Green Doctor – helping to tackle fuel poverty

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Fuel poverty is on the increase. Fuel poverty is said to occur when in order to heat a home to an adequate standard of warmth a household needs to spend more than 10% of its income on heating. Many pupils in Leeds come from homes that are experiencing fuel poverty and often there are quick and cheap ways to remedy the problem.

Green Doctor is a free service provided by Groundwork to help tackle fuel poverty. The service provides an initial friendly home visit to assess energy use, helping to identify how a household could be using less and saving money.

Following the initial assessment Green Doctor can install any necessary energy-saving measures, provide advice on energy bills and make referral  to sources of grants for insulation and central heating.

To qualify for the Green Doctor service the householder must live in Leeds or Calderdale, be on a low income, and either:

  • Have children under 16 living in the house
  • Have a disability
  • Be aged 60 or over

If you have pupils in your school who you think are living in a household experiencing fuel poverty why not download and print out the Green Doctor Information Leaflet and make it available for parents in your school?

If you want to know more about what the Green Doctor scheme has to offer contact them on:
Leeds – 0113 238 0316
e-mail – greendoctorleeds@groundwork.org.uk

Solar power

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imageWe have just had solar panels fitted to our home (see my personal blog for more information). This week I have also come across an organisation called Solar Schools who want people to chip in to buy a solar roof for their local school. It’s a fund raising site run by 10:10, an organisation that encourages us to cut our carbon footprint 10% at a time – in other words, in manageable steps. This is a very exciting idea and could make a huge difference. If you want to know more visit their website. If your local school might be interested then point them at the website but it would also be useful to talk to your LEA as well since some of them are investigating ways of putting panels onto as many council buildings as possible.

And if you are interested in solar panels for your own home then see my personal blog.