A nationwide search for a team of student recycling champions aims to help spread the green message at Reading Festival on 24th and 25th August. The competition, run by Every Can Counts, promises its winners a chance to see behind the scenes at Reading Festival and...
The high level of consumer complaints about home insulation and concerns that competition in the market many not be working well, has prompted a special report by the Office of Fair Trading. It makes a number of recommendations to the government and others to improve...
The Office of Fair Trading’s Doorstep Selling Campaign aims to help consumers buy safely and wisely on their doorstep or in their home. Endorsed by the NHIC and TrustMark, it’s specifically to warn people, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, to be wary of rogue...
The Gas Safety Council and the LABC (Local Authority Building Control), two important organisations have become members of the National Home Improvement Council. The Gas Safety Trust is a charity established in 2005 with an essential role in society. Its mission is...
If you are an environmentally conscientious home improver who is flying aboard for a holiday this year you’ll be pleased to know that aircraft CO2 savings could be encouraging? NATS (National Air Traffic Services), the UK’s leading provider of air traffic services and...
Homeowners are being alerted to watch out for potential changes to their property insurance policies as insurers try to claw back the £500m cost of this summer’s wet weather. According to the company Drain Claim, homeowners hit by the recent floods have already been...
Scotland is on the global marine energy map with the launch of its first energy park, which, among other things is said to help sustain jobs and also bring ‘clean’ power to thousands of homes, businesses and industries in the area. The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters...
New guidance to help local authorities in England improve the energy efficiency of their residential housing has been published. It’s issued under the Home Energy Conservation Act (HECA) and asks local authorities to publish a report on their plans to achieve improved...
Exchequer secretary, David Gauke, has strongly criticised tradesmen and builders who accept ‘cash-in-hand’ for jobs done for householders and homeowners. In a Newsnight interview he said it was "morally wrong" because it can help workers avoid tax! He made the claim...
Across the nation community groups can bid for a share of £8m to install low carbon heating such as solar thermal panels, biomass boilers and heat pumps into homes in their local area. Organisations like co-operatives, voluntary groups, social enterprises and...
The Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) framework has passed another milestone with secondary legislation approval by the House of Lords. So it also set for an October launch? Except, of course, householders and homeowners, who may be adopting the Green...
What’s described as a ‘ground breaking’ scheme bringing energy bill savings of up to 20% to Cornish households was launched today (23rd July 2012) at the Eden Project by Ed Davey, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change. It will also address some of the...
There were nearly 200 riders in the Tour de France peloton that followed champion Bradley Wiggins to the winner’s rostrum in the Champs-Élysées. They had been pedaling frantically for about three weeks and covered nearly 3,500km mainly in France, with brief sections...
Friends of the Earth has welcomed the call for government to consider a number of ways to strengthen legislation to tackle fuel poverty in privately rented homes. These were highlighted in a letter to Greg Barker MP, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change...
The Olympics London 2012 has succeeded in being the most sustainable games so far! Nevertheless, failures have occurred in some significant areas according to a new report BioRegional and WWF-UK. Entitled, Towards a One Planet Olympics Revisited, the report’s authors...
There really are too many of us! More people are coming into the world than are going out? So by 2100 there could be 20bn feet jostling for position on this little planet – that means 10bn people! You’ve got to feel sorry for our grandchildren and their off-spring! No...
Birmingham City University is offering a new masters course to inspire the next generation of change-makers in environmental sustainability to take forward the vision, thinking and practices that can make a real difference to social, economic and environmental...
The Electrical Safety Council (ESC) could spearhead a coordinated government public awareness campaign on Part P for the Competent Person Schemes? Following the deliberations of a DCLG (Department of Communities and Local Government) Select Committee, the...
Carbon Quarter, which organises the All Party Parliamentary Green Deal group, has produced its transcript of the meeting on 11 July 2012 in Portcullis House, and has made comments on the NHIC’s brief news report. A significant part of the meeting concentrated on a...
The Building and Engineering Services Association (the one-time HVCA) has celebrated its new, all-embracing identity with the very appropriate launch of the good practice guide, Heat Metering for the RHI. Heat meters are already an essential ingredient of energy...