Protecting your income from redundancy

Redundancy Protection is the new buzz word from the financial services industry brought out to help protect our future income incase we loose our jobs!

Now in this current climate this may be not a bad thing (for once from those guys) this kind of financial package is well worth it. Ok I do have a vested interest in that my Internet Development company in Ireland developed the site it is still well worth it. Because at the moment with so many people loosing their jobs this is becoming critical as with modern living people are max'd out on their savings and living on the edge with bulging debt all thanks to the financial institutions pushing us to borrow more and more.

If some one looses there job tomorrow they may be lucky and have some savings to tied them over till they find a new job, but in this market now the length of time it takes can exceed 6 months and at a lower rate of pay. In the meantime the living costs have not gone away. At least this will make things that bit easier to get by. The maximum cover they will pay out is €2,000 per month but for a normal sized family, that will atleast cover the monthly grocery expenses and general running costs of the home.

As they say on the site Redundancy Protection, it does it exactly what it says on the tin!!!



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Irish Government announces national insulation programme for economic recovery

The Irish Governement today 8th February 2009, announced a new €100 million investment program to assist home owners to increase the energy efficiency of their homes through insulation.

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan and Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley today launched the national insulation programme for economic recovery. The three-strand insulation programme will cut heating bills for householders, reduce carbon emissions and create thousands of jobs both directly and indirectly over the course of 2009.

Announcing the investment Energy Minister Eamon Ryan said, “This programme will provide a welcome boost to the economy. Central to Government spending in sustainable energy is to get the economy back on track. We need to replace the spending and lending that has contracted and re-focus our public and private investment.

Insulation makes homes warmer and more comfortable. Householders can expect to have their heating bills with reductions of €700 per annum. This means more money in their pockets. Construction workers will benefit from the thousands of jobs these measures we create. These will be jobs for trades-people throughout the country.

In our current economic climate we need direction and radical thinking. This insulation programme saves energy, saves money and creates jobs. This is what our people, our homes and our economy need at this time”

This is an excellent program, infact I was thinking about getting further insulation in my home this year, but was worried as I work for myself that the money put in would take several years to pay for itself. And with the current economic conditions and the "fear" (I am not too worried but...) that money will be a bit slower in collecting this year any investment with several years of return is more risky. But with this new initative it is now a no brainer for me and hopefully I will qualify, then its straight to BER Ratings company Ber Necessties for my BER Assesment. Hopefully I will score enough to get a reasonable grant. >:¬}

It will also help reduce my monthly heating bill which is now over €200 per month during winter thanks to the Mad gas prices.. Ok I would say a lot of these grants are been funded by the extra monies the Irish Government has taken in from the fuel pumps these last few months now that the price per barrell has reduced to something akin to what it was almost 4 years ago but the price at the pump is almost 60% that what it was then... but thats just the cynical part of me thinking that. Atleast they are givining it back in some form. So this kind of taxation I do not mind.

The programme will consist of a number of grant schemes:

The Home Energy Saving Scheme (private middle income homes) - €50 million

Warmer Homes Scheme and Local Authority housing (low income private homes and rented local authority housing) - €50 million

Grants to support a range of improvements will be available.

The Home Energy Saving Scheme (middle income private homes):

Application process:

• It is expected that the scheme will open for homeowner applications in March 2009. At that time, applications can be made through Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), online at www.sei.ie/hes or by post on forms which will be available on request by ringing 1890 927 000.

• SEI are now accepting expressions of interest in participating in the scheme. Homeowners who have expressed an interest in the scheme will be advised when the formal application process is available.

• After registering with SEI, homeowners can immediately arrange for a BER assessment to be carried out, if they wish, without awaiting from grant approval. However, the grant for the BER will only be payable after upgrade measures and follow up BER are completed. Applicants must complete the formal application form and await written grant approval before having upgrade measures carried out.

Eligibility:

• The scheme is aimed at older houses that would not typically have the energy efficiency features of recently built homes. The scheme is open to all houses built prior to 2006. Houses built from 2006 onwards should be built to the Building Regulations 2002 standard, which specifies high quality insulation and heating controls

Objectives

The objectives of the Home Energy Saving Scheme are:

(1) To reduce energy use and CO₂ emissions from the existing housing stock, and

(2) To support the development of the energy services industry in Ireland.

Eligible measures:

The table below sets out:

· the eligible measures and the set grant amounts available.

· the typical improvement in BER rating that could be expected from each individual measure, done in isolation. Note that in estimating the total potential BER improvement, if the full range of measures is installed, the potential BER improvements for each measure should not be added together.

· the typical payback period for each measure, arising from energy saved.

