|
|
| £5 billion up for grabs |
TODAY the News of the World launches a major campaign to save YOU cash and go green — with the help of £5 BILLION worth of eco grants.
And as part of our Go Green & Save bid we’re calling on every reader to back the World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour to ditch the switch.
At 8.30pm on March 28, a billion people worldwide are expected to turn off lights for 60 minutes to help save the planet.
We’re urging you to join in WWF’s bid to send a message to world leaders that they must act to tackle climate change when they gather in Copenhagen in December.
And we’re getting our green drive underway today—by revealing £5 billion of grants are up for grabs to help you do your bit to tackle climate change.
You’ll be able to slash your heating and electricity bills and cut carbon dioxide emissions through energy-saving schemes available over the next two years from the government and fuel companies.
Our crunch-busting Go Green & Save campaign, backed by Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, will also bring you regular promotions and special offers to help every cash-strapped family save a small fortune.
Experts reckon a QUARTER of all the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions — the main greenhouse gas that causes climate change — come from people’s homes.
And Brits waste £140 MILLION a year just by leaving the lights on.
But you could save a whopping £340 A YEAR on bills just by making your house more energy efficient through simple measures such as better insulation.
Paula Owen, of the Energy Saving Trust, said: “We’re urging all News of the World readers to apply for help to reduce their energy bills.”
To make things easy for you, we’ve set up a special cash grabber website — at notw.co.uk/green—where you can key in your postcode to find grants available in your area, along with contact numbers.
The money will help pay for loft or cavity wall insulation, energy-saving lightbulbs or green appliances which can knock hundreds off the average energy bill and help families do their bit to fight global warming.
And using these simple energy efficient measures could help the average UK household pump out 1.5 tonnes LESS of carbon dioxide a year.
That would go a long way to help the UK meet its commitment to cut our carbon footprint by 80 per cent by 2050.The government has also vowed to boost renewable energy from four per cent to 40 per cent.
But to make this possible, millions of homes need a green overhaul.
So the government is putting £1 billion into the Warm Front scheme (known as Warm Deal in Scotland and the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme in Wales), which gives families up to £2,700 to improve their energy efficiency—the quickest and easiest way to slash carbon emissions.
People who are over 60, receive one or more benefits, have a child under 16 or are from a low income household may be entitled to the grant.
But you DON’T need to be on benefits to claim.
A further £3.4 billion is up for grabs from energy companies, who are signing up to the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) and will help customers become more energy efficient to cut their bills. Energy doctor Paula Owen added: “Wherever you live, you can get free and impartial advice that is tailored to your home and your needs.
“Everyone can apply for money towards the cost of installing loft and cavity wall insulation. The grants aren’t just for people who are on benefits.”
A staggering £8.5 billion of energy is wasted in the UK every year, caused by anything from heat escaping from poorly insulated homes to mobile phone chargers being left on overnight.
Installing cavity wall insulation will cut heat loss by up to two-thirds and knock £160 off an average annual energy bill. If everyone did it, carbon dioxide emissions would be slashed by six million tonnes, and it would save enough energy to heat one million homes.
Insulating your loft can save families up to £205 a year. If everyone in the UK installed 270mm of loft insulation, it would pay to heat the homes of 950,000 families for a year.
And it would wipe out 3.8 million tonnes of CO2 per year—the equivalent of taking 1.3 million UK cars off the road.
Another tip is to use energy-saving lightbulbs. Just one saves up to £6 a year on bills, and £45 over the lifetime of the bulb.
Paula said: “If every reader replaced two old bulbs with energy-efficient ones the saving could be as high as 120,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.”
And if just one in ten readers turned down their heating by one degree, she added, it would save 160,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
Comments
