Latest news with #ECO
Express Tribune
2 hours ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
Pakistan, Iran ink MoU on boosting ties
On the concluding day of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit held in Tehran, a MoU was signed between Pakistan and Iran to enhance bilateral cooperation in the field of communications. The signing ceremony was attended by Iran's Minister for Roads and Urban Development Farzaneh Sadegh, and Federal Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan who also led the Pakistani delegation in this ECO summit, said a statement received here on Tuesday. A formal meeting was held between the two ministers, accompanied by their respective delegations in which both sides agreed to further strengthen the longstanding relations between the two neighboring countries. Aleem Khan highlighted the deep-rooted religious, cultural and historical ties between Pakistan and Iran, stating that the shared culture, especially from Balochistan to Iran, reflects strong commonalities in daily life and traditions. He welcomed the holding of the ECO summit in Tehran, expressing optimism that the platform would yield positive outcomes for the region. Iranian Minister Farzaneh Sadegh expressed readiness for all possible cooperation in Pakistan's Communications sector and affirmed Iran's commitment to advancing bilateral projects.
Express Tribune
a day ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
Pakistan for creating growth opportunities
Federal Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan has emphasised the need for creating more opportunities for economic growth and mutual stability within the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) region. "We believe in transforming challenges into opportunities," he stated while addressing an ECO ministerial meeting in Tehran on Monday. He was heading a delegation from Pakistan. The two-day huddle was attended by ministers from 10 member countries including Pakistan, Turkiye, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. Delegates from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and host country Iran also participated. Abdul Aleem Khan said that Pakistan holds strategic importance in the region and was particularly committed to developing road networks, enhancing land connectivity and establishing trade corridors. He reiterated Pakistan's priority to strengthen ties among ECO member states while referring to the Vision 2025 established during the ECO summit held in Islamabad in 2017. The communications minister highlighted the ongoing efforts to integrate Pakistan's rail and road corridors with the broader ECO network. In that regard, he cited major projects such as CPEC and aligning with the Euro-Asian Transport Links and the Asian Highway Network as national priorities. He elaborated that Pakistan has connected its northern border at Khunjerab to the seaports of Gwadar and Karachi and has also developed road networks to create linkages with Iran and Afghanistan. "Pakistan is undergoing a digital transformation in the communications sector, which will bring substantial long-term benefits," he remarked.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘I got a £30k energy grant for having asthma'
Jane Bee has suffered with asthma since she was in her 20s. Now in her 70s, she has spent a lifetime using inhalers and steroids to keep it at bay, not helped by her 17th century home in Hamsterley village, Durham. However, since more than £30,000 worth of eco upgrades were made to the property last year, her condition has improved 'significantly' as the cold and damp has subsided. The best part – all of the work was free. Through her neighbours in the village, Mrs Bee and her husband Alan had heard of ECO4, the scheme that upgrades the energy efficiency of properties for no charge. Launched in 2013, the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) was initially only open to low income households or those in receipt of benefits living in homes with an EPC rating of D or less. But in 2022, access was expanded to include those with a medical condition that makes them vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home. Examples of common conditions that make you eligible for the free upgrade include arthritis, high blood pressure, severe eczema and diabetes, according to advice website Energy Saving Genie. It is part of the Government's target to make the UK net zero by 2050, and aims to reduce fuel poverty and energy bills in the long-term, as well as reducing carbon emissions. The change in eligibility conditions meant that as a lifelong asthma sufferer, Jane could apply for a suite of upgrades to their four-bedroom detached home that had an EPC rating of E. 'We'd been living in the property freezing for 49 years, it was just so cold. So when we got the chance to go for this, we thought it was silly not to,' says Mrs Bee, a former lecturer at Durham University. 'The house first changed hands in 1730 so we don't actually know how old it is.' She sorted the application and work started in late October last year. 'They insulated the house, so any outside wall had another four inches added. They also put in new radiators in every room and added new ones where we didn't have them before. They added in the air source heat pump outside and then the boiler inside which is huge.' In addition, the house was fitted with solar panels, and the couple opted to pay for batteries to store any excess energy they create. Aside from the storage that cost £3,800, the only other element the Bees paid for was a shower as their old model no longer worked with the new system, costing around £400. However, Mrs Bee estimates the overall value of the work they had done is worth more than £30,000. 