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HGS REACH
We are HGS REACH (Residents Action on Climate and Health). We want to make Hampstead Garden Suburb a leader in low-carbon living by becoming Net Zero by 2040.
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Stop your gas boiler burning money
Got a combi boiler? Then read on
Turning down the temperature on your gas boiler can save approximately 10% of your gas bill and tell you if your home is ready for a heat pump.
And your home will be the same temperature as before. Indeed, it may be more comfortable.
Sounds like magic? Read our complete guide for Suburb homes.
Video: Your questions on heat pumps answered
Playback our expert information meeting
Replacing your gas boiler with a heat pump is the biggest contribution you can make to reducing your contribution to climate change.
But there's a lot of confusing (and misleading) info online. Our November heat pump meeting was your chance to quiz experts and local residents whose HGS home is kept toasty warm with a heat pump.
Missed it? We have video playback of the main presentation here. If you have specific questions, you can click through that section of the video:
Why heat pumps are the future for heating our homes
What is the installation process like?
Where does the external unit go?
How do heat pumps work in homes with solid walls?
More on the siting of the external unit
Sarah: Life in a heat pump-home
Larry: My heat pump experience
Or watch the whole video to get a complete update.
Want to save energy and stay warm, but don't know where to start?
Here's the HGS REACH winter checklist
If the animal on the right would enjoy staying in your home then it's time to take action. Our new action checklist starts with easy fixes and moves on to more complex but very worthwhile changes, all with HGS homes in mind.
Start cutting your energy bills by reading here.
Photo: Pixabay
Borrow an IR camera and beat the cold
Our very popular loan scheme is ready for action
More than 100 residents have already borrowed our infra-red cameras to analyse heat loss in their home — and do something about it.
A short video explains how to get set up and what to look for.
The camera loan is free to all RA members.
Learn more here.
Pump it up!
An update on heat pumps in HGS - plus a special discount offer
Some 60% of the carbon emissions in Barnet come from home heating. How do we eliminate that?
With the collapse of the pilot UK hydrogen heating projects, the answer is clearer than ever: heat pumps.
Check out our video to see an HGS home with a heat pump installed.
Or read this Suburb News article by Jonathan Waxman, which includes a discounted scheme to get your home surveyed for installation. Click here to read more.
Should your next car be electric?
REACH ran two events on electric cars in May. Electric cars are not only greener, they're great to drive. And prices are coming down with high-quality second-hand vehicles coming onto the market.
Here's info from both events, plus an update on Barnet's plan to install more chargers in HGS roads.
The curse of petrol tools in the garden
These smelly machines are assaulting our ears, and noses. Worse, the pollutants they emit have been linked to cancer, heart disease and asthma. Barry Millington issues a rousing call to go electric
Spring comes, green shoots appear, the hedges need a trim and within days the Suburb has become a war zone. Contract gardeners are sent out to terrorise us with petrol-powered horticultural bazookas, polluting the environment and deafening anybody foolish enough to welcome the spring with their windows open. But there's no reason why gardeners can't use quieter, greener electric tools instead.
Urgent action needed to stop flooding in HGS
For Nicky Neftalin, July and August don't just mean summer - they mean a risk of flooding. After four deluges since 2007, it's time for action
Photo: Tony Brand
Since moving into a property in Wildwood Road in 2007, our home has been flooded on four separate occasions. Many neighbouring properties in the vicinity have also been affected.
There is an urgent need to fix this situation before its inevitable recurrence but communication with the Barnet Highway Team over the last nine months has not been a productive exercise.
Climate change is a local and global threat
From HGS to Phoenix, Arizona, the threat from climate change is getting greater. Jonathan Waxman, chair of HGS REACH, explains
The solution to climate change is obvious if not easy: we must replace all our fossil fuel burning with clean energy. And this is something in which we in HGS should play our part.
Photo: Pixabay
Our air quality monitor is now live
How good is the air in Hampstead Garden Suburb? We are about to find out
The air quality monitor is installed at the junction of Meadway and Hampstead Way and is now logging NO2 and particulates, which are usually generated by cars, trucks and buses.
We're working on building the data into the REACH website, and there will be a full article in the next issue of Suburb News. We will also put information and a QR code on the lamp post so anyone passing can find what's going inside their lungs.
