Energy Reduction not Energy Efficiency

Energy companies earn money by selling us energy. The more wasteful we are, the more profits they make. So why would the government give them such a big role in the energy efficiency and renewable programmes in the UK? The energy companies goals are not a reduction in energy consumption. They don't encourage energy reduction but just focus on selective 'energy efficiency' measures. That may sound like the same thing but it isn't.

If you replace your old boiler with a more efficient one, the new boiler may be 20% more efficient. This means it uses 20% less fuel to produce the same amount of heat. It may sound like this will lead to a 20% reduction in energy consumption and heating bills, but research has shown that some of that saving is used to make our homes warmer. In other words reducing our heating bills encourages us to use more heat so that we have a warmer more comfortable home. There may still be a reduction in the overall heating energy used, but it is unlikely to be the full 20% that one might hope for.

Replacing an old fridge for a more efficient fridge will reduce electricity consumption, so long as you don't opt for a larger fridge than the one you had before (or keep the old fridge running in the garage as a spare). Buying a more efficient telly, which is then double the size is another false saving. Research has proven that energy efficiency measures do not significantly reduce our energy consumption. It just makes it cheaper, allowing us to use more.

Even with renewable energy there isn't always the savings. People who have PV panels installed can sometimes feel that their electricity is free, so become less careful with their energy consumption. In the UK they generate a relatively small amount of electricity, and very little in winter when the days are short and overcast. Yet there are cases of people ripping out their gas heating boiler and replacing it for electric heating, thinking that free energy from the sun will be enough to heat their homes in winter. Lack of understanding of technology can be a major factor.
 
Of all the energy efficiency measures, insulating the walls and roof of your home have to come out as the most effective. They are simple as people can understand the logic of wrapping your home in a blanket to keep it warm, and it can be retrofitted to existing homes. The insulation can last for 40 years or more without need for maintenance, and it still works during a power cut. It doesn't require the owner to change their habits either, they still put the heating on when they feel cold and turn it off when they are warm enough.

There has been a lot of energy efficiency drives in the UK since the 1980's, so we really should have reduced our energy consumption significantly since then, right? The graph below shows "Total primary energy consumption, unadjusted and temperature corrected, UK (1970 to 2013)" and is taken from Energy Consumption in the UK (2014) report, from Department of Energy and Climate Change. It includes energy used for transport, heating, generating electricity and manufacturing goods.

Energy consumption really doesn't seem to have been going down since the 1980's. In fact it is only since the recent recession hit that there has been any significant signs of energy reduction. The government tend to use the year 2000 as the base year, so compared to that energy consumption in 2013 has reduced by 12%, but if we compare to 1980 it is still an increase.

I realise that this is against a background of a growing population, but at the same time we have shipped many of our industries abroad. The energy consumed to produce clothes, furniture, electronic gadgets and cuddly toys, is some other country's problem now, namely China's. Take a look at the graph above taken from ChinaFAQs (originally from the US EIA) which shows that industry, the grey area on the graph, is by far China's largest energy consumption and their domestic use, shown in green, is still very small. The column on the right shows the equivalent energy breakdown in the USA. China may now be the World's biggest energy consumer, but the largest part of that is manufacturing goods for the West. China has 19% of the Worlds population whereas the USA has 4%, making their energy consumption look rather modest. A chunk of that grey area on the graph is for making products that end up in the UK. If we could account for that, then our energy consumption would clearly still be rising.

And if we think about the goods, we can see another trend. Instead of having just one landline phone per household, people generally have several handsets on their landlines, and a mobile phone for every family member. No longer do kids have one cherished toy but multiple fads. The volume of 'stuff' we have has been increasing.

Also international flights generally aren't included in the government transport figures. There was always a disagreement over what to include, so conveniently nothing was included. For example, if a British tourist flies to Sri Lanka with Singapore airlines and stops at Athens en route, do you include just the leg of the journey originating in the UK which ends at Athens, or all the way to Sri Lanka but not the return journey which would be Sri Lanka's problem, or the whole journey both ways, or none of the journey because it is with a non-British company?

Energy efficiency hasn't made a dent on world energy trends either, as seen in the graph above from Gail Tverlberg's blog Our Finite World. What does make a difference is high energy prices or recession, which lowers our ability to afford to pay for energy. One way to reduce energy consumption without the hardship of a recession or the pain of high energy prices is by introducing energy rationing. You can bet that the energy companies won't be supporting that one ;-) Fossil fuels are becoming harder to find and more expensive to extract and if we don't start rationing supplies ourselves, then nature will do it for us and in a way that is not fair and rather ugly.