'As you can imagine we are nice and cosy now,' she says. However, while the work was free, the couple's energy bills have risen substantially. Before the changes, energy bills over the winter of 2023 ranged from £62 a month to £119, yet this winter, they hit an eye watering £409 in January before dropping gradually to £134 in April. The hope now is that they will continue to fall over the summer months, evening out the cost across the year. In addition, the solar panels generate enough electricity that the property can export it out, which over time should also reduce the bills. Over 2.5 million homes have received upgrades under ECO, the retrofit scheme which is now in its fourth iteration. This total comprises more than four million individual measures including biomass boilers and loft insulation. The scheme is mandated by the Government as part of a drive towards better energy efficiency and the country's net zero target by 2050. However, it is funded by energy companies, meaning that it is ultimately energy bill payers who foot the cost. ECO4 is worth £1bn per year over the four-year scheme up to March 2026. However, it is running ahead of its budget – with a total spend of £3.7bn between April 2022 and December 2024. Under the current energy price cap, the scheme adds around £59 (around 3pc) to the typical household's bill, equating to around £1.5bn of total cost for households, according to Energy UK. It is not without its issues. In January this year, the Government announced it was taking action against contractors who had installed poor-quality wall insulation under the scheme. In addition, Trustmark, the independent body, discovered problems with retrofits under ECO including missing paperwork, wall insulation issues and insufficient ventilation. There is now a remediation programme in action under regulator Ofgem to fix all properties with deficiencies as a result of work under the scheme. Despite their bills rising, Mr and Mrs Bee say they aren't bothered by the costs. Before the upgrades, heating oil was costing them close to £1,000 annually in addition to £110 on logs and £25 a week on coal between October and March – half the year. The result was around £140 a month extra if the winter costs were spread over the year. 'We only had the oil central heating on for four hours a day. If we'd had it on all the time (like the air source heat pump is now), it would have cost a small fortune,' Mrs Bee says. 'We are so grateful to the people who made it happen. Yes, it has probably proved more expensive, but we would have had to spend more to keep warm anyway.' A spokesman for Octopus said: 'Because they switched from oil heating to electric, their electric usage and subsequently their electricity bill has increased. Please note that this also means they don't have to pay for oil any more. 'The solar panels installed by Alan and Jane were connected on March 23 2025. While they wouldn't have seen any benefit from them during the most recent winter period, we can see they've already made over £41 back between March 23 and May 3, which is great news.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Business Mayor
17-05-2025
- Health
- Business Mayor
How weight-loss wonder drugs are redefining the way our bodies work
Obesity was once medicine's Cinderella subject with some questioning whether the condition should even be viewed as a biological disorder. But the arrival of a new class of appetite-suppressing drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy has transformed obesity treatment into the most scientifically exciting and commercially lucrative area of healthcare. These drugs lead to dramatic weight loss, are shifting perceptions and, according to a series of results announced at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Málaga this week, promise health benefits that extend far beyond weight management. 'It's been an extraordinary week,' said Prof Susan Jebb, a public health nutrition scientist at the University of Oxford, who has been researching obesity treatments since the 1980s and who presented the findings at the ECO meeting. 'Obesity has been [in the background] for so long and it's been such a slog,' she added. 'These drugs have energised the field and it has happened so fast.' Gamechanger for more than just obesity First developed to help lower blood sugar levels as a diabetes treatment, it was quickly apparent that Novo Nordisk's drug semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy jabs) has a dramatic effect on weight. The drug works by mimicking a hormone, GLP-1, which is released in the gut when we eat and acts on receptors around the body, including the brain. Eli Lilly's rival product, Mounjaro, contains the active ingredient tirzepatide. This emulates GLP-1 as well as a second hormone producing even more impressive results, according to the first head-to-head trial reported this week in which participants lost an average of 20% of their body weight after 72 weeks of treatment. The benefits of being at a healthy weight are substantial, with one study published in January suggesting weight-loss jabs could reduce the risk of 42 diseases including heart disease, cancer, clotting disorders, Alzheimer's, chronic kidney disease, addiction and a range of psychiatric conditions. There is early evidence that these benefits go beyond what might be expected due to the drugs' metabolic effects. Trials have shown weight-loss jabs can reduce the risk of the onset of 42 conditions, among them cancer and cardiovascular disease. Photograph: Barry Diomede/Alamy 'We absolutely know that almost every aspect of health is better if you're a healthy weight,' said Jebb. 