What is the Government’s ECO+ Insulation Scheme, and how can Tenmat Fire Protection help?
The Government has recently announced a new £1bn scheme to help people throughout the country insulate their homes, in order to help cut their energy usage and bring down their heating bill.
The ECO+ scheme aims to see hundreds of thousands of homes across the UK receive new home insulation and help to tackle the current cost of living crisis. The scheme will also assist the government to meet its net zero target. As part of the scheme, if a household is eligible, they can receive up to £1500 in grants for household insulation.
Energy losses, such as those the ECO+ scheme seeks to tackle, generally occur due to thermal conduction and/or air leakage allowing warm air to escape from the living space of a house. This robs rooms of heat and allows cold air to flow from the loft or external spaces into the room. Thermal conduction occurs through the natural conduction of building materials, and this can be significantly reduced via the use of insulation materials. The biggest single conduction loss is generally through the ceiling into the loft space and therefore loft insulation is a good place to start and reduce losses.
Air leakage can occur wherever there is a hole in the building fabric, the most obvious being doors and windows, however there are often many more hidden holes in buildings for services such as pipes, cables and recessed fitting like switches and downlights which can all allow warm air to leak out of the living space.
The types of measures that can be retrofitted to existing households to help tackle these energy losses, and improve insulation include:
- Loft/Roof insulation
- Cavity-wall insulation
- Solid-wall insulation
- Floor insulation
- Draught-proofing
It is estimated that by adding these simple energy efficiency measures under the scheme, a household can look to save around £310 a year.
The ECO+ scheme has been introduced as UK housing stock is ranked as having amongst the worst insulated houses in Europe. The reasoning behind this lies in the fact that many of the properties in the UK are very old, with 38% of housing being built before 1946. For occupants of housing, this poor insulation could be costing them up to an extra £1000 a year.
How can Tenmat Help?
Energy saving and fire protection are often seen as separate components when home insulation is being upgraded, however both of these outcomes can be achieved with a range of specifically designed and tested products from Tenmat.
Tenmat’s Loft Covers, Socket Box Inserts and Pipe Fire Sleeves have all been specifically designed and proven to provide insulating properties, helping to keep your house warm, whilst simultaneously providing the peace of mind that you are protected from the risk of fire.
All of Tenmat Energy Saving and fire Protection products are manufactured using mineral wool as the base material and therefore have excellent thermal insulation properties which significantly reduces losses of heat due to conduction. In addition to offering improved thermal performance, all of the Tenmat products dramatically reduce the amount of air leakage (up to 94% reduction) when compared to not using Tenmat protected services. Each product offers the triple benefit of improved insulation, reduced air leakage as well as optimum fire protection.
