Opinion
Help your customers stay warm for less
Griff Thomas, from GTEC, looks at how installers can help their customers choose the best green tech for their homes
Training 6
News
Cut-price heat pump training for installers from Panasonic
Panasonic has teamed up with Optimum Energy to create a huge opportunity for installers to upskill, part-funded by the government. With this fantastic offer you can book onto courses which normally cost £750 per person, for just £45 for dates throughout October.
News
‘MCS Made Easy’ platform launched by GTEC
Developed by GTEC and Learning Lounge, MCS Made Easy provides a package of support, including tutorials, Q&As and real-life scenarios, covering the key requirements which need to be met in order to become MCS certified.
News
WindEurope launches educational hub to tackle clean energy skills gap
The new WindEurope hub offers basic explanations about wind energy, a new book on job profiles in clean energy, teaching resources and hands-on activities.
Opinion
The business of heat pumps
The need to lower UK carbon emissions is immediate if we have any chance of meeting our net zero 2050 target. Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP) are a well-established technology that offer significant carbon savings when compared to gas or oil central heating. ASHP’s are far more efficient than other electric heating systems, producing as much as four times more heat than the electricity they use.
News
Ground-breaking new training course from the Heat Pump Association
The course is split into two stages as below:
News
Panasonic revamped programme delivers more benefits for installers
Existing PRO Club members automatically join the new scheme and participants in the Panasonic Rewards scheme can easily switch and upgrade to take full advantage of the additional benefits of full PRO Partner membership. The new PRO Partner Rewards scheme replaces the current Panasonic Rewards scheme, which will come to an end on 31 August 2021, with any points for Love 2 Shop rewards relating to those sales to be claimed by 31 December 2021 when the scheme will be fully closed.
News
New online training facility for installers
The training academy at Grant UK’s head offices in Wiltshire, has been established for almost two decades and during that time, the premises have been adapted to meet the ever-changing training requirements of heating engineers. Starting out providing oil boiler training and OFTEC qualification and assessments, the academy later expanded to offer a comprehensive selection of courses on renewable heating systems. Today, air source heat pump courses are the most popular with over 700 installers and heating engineers completing heat pump training through the academy within the last two years.
News
Dates for your diary
PVTech and TechTalk webinars on solar installations
Feature
Industry movers and shakers
Opinion
Diversity for installers
We live in changing times, led by a reassessment of how we treat our planet and each other, increasing digitisation and the roll-back of globalisation towards national priorities. These ‘megatrends’, which have been accentuated and accelerated by the response to the pandemic, are incredibly relevant to the roles women take in the workplace and wider society.
News
Vaillant welcomes funding for apprenticeships if geared towards delivering the green economy
In response to the Chancellor’s announcement that £126m of funding will be made available to create 40,000 new traineeships, along with cash incentives for firms to take on apprentices and a new apprenticeship programme, Mark Wilkins, Technologies and Training Director at Vaillant, comments:
Feature
Demystifying the route to renewables
The webinars, hosted by OFTEC and in partnership with MCS, consist of three short sessions developed in response to feedback from technicians and will primarily focus on heat pump technologies.
News
Barriers are removed for installers wanting to become MCS certified
MCS is to consult on a new route to certification, removing one of the current barriers to participation in the scheme.
Opinion
Heat pump industry: GHG can’t be turned off like a tap
Whilst the Green Homes Grant has come in for a great deal of criticism, and has struggled to attract installers, partly because of the terms and conditions, and partly because of the apparent failings in its administration, the scheme has successfully raised consumer awareness of heat pump technology to a level that no other intervention to date has achieved.
News
No tick-box-training from National Gas Centre for Excellence
The National Gas Centre for Excellence (NGCFE) has opened the doors of its 6,000 sq. ft state-of-the-art centre in Featherstone, West Yorkshire to tackle the national shortage in qualified heating engineers with high-quality training focused on the needs of the installers and engineers.
Product
myenergi reward scheme and direct leads for installers
Developed in partnership with EV Comply, the step-by-step solution takes the customer through the OZEV grants application process* and connects them to their closest myenergi-approved independent. While saving time and money for the consumer, installers benefit from sales leads direct to their inbox.
Opinion
The right people to build your business
It’s not been an easy time to recruit staff in the renewable energy sector. We asked Andrew England, Head of Clean Energy at energy employment specialists, Eleven Recruitment, for his take on where we are and what lies ahead…
Feature
UK heat pump market set to almost double this year
The Heat Pump Association (HPA), which represents around 95% of the heat pump manufacturing market share, has surveyed its members to estimate the supply of heat pumps in 2021. This has revealed that manufactures have placed orders with their supply chains to deliver a total of 67,000 units in 2021. This equates to a nearly double the number of heat pumps on shelves and in warehouses ready for installers to meet the growing consumer demand.
Opinion
District heat networks – the overlooked urban solution?
While hydrogen certainly offers great potential, it’s often overlooked that it is untested technology at present and, meanwhile, the clock is ticking.
News
Cashback for installers and clients
Panasonic are currently offering installers £800 and their customers an additional £600 as part of their Green Install Cashback Scheme and Green Homes Cashback scheme.
Feature
No jab, no job – what do you think?
Pimlico Plumbers chairman, Charlie Mullins, recently stated his intention to draft a new employment contract for its 400-strong workforce to ensure that only those vaccinated against Covid-19 could work for him.
News
New NIBE scheme will enable installers to seize opportunity
To help installers to prepare for the future of heating NIBE Energy Systems has announced a new training scheme. The launch of the scheme, NIBE Pro, follows the Government’s latest pledge for 600,000 heat pumps to be installed per year by 2028.
Opinion
No jab, no job – the right tactic for installers?
Pimlico Plumbers founder and former chief executive, now chairman, Charlie Mullins has told his workforce that if they fail to take a COVID vaccination they can forget working. Called a knee-jerk reaction, Whilst the below focuses specifically on plumbers, we question whether this the right tactic for installers on the front line?