Insulation, Solar Panels, Heat Pumps and Wind Turbines From Mark Group

The Hawksworth Family

April 2008

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The Hawksworth family live in a 4 bedroomed detached house in Castle Donnington. They have five children, two cars and an enormous electricity bill!

In December 2006 BBC Breakfast launched an appeal for volunteers for a new Breakfast experiment, to see how easy it is to go green. They were looking for a typical family who were prepared to make some tough choices, to reduce their carbon footprint. After sifting through hundreds of volunteers the Hawksworth family was finally chosen.

The Challenge

For twelve months the BBC cameras followed the Hawksworths attempts to reduce their carbon footprint. Each month looked at a different ‘green’ aspect that could be utilised to decrease the family’s carbon footprint.

The Solution

Mark Group became involved in the project when they were contacted by local Energy Efficiency Advice Centre to help the Hawksworths with their challenge. In the first of the programmes back in April of last year Bill Rumble, Mark Group Commercial Director, explained live on air that loft and cavity wall insulation would be the best first steps to reducing the Hawksworth’s carbon footprint, and subsequently talked viewers and presenter Declan Curry through the process of installation.

Later in the year the Hawksworths moved closer to a full ‘whole house’ energy efficiency solution with the installation of a Solar Hot Water system through the Mark Group.

All of these measures combined to make a significant reduction in the Hawksworth’s energy usage and their energy bills.

	Before Insulation & Solar Hot Water	After Insulation & Solar Hot Water
Gas usage	836 units p.a	498 units p.a
Electricity usage	11,240 kilowatts p.a	6,821 kilowatts p.a
Monthly bill	£125	£77

A total saving of £48 per month and a reduction of almost 40%.

Paul Hawksworth, commenting on the savings made, said: "Having these energy efficiency measures installed in the house has made a significant contribution to reducing our energy usage and the cost of our gas and electricity bills.

"The insulation seems to have made the biggest difference and we noticed almost immediately how much warmer the house was following the installation of the cavity wall and loft insulation.

"I would recommend to anyone to take these measures up as it’s a complete win-win situation.

"You can massively reduce your energy bills while at the same doing your bit for the planet."

The Hawksworth’s next green leap forward is to install an energy efficient condenser boiler as they set their sights on going from being the Low Carbon family to ultimately the Zero Carbon family.

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