What I found when I looked at the energy consumption in schools for my work, was that the new schools that were well-insulated with highly efficient systems were not necessarily the lowest energy consumers. They were designed with bright lighting that looked as good as daylight (so people didn't think to switch it off) and had extra technology in every classroom. However the schools that had a penny-pinching caretaker, generally one that is a bit fierce and grumpy so that the teachers would rather wear a jumper than ask him to turn the heating up, generally had lower energy bills. The new school would have a fancy metering system that no one understood or needed regular input from a support desk, whereas the caretaker would traditionally walk round and read the meters himself.

What I am saying is that if you want to really reduce your energy consumption it helps to have a frugal mindset. Think about the energy you are using and the cost - financial and environmental, personal and global - and then make wise energy choices. It is vital to know how much energy you use each year and how much it is costing. The best thing that energy companies could do to reduce energy consumption for very little money, would be to make their bills simple and clear. Instead they hide the facts behind monthly direct debits or fancy tariffs. They should show people a graph of their energy consumption compared to the year before or better still compared to the average for their neighbourhood. Then we might start to see some real energy reductions.

Barry's ecohome

I spent the Open Homes weekend helping out at Barry's house. It was the most gorgeous weather and we sat at picnic tables in the garden drinking tea and chatting about all number of green issues.

Barry has been very pro-active about reducing his environmental impact for a number of years. He is very practical with technology and DIY so has implemented many of his own solutions, but at the same time he has embraced lifestyle changes to reduce his consumption further. I have been aiming for a 90% reduction compared to the average American, but Barry has in many areas already achieved this, if not surpassed it. Here is how he has done it.

Barry has sold his car and travels everywhere by bicycle, by bus or on foot. He couldn't manage this living in a rural location, but being close to the centre of a small town means that there are shops, the library, the market and bus stops all close by.

Barry doesn't pay any water rates because he is completely off the mains. He collects rainwater from the roof of his house and workshops, and uses various simple methods to filter it, including brush bristles in the guttering to trap the leaves. He also has his own well with a manual pump. Barry decided a manual pump would be safer than fitting an electric pump in case of a power shortage, so Saturday morning involves the light exercise of pumping water to fill a stainless steel drum, which is then enough drinking water for a week. He uses the traditional method of a silver spoon in the bottom of the well to kill bacteria as it slowly corrodes. Barry will drink the rainwater once boiled for tea and it is also diverted to the upstairs bathroom. The toilets are compost loos, so they don't waste water or create a waste stream.

Which nicely brings me on to other waste. Barry composts all his kitchen and garden waste and finds ingenious ways to re-use most things. There are 4 compost bins around the site and the resulting fertility is spread on the garden. One of the compost bins is made from the back end of an old car! (Sorry I forgot to take a photo!) I love this idea! It is stood on end so the car boot is at the top to load compost into. Old beer cans have been welded together to make an original downpipe. Old bike tyres make a surprisingly comfy toilet seat, for a compost toilet made of old washing machine parts, plastic bins and large plant pots.

Barry doesn't like seeing things go to waste and rather than buying things new, can pick up and salvage things that people may throw away in skips. We were sitting on folding picnic benches rescued from a supermarket skip. Barry regularly collects food from the local supermarket skip too. Often things like fruit is thrown away because it is past it's 'display until' date, even though it is still in perfect condition. He also grows fruit and vegetables in his garden.

Barry heats his home using a woodburning stove. His garden is large enough to have plenty of tall trees around the edges, which he trims for firewood, providing a free heating fuel. It also supplies the heat for cooking in winter too.

The main house was built in the 1800's and as such has hard to treat cavity walls. Look at the small gap between the bricks above, which makes it very difficult to add any insulation. The house is in a conservation area, (which means it is very difficult to get approval to change any of the external features of the building) so external wall insulation is not an option.

Barry has chosen to insulate the walls internally. These old terraced houses are pretty small inside by current standards, so internal insulation will reduce the space even more. Small homes are a lot cheaper to keep warm though.

It is a big project which is underway, and has involved moving out while the work is completed. The roof and floors are not being neglected either with insulation board due to be fitted between the rafters and a thick layer of insulation added to the floor. It will be down to the details of the joints to ensure good air tightness.