Measure	Grant rate	Typical net BER improvement	Typical payback (years)
Roof Insulation	€250	10-20%	3-6
Cavity Wall Insulation	€400	15-20%	4-5
Internal Wall Insulation	€2,500	25-30%	7-10
External Wall Insulation	€4,000	25-30%	15-20
High efficiency boiler plus heating control upgrade	€700	25-30%	4-5
Heating control upgrade only	€500	15 -25%	4-5
Building Energy Rating	€200

Minimum investment:

• A minimum level of investment is required of householders to participate in the scheme. Householders must avail of measures (excluding BER) involving a minimum grant payment of €500 for a first application. This means that householders cannot avail of a grant for roof insulation or cavity wall insulation only. These low cost measures must be undertaken together or with another measure.

Heating controls and boilers

• To avail of the €500 grant for heating controls, a homeowner must install a range of time, temperature and zone controls on their heating system and electric immersion water cylinder. This low cost measure can improve a home’s BER rating by up to 25%, yet has a payback of only 4 to 5 years.

• While heating controls can be added to an existing heating system, it is particularly attractive to any homeowner replacing their boiler to also install heating controls at that time. Under the Building Regulations 2008, anybody replacing an existing oil or gas boiler must install a condensing boiler with a minimum seasonal efficiency of 86%. Condensing boilers with an efficiency of up to 95% are available on the market. This additional efficiency can lead to significant savings. A grant of €200 towards the cost of these higher efficiency boilers is available to any homeowner who is also installing heating controls.

Wall insulation options

• To insulate the walls of their home, owners may have a choice of cavity wall, internal or external insulation, depending on the construction of their home. Homeowners should seek professional advice on which option is most suitable for their home.

• Where a house has a suitable cavity, then cavity wall insulation is the most economical investment. Where this is not possible the options are either internal dry lining or external insulation. Internal dry lining, while considerably less expensive than external insulation, will ultimately reduce somewhat the internal habitable space of the home and may not be practical where there is decorative internal plasterwork. External wall insulation may prove preferable where a significant upgrade to the external facade is already envisaged. Both may result in additional works in order to reinstate electrical, plumbing and glazing fixtures.

Building Energy Rating

• A BER assessment is not required for participation in the scheme. However, a BER carried out prior to works can provide useful advice to a homeowner on the upgrade measures he or she needs to take to improve the home’s energy efficiency. A BER conducted after the measures are finished can establish the impact of the works and give the homeowner comfort regarding their investment.

• To avail of the BER grant of €200, a homeowner must have a BER assessment conducted before and after works. Anybody wishing to secure the services of a registered BER assessor can find details at www.sei.ie/ber. Homeowners should shop around for the best price.

Contractors

• SEI will be registering contractors for participation in the scheme on the basis of commitments to a range of Terms and Conditions, including specified competence and experience requirements, as well as specified tax and insurance criteria. Contractors should contact SEI on 1850-927000 or at hescontractor@sei.ie for further details and to receive application forms. Alternatively, log onto www.sei.ie/hes

The Warmer Homes Scheme (low income or for those on a social welfare allowance):

The Warmer Homes Scheme is part of the Low Income Housing Programme, administered by SEI. The Scheme was introduced in 2002 and provides funding, through community based organisations, to those on low income for the installation of energy efficiency measures in their homes. Already, up to 9,750 energy efficiency improvements have been made including upgrading the fabric of the building with attic insulation, cavity wall insulation, draught proofing the home and provision of lagging jackets. Homes that receive the full suite of available measures under the current scheme will have the potential to achieve energy savings of up to 50%.

There are currently twenty community based organisations involved in the Scheme. All homes will receive a “Keep Well, Keep Warm” booklet shortly and a website will be available. Applicants should see http://www.sei.ie/ for further detail on how to apply to community groups involved.

Petrol Service Stations been misleading in their pricing

Over the years the price of Oil/GAS/diesel/Petrol has fluctuated greatly and when it was in the .50-.70cents per litre people did not complain nor notice much. But the pricing in the stations was never shown as .50 or .60 but more like 050.9 9 with the 9 been very small.

Now when I go to fill up my tank what used to be every 2 weeks, it is now almost every week. The price is €1.42.9. What the hell is the extra .9 Why can't they be honest and say its €1.43. Instead they know that when we drive up to the station we only see in the very big sign €1.42 and the .9 is small and we do not notice it or register the extra almost extra cent per litre. With over petrol stations in Ireland and the average of 18,000 litres of petrol and diesel per week that equals an additional hidden revenue of €9,199,008 (average of 18,000 litres x 52 x 1,092 stations). Hell place this money directly into research in our universities per year and we may see some results.

