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More Local Energy Efficiency Advice Schemes to Roll Out Across the UK
The internet is invaluable for researching ways to reduce energy costs and improve efficiency. It’s fast, easy, and most people have access to it. But what happens to those who have difficulty accessing that information and don’t know where to turn? Local outreach is vital to empowering communities who need energy advice the most.
Last week, plans were unveiled for broadening the network of face-to-face local home energy efficiency advice and support across the UK using £20 million of government backing, to assist households struggling with rising energy costs, targeting those with hard-to-treat homes, like older buildings, as well as the elderly and others who lack internet access.
Boosting Local Energy Advice Schemes
Energy Cafes
New energy cafes are to be launched across Birmingham, strategically placed across the city to reach all of its communities. These face-to-face sessions are held in venues such as libraries and other accessible locations, providing a range of impartial advice like how to switch energy tariff, retrofitting your home with energy-saving upgrades, Optimising Your Home Heating System, information on grants and financial support, as well as tips to help the environment. It's also a great place for isolated members of the community to benefit from social support.
But energy cafes are not a new concept, CREW Energy has been delivering advice via local energy cafes across South London since 2018, thanks to funding from UK Power Networks.
Local ‘Green Doctors’
Set to roll out in North Yorkshire and Cumbria, this scheme involves home check-ups for older or low-income households, to assess the energy efficiency of a property and provide tailored and personalised advice to improve energy efficiency. It’s thought this local energy scheme will benefit over 19,000 households using £302,000 of backing.
Electric Buses – Local Energy Advice While You Travel
Also planned for North Yorkshire is a scheme to launch a retrofit electric bus scheme, which will dispense energy saving advice for passengers while providing low carbon, low emission public transport across the local area.
Wiser Supports Local Energy Efficiency
Experts across the UK recognise and champion the importance of local support when it comes to energy efficiency. Wiser is proud to be supporting our local area of South Devon, providing hardware and expert advice to communities utilising more than 70 years of industry experience.
Buckland Chapel Trust
We were pleased to gift some extra Wiser devices to the Buckland Chapel Trust, who already had Wiser installed at the 170-year-old refurbished chapel that serves as a community hub and food bank in the close-knit, rural village of Buckland Monachorum.
The additional devices and our face-to-face advice on use of the app and Insights means the Trust benefits from even better heating control and efficiency, helping them devote more of their time and resources to helping their community and those that rely on its services.
Read more about Wiser and the Buckland Chapel Trust or Watch the Video on Our YouTube Channel.
Coalbrookdale Community Centre
Nestled in leafy Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale Community Centre is a challenging building to heat efficiently. With different daily activities and requirements, achieving the right temperature at the right time necessitated community group members to frequently travel to and from the building to adjust the heating which simply wasn’t practical.
Wiser was chosen as the ideal solution, and James Clark, Wiser Training Manager, was on-hand to provide advice and support to help the community centre make the most of the system’s smart features and the ability to adjust settings remotely via the Wiser Home App.
Read more about Wiser and Coalbrookdale Community Centre, or read more Wiser Customer Stories.
Devon Communities Together
Last year, we were pleased to get involved with the Devon Communities Together Big Energy Saving Network campaign 2021/22, with a Drayton representative providing face-to-face advice and a presentation to a local community focused on optimising a heating system rather than replacing it, from bleeding radiators to fine-tuning existing heating control settings. We were glad to support the advice delivered by this fantastic community-centric organisation, and to provide a few handy winter freebies too.
Wiser – The Personalised Smart Home System
Wiser is a buildable system that can be tailored to the needs of your home, with the ability to control not just a boiler and Smart Radiator Thermostats, but extending to electrical devices via Smart Plugs, Wet Underfloor Heating and Electric Heating Devices.
Wiser provides detailed feedback via Insights and the Heat Report found in the app, helping you see exactly when and where your boiler is delivering heat, helping you to tailor your heating schedules.
For more instant online energy saving advice, read the Wiser Blog.
Read the Energy Live News story here