The windows have been upgraded for double glazing at the side and rear of the building, but the front windows need to retain their original wooden appearance. Barry will be installing secondary glazing internally and is looking into the best way to seal it. On the front door Barry has opted to have a deep reveal to act as a barrier to draughts too.

Barry has solar hot water provided by evacuated tubes, which he had removed for maintenance. You can just make out the unit below the window, with one tube still attached. He saved money by buying the parts and building the system himself. Electricity is also from solar energy. Barry has a large array of PV panels for his workshop roof, as they are not allowed on the South facing house roof, due to the conservation status. These panels feed into a series of batteries and are off grid. This means that when the sun shines they will charge the batteries, giving Barry a low voltage supply of electricity, even in the event of a power cut.

Barry does have a mains electricity supply which he can use if required, but generally he can manage with a low voltage supply. He would like to have a small wind turbine too on the main house, but again that is prohibited.

Barry uses his mains electricity wisely. For instance he will boil the kettle when he wakes in the morning, whilst the electricity is still on the night rate. He heats enough for 4 cups of tea and pours it into a thermos flask to last him the whole day. He also manages without a fridge by storing chilled goods in a container of cold water in the coolest north west corner of the house. Small regular shopping or 'skip-diving' trips also help to reduce the need for chilled food storage. By using the computers and internet access at the library he also avoids many of the standby devices that drain electricity.

The Open Homes visitors had plenty of questions for Barry and he was in his element talking about his ideas and green issues. It is very interesting to see how with a lot of ingenuity and a change of attitudes, it is possible to become more self-sufficient and live a sustainable and ecologically friendly lifestyle.

The wind whistles through

If you look up draughtproofing you will find lots of standard advice about putting insulation strips around the joints of windows and doors. But how do you know where the real draughts are coming from?

Energy saving no.5: Use smoke to detect draughts
For this you need incense sticks, which you can get from the type of shop that sells scented candles. This was such a dangerous shopping trip for me, because I had to wander round several shops full of fancy cushions, ornaments, co-ordinated kitchen accessories and other cute appealing 'stuff', some of which were still reduced from the January sales! I was incredibly restrained to only come home with the incense...... er.... and a throw from a charity shop (which really was an impulse buy because it matches nothing, but at least it was secondhand and will go straight back to the charity shop!) I finally found the incense in Wilkos at £1 for 20 sticks.

The theory goes that you can use the smoke from the incense to show where draughts are coming in. Start by making sure all the windows and any vents are closed. Then turn extractor fans in bathrooms and kitchens on to their highest settings. This should create a slight 'negative pressure' or suction in the house. The air is being sucked out with the extractor fans, and this will then be replaced by cold air that is dragged into the house through any available gaps or cracks.

If you don't have any extractors, then try waiting for a windy day. The side of the house facing the wind will be under pressure, as the wind forces the air in and there will be negative pressure or suction on the opposite side, pulling air out.

If you don't have an incense holder, just stand a mug or a jar on a plate, so that you catch the ash and have somewhere to stand the incense in to light it. Set fire to the tip of the incense, and when the tip glows gently blow out the flame. You should have a lovely stream of smoke going straight upwards.

I held a black book behind the incense so that you could see the smoke, but the reflections still make it difficult to see. This is the important bit to remember though - heat rises and because the smoke is hot it should stream straight upwards at first and then it will create swirls and eddies as it mixes with the cooler air in the room. It is that first 10cm of smoke that we need to watch. If there is a draught blowing inwards that smoke could be going sidewards or swirling around. You have to hold the incense stick steady and wait for a few seconds for the smoke to settle before you will see it.

 

  

As an example the above picture shows the draught coming underneath my gas fire (which was switched off). The smoke is being blown straight across rather than rising upwards. This is a big draught, but is not one that I can seal up. When gas burns it uses up oxygen and needs a constant supply of fresh air. If there is not enough oxygen then carbon monoxide can be formed, which is a deadly odourless gas that can kill. Vents around gas appliances are normal and necessary - don't tamper with them. 

 

Here is the skirting board close to the front door. The smoke is going straight upwards, so no draughts here, but look what happens a little bit further along. There are definite signs of a draught. I could try sealing up the gap below the skirting board, or take the skirting board off completely and fill any gaps behind it. I could also try taping the joints with an airtight tape before fixing the skirting board back in place.

