CASH IN ON ECO GRANTS & HELP SAVE THE WORLD
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.
And you DON'T need to be on benefits to claim.
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.
Fortune
And Brits wasting £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.
Click here to sign up for WWF's Earth Hour
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 (see note at foot of this page) 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.
Wherever you live, you can get free advice 
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.
Click here to sign up for WWF's Earth Hour
*Please Note: - Our Cash Grabber is temporarily unavailable due to maintenance on the Energy Saving Trust website. However, you can get details of grants avaialble in your area by phoning the Enegry Saving Trust during office hours Monday to Friday on 0800 512012.
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This article has 28 comments
Down here on Mission Street one tries one's best to preserve energy. Check out public transport; one can hear smothers conversation on plug into ones iPod and still save the planet and ones pocket at the same time.
Sounds too good to be true ; well it just like heaven; yes how beautiful you are
By Lloyd c.. Posted May 28 2009 at 10:39 PM.
How do I apply for a green grant for solar powered energy for hot water and electricity?
By sara nunan.. Posted May 5 2009 at 2:48 PM.
Jenna. You are asking for "real support" from the council/government? Surely if you are unemployed, living in a council house and have five kids, you're getting a hell of alot of support already. What more do you want, blood? It makes a change for the hard working people on low wages to get a bit of extra help....... people are bleeding this country dry claiming benefits for this that and the other.
By ruby.. Posted March 15 2009 at 1:45 PM.
personally i think global warming is aload of rubbish! i always do my bit for the environment like recycling(only because my boss got me doing that one!) i always switch lights off and if im at my boyfriends house then we will just put the elctric heater on in there as we have everything we need in there including bathroom nd if anything else...then theres the kitchen downstairs.so there thats my bit.What makes me totally angry is that why are we worrying about global warming when there's more important issues like starving people in africa and god knows where else!! all these celebs who have billions between them should use there brains and put some of there money together and build them houses and what would be funny is that they would still have billions left over.please....forget about the light switches and feed the starving.....
By jenna.. Posted March 8 2009 at 10:45 PM.
What about grants for internal wall insulation for people like me with no cavity walls in their house and free solar panels for heating and hot water or underground heating and wind turbines why are grants not available for these for the unemployed in a council house why does the only help seem to either be for private households or for measures such as loft insullation which the council already supply why not give real support and help to the poorest people who really need it and why not give free woodburning fires as mine was condemed and the council would not replace it so I have to use a calor gas why are no grants available to me,I have five children and are on the poverty line.
By Joanne Livingston.. Posted February 23 2009 at 10:28 AM.
It's interesting to read how many people are still sceptical as to whether climate change is due to human actions. The oil companies have done a superb job at sowing the seeds of doubt in the science. The world's top 'climate scientists' universally agree that the changes we are seeing are down to human activities. Moreover, many predict that we have less than 10-15yrs to get greenhouse gas emissions under control before we enter into the 'runaway greenhouse effect' where temperatures continue to rise uncontrollably.
By Jason West.. Posted February 16 2009 at 10:21 AM.
I really get fed up of this goverment. I want to become energy efficient but because me and my husband earn over a combined wage of 15k we aren't entitled to any help from grants. sometimes I feel that if you work hard and stay as a family unit in this country then you just get punished for it. so instead of becoming energy efficient by replacing my gas back boiler in now have to skrimp and scrap to find 2k over the coming years. oh while paying 1k per year in gas bills!
By natalie .. Posted February 16 2009 at 10:48 AM.
Me and my fiance always put the switches off even if we just go down the street we keep our heating turned down 2 number 2 and 3 all day everyday so it can be done!!! and we work from home and we are never cold, we have the heatng on for 4 hours per day and we find that this is enough as long as we are saving money and helping the enviroment we are really happy!!! :) everyone should do something!!!! i think you will appreciate heat more and money more because we certainly do ALOT more now rather than say 2 years ago we used to spend money like it was going out of fashion but now we have become responsible adults and are helping the enviroment to!!! :D xxx mari xxx
By Mari.. Posted February 16 2009 at 9:57 AM.
