Leaving it.........

As a normal person in a relationship I often see how long it will take my husband to do something when I just leave it - like the hoovering(during the week I hoover downstairs every day) or putting away the clothes. Its my own personal little experiment.
Nine times out of ten I end up getting annoyed and just doing it myself. My husbands answer to this is "if you don't tell me I don't know it needs doing".

So rough translation he needs an incentive to get him to do things.............you do half the housework etc and I am not so tired and won't fall asleep 30 minutes after the kids have gone to bed. That works fine, once he knew this he does now do the hoovering and help out more.

The same can be said of energy saving. There are so many people who want to save energy, who understand why we need to save energy and take the necessary steps - some of them small (walking to work twice a week, doing a car pool for taking the kids to school, low energy lightbulbs) and some of them larger (pv panels, solar panels, new boiler) BUT there are other people who need an incentive.

I feel the Americans are going about this the right way with the "granite counter" approach to home energy efficiency. They are making energy efficiency in homes a desirable and saleable item. Its an incentive that earns you money, will help sell your home and sssh save energy! Without an incentive alot of people will just leave saving energy to others but unless the majority of the world jump on board the saving energy bandwagon its going to be increasingly difficult to save energy.

Rose Tinted Glasses

I look at the world sometimes through "rose tinted" glasses. I have spent the lottery winnings on 50+ occassions in my head/daydreams (the most I have ever won is £10). I started a new career as a self employed domestic energy assessor just as the recession started to hit the UK properly.
I am sure you can see the theme that does run through all of my life - I am hopeful at all times, I want to believe the best about people and always try and stay cheery.

But sometimes when I look closely at things like I have done over the past 2-3 weeks and I get to see a large picture I can get very frustrated!

I have seen all the promotion and brilliant websites in New Zealand, Sweden etc, all the grants available in France, Canada, the assessors friend in Australia - Christine Milne and the fact that they set the fees, the USA talking about how energy efficency will be another "granite worktop" and highly valued in a property and then we look at the UK.

We have a brilliant tool - the Energy Performance Certificate and we have accredited, CRB checked, domestic and commercial assessors who love their job. But we have a website that is dreary and little promotion of the EPC, we have training providers guaranteeing work that isn't there, we have undercutting on prices and devaluing of the assessment.

This is what I would like to see happen:
1. Fees set.
2. Training providers fined - and the fine published for all to see
3. A better website.
4. More grants available and they are promoted.
5. Energy efficency in a property is a marketable asset.
6. A champion for energy assessors.
7. Thorough promotion of the EPC and its value (and commercial EPCs)

Thats just the tip of my wish list but when you look at it it wouldn't be that hard to achieve and it would benefit so many. The UK is a country to be proud of but we need to promote ourselves better.

Comparisons

Its easy as a parent to get dragged into the whole my child is doing this earlier than your child routine, it doesn't do anyone any favours and sometimes can leave you feeling very negative about your own parenting skills.

Having just been to my eldests parents evening (shes doing very well, am proud) I was thinking on the way home about comparing countries.......... over the past few days I have looked at what other countries are doing, putting into practice, the websites (I still love Swedens website) and their promises and it has made me think of what its like when you compare children - nobody benefits and you can end up feeling negative when in fact there are things you should be proud of.

Every child develops at a different rate just as every country changes and implements new laws at different rates. The important thing is to praise what is good - if you complain/nag all the time it won't get anywhere.

So I am very proud of the EPC that the UK has in place, there are things that I would change but on the whole we are getting there. I am proud of what all the other countries are doing and it is impressive and encouraging to see what changes are occuring.

But I would still like to see some more changes - greater promotion of the EPC, better website, no interest loans available, available grants promoted more (this would also help stop the current winter scam) and more working together with other countries to see what we can all learn from each other - there is never any point in teaching your grandmother to suck eggs as the saying goes but we can all work together to improve our own countries.

Energy efficiency in the USA?

I was browsing through the internet again (not really I have a bee in my bonnet now about finding out what other countries are doing re EPCs) and found this blog: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2010/11/energy-efficiency-real-estates-next-granite-counter-top

" Often on the vanguard, Boston-based Conservation Services Group is working on an idea to make home efficiency more tangible. It is a surprisingly simple idea. One that is likely to leave a lot of people saying, ‘Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?’
You might say CSG is making energy efficiency the next granite kitchen counter top of the real estate business.

Through a $348,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, CSG is working on a metric to describe a home’s energy efficiency value. When a homeowner lists a house for sale, the metric would be included in the multiple listing service (MLS), right along with the home’s price, number of bedrooms, square-footage and location. Suddenly, efficiency is tangible, something that can be quantified and can add or detract to home value.It’s not yet clear what that metric will look like. It might be a numerical score or a certification like the Energy Star label. Figuring that out is part of CSG’s task, as it puts in place a program for New York over the next two years. “You can imagine the pitfalls in establishing what this score would be,” said David Weitz, director of CSG’s Applied Building Science Division. “How do you present it in a way that is accessible to the greatest number of people.  Unfortunately, there is no right answer.”

