Warmer Healthy Homes

National Energy Action and Energy Action Scotland are pleased to announce that the Warm Homes Campaign Award Scheme 2010 is open to applicants.

The award offers grants of up to £500 to groups and organisations who wish to promote their fuel poverty events during November 2010.

For more information, to read the guidelines and to apply please go to the NEA website or contact Lesley Tudor-Snodin on LTS@nea,org.uk

THOUSANDS of households in Wales are set to benefit from a donation given by the ScottishPower Energy People Trust to fund a charity project

The Trust has awarded nearly £25,000 to The Bevan Foundation for its project “How Fuel Poor Households Manage Fuel Use and Bills”.

The initiative aims to reach nearly 350,000 households across the country. The pilot research will be carried out in three locations, one rural, one urban and one social housing estate.

Ann Loughrey, ScottishPower’s Head of Corporate Social Responsibility and The ScottishPower Energy People Trust’s Company Secretary said:

“The work which has been carried out by the Bevan Foundation since it was launched in 2001 has had a significant impact on the lives of people in Wales and the issues they face.

The last 3 months has seen a lot of hard work for the AWARM Initiative Officers, resulting in several new partners for AWARM across the whole of Greater Manchester.

The Greater Manchester Fire Service have embraced the AWARM service and a training dvd is being produced in order to train the 127 watches.

Closely following are the Greater Manchester Health Trainers.  Training sessions are in progress.

We are also working with the RESPECT project which is currently being rolled out in Manchester.  Training has been undertaken for the Volunteers and mentors at CSV and British Gas.  The main focus of the RESPECT project is central Manchester, however, the volunteers will cross the LA boundaries, so all 10 LA's should see some benefit.

We are now working with the Greater Manchester Ambulance Service for future training sessions.

Medical experts back awareness day aimed at helping people reduce the impact of fuel poverty on health

Government Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson and Dr Miriam Stoppard OBE have backed National Fuel Poverty Awareness Day on 12 February 2010.

The day, organised by National Energy Action and sponsored by EDF Energy, aims to draw attention to the support available to vulnerable people to help them keep warm and avoid health problems caused by colder homes.

Sir Liam Donaldson said: "Living in a home where temperatures are below recommended levels is a serious risk to health, especially if you are over 65 years old, or have a heart or respiratory problem.

"Last winter, there were over 36,000 extra deaths in England, many of which could have been prevented by increasing the temperatures of the relevant households. Eligible individuals should take advantage of the many grants and schemes available to help insulate their homes and improve heating systems."

Dr Miriam Stoppard OBE said: "I’m supporting National Energy Action’s Fuel Poverty Awareness Day on the 12^th of February which aims to highlight the health problems caused by being cold in your home. As well as hypothermia, being cold causes or worsens a range of conditions including strokes and heart attacks. To my mind, it’s a basic human right to be warm in the winter. For people who are vulnerable because of chronic illnesses or their age, being warm in the winter is also a medical right."

Dr Brenda Boardman's new book promises to lay ouy the challenges and solutions to the fuel poverty problem.  Warmer Healthy Homes users can recieve a 20% discount by typing 'ACE' into the voucher code box in your shopping cart when ordering any book from www.earthscan.co.uk.

Andrew Warren is director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy gives his opion on the book below:

“Fixing Fuel  Poverty” is the latest book from the best-known UK academic concerned with this failed public policy, Dr Brenda Boardman.