'What we haven't really nailed is whether those effects are independent of weight. There may be weight independent effects. My reading is that the jury is still out.' Others are already convinced. Results from a phase 3 trial of semaglutide in patients with fatty liver disease (medically known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis or MASH) found the drug could halt and even reverse the condition, which affects one in five UK adults. Most participants in the trial were obese or had diabetes, but the data revealed benefits to the liver even in those who experienced little or no weight loss. 'We were able to demonstrate that there's a weight loss contribution but that there's a contribution that's weight independent,' said Prof Philip Newsome, of King's College London, who presented the findings in Málaga this week. 'That's quite interesting and exciting.' Another trial found weight-loss jabs could almost halve the risk of obesity-related cancers, with the effects larger than would be expected from weight loss alone. And two studies suggested that the drugs may have mental health benefits. 'Clearly if your weight improves there will be a benefit to emotional wellbeing, your self-worth, self-confidence and energy levels,' said Dr Toby Pillinger, a psychiatrist and lecturer at King's, who authored one of the studies. But given that the drugs also appear to act on the brain's reward system, more direct neurological effects are also plausible. 'They've been likened to the Swiss army knife of medicines,' Pillinger said. 'We are only starting to understand their effects around the body. None more so than in the changes in how our brain is functioning.' Within a few years, the drugs have transformed the landscape of metabolic medicine. Pillinger sees a similar revolution on the horizon for psychiatry, suggesting that addiction, binge-eating disorders and schizophrenia are obvious targets for future trials. What happens when you come off the drugs? The problem with diets, notoriously, is that once a person stops dieting they often regain weight. For GLP-targeting drugs, the data is patchy because pharmaceutical companies typically stop tracking people once they stop taking the medicine. Jebb and colleagues are among the first to trace this trajectory . They found rapid weight loss was followed by a rapid rebound. When people stopped taking semaglutide they regained all the weight lost within 10 months – far quicker than for behavioural interventions. 'We've got to face up to what happens when people stop taking these drugs,' said Jebb. The drug works by mimicking a hormone, GLP-1, which is released in the gut when we eat and acts on receptors around the body, including the brain. Photograph: Image Source/Alamy Another obesity expert, Prof Alexander Miras, at Ulster University, said: 'No one has actually given us specific numbers as to how many people this happens in, but we are estimating it to be around 95%.' Dr Martin Whyte, a consultant in diabetes at King's College Hospital NHS trust, said it was a phenomenon he cautioned patients about. 'I haven't seen a single person who got down to a weight on GLP-1 drug, stopped it, and their weight stayed exactly the same coming off the drug,' he said. The findings do not undermine the efficacy of the drugs, experts say, but they need to be carefully considered by those paying for them and by patients considering their treatment options. 'We need to face up to the costs of lifelong treatment – and these drugs are expensive,' said Jebb. 'When we come to private prescriptions – and right now in the UK most people are doing this privately – people need to understand there are high risks of regaining the weight very fast when you stop. We've got to give people the facts.' It is an experience familiar to Anita*, 41, who is a consultant from Cambridge. She started on Mounjaro in April 2024 and continued taking the medication until December, falling from 87kg (13.7st) to 70kg. 'Food has always been front and centre for me,' she said. 'But when I was taking Mounjaro, my appetite was absolutely different. It was almost to the point where I couldn't believe how much it had changed. I thought: 'Oh, this is what normal people must feel like when they're just not wanting to eat all the time.'' Just before Christmas 2024, Anita came off the jabs as the £225 monthly cost was proving too expensive. Three weeks into January her cravings and appetite returned. She put 7kg back on within two months. 'My appetite came back as unstoppable as before,' she said. 'I could not help eating junk. I craved chocolate and cheese, which was exactly what I felt before I started the jabs. It was like I had never been on them.' Anita decided to go back on Mounjaro and started on the jabs six weeks ago. This time she shopped around and now pays £150 a month. 'I feel like if I can afford it I'll probably keep on it as maintenance. If you have a drug that will help you achieve what you need, has low side effects, and it works well and is safe, why not use it?' she said. Mounjaro also emulates GLP-1 as well as a second hormone producing even more impressive results. Photograph: George Frey/Reuters Experts say rather than being an acute treatment, as would be used for something like an infection, these weight-loss medications should be viewed as a treatment for a chronic condition – similar to the way statins are used. 'If you have somebody on a statin for their cholesterol, and you stop statin, almost inevitably the cholesterol rises,' said Whyte. 'If you have somebody on the blood pressure tablet, you stop the tablet, almost inevitably the blood pressure rises. So it's not dissimilar from that.' Yet questions remain, including why a fraction of patients do not regain weight when they stop the medications. 