Much as I try to use as little of the utilities as possible I do think that if we all start to cut back on what we use we won't be any better off financially as the companies that own these businesses will put prices up to make sure they still get their money. It was a bad day for the U.K when all our companies were sold off to firms outside the U.K as with the economic down turn it is obvious they will look after their own first and we will come at the back of the queue for jobs and resources. We will be a worse state than many of today's third world countries.
By Jill.. Posted February 16 2009 at 9:50 AM.
Come on people take some responcibility and get your head out of the sand. We are all killing the planet slowly but surely. Yes corporates need to contribute but so do you. Dont sit back and leave it to others if we all do a little then the earth benefits.
By eco friend.. Posted February 16 2009 at 9:40 AM.
As usual all of the saving energy is aimed at the general public. Again what about all of the large companies in the UK who have displays for their shops on all night for no reason. Look at the number of carbon footprints we could save if they stopped wasting energy on these pointless lit displays.
By Andy.. Posted February 15 2009 at 11:58 PM.
I seems that we are being taken for very, very expensive ride with the socialist agenda of man-made global-warming propaganda. Science has been prostituted by pimps.
By mike.. Posted February 15 2009 at 10:24 PM.
What a shame that Stewart is only focused on what He gets as a Scott compared to His English counterparts .It is a shame that over the past 30 years ( more so over the past 12 years ) that this once Great Nation is now more concerned about being Scottish , Welsh , N Irish or English and NOT interested in being a United Kingdom any more .No wonder the minority of overseas arrivals to our shores take delight in pulling the strings and with the PC brigade appear to run this once proud Island .Wait until you are told that it is against the Law to raise the Scottish Flag for fear of insulting somebody then maybe you will see the bigger picture !!!!!
By lol.. Posted February 15 2009 at 9:40 PM.
What is the point of telling people to check if they can get help for cavity wall and loft insulation etc when you put in your postcode and nothing happens!!!!!
By Linda Croton.. Posted February 15 2009 at 7:05 PM.
The warm front grant is a load of tosh i have applied for it and got accepted when i wanted to make use of it with my heating i could not.You can only claim if your heating system is completely broken not just making it more anergy efficent.It is another scheme for the govermant to say they are helping the enviromant but all it really does it help there profile not.
By peter gilmore.. Posted February 15 2009 at 11:36 AM.
how is it more economic to have wash/mach that only fills with cold water and takes 2.5 hrs for one load, when my old hot/cold fill machine did same load in 35 mins. o.k. i save a little on gas for hot water but now spend twice as much on electric to do same wash because it is longer, sorry but again public has been conned, as you con no longer buy hot/cold fill wash.machines. plus as to cavity wall insulation i would love to have ny home done but because it is "cornish type" i've been told it is to expensive to do, so have to waste heat & energy.
By davehares.. Posted February 15 2009 at 11:36 AM.
I do not believe in this global warming
i think we are all being conned
Yes, anything that save us money is a good thing but lets not dress it up in planet saving terms.
By Mick.. Posted February 15 2009 at 11:35 AM.
These new fangled light bulbs take so long to warm up that I have to leave them on all the time. I now burn more electricity than I did before. I reckon these bulbs are a deliberate swizz by the power companies.
By LISA.. Posted February 15 2009 at 11:49 AM.
I agree with Simon until the top nobs stop driving around in jags and telling the hard done by to stop doing it. Lets face it. If things were that bad why do they still make 4x4's that will damage the climate even more. It is all about money and that is all. We get told to recycle only to hear it's gone on a landfill site. its about money money money.
By mandy.. Posted February 15 2009 at 1:04 PM.
w e have an old boiler and have benefit when the assessor came to inspect our property they were not interested in taking the front of the boiler off to actually see the state of affairs inside.Still the engineer spent a couple of hours measuring all the rooms in my property.