I am sorry that these are pretty rough photos. I was holding the incense in one hand and taking photos with my other, whilst trying to keep everything steady. There were plenty of draughts around the windows, but it was almost impossible to photograph the smoke against the white PVC frames.

Energy saving no. 6: Inspect seals around windows and re-seal
Even without the incense it is worth inspecting your windows in detail. Close inspection can show where the sealant has come away and is not sticking to the surfaces. I found a little puddle in the corner of my bay window, caused by condensation forming, not from rain getting in. Warm air holds lots of water vapour, but cold air cannot hold as much. When the warm air from the house hits a cold surface or meets a cold draught, it drops some of the moisture. This is called condensation and in places that are regularly damp, mould or mildew will grow. Black mould is often a sign that there is a cold spot or the seals are not keeping the draughts out!

It was interesting to see that in the newest windows installed in 2005, the black mould formed around the seals where the window frame joins the building. The bay window pictured above is probably the best of all the newer windows as it is on a South facing wall. Can you see the black mould on the sealant between the wall and the plastic moulding, and between the moulding and the window frame? The window frame itself is fine though. I couldn't bring myself to photograph the black mould on the North facing windows, because it was really bad, worse than I had realised :-(

 

Whereas in the older windows that were pre-1999, most of the mould was on the black seal between the glass and the window frame. Can you see that the black seal has shrunk and there are gaps in the corners? This means that the window is no longer sealed double glazing and has lost some of it's insulating properties. There are companies about who can repair these windows, by replacing the glass for A rated glass and re-sealing them.

The newer windows were built to a higher standard, but clearly less care was taken installing them. I seriously need to look at improving the insulation around the window frame and resealing them so they are airtight.

And how is this for condensation? Can you see the big drops of water at the bottom of both the metal locks? Metal is a good conductor of heat, and these locks go right through the door. The freezing air outside is cooling the outer part of the lock and the metal is carrying that cold inside. This is called 'thermal bridging', it provides a shortcut through the insulated material surrounding it, allowing the cold to get in. These doors were installed in 2005 and are 'FENSA approved' which means that they should have been built to meet section 4 and 7 of the 2000 Building Regulations and come with a 10 year guarantee. I won't make you read the Building Regs, which are very long-winded, but in essence it boils down to this.....

Reasonable provision shall be made for the conservation of fuel and power in buildings by (a) limiting heat gains and losses     (i) through thermal elements and other parts of the building fabric;     (ii).............

So my windows should limit heat being lost through them (and around them), to improve energy efficiency. If you compare them to the old single glazed windows that were there before, then they certainly are far better, but it is clear to see that there is still a lot of room for improvement. Building regulations have become tighter regarding energy efficiency since then, but has that filtered down to the small replacement window companies yet? Let me know if you have had similar problems.

There was one other lovely quote from the Building regs. that I need to share. All building work shall be carried out....

".....(b) in a workmanlike manner. "

Hmmm......I don't think the workmen have the same idea of a "workmanlike" manner as the suited individuals who wrote this ;-)

So there is lots of detective work that you can carry out in your home. My advice is to just look at one room at a time, maybe starting with the coldest place, or where you spend the most time and can feel the draughts. Then you won't get overwhelmed! I'm going to be sealing up some of the draughts in future posts, but some councils or Transition groups run 'Draught Busting sessions', to show you how it's done, so look out for these in your local area.

I am trying to keep things clear and simple, so please let me know if I get too technical or fail to explain something. Likewise if I'm boring you by explaining the obvious. Thanks :-)

Oh and......be careful with the incense sticks - please don't singe or set fire to your curtains or carpets or burn yourself. Make sure the area is clear, and keep the plate handy to knock the ash onto before it falls.

Energy saving 2

It's been nearly a month since I posted the first part of my energy savings series, and in the UK we are still waiting for winter to hit. This morning was the first hard frost we have had round my way, as you will see from the photos later on.

This is my loft hatch insulation as described in Energy saving no.1: Insulating the loft hatch. It is not a tight fit and I could probably do with some draught proofing around the edges of the loft hatch, but I will come back to that in a later post.

I am still going to focus on heat loss for this post, but I want to know where my heat is being lost. My loft space has a snug 'duvet' of insulation over it to keep the heat in. My brick walls have a cavity, which has been filled with insulation (though many years ago). My windows and doors are double-glazed. So where is the heat being lost?

