Updated 22.10.15
National 6 month study on energy performance - findings from 6,000 meter readings
Sustainable Homes has completed the data gathering for its National Energy Study 2, which is looking at the performance gap between predicted and actual energy use in homes, as well as some of the motivators that affect changing energy-use behaviour. Over six thousand meter readings were undertaken.
The aim was to gather summer data as well as winter data, in order to get a good look at the ways energy is used year-round. From the analysis it is clear that there are huge differences in how much energy various people use, and some use more energy in the summer as others use in the winter.
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Deliberately defining overheating
This article is part of a series by Sustainable Homes and the Zero Carbon Hub. The intention is to explore some of the policies and solutions being developed to address overheating in homes.
This article has a focuses on 'definitions of overheating'. The next one will look at how to assess the risk of overheating.
Posted 02.10.15
A national report, making recommendations as to how government can drive its long-term commitment to helping 2.3 million households out of fuel poverty, has been launched.
Orbit Group, a 39,000-home housing association, and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) have launched the Warm homes, better lives report, outlining key recommendations to government to tackle fuel poverty and improve energy efficiency of the country's housing stock.
Recommendations include:
The report follows involved discussions with housing providers, as well as other key partners, and highlights the work of social landlords as 'change agents' to deliver community-based retrofit programmes.
The report can be downloaded via this link.
Posted 01.10.15 by Sustainable Homes
The Green Deal has been, to all intents and purposes, axed. So, no more loans for home improvements? It depends where you live.
Sustainable Homes' office sits astride the Thames opposite the Royal Borough of Kingston. The local authority has just announced that it is offering up to £10,000 in grants and loans to homeowners and private tenants for, energy efficient (and other) home improvements.
Applications will be assessed against the needs of the people living in the property, their vulnerability, and property's state; with grants and loans put towards repairing a major problem in the property - such as excess cold due to failed or inefficient heating and structural failure.
The grant or loan will be paid to the builder when works are completed to a satisfactory standard.
The initiative comes at an opportune time. Despite many flaws, the Green Deal was undoubtedly a recognisable 'brand' that engaged homeowners with the idea of energy efficiency - even if the number of measures that were carried out fell far below expectations.
To read the full article click here.
All-Party Parliamentary Group Expresses Concerns About Rise in Fuel Poverty Households
The Annual Report on Fuel Poverty Statistics 2010 has been published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
The report indicates that the number of household living in fuel poverty - where expenditure of more than 10% of income is needed to heat the home to an adequate standard - increased significantly between 2007-2008, from 2.8 million to 3.3 million households in England alone and puts the figures for the whole of the UK at 4.5 million.
Click here to read the archived article.
