation should be 27cm deep your can buy rolls of loft insulation in different materials from rockwool to sheeps wool! 30. Hang thermally insulated curtains in your windows or use your shutters a cheaper option than double glazing and acceptable in listed buildings

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33. Investigate the cost of replacing an old inefficient boiler with a modern cost effective one some financial help may be available 34. Investigate the potential for installing PV panels on your roof you can sell your energy back to the grid and save on your bills 35. Investigate the potential for installing a biomass boiler in your home the new renewable heat incentive is a great way of making your new biomass boiler pay for itself 36. Investigate the cost of replacing your old fridge or freezer with a low energy model when you replace any appliance look for a low energy rating

These last six tasks are your pledges to the Tweedgreen Challenge. Try to take the time to consider some of them, get estimates and make some investigations into how they could be incorporated into your home.

TWEEDGREEN CHALLENGE ENERGY 25

THREE CARBON POINTS EACH // CHALLENGING

32. Investigate the cost of having cavity wall insulation or investigate other options for old stone houses there are solutions that can make a real difference to the amount of heat that stays in your home!

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31. Investigate the cost of replacing your old draughty windows with double glazed units if double glazing is not possible there are other solutions!

Congratulations on completing the Tweedgreen Energy Challenge. Thank you for working together with us to help reduce our carbon footprint. We hope that you have found this challenge useful and have found new ways to healthier, greener, and cheaper eating!

RECORDING SHEET
wHole-HouSe energy monitor

LIGHTS AND HARD-WIRED ITEMS

LIGHTS SWITCHED SWITCHED SWITCHED OFF ON OFF
again, just to check e.g.kitchen Hall Landing Living Room Dining Room Kitchen Utility Room Bedroom 1 Bedroom 2 Bedroom 3 Bathroom Toilet Security Light Garage Light Hard-Wired Oven El Rings El Shower El Heater 15 45 15

DIFFERENCE = POWER USED

30

ENERGY SAVING?

No - spotlights

Keep the monitor set on 15p per Kw hour Using the whole house energy monitor switch things on and off to see how much energy they use. Record readings with the item off, then with the item switched on, then just to

check, with the item off again. The first and last results should be the same, but if the fridge kicked in theyll be different, so try again. The difference between the off and on results will tell you how much that item costs to run.
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RECORDING SHEET
wHole-HouSe energy monitor

PLUGGED IN ITEMS
DEVICE SWITCHED SWITCHED SWITCHED DIFFERENCE STANDBY OFF ON OFF = POWER again, just to POWER check USED
15 40 15 25 2

e.g. microwave Kettle Toaster Microwave* Radio Television Sky/ Freeview Box Video Standing/ Reading Lights Hair Dryer Straighteners Phone Chargers Vacuum Cleaner Washing Machine Tumble Dryer Dehumidifier

* put a cup of water or something in the microwave dont run it with nothing in it! Keep the monitor set on per Month (green button) Using the whole house energy monitor switch things on and off to see how much energy they use. The difference between the off and on results will tell you how much that item costs to run. Remember: If you turn some things off, like the microwave or free-view box you may have to re-set the clock etc, like after a power cut.

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