TADEA spreads environmental message throughout the region

Mar 19 2008 By The Journal

TADEA is spreading the environmental message right across the region. The private, not-for-profit company was set up in 2002 by Stockton Council and NEA (National Energy Action) with the support of local authorities in the Durham and Tees Valley sub-regions.

TADEA aims to provide free and impartial energy efficiency advice to people across the region and to promote effective action on sustainable energy.

Based at Belasis Hall Technology Park in Billingham, TADEA provides a range of services to households, local authorities and the voluntary and private sectors. Staff have experience in management, quality inspection and energy audits in both the domestic and commercial markets.

The team recently secured the contract with the Energy Saving Trust to continue to deliver the Sustainable Energy Network in the North East – and continue to make real carbon savings in the domestic sector.

Through this project TADEA will consolidate their good work, educating and encouraging energy saving actions.

Creating ‘low carbon citizens’ across all sectors of society will support a sustainable low carbon economy.

A central objective of the Energy Saving Trust advice centre is to strengthen the Sustainable Energy Network (SEN) within the region bringing together all the key organisations in the domestic energy sector to coordinate activity and to ensure maximum effectiveness of projects and campaigns.

Advice is provided through a free phone advice line 0800 512 012 (Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm) and through online Home Energy Checks, available at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/northeast. Postal Home Energy Checks are mailed to specific households and the outreach team provides advice and information across the region at community events.

In the last year alone over 80,000 households have been advised on energy efficiency measures, saving 100,000 lifetime tonnes of carbon.

Other TADEA services include:

:: Insulation schemes – TADEA is currently working with utility companies and insulation companies across the North East in order to offer free or discounted insulation measures to home owners.

:: The North East Home Insulation Partnership (NEHIP) has received a £103,000 funding award which will help it to achieve its goals of free insulation for vulnerable homes in the region.

More than 500,000 homes in the North East are believed to have inadequate insulation and this award, from Defra’s Community Energy Efficiency Fund, is expected to see many of those homes receive aid in time for winter 2008.

NEHIP was founded in 2005 with the simple mission: to insulate every home in the North East. This funding will be used to put in place a project team to make this a reality and eight years of work on homes is expected to start in April 2008.

The partnership seconded a project manager, Dan Ludgate, of TADEA, to take the initiative forward.

:: North East Renewables – as part of its advice service TADEA promotes the appropriate and responsible investment in renewable technologies. To meet customer expectations, the North East region needs to improve its infrastructure and service provision in this sector. To plug this gap, TADEA has commissioned a North East Renewables directory, listing installers and manufacturers of renewable technology active in the region and giving overall advice as to the suitability of technologies in particular settings.

There is a link to the Directory, which can be accessed via the following link: www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/northeast.

:: Hot Spot Marketing – specialist marketing and tactical staff have developed skills in market analysis, data interpretation and message targeting to ensure the maximum effectiveness of energy efficiency campaigns.

:: Data logging – TADEA is now in its third year of working with consulting and business services group Mouchel Parkman Ewan on its contract to handle data logger collections on gas meters. This is a demand estimation project monitoring different gas patterns to ensure energy costs to everyone are kept as low as possible by not producing more gas than needed. This also helps the environment and future generations.

:: Delivery of Energy Performance Certificates – two of the team’s staff have recently become accredited City and Guilds Domestic Energy Assessors.

The DEA service will now be offered on a not-for-profit basis to business organisations such as solicitors and estate agents with a view to offering this to social housing providers in the future such as local authorities and housing associations.

:: Small and medium enterprises service reviews – TADEA continues to work with the SME sector. From 2002-2004, it managed the Energy Saving Trust’s SME programme – known as the SME Energy Efficiency Advice Centre. It provided energy audits and reports to more than 400 North East organisations.

The service continued on a cost-effective, fee-paying basis following completion of the Energy Saving Trust project, with audits for the Carbon Trust, Tristar Homes, Darlington Council and Durham County Council.

The work in this area continues to flourish.

:: Quality inspections of insulation measures – TADEA undertakes impartial and independent inspections, in order to ensure that insulation installations are of a high standard.

:: Local authority secondments – For the last three years TADEA has provided an energy efficiency secondment to a local authority in Teesside. This service is offered on a full- time/part-time or one-off project basis, to any local authority within the North East.

:: For more information go to www.tadea.com or call June Smith on (01642) 373021.