MegaWatt Fund success!
We know that a lot of people would like to save energy in their homes, but struggle to make best use of their heating controls – the digital interface often isn’t that intuitive, and even when you know how to programme it, what’s the best way of setting it up?
We also know that damp and mould is one of the biggest health issues people face in their homes – it can be a bit like whack a mole, you deal with one part, and another problem pops up. Even more frustrating, sometimes you do all the right things, draught proofing and insulating, and end up with even worse damp and mould problems!
To address this, we’ve teamed up with Carbon Co-op, a leading community energy organisation in Manchester, who have especially good technical expertise in home energy efficiency and retrofit. Over the next couple of months they will be training up SGCEN staff and staff and volunteers in our member groups, to be able to run their community training sessions on damp and mould and heating controls.
Would you like us to come and run a session in your community?
We are offering to run sessions for free for community organisations. These trainings are suitable for tenants’ associations, parent and toddler groups, drop in coffee mornings or tech and talk events and more. If you want more of an informal drop in, we can bring an Energy Help Desk. If you have people who would be interested in committing to a 1.5 hour programmed session, we can offer the training below. We can do 4-5 sessions between October and March 2025, based on current funding (more if we are successful with further fundraising).
Tackling Damp and Mould
Participants will understand:
- penetrating, rising and condensation damp
- who is responsible for resolving different issues,
- how condensation damp forms,
- how temperature and relative humidity work,
- strategies on reducing moisture,
- ventilation basics,
- how to clean mould safely,
- how to contact their landlord.
Plus:
Homework task investigating mould issues at home.
Audience
Tenants and private renters, owner occupiers.
No experience needed.
Session information
2 x 1.5 hour sessions.
Mastering Heating Controls
Participants will understand:
- different parts of their heating system,
- how to adjust boiler temp and why,
- how to adjust and optimise the control system (thermostat, programmer, TRVs) for energy saving and their lifestyles,
- how and why to bleed their radiators,
- how to increase hot water efficiency.
Audience:
Tenants and private renters, owner occupiers.
No experience needed.
Session information:
1 x 1.5 hour sessions.
Carbon Co-op participant experiences:
“I enjoyed the most how to identify mould, how to [take] meter readings on relative humidity, [and] tips on different things to tackle condensation.”
– Participant (2024)
“Last year I was very poorly due to these issues, to the point I was off sick from work as my asthma had got so bad had to go to A&E and have a nebuliser. Learning from this workshop will help to avoid this.”
– Participant (2024)
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to MegaWatt Fund, which is community benefit funding from Low Carbon Gordano and Bristol Energy Co-operative for making this possible, and to Carbon Co-operative for sharing your expertise and designing these accessible ways of sharing your knowledge.