Energy saving no.3: Thermal images to find where the heat escapes
For years I have wanted to have thermal images taken of our home. You have probably seen thermal images on the telly, in the police programmes where the helicopter crew can locate a suspect hiding in bushes by his body heat. Thermal cameras take an image of the heat, so on a cold, winters night when you have the heating on inside, a thermal camera can show where heat is leaking from your home. It can reveal a hidden picture of the ‘health’ of your home, showing where there are draughts or where more insulation is needed.

I put a request out through the Transition Town Group and Karl responded. He kindly offered to bring a thermal imaging camera round to try. It took us a while to get the hang of it, as neither of us had used one before. (The camera Karl borrowed is used by vets to detect the heat of infections in animals - isn't that amazing!) Ideally you should do this on a cold evening, but it was actually quite mild, so I turned the heating up high to give a bigger temperature difference between inside and outside. The thermal images aren't very clear, so I have taken some images of my home in daylight, so that you can see what they are showing.

 

 

The blue areas show lower temperatures, which means that less heat is being lost through these areas, such as the low sloping roof and much of the brick walls. The target sign on the thermal image gives a temperature reading written in the top left corner, so at that light blue section of the wall the temperature is 6.5 degrees celsius. I didn't measure the outside temperature, but I would guess it was 3 to 5 degrees. The yellow and green areas are warmer, showing more heat loss, and the red and white areas are the hottest, showing the greatest heat loss. These are the areas for me to focus on.

The thermal image shows that the downstairs bay window of my living room, is losing less heat than the bedroom window above. At the time the bay window had the curtains drawn, whereas the curtains for the bedroom were only partially drawn with a large gap in the middle. Could this be why there is a difference in temperature? There is also a radiator below the bedroom window, which may be why this patch of wall is yellow, rather than blue. The bright red area lower down the image is the glazed arch in our front door. The images below take a closer look at the front door.

 

Look at the bright red areas where the glass panels are and also the door handle. They were a bit of a surprise to me, as it is supposed to be an insulated door. I could really reduce heat loss by putting a thick curtain up behind this door. The area below the sill is also letting heat out as shown below.

This area is just below the floor level, so how can this area be warm? Maybe it hasn't been sealed properly below the door, or there are cracks or gaps where the air can flow through. I need to do some more investigation work here.

Here are the last two windows at the front of the house.

 

 

 

I was surprised by how dark the sloping roof is. There is no access to this sloping roof area, so it can only have a minimum amount of insulation from when it was built, if any. I think that had we been able to take an image from above it may not have looked quite so insulated.

The windows however stand out as being very warm. The upstairs window has lined curtains, which were closed and tucked behind the radiator, although the small top window was actually slightly open. Even with the window open, the heat loss from this window is a lot less than that from the window below, which has venetian blinds.

The way to reduce heat loss from windows does seem to be to have thick, lined curtains and to make sure that they are closed properly - with no gaps. I am going to make improving my curtains as another energy saving measure, but for now I am making sure that I close them properly. I can test how effective they are by going outside at night and seeing how much light shines through - if the light gets through, then the heat will too!

I do have one small window that is single glazed. It is tucked away in a narrow corridor between the kitchen and the garage, so it is sheltered.
 

The temperature of this window is 13 degrees C and it is glowing white! (We set the temperature band between 5 and 10 degrees, so in effect it is off the scale as it is 13 degrees C.)This room is a small downstairs toilet, which doesn't have a radiator, so tends to be quite cold. Although it is sheltered from the elements there is still a lot of heat lost through it (no wonder the room is cold!).

It is very interesting to see that the wall to the right of the pipe also shows as glowing white. Look at the position of the pipe. The photo shows that it is brick wall behind the pipe and to the right of it. Why isn't this blue/green/yellow like the rest of the walls?

We took many more images and I will use some in future posts, but I hope they have given an idea of where you could be losing heat in your homes.

If you want to get some thermal images of your property then you could try contacting your local council, the energy efficiency advice centre, the rural community council or transition town groups in your area to see if they can help. You are more likely to get someone to do it for free if you can get other people on your street or in your village interested. For instance Appleby Magna village had thermal images taken of all the houses in the village. They put the images on display in the town hall so that everyone could see their house and compare it to their neighbours. This gave them a good opportunity to inform people on insulating their homes and talk about any grants available.

There are other simple ways to locate where heat is being lost and this morning's frost was a perfect opportunity to check out your roof.