(Spoiler alert: air quality in HGS isn't as good as you may think/hope.)
The solar-powered monitor is connected to the Breathe London air quality monitoring network, and you can see the data collected so far by clicking through to the Breathe London site. Note that the page takes a while to load. Scroll down to see the data, and click on the buttons below each chart to add WHO and UK limits to the charts.
Credit is due to HGS REACH members Craig Hales and Ruth Ramen for making this happen. Our node is possible because of a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies; Breathe London is supported by the Mayor of London.
Time for a reality check on heat pumps for smaller homes
Are heat pumps suitable for modest family homes? We took a trip to find out.
Some people say heat pumps are only suitable for heavily insulated eco-homes. Or that you have to rip out all your plumbing and install new radiators. We visited Max and Juliette in South London, and found neither of these were true. Their 1930s family has solid brick walls yet was kept warm all last winter by an 11kw heat pump.
Climate change hits home with sharp rise in subsidence claims
A Sunday Times article this weekend has data that shows an epidemic of house subsidence caused by trees sending out new roots because of climate change.
One insurer reports that a 500% increase in claims after the hot summer of 2022.
And north London has more subsidence "than anywhere on the planet", one expert says.
Energy saving in HGS - what to do next
A follow-up to our energy-saving event on May 15
The Suburb News report of this event is now online here.
A full video of the event is here and there are chapter markings so you can go straight to any section that interests you (click on SHOW MORE in the YouTube description for a full list).
Read Dermot Barnes' presentation on energy retrofit for older buildings here.
Judith Leary-Joyce's presentation on retrofitting her home is here and you can buy her book Beginners Guide to Eco Renovation here.
Government and other assistance for improving energy efficiency changes every few months. The Energy Saving Trust has an up-to-date guide.
Secondary glazing for unusual-shaped windows
Many HGS houses have unusual-shaped windows as an attractive architectural feature. Here's how to fit them with plastic secondary glazing.
Our video on plastic secondary glazing has helped many residents make their home more comfortable and cheaper to heat. But what if one or more of your windows aren't rectangles? Or you can't fit ordinary secondary glazing because of locks or other window furniture? If you're moderately skilled at DIY (or have a handy tradesperson) this video explains how you secondary glazing can be fitted to even windows like this.
The problem with heating our homes with hydrogen
Burning hydrogen instead of natural gas seems like an easy way to heat our homes without emitting CO2. The reality is very different.
Hydrogen heating was mentioned in our HGS meeting on heat pumps in November, with one resident asking whether it would just be simpler and easier to adapt today's natural gas network to carry hydrogen instead of making the switch to heat pumps. (Hydrogen doesn't produce CO2 when it burns).
An article in The Times indicates that the challenges of hydrogen look very substantial. Here's a summary.
Image: PixabayHeating an ancient barn using a heat pump
The Sunday Times dispels the myths that this tech can only heat super-insulated houses.
The article promises "Everything you need to know about heat pumps". Well, it's not quite everything you need to know if you're interested in this technology, but it has some interesting facts.
There's also an intriguing photo of a heat pump wrapped in plastic film to make it blend into the wall behind it.
HGS REACH's take on the article is here.
Secondary glazing: easy, cheap, and effective
Time to upgrade those draughty, centuries-old windows at modest cost
This video is the first in a series showing residents how to save energy and reduce carbon emissions at modest cost. It shows how to buy and fit acrylic secondary glazing, a cheap way to reduce draughts and eliminate condensation from most HGS windows. If you want to see how it could fit on your windows email reach@hgsra.uk and we can lend you a 30cm square of the plastic to see how it could fit.
Heat pumps on the Suburb: myths and realities
Taking the heat out of the debate
This technology can slash your home's carbon emissions, but a lot of information online is old or inaccurate. Jonathan Waxman and Gren Manuel demolish the myths and give an update on their use in HGS.
A guide to EV charging in the Suburb
Don't have a driveway? No problem! There's plenty of ways to charge an electric vehicle
With an electric vehicle, you can save as you sleep; an overnight top-up of power is much cheaper than a trip to a petrol station. But what if you can't power it up from your home? Motoring journalist and local resident Ivan Berg gives the complete lowdown on keeping an electric vehicle topped up. Article reprinted courtesy of Suburb News.