HER own struggle to find independent advice about renewable energy has led an East Devon woman to launch her own website.

Cathy Debenham is hoping YouGen will become a popular resource for people who want to reduce the carbon footprint of their homes.

The journalist and marketing consultant runs the site from her home in Sidbury, near Sidmouth.

After nearly a year in development, the site went live just before Christmas.

Mrs Debenham is still waiting for the first set of figures showing the number of hits it has received, but said the response so far had been positive.

"What I'm trying to do is encourage people to have a look and register," she said. "In the next phase of the site's development, people will be able to put up profiles and share information."

The site aims to provide well-researched, independent information and links to places where users can find out more.

It features a renewable energy blog where YouGen energy experts will write about technology, answer questions and give advice. Two of the experts are based in Devon; Gabriel Wondrausch, of Sungift Solar in Exeter, who writes about solar thermal panels, and Gordon Traill, of Treco in Tiverton, who writes on biomass.

Mrs Debenham hired Exeter-based website designers Optix Solutions and design agency Alder and Alder to build and develop the site.

"It's part of my business philosophy to use local companies," she said.

Explaining the inspiration for the website, Mrs Debenham said: "I noticed there was a gap in the information available when we were renovating our house and trying to make it as low carbon as possible.

"While it was easy to find information about how the various technologies work, it was more difficult to work out which was appropriate for our house, and almost impossible to assess the claims suppliers were making and compare products.

"When they're looking for a plumber or a builder, most people ask a friend or colleague for recommendations.

"In a market as new as renewable energy, it's often not possible to do that. With user-generated content, YouGen aims to give people the comfort of word of mouth on the web."