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Cosy Green Homes - Welly2Wivey

Think Globally - Act Locally

 

Start At Home!

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Next event TBC (Jan) 
Come to the
Langford Budville Village Hall
10am - 12:30pm
Come along to the

There is an overwhelming amount of information available about how we can keep our homes warm in winter, cool in summer, and less polluting in our rapidly changing climate. A great starting point is to talk to friends and neighbours about their experiences - many will happily show you what systems they have in their house and how they work.

 

Click here for our "Green Pages", a growing directory of renewable technology installers recommended by local people.

 

If you're curious about getting more efficient home heating and cooling, having electricity stored for power cuts, generating electricity yourself, or just cutting your fuel bills, come to our quarterly "Electric Cafes"at Langford Budville Village Hall, where locals help each other out on their electrification journeys, and share ideas for greener homes and communities.

 

You can also ask the Electric Cafe community on our WhatsApp group.

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If you have experiences or advice to share, or an engineer to recommend, we'd love to speak with you.

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Meanwhile, here's some food for thought:

ONE - USE RENEWABLE ENERGY

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Good Energy

Ecotricity

and

Octopus energy

 

All score top marks from Which? for their renewable energy supply.

 

Switch today and help stop burning stuff!

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If you choose to switch to Octopus use our referral code GOOD-STAR-594 and get £50 off your first bills. Langford Budville Village Hall will also receive £50, which it will donate to charity. 

TWO - INSULATION & EFFICIENCY

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If you do nothing else, effective insulation will keep you warmer in winter, cooler in summer, and it will reduce your energy bills.

As appliances and fittings reach the end of their working lives, if they can't be repaired, replace them with more energy efficient models.

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The Energy Saving Trust has great resources, including funding and support options.

Somerset Council has support and funding here.

THREE - SHADE

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Prepare for our hot summers - heat that never enters the house is the cheapest heat to deal with. Shading the outside of a building - rather than trying to cool it back down afterwards - is consistently the most effective single step. Watch a really useful video short and download this useful document all about how to stay cool in summer without cranking up AC.

FOUR - SOLAR, BATTERY, HEATING, COOLING, & EVS!

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With the fabric of your home as resilient and efficient as possible, consider electrifying your systems. The order you do this in will be down to your circumstances and priorities - for instance transport needs or boiler breakdown - but if you want a framework to play with, consider this route, where each system supports the next. At the very least - it's a conversation starter for energy geeks!

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Solar PV > Battery > Heat Pump (or alternative) > EV

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  • Solar panels will cut your energy usage across the year (here's a short info sheet) and here's some information about Plug In Solar, which has an estimated payback of approx 4 years. 

  • A battery will allow you to store excess solar or electricity from cheaper tariffs for use across the day and night;

  • Heat Pumps are incredibly efficient at moving heat between your home and the outdoors (air-to-air heat pumps can cool as well as heat!). Pairing with a battery and a variable energy tariff like Octopus Cosy allows you to run the pump using cheaper rate electricity whenever it's needed. This document has further info and compares daily variable rate tariffs (2026).

  • Electric Cars - wow! Currently beyond my expertise - I'll need some help on this section...

 

The Energy Saving Trust is a brilliant website and has information for all levels of understanding.

Dave Mansell is one of our two Green Party councillors and his super website gives an up-to date local context as well as useful further links.

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There are many YouTube channels which can demystify these amazing technologies. Here are just a few:

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Jonathon Tracey explains about heat pumps using his own system, calmly and clearly. A really useful video if you are thinking about getting a heat pump.

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Justin Rowlatt of the BBC gives his technical explanation of fridges, heat pumps and air con - stick with it!

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Guy Martin's fantastic exploration of low energy homes of the (near) future (Channel 4). Well worth a watch for its information, inspiration, and for his surprise special guest at the end!

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A NOTE ON AIR CON

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This is an excellent podcast from the BBC World Service, discussing the growing need and expectations of Air Con. With our hotter summers becoming a serious annual public health risk, the need to keep our homes cool becomes ever more apparent.

The conversation is developing, but if you are considering updating your heating system, do consider a ducted Air-to-Air Heat Pump system, AKA Air Conditioner, as used as standard across Europe and the US. The key is to use them efficiently, in tandem with other, low energy strategies.

Heat that never enters the house is the cheapest heat to deal with. Shading the outside of a building - rather than trying to cool it back down afterwards - is consistently the most effective single step.

Watch this really useful video short

and

download this useful document all about how to stay cool in summer without cranking up AC.

Electric Cafe (Trans).png
Come to the
Langford Budville Village Hall
The National Emergency Briefing
Further Information

You may already have heard about the National Emergency Briefing, when ten of the UK’s leading experts briefed an invited audience of more than 1,200 politicians and leaders from business, culture, faith, sport and the media in Westminster. The briefing set out the implications of climate and nature breakdown for health, food systems, national security and the economy, and did so on the public record. Its purpose was to demonstrate what a clear, evidence-led national emergency briefing could look like and why it is needed.
 

The film is based on the National Emergency Briefing in Westminster (featured by ITV, Channel 4 and The Times) with appearances from Chris Packham, Deborah Meaden, and a range of voices from across the UK. If you are interested in watching the film or hosting a screening go to the NEB Screening Map.

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