'No one knows who these people are, and they don't know what makes them different,' said Miras, though he added that there were two main theories. The first was that such patients might have gained weight due to particular life events such as a pregnancy or a stressful period – meaning that when the event resolved, so too did the weight gain. Another possibility, said Miras, was that a genetically predetermined 'set point' for body weight had a broader range for some people than others, meaning their body did not resist efforts to deviate from this weight as strongly as for other people. Whyte said research was now looking at how to minimise weight-regain, noting that as well as maintaining muscle mass and making lifestyle changes, research suggested tapering down doses might help. As patients are tracked for longer and in real-world settings, it is also clear that these drugs are not the solution for everyone. Some find the side-effects unpleasant, miss enjoyment of food or simply don't want to continually take medication and, while they have been found to be effective in early trials in children, some question whether this is the right approach so early in life. With the medications known to reduce muscle mass, Whyte said an important question was whether this went beyond what would be expected from weight loss alone. Yet with GLP-1 drugs having been used for diabetes for almost 20 years, Whyte said the data suggested overall the medications were safe. 'There was an initial concern [about], maybe it could lead to higher risk of pancreatitis or even pancreatic cancer or thyroid [cancer]. That has not been borne out in any of the follow-up data,' he said. 'Treatment revolution that will only get better' Critics of weight-loss drugs tend to view them as medicalising a problem that would be better solved by policies to tackle the underlying causes of the obesity crisis. But, according to Prof Naveed Sattar, of the University of Glasgow, there is no sign of high-calorie foods becoming less ubiquitous. And where successive policies have failed to make a sufficient impact, he argues the drugs themselves may provide a fresh incentive for a change in the food market. 'When Eli Lilly first reported their results, the share prices of some fast-food places dipped,' said Sattar. 'Ultimately it might reverse-engineer things towards a better food environment.' Weight-loss drugs now dominate the conversation around obesity. But their success may also drive medical interest in alternative pathways for treatment. 'What the success of these drugs absolutely demonstrates is that obesity is a biological phenomenon,' said Jebb. 'Some people have a genetic susceptibility that makes it a struggle to manage their appetites, which is made incredibly hard in a world where food is everywhere.' 'Part of what I hope these drugs do is reframe medical attitudes around obesity. It's easier to engage doctors in talking about drug treatments but I hope it will draw them into talking about other options as well.' Miras was also enthusiastic. 'When you don't understand the disease, it is almost automatic in medicine that we start blaming the patient because we feel uncomfortable,' he said. 'Now we have understood the disease, not completely but much better. And now, as a result, there is a revolution in the treatment of obesity and that will only get better.'
The Sun
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
How to get a free boiler or cheap home heating upgrades to cut your energy bills
THINKING about upgrading your home's heating to save on energy bills? Installing things like solar panels and heat pumps can save you thousands of pounds in the long term - but cost a small fortune to install. 1 Help is at hand from new funding schemes to get Britain to Net Zero, but the government has yet to confirm the details. Harriet Cooke glimpses into the future of home heating systems - and the decisions you'll soon be making. Boiler off the boil? Gas boilers in new homes could be banned as soon as next year, it emerged this week. It means newbuilds will be equipped with electric heat pumps or other non-gas heating systems, rather than gas. Those with existing gas boilers can keep on using them and there is no planned ban on selling them. So if you're thinking of getting an old boiler, you can still buy a new more efficient one, which might typically cost between £600 and £2,500 depending on the model and system type. The government's Energy Company Obligation scheme, and The Great British Insulation Scheme (also called ECO+), both provide funding, and you don't necessarily have to be on benefits. Talk to your energy company to see if you qualify. Upgrading an old boiler could save you around £300 a year on gas bills, figures from the Centre for Sustainable Energy shows, and it will last around 10 to 15 years. Case study: 'Our monthly bill has been cut from £90 to £35' Chris Bell, 69, a retired Royal Navy chief engineer, and wife Kim, 68 Chris Bell, 69, a retired Royal Navy chief engineer, and wife Kim, 68, have installed eight solar panels and a solar battery at their three-bedroom home in Gosport, Hampshire. He said: 'We didn't want all our money going on energy bills every month - that was our reason for doing it. 'We've still got our gas boiler for heating the radiators, but the real change for us is having free electricity. 'Our monthly energy bill has gone from £90 to £35, and this includes standing charges and a daily tank of hot water. 'We're also getting payments from our energy supplier for the solar power we sell to the grid, which we estimate will cover a good portion of the winter gas bill. 'The panels, battery and iBoost (a solar water heater) took a day to set up by a local company called EE Renewables and cost us just under £8,000. 