Queen looks to low-carbon Britain

Britons may wish to take steps to make their homes greener, such as by purchasing a new condensing boiler or renewable energy technology including solar panels and ground source heat pumps as even the Queen is now looking to encourage the UK to become more energy efficient.

Today (November 18th), the Queen opened a new parliamentary session and gave a speech, where she said: "Legislation will be introduced to support carbon capture and storage and to help more of the most vulnerable households with their energy bills."

She added: "My government will seek effective global and European collaboration through the G20 and the European Union to sustain economic recovery and to combat climate change, including at the Copenhagen summit next month."

In December, leaders from across the globe will attend a conference in Copenhagen where they will attempt to come up with new legislation on how carbon emissions should be tackled, to replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.

A document released by the government entitled The Road To Copenhagen sees Ed Miliband, secretary of state for energy and climate change, claim that 2009 is a "make or break" year for the planet.

He added that he wished to see everyone - from individuals to businesses - doing their bit to help lower the country's carbon footprint in order to see the UK well on the way to achieving its carbon emissions reduction targets.

So with the Queen and the government paving the way for a greener UK, what can the average homeowner do to achieve their part in lowering the country's carbon emissions, while also benefiting from lower utility bills?

The Energy Saving Trust claims that there are a number of ways to stop wasting utilities and boost energy efficiency - and central heating systems are a good place to start.

"Boilers account for around 60 per cent of the carbon dioxide emissions in a gas heated home. By replacing an old G-rated boiler with a new high efficiency condensing boiler and improving your heating controls, you will significantly cut your home's carbon dioxide emissions and could save as much as £235 a year," the group asserts.

But what makes a condensing boiler more efficient than older models of gas boiler?

According to the Energy Saving Trust, a condensing boiler is able to recover more of the heat which is usually released as a waste product through the flue, transforming it instead back into water vapour which can be used as useful heat and hot water for the home.

And heating controls can also be used to boost central heating and make it greener, helping to maintain rooms at a comfortable temperature and ensuring that no living space is unnecessarily heated when it is unoccupied.

Heating controls include a programmer, a room thermostat, a combined programmable room thermostat, a cylinder thermostat and thermostatic radiator valves - all of which could be economical ways to make central heating greener and reduce a property's carbon footprint.

But Britons can make their homes even greener by investing in renewable energy technology which could dramatically lower their utility bills, along with their carbon emissions.

Four popular types of renewable energy technology are ground and air source heat pumps, biomass boilers and solar panels - all of which are recommended by the Energy Saving Trust.

Ground source heat pumps can save between £400 and £800 a year on heating bills and prevent eight tonnes of carbon emissions being released, a biomass boiler can lower bills by £200 and save the same amount of carbon emissions while solar panels can result in a £40 annual saving.

Such figures, along with moves made by both the government and the Queen, may prompt Britons to choose now as the time when they make their homes greener.