By beth.. Posted February 15 2009 at 1:01 PM.
WHEN APPLYING FOR A HOME ENERGY GRANT FROM SCOTTISH GAS FOR A NEW HEATING SYSTEM I WAS INFORMED AS I LIVE IN SCOTLAND AND UNDER 60 I DO NOT QUALIFY.IF I HAD LIVED IN ENGLAND I WOULD OF QUALIFIED.
SCOTTISH GAS DOES NOT STAND FOR SCOTTISH PEOPLE OR SCOTLAND,IT SHOULD READ ENGLISH GAS,ALL A CON.
By stewart .. Posted February 15 2009 at 9:56 AM.
I have sold businesses over the years when I realised they were polluters plus held patents in alternative energies. I have been involved in trying to launch FuelCells that improve cars efficiency by up to 40% and geo fuels and underwater turbines that are 100% efficient. Yet I know that this carbon charge is a tax and not scientific fact. It is for this reason that the IPCC report was never published because the top scientists involved withdrew their signatures when they realised that the fact that although the Co2 parts per million in the atmosphere in the atmostphere was higher than today in the 1700.s it was the coldest century in recorded hoistory. The scientists withdrew their names when this fact was taken out of the report. Yet the well proven and known fact reported by every observatory that had the temperature measuring equipment reported that the all the planets in the universe were heating up over the past 100 years in the same way as the earth due to the growing temperature of the SUN plus due to extensive recent 10 yr black spot activity. I dont think our taxes can do anything about that. The Bible alerted me to this fact because it makes it clear that at this time in history the sun is the problem and will cause droughts and distaster.
By Jas.. Posted February 15 2009 at 9:39 AM.
Global climate change is a fact. The credit crunch is a fact. If neither of these facts convince you that simple actions like switching off a light are a good thing, think again. Of course, if just one of us tries to make a change, nothing will happen, so best of luck with this campaign.
Green = common sense = save money = a planet for our children.
By Jack.. Posted February 15 2009 at 8:51 AM.
Funny how consumers are the ones who MUST save energy. Am I the only one to notice how many cities, towns, villages have empty streets but every streetlight lit all through the night?
By David.. Posted February 15 2009 at 8:11 AM.
When I get home at night I always see every light in the house turned on because my children don't bother turning them off. I always find it a cheerful sight so I don't discorage them. They also like to have the heating turned up full and the windows open "to get some fresh air" which shows a clear dedication to healthy living. I don't mind that either as it's nice to have a bit of fresh air circulating. I have told them that as soon as Gordon Brown stops driving about in Jags or Range Rovers and Al Gore gives up flying around the world to pointless conferences they must start turning off the lights etc. I don't expect to be arriving home to a darkened house any time soon.
By Simon.. Posted February 15 2009 at 7:00 AM.
Hey Paul,
Good tips, but why not have only one shower rather than the two? Or take your dishes into the second shower to save even more money?
You get a lot of emails (20 mins) why not tell your friends to just phone you, then you could be eco friendly whilst talking to them, putting stuff in the recycling at the same time, that sort of thing.
By trinity.. Posted February 15 2009 at 5:38 AM.
can we expect you to join in? Turning off your lights, computers, presses etc?
It's in a good cause. I'll certainly join in if you will. I love this paper. I buy it every week.
By trinity.. Posted February 15 2009 at 5:33 AM.
What a great idea. I have found another simple way of saving money and that is to turn your hot water system off. I live alone, as Im sure many of your readers do, my power usage went from 158kw per quarter down to approx. 60kw. When I get home after work I turn it on and as I do my emails etc (20 mins) then the water is hot enough for a shower etc. I leave it on for about 30mins and find I have enough for 2 showers and able to wash the dishes etc. Might seem alot of bother but alot less pain in the pocket..
By Paul.. Posted February 15 2009 at 5:26 AM.