'That's a chunk of our children's inheritance, but we spoke to them and they wanted us to go ahead. You hope that it will pay for itself in time, as well as adding to the value of the property.' Pump up your heating The government is super keen on replacing our gas boilers with heat pumps - although uptake has been low. The pumps work by gathering warmth from the air or ground and funnelling it into home radiators using electricity rather than gas. The average British Heat pump installation costs £4,415, after the government grant of £7,500 is applied. As well installing the pump, it may be necessary to fit bigger radiators, new pipes and improve the property's insulation, so planning permission may be needed. Servicing the pump usually costs around £200 a year, and it will typically last around 20 years. Suppliers like British Gas have online calculators to predict your future running costs with a pump, which will vary between properties. Although pumps are three times more efficient than boilers, electricity is four times more expensive than gas - but the price is predicted to fall. Octopus said the average home saves £280 by switching from a boiler to a heat pump run on a Cosy Octopus tariff, although savings can be up £545 depending on your type of home, heat pump, tariff, installation type and if you remove your gas meter. The government is considering plans to subsidise households to lease their heat pump until they paid off the cost, although this might work out to be more expensive in the short term, and for workers to pay for the installation through a salary sacrifice scheme. Solar panels They save money on your bills and can make you cash - but solar panels aren't cheap to install at an average £7,000. A typical household could save between £140 and £340 a year on energy bills — and make extra cash signing up to an export tariff to sell solar electricity back to the grid. This might be between £270 and £400 a year based on a 15p per kWh rate, but some tariffs pay more. The Energy Saving Trust estimates it could take between 11 and 14 years to recoup the cost of installing panels, so it's not a good financial idea if you're planning to move. Grants of up to £14,000 are available from the Energy Company Obligation scheme, but it isn't open to everyone. To be eligible you'll need to have household income less than £31,000 and be receiving certain benefits. Also check out the Home Upgrade Grant and Warmer Home Nest Scheme Wales. Conrad Hart-Brooke, 51, from Leeds Conrad Hart-Brooke, 51, from Leeds, spent £15,000 on 18 solar panels and a storage battery at his home in Leeds two years ago and reckons he'll make the money back in about six or seven years. The civil servant said after that he'll probably be making around £1,500 to £2,000 a year by selling electricity back. Last year he had a heat pump installed for £1,600, after getting a £7,500 government grant. For Conrad, the pump alone would not result in huge savings, he said, but combined with his solar panels and batteries he is saving about £500 a year compared with what he paid with his old combi gas boiler. Heat batteries Heat batteries, otherwise known as zero-emission boilers, are another green option if heat pumps are not suitable for your home. They are currently not eligible for the £7,500 grant in the boiler upgrade scheme or for VAT exemption, which heat pumps get. But the government is considering whether they should be. A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it is monitoring the use of heat batteries in fifty homes as a low-carbon alternative to gas heating, and the results would be published later this year. Common myths around energy consumption Gwilym Snook, appliance expert at quashed some commonly believed myths around appliances and energy consumption. MYTH – Your fridge freezer is cheaper to run when empty A commonly held belief is that your fridge freezer is more energy-efficient when it's empty as there isn't anything to cool. However, the reverse is true – Your fridge will operate most effectively when all its shelves are well-stocked. MYTH – Washing your clothes at higher temperatures cleans them better Most households across the UK wouldn't trust to wash their clothes at 30°C as they wouldn't believe it is an adequate temperature. But in fact, 30°C is more than sufficient for most of your clothes and will significantly help to reduce your energy costs by up to 50 per cent when compared to a 40°C wash. MYTH – Tumble dryers aren't eco-friendly Older models of tumble dryers were indeed energy guzzlers yet this myth that tumble dryers can't be energy-efficient has been blown out of the water in recent years. Enter the heat pump tumble dryer, a specially designed appliance that recycles warm air to dry your clothes at a much cheaper rate than their older counterparts. Did you know that running this dryer will cost 63p a cycle on average? A small fee which can be reduced even further this winter by looking to dry your clothes between 10pm and 8am during off-peak electricity hours. MYTH – Boiling water in your kettle is always energy-efficient While kettles are energy-efficient appliances, did you know it's easy to waste energy when bringing it to a boil accidentally? This can be done by filling your kettle to the brim every time you're brewing up. Instead, try to boil only the amount of water you need this winter. In the long run this small hack can help you save your money! MYTH – Energy-efficient appliances don't make a difference It's often believed that the A-G energy rating scale doesn't make any difference to your overall energy consumption. This isn't the case. Energy-efficient appliances such as those with high A ratings can significantly reduce your energy bills when compared to older, less efficient models. For example, replacing your old fridge-freezer with a newer energy-efficient one could save up to £100 a year on your electricity bills, which in the long run helps it pay for itself!
