David Blevings, Ireland manager of OFTEC
As Northern Ireland’s energy companies joined together to celebrate Energy Aware Week last week, OFTEC issued an “energy savings challenge” to householders that could help them save up to £50 per month on their energy bills.
Energy Aware Week, which ran from 13th – 19th October, is a joint initiative by Northern Ireland energy companies to increase awareness of energy efficiency and provide homeowners with practical help and advice to make their money go further.
As part of the campaign, OFTEC issued the following money-saving tips, challenging local householders to be more energy efficient and to help cut their energy bills by £50 per month:· Turn your thermostat down – try and keep the room at 19°C. Increasing room temperature by only 1°C, can increase heating costs by 10%, whilst reducing temperature by 1°C can save almost £6 per month.· Service your boiler – by servicing your boiler, you could improve your overall efficiency by 10%, saving up to £100 per year.· Turning off standby – by properly switching off those appliances that often sit on standby at the mains, householders can make a saving of £4 per month -almost £50 a year.· Swap to energy saving light bulbs – switching from regular to energy saving light bulbs can save £55 per year, almost £5 per month.· Be water efficient – by taking a shower instead of a bath and you’ll use a lot less hot water, and with a water-efficient head to your shower, you could save about £75 a year on your energy bill, around £6 per month.
Additional measures suggested by OFTEC that homeowners can take to ensure even greater long-term cost savings include:· Consider switching to a condensing boiler – this change could reduce the annual oil bill by 18% – a cost saving of £21 per month and £259 per annum for a typical 3 bedroom house.· Fit heating controls – simple control measures, including a 7 day programmer with room and cylinder thermostats and a motorised control, allows separate hot water and space heating. The installation of these controls could mean a reduction in the fuel bill of up to 30%.· Insulate your home – cavity wall insulation can lead to a monthly saving of almost £10.· Fit draught stripping across doors – eliminating small draught gaps can lead to a saving of around £100 a year, or £8 per month.
David Blevings, Ireland manager of OFTEC commented: “Energy Aware Week is all about highlighting the ways that homeowners can become more energy smart. The week is a chance to inform homeowners on the small changes they can make to cut their energy bills, often at no cost. There are additional measures homeowners can also take which do require initial investment, but these can provide even greater savings in the long term.”
Energy Aware Week is supported by a range of partners, including OFTEC, Phoenix Gas, Bryson Energy, Firmus Energy, Glow Worm, Grant Boilers, Power NI, SSE Airtricity, Valliant and Worcester.
Senior driver trainer, Chris Hill has been seconded to Tanzania
Hoyer Petrolog UK is renewing its support for Transaid, the international development charity focused on transport management and driver training in developing countries.
Hoyer Petrolog has previously seconded three trainers to deliver driver and hazardous goods training with Transaid and this month the company is seconding one of its most senior driver trainers, Chris Hill, to a project in Tanzania.
Chris who is based at Hythe terminal is a full-time driver training instructor for Hoyer Petrolog UK. He was seconded to Transaid’s professional driver training project at the National Institute of Transport (NIT) in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, in February 2012 to deliver the first input of driver training there and before that was seconded to the Industrial Training Centre (ITC) in Lusaka, Zambia.
Hoyer says that despite the challenges of limited availability of equipment that might be considered standard in the UK, being able to make improvements in driver technique and to improve the handling of dangerous goods has proved to be personally and professionally fulfilling for its trainers.
Operations director, Allan Davison, said: “Hoyer Petrolog is delighted to support the excellent work Transaid undertakes – we truly believe that the work undertaken by Transaid has made a real difference in improving road safety in Zambia and Tanzania.”
Transaid’s acting chief executive, Caroline Barber, commented: “Every year 1.3 million people die in road accidents across the world – of which 90% take place in developing countries. In order for Transaid to keep improving road safety in Africa it is vital that we can work with companies such as Hoyer Petrolog.
“We are extremely grateful to the company for their continued support and for offering their time and skills to develop the expertise of trainers at the NIT which ultimately helps to address dramatic statistics and save many lives.”
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With the exception of Italy and partially Sweden, the UK is almost unique among EU members in operating a compulsory oil stock holding system in which responsibility for compliance and management of the country’s Compulsory Stock Obligation (CSO) rests entirely with participants in the oil market – refiners/ex refiners and importers/wholesalers.
