Funding: Public Sector

This grant is the Scottish equivalent of LCPB phase 2, with grants averaging around 50% of the project cost, although there is no set amount and each case is assessed individually. The success of an application depends on whether or not there is secured funding for the project in place from another source.

Geothermal International can help with any part of the application process, up to a complete application service on your behalf.

CESP is a community-based initiative, administered by Ofgem, designed to help people to reduce their fuel bills and energy demand which aims to deliver around £350m of energy efficiency packages between autumn 2009 and December 2012. The reduction in energy use helps tackle climate change, and CESP will contribute to the UK's ambition of an 80 per cent CO2 reduction by 2050. The programme has been developed to further encourage the use of innovative measures like solid (external) wall insulation, microgeneration, energy saving appliances and real time displays and aims to promote a 'whole-house, house by house, street by street approach' of energy reduction measures. CESP will be delivered through the development of community-based partnerships (involving local authorities) along with suppliers and generators. Partnership working will allow CESP to be implemented in a way that is best suited to individual areas and coordinated with existing initiatives. There can be an overlap between CESP and CERT, whichever is the most cost-effective approach.

CSEP is an open grants programme run by the BRE (Building Research Establishment), an award partner with the Big Lottery Fund. The aim of the scheme is to raise public awareness and support for renewable energy through the installation of community scale microgeneration schemes. It will provide £8 million to community-based, not-for-profit organisations based in England, for the installation of microgeneration technologies, such as heat pumps and solar panels, and energy efficiency measures including loft and cavity wall insulation. It will also provide £1 million for project development grants that will help community organisations decide if they could benefit from a microgeneration and energy efficiency installations. Grants under this programme are only awarded to not-for-profit community-based organisations in England.

Contact us at Geothermal International for help with your organisation's community project, and get advice whether you can further benefit from LCBP2, together with your CSEP grant.

The Code considers issues relating to climate change. Its aim is to improve the overall sustainability of new homes by setting out a single national standard for England, Wales and Northern Ireland within which the house building industry can design and construct homes to higher environmental standards, and it gives new homebuyers better information about the environmental impact of their new home and its potential running costs. The Code also reflects the future regulatory route towards zero carbon houses in 2016.

The Code is currently a voluntary standard in England. Every new build has to be rated against the Code, although no specific star ratings are set in the private sector currently. However, it is used as a condition of funding for the Homes and Communities Agency's National Affordable Housing Programme (building must be to Code 3), on other government projects and land, and by local authorities when they want to set sustainability-based planning conditions on housing developments in their area.

As regulations tighten to achieve the requirements of zero carbon buildings in 2016, building structures will have much lower heat losses, and space heating requirements would therefore be considerably reduced. Heat pumps are an incredibly efficient way of delivering lower levels of space heating whilst still satisfying domestic hot water requirements. There are no CO2 emissions and they can be easily combined with other renewables such as solar thermal or photovoltaics to achieve maximum Code levels.

From April 2010 households and communities who install generating technologies such as photovoltaic solar panels will be entitled to claim payments for the low carbon electricity they produce - up to 5 megawatts generated on site will receive a payment for up to 25 years, depending on the generating technology. Any surplus electricity fed back to the grid will receive a guaranteed price.

To find out how to combine technologies such as heat pumps/PV panels, to make the most of this scheme and the forthcoming Renewable Heat Incentive, contact us.

The aim of this government scheme is to increase the supply of affordable homes in England. Housing providers must first be awarded Investment Partner status through a pre-qualification process (exemptions apply for certain criteria). £8.4b will be invested in this scheme over 3 years from 2008-2011, and partners will deliver 155,000 hew homes, a proportion of which will be made available for low cost home ownership and social rent. The grant will only be payable if the homes are build to Code for Sustainable Homes level 3.

Contact us for practical advice on how to achieve Code level 3.

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is a new regulatory incentive to improve energy efficiency in large public and private sector organisations. It is a mandatory scheme that starts in April 2010 and aims to improve energy efficiency and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted in the UK. CRC will affect large organisations in both the public and private sector who use more than 6,000MWh per year of electricity (equivalent to an annual electricity bill of about £500,000).

Participating organisations will have to monitor their emissions and purchase allowances, initially sold by Government, for each tonne of CO2 they emit. The more CO2 an organisation emits, the more allowances it has to purchase. On the other hand, there is a direct incentive for these organisations to reduce their emissions by improving their energy efficiency as they can then benefit by reducing the allowances they need to buy and surrender. This will mean reducing not only the costs of their involvement in CRC, but also benefiting from cutting their energy bills. Qualifying companies need to pay to join the scheme, then pay an annual fee. To see if your company meets the qualification criteria, visit www.decc.gov.uk.

This scheme makes it even more important that you are benefiting from the maximum energy efficiency measures for your organisation's heating requirements. To increase your company's position in the CRC's league table ranking and gain bonuses rather than penalties, contact us to see how we can help.