Why Home Energy?
Tackling the Climate emergency and ending the suffering caused by cold homes go hand in hand.
Start your Home Energy journey below to learn how to save money on your bills and improve your home.
Insulation
Keeping your home warmer and reducing heating bills by improving insulation. This can range from simple low cost DIY measures, to more extensive measures where we can signpost help and guidance.
Heating & Hot Water
Changing a heating system can seem daunting. We explore the various options from Heat pumps to heat batteries, to water heating and water efficiency measures, to solar hot water heating and solar diversion.
Smart Energy
We look at Smart meters, energy tariffs, Smart technology, and how understanding your energy usage can help you to reduce your bills.
Where do I start?
The videos below were filmed at a free Home Energy Workshop run by Zero Chippenham. They offer good independent information on how to make your home more energy efficient, keep it warm, and save money on bills. Thank you to Wessex Water Community Connectors for funding our Home Energy project.
Whilst some of these improvements might look expensive, don’t despair if you have no money to make improvements, we’ll explore low cost options and free help and grants available in later sections.
Introduction to Home Energy
What do we mean by Home energy? What are the measures we can implement to save energy and save money in our home?
Presenter: Elliot Clark. Centre for Sustainable Energy
Solar Panels, Batteries & Diverters
An introduction to Solar Panels on your home; home batteries, and solar diverters, as a means of energy storage.
Presenter: Elliot Clark. Centre for Sustainable Energy
Introduction to Heat Pumps
What are heat pumps, what grants are available, will i need to make changes in my home?
Presenter: Elliot Clark. Centre for Sustainable Energy
1930s House Retrofit Chippenham
Retrofitting a 1930s house in Chippenham. A mixture of professional and DIY retrofits took the house from EPC E to EPC B.
Presenter: Matthew Short Zero Chippenham
I need some Free Help Please
If you are struggling to heat your home and need some completely FREE and independent help and advice please go the Warm and Safe Wiltshire Helpline.
Warm and Safe Wiltshire is a partnership between Wiltshire Council and the charity The Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE). They have a Free telephone Helpline where you can speak to expert advisers. They can also point you to genuine financial help and grants for home improvements or one off bill payments.
Telephone 0800 038 5722
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I’d like to explore options to improve my home?
Perhaps you’re not in immediate need, but want to start your journey to making your home more energy efficient and reduce your bills. Perhaps you’re conscious of Climate change and want to reduce your carbon footprint. Fortunately the two go hand in hand.
One simple and Free next step you could take is to borrow one of our four thermal cameras. These are a great way to visualise where your home is losing heat. With our thermal camera loan you’ll also get a short introductory home renovation guide.
Free Thermal Camera Loan scheme for Chippenham residents.
With funding from Chippenham Town Council we now have four thermal cameras, compatible with iPhone and Android phones. The cameras can be used to analyse where you are losing heat in your home. Often this can be solved with a simple fix such as reflective insulation behind a radiator on an outside wall. Or it may show where loft or wall insulation is missing. We include a short Eco Home renovation guide with each loan.
I borrowed your thermal camera, what next?
There are a couple of different routes you could go next.
Simple low cost measures e.g. more loft insulation, a Chimney Sheep
More complex retrofits e.g. Wall insulation, heat pumps, solar
If you want to go the more in depth route a professional survey of your home could be your next step. Wiltshire Council have partnered with the Centre for Sustainable Energy for their Future Proof Project. This offers detailed energy survey of your home and retrofit report guiding you on the next steps of your retrofit journey.
Home Survey from FutureProof
The charity the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) offer a number of different Home assessment retrofit assessment packages through their Futureproof project. This is sometimes subsidised by Wiltshire Council and we’ll update our site when we learn of new funding.
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I want to start simply, what can I do?
We have some simple tips and energy saving measure below as a starting point.
Do you have a Chimney? If so have you considered a Chimney Draft Excluder or Chimney Sheep? Read about our Chimney Sheep offer below.
20% Discount off a Chimney Sheep
We’ve partnered with Chimney Sheep to offer a 20% discount to Chippenham Residents for Chimney Sheep Draught excluder products. We’re not affiliated in any way to Chimney Sheep, we just believe it’s a simple low cost solution to draughty chimneys paying for itself through savings in a few months.
The discount code to apply on the Chimney sheep site is hidden in the sheep picture!
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Load Shifting Energy Use to Save Money and Carbon
We hope you enjoy this post from Zero Chippenham’s James Bradbury on how he’s saving [...]
Zero Chippenham Thermal Cameras now available for FREE hire Autumn 2024
Our four thermal cameras are now open to hire for FREE (Chippenham Residents only) for [...]
Can Single Room heat recovery and ventilation fix damp, condensation, and mould?
Our house is a 1930s built semi-detached on Langley Road, Chippenham. It has three bedrooms [...]
Chimney Sheep – a low cost way to stop Chimney Draughts
Like many Chippenham residents our house on Langley Road was built in the 1930s and [...]
Where to find financial help with heating and insulation in Chippenham?
Finding help and funding for energy efficiency can often be bewildering. There is a lot [...]
101 Energy Saving Tips – Centre for Sustainable Energy
101 Energy Saving Tips The following hints and tips were kindly presented by Jo Hillier [...]
I want to dig deeper into retrofits?
So you want to dive a bit deeper into more complex retrofits. Some of these may cost more, but there are lots of grants and routes to finance which are changing all the time.
We’ll start with some of the more complex case studies put together by Zero Chippenham members with contributions from Chippenham residents.
Case Study – Solar, Batteries and a Power Diverter – Melksham
This interesting case study is written for us by Mark Harris of Melksham. It demonstrates [...]
How to maximise solar usage and reduce your bills
It’s been a beautiful sunny month in Chippenham and a great month for solar generation. [...]