To get a rough idea of how much heat you are losing through your roof, it is important to get out early before the sun is high. Try to compare your roof with others that face the same direction. If you have a garage then use it to compare with. If no heat is being lost through the roof of your home then it would have as much frost on it as your unheated garage does.

 

I was right about that low pitched roof needing more insulation. It may be better insulated than the windows, but it as not as well insulted as our main roof. Below is the back of our house for a comparison. 

 

 

I hope this has been helpful and let me know if you have any questions J

Energy saving 1

Busy, busy, busy....the last few months have flown by. Maybe it is because the days are shorter that they seem to rush by quicker, or because there is so much that I want to do. Sigh!

Back in October I wrote that I planned to reduce our energy consumption by 65%. The idea was that this would hopefully offset the increase in prices to 2020 at the current rate. (It is possible that prices will increase more than my projection to 2020, but despite all the political hot air going on right now, it seems unlikely that overall price increases will be lower.) Then a few weeks back I re-assessed how much further I would need to go to reduce our consumption to 90% of the average American consumption. After a 65% reduction we would still be double the target consumption. How are we going to achieve this?

So this is the start of a mini-series, a step-by-step look at energy reduction measures, that may continue on a sporadic basis for some time. I'm not going to just list a standard '10 tips', without telling you how to go about doing them. No, they are all going to be based around improving my very real home, and include discussion of the options available and how to do it. Feel free to ask questions or let me know any energy efficiency measures you have taken.

 

 

Insulation is always first on the list. It not only saves energy on heating, but it makes your home noticeably warmer and cosier. It can also be fairly cheap and cost-effective to install, and you can reap the benefits for the next 20 - 40 years.

The simplest measure is to install a thick layer of insulation in your loft. My hubby installed a 150mm layer of rockwool insulation between the joists of the main roof, the year we moved in. Then I layed a second layer across the rafters in 2007. It isn't a very nice job, crawling across joists dressed in gloves, boiler suit, goggles and mask, but if I can do it then it really isn't soo hard, especially now that there are so many more options for insulation rather than Rockwool which is a skin irritant. My local DIY store stocks lambs wool and insulation made from recycled plastic bottles, alongside rockwool that is sealed in a 'bag' that can just be rolled out.

It's not a perfect job though. For a start the loft hatch isn't insulated. We also have a walkway along the middle, made from chipboard laying on the rafters, so there is only one layer of insulation under the boards there. Perhaps all the junk stacked on the chipboard counts as additional insulation?

Energy saving no.1 : Insulating the loft hatch
I bought one sheet of condensed insulation board, that was big enouth to cover the loft hatch twice, for £8 from the DIY store. I cut it neatly to size with the bread knife, including cutting a notch around the opening mechanism. I would have liked to stick 2 layers of insulation on the loft hatch, but there is a ladder attached, which only allowed room for one layer. Tah dah! Estimated annual savings for insulating the loft hatch is £9 a year. (I think that figure was from the Energy Savings Trust a few years back, so it should get an even bigger saving on current energy prices)

 

Energy saving no.2 : Top-up loft insulation on the walkway
The next job should be to lay insulation boards on top of the walkway. There are some handy solutions in the DIY store now, that weren't available a few years ago, to make this job a lot easier. The first are insulated loft boards - chipboard with insulation attached, so you can lay the boards across the rafters and they are ready to walk on.

The next is plastic legs, that attach to the rafters. They allow you to lay an new walkway on top of them to walk on, whilst giving space for insulation below them.

 

Luckily the walkway in our loft is just a small area, so we could insulate it for £100 using the legs with rockwool below and re-laying most of the existing boards on top. The downside is that we will lose even more head height which is not ideal as this provides access to the boiler. I am picturing our plumber having to crawl along on his hands and knees with his toolbox, which is far from ideal. Dilemma - ease of access over energy efficiency?

For this year I have come up with a compromise. We have several rolls of off cuts of carpet and underlay stored in our garage. I'm going to roll out a couple of layers of carpet over the loft walkway. This should provide some additional insulation, though probably not as good as the proper insulation. It also has the bonus of freeing up some space in the garage and not costing a penny :-)

I will post the photos of the completed jobs next time, along with more energy savings. If you are living in the UK and receive certain benefits, you may be applicable to have you loft insulation topped-up for free by applying for ECO funding. This applies even if you live in rented accomodation or are not the homeowner. Try calling the Energy Saving Advice Service on 0300 123 1234 to see if you qualify for free loft insulation and other energy efficiency measures.