Well there is an answer - look at what the UK has had in place since 2007 and what Australia is putting into place in 2011. Talk to Elmhurst (based nr Lutterworth, Leicestershire) who are incredibly forward thinking and have been in the industry since the year dot. Or pick up a phone/write an email and talk to me (power of positive thinking - or wishful thinking).

I blogged today about the problems Australia is currently undergoing and the fact that training providers are still lurking all around the UK, the UK also don't know at the moment what will happen with the home energy advisors (please let it be open for DEAs first and only) and am now hoping that America does learn from what has happened here and in Australia and doesn't let training providers run riot, caps the amount of assessors there can be, promoted the energy assessment thoroughly and sets the fee to stop undercutting etc.

Energy efficency can be tangible, it is a selling point and it should be valued more than it is.

Worry and dreams

I'm sitting here alone at my computer, kids are all organised so it is fairly peaceful in my house at the moment and I am having a moment of worry..........................do I do the RICs Associate course?
I have always wanted to be a chartered surveyor, I have put myself through numerous courses, studied into the early hours and then gone to work and looked after a small baby, took jobs I didn't really want that came with a paycut just to get more experience and I am now looking at the work required and wondering if I can do it?

I know I will buckle down and get on with it but its nice every now and again to remind yourself of how far you have come and that your dream is finally going to be within reach.

I have another dream and that is for the EPCs to be fully promoted within this country - the Green Deal brings with it a whole new range of possibilities, with a little tweaking the EPCs could provide the full advise to the householder/landlords and the Government would have an army of people who are already trained ready to go out and put that part of the Green Deal into motion.

DEAs have been promised the world by training providers (that mysteriously disappeared in the end) and there are still adverts/emails appearing offering people the chance of a fantastic new career within the energy assessing industry where as the actual truth is that there is already more than enough trained energy assessors within the UK and unless you are guaranteed work by a very trustworthy source then you really shouldn't train. I love my career and am very happy to do the work but at the moment I would advise people against paying any money to become a DEA.

I do hope that if any other country begins putting EPCs or something similar in place that they monitor the training providers and make sure that the trainee energy assessors are not taken for a ride.

A normal day at home?

I haven't really spoken much about my life other than the work side of it. I have three children - 8yr old daughter, and two sons age 3yrs and 18 months.

As it is quiet at the moment (am trying not to worry - but as I am self employed its difficult not too) I had the luxury of a complete day at home with the kids. So it starts of in the normal manic run round, breakfast, shower and dress the little ones, bit of housework followed by the school run with the nightmare of parking and getting the eldest to school without letting the 3yr old run off (definately not an easy task). When we were at home I had to take a phone call so went out via the patio doors so that I could hear the person on the other end instead of trying the make out the conversation whilst the kids were playing loudly. During the phone call the 3 yr old scaled the stairgate into the kitchen and locked me out. So I spent 10minutes of my morning begging the 3yr old to give Mummy the keys!

I spent the remainder of the afternoon on the garden planting bulbs while the youngest two ran up and down screaming and playing with cars and the dogs. So it was a good afternoon until I had to face the school run again and find somewhere that wasn't a 2 mile trek away from the school to park - I refuse to double park or park on corners unlike the rest of the parents so it can be tricky.

I love the variety my job offers me and the fact that I get to spend extra time with the kids, I am one of the lucky ones.

But on a rainy and cold November afternoon I can't help hoping that I will get invited to the USA or New Zealand to discuss the EPC and how it works in the UK...................well it makes a change from daydreams about winning the lottery. I am glad that I started this blog as it has encouraged me to read more about what is happening about the Green Deal in the UK and across the world, at the end of the day we all as global citizens need to do more, its no good leaving it alone and hoping it will go away - its our world and we ALL have to look after it. The other advantage of this blog is with the fact that my other half is in the Army it gives me somewhere to vent my feelings of frustration about the lack of promotion of the EPC and related topics as the kids don't really seem to want to hear it - the eldest would rather watch Hannah Montana :)

Ok the UK have EPCs whats everyone else have?

I have been having a look online today to see what is other countries are doing to reduce the carbon footprint.

I have found that on average, every American is responsible for about 22 tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year, according to statistics compiled by the United Nations but there is no EPC or similar type of survey in the US according to my searches.

I looked at several other countries to see what they had that was similar to the EPC and again couldn't find anything. Maybe it is the way I am searching or the words I put in the search engine but surely other countries should have something similar to the EPC to help reduce the carbon footprint of commercial and domestic properties.

I only hope that if they do take up the EPC in USA and other countries that they put a cap on the training providers! And I can always hope that I might get invited over to demonstrate the value of the EPC!