An excellent site for pricing across Ireland is Pumps.ie

Some previous posts on this topic:
The Price of Oil going to cause the next Global Recession
Use Sunlight to Make Fuel From CO2

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Global Warming | Alternative Energy | recession | Oil
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The Price of Oil going to cause the next Global Recession.

The Price of Oil and how it is going to cause the next Global Recession, but there is something we can do about it!

I just received this in my email, and I must say its brilliant. Usually I just delete the chain mails, but I got this through Digg (now spammers please don't use this method) and I must say its simple and ingenious, and I for one am going to follow this though in Ireland. Rabbit About: Forums - Petrol Prices - I know this has been going around for a while, but.....

The price of Oil, Petrol, Gas what ever you call it has gone through the roof and its something that really frustrates me on how much like cattle we are to the GREED of the oil industry, they stumbled upon a way on how to easily make massive profits on fear.

The first big hike in prices was the invasion of Afghanistan and then it went up a few cents, to almost $50 (US) wow it was expensive, then it was the fear that the Oil would stop flowing after Iraq, well it didn't but the prices stayed high at over $70-80 a barrel. And the Oil experts were saying that the prices here to stay because of the constant fear of the Middle East exploding.. hell when has it not been in fear of this. But I think then the industry as a whole had an Eureka moment!

They then realised that just the fear of something happening in a local event will make the pricing crazy with almost double percentage growth change in the price in a few short days.. It was the storm in the Gulf of Mexico that pushed prices above $85 (not too sure of the prices at the time but I think its accurate). Now the Gulf only produces not even 10% of the Oil Production in the US, which equates to not even 2% of world production. The storms were going to effect the production for a few days maybe even weeks. But now all of a sudden it made a big difference on the Global Market, forgetting the fact that if the production was seriously effected the US Oil reserve would have taken up the slack and the Federal Government could have made the companies step up production to shore up the short fall when the storms abated. Forgetting the fact that previous years there were storms and it did not make much of a difference in the price.

We have been conditioned by fear to accept these prices, as a part of life, but what has been forgotten is that production costs have not increased by 300% in the last few years. But the cost to the consumer has. Another big jump was the scare of Russia has or is about to pass the Peak Production cycle. Bam! another jump in prices on the global stage. Forget the fact that the US passed theirs in the 70's at the same time there was a ARAB OIL PRODUCTION EMBARGO! Which means they were not selling theirs to the west at all. There were massive fuel shortages all over the world, ques at pumps for miles and I remember my father filling up several gallon tanks at a time and leaving them at the bottom of the garden because he and no one new when they were able to get oil again... NOW THAT WAS FEAR, REAL AND JUSTIFIED. Then the price of Oil increased from about $5 to about $9 in two years. But there was a real shortage then the price increases were justified as there was scarcity of supply. More Pricing here.

The ironic thing was when Opec discovered the new pricing model they discovered not only new world power but how much more money they could make.

We are going to face a world where Oil will become more scarce, and yes I do strongly believe that we should seriously look at decreasing our dependency in Oil and its by products which are just huge, from our tooth brush to beauty products. I would much rather the actual increases be levied on us not by the oil industry but by our Governments who pocket the lions share of the increase and they say and allocate all of this money into research into Alternative fuels and new sources of Energy, hell even go to the Moon to mine for Helium-3 (have a nice post in draft on this).

But no the vast majority of these profits are going to the Oil industry and lining their pockets with even greater funds. The price of Oil has been the single largest contributor to the current state of the Global Economy. With more money and wealth transferred from the Middle and Working classes because the cost of the every day items increasing dramatically directly in the cost of just getting the goods to the store, then from actually getting to the store to buy them through to the actual cost of the raw materials themselves (plastic industry, paint some foodstuffs etc).

Over the last several months we have seen food riots across the world because of price increases now other every day goods are going to start doubling in prices if we do not do something about it... because if we do not we will see a Global Recession with mad inflation and there will be nothing we can do about it.

So please do something and stop this spiral of increase in the price of OIL!

So why not teach the industry a lesson and actually search out the cheapest supplier of Oil/Gas/Petrol you can find and keep on going to them and Prove to these Greed infested monsters that we the little people can actually make a difference!

The statement below is from Energy Information Administration
Do consumers impact gasoline prices?
Consumers have very little power as individuals but, if enough consumers give the same “market signal,” they can impact prices. First, when consumers buy gasoline at service stations in their areas with the lowest price, they take market share away from higher-priced stations; these stations may then eventually reduce their prices to be more competitive. The second way consumers impact the market is by reducing gasoline consumption. If enough people reduce driving or switch to more energy-efficient vehicles, gasoline demand would decline and prices would be dampened.

Visit RabbitAbout this Snip taken from them..
I am sending this note to a lot of people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it... ..

THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

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