How much does it cost to run a heat pump vs gas?
Background In October 2024 we finally replaced our Worcester Greenstar combi boiler with an Octopus [...]
The Journey to Air Source Heat Pump – Navigating Wiltshire Planning – Calne
In this case study Kev Matthews tells us how he’s navigated the Wiltshire Planning system [...]
Load Shifting Energy Use to Save Money and Carbon
We hope you enjoy this post from Zero Chippenham’s James Bradbury on how he’s saving [...]
DIY install of an MVHR on a 1930s Semi-detached House
Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery (MVHR) is technology that’s typically only installed on highly air-tight [...]
How a home in Monkton Park Decarbonised through a Heat Pump, Solar and Battery, and EV charging
Our home is a 1970’s 4 bed in Monkton park (extended from 3-bed in the [...]
Zero Chippenham Thermal Cameras now available for FREE hire Autumn 2024
Our four thermal cameras are now open to hire for FREE (Chippenham Residents only) for [...]
Octopus Heat Pump Retrofit 1930s Semi Detached Langley Road
Our Octopus Heat Pump journey started in late October 2023. We’d been with Octopus Energy [...]
Octopus Heat Pump Installation Hardenhuish Chippenham
Octopus Energy are rapidly becoming one of the major Heat Pump installers in the UK. [...]
Case Study – Air Source Heat Pump Installation – Chippenham April 2024
Zero Chippenham members Jan and Trevor describe their experience of an Air Source heat pump [...]
Can I charge my car with solar power?
So you have solar panels on your roof and you’re thinking of buying an electric [...]
Can Single Room heat recovery and ventilation fix damp, condensation, and mould?
Our house is a 1930s built semi-detached on Langley Road, Chippenham. It has three bedrooms [...]
Installing and living with an AC Battery
With the government announcing that VAT will be zero rated from February on retrofitted household [...]
Living with an Air Source Heat Pump
Zero Chippenham member James Bradbury talks about his experience of installing and living with an [...]
Chimney Sheep – a low cost way to stop Chimney Draughts
Like many Chippenham residents our house on Langley Road was built in the 1930s and [...]
Where to find financial help with heating and insulation in Chippenham?
Finding help and funding for energy efficiency can often be bewildering. There is a lot [...]
101 Energy Saving Tips – Centre for Sustainable Energy
101 Energy Saving Tips The following hints and tips were kindly presented by Jo Hillier [...]
Home Improvements & Retrofit Guide
Our friends at Wiltshire Climate Alliance have put together an excellent Home Improvements and Retrofit guide with lots of useful links and information.
This is an excellent place to explore retrofit advice
To find out more please click the button below…
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Can I visit a Heat Pump or a house that has done retrofits?
There are several opportunities to do this.
Green Open Homes Events are run across Wiltshire and Swindon each year. Some homes offer visits all year round.
Find a Green Open Home EventThe charity Nesta run a Visit a Heat Pump Scheme where you can find a host in the Chippenham area
Visit a Heat Pump in ChippenhamOr contact Zero Chippenham with the home retrofit you’re interested in and we can arrange a WhatsApp call or visit with a Zero Chippenham member to tell you about their experience
Contact Zero ChippenhamThe Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) offers free energy advice on their website. You can phone them for advice without going through the Futureproof retrofit survey.
They also have a good selection of Downloadable Fact Sheets.
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I’m quite interested in Solar Panels – Can you help?
Yes, we have a Community Solar discount scheme!
Community Solar Discount Scheme
Our Community Solar discount scheme uses group buying power from Chippenham and surrounding village sustainability groups to offer a discounted rate on Solar installations from a local vetted installer.
Many Zero Chippenham members have Solar installations through the scheme over a number of years, with over 50 installations in Chippenham and Surrounding villages. To find out more and view some case studies please click through to our Community Solar page.
Where can I find trusted retrofit suppliers?
For solar panels please see our own vetted Community Solar scheme in partnership with Beazer Electrical, Corsham.
The Centre For Sustainable Energy has partnered with Wiltshire Council to signpost companies offering retrofits and has created the Wiltshire Retrofit directory…
Visit the Retrofit Directorycase study Wood lane Chippenham
One of the most comprehensive home retrofits in Chippenham has been undertaken by our own Adrian Temple-Brown. Adrian has over several years worked on his house in Wood Lane, Chippenham, to improve insulation, remove gas, install solar PV, a ground source heat pump, water saving and harvesting, moved to electric vehicles, and made lifestyle changes achieving net zero operational carbon and vastly reduced energy bills. Adrian is something of a pioneer on the journey we’re all currently on!
The series of posts below are based on talks and presentations Adrian has given at local sustainability events, explaining how he approached each stage of converting his home.
Wood Lane Retrofit Part 1
In part 1 of his talk Adrian explains how he went about retrofitting his part 1600s cottage in Wood Lane, Chippenham, from insulation to solar panels and a Ground Sourced heat pump.
Presenter: Adrian Temple-Brown
Wood Lane Retrofit Part 2
In part 2 of his talk Adrian talks electric vehicles, future retrofit plans, and his philosophy of trying to address climate change and live a close to zero carbon lifestyle
Presenter: Adrian Temple-Brown
Installing a Ground Source Heat Pump – Wood Lane
The next stage in Adrian’s Wood Lane retrofit decarbonisation journey was to look at heating [...]
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Solar PV Installation Wood Lane Chippenham
The next step on Adrian’s Wood Lane Net Zero journey was to install solar panels [...]
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Do a House Energy Audit
The first stage of Adrian’s Wood Lane House retrofit project involved undertaking a house energy [...]
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Why Bother?
There are two main reasons for improving the energy efficiency of your home. Firstly insulating [...]
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