Energy-efficient retrofit of social housing in the UK: lessons learned from a Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) in Nottingham

One of the long-term challenges outlined within the UK Government's Energy White Paper (2011) is to cut both greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy bills by improving household energy efficiency. As such, several energy-related initiatives have, in recent years, been promoted including the C...

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Main Authors: Elsharkawy, Heba, Rutherford, Peter
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52419/
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author Elsharkawy, Heba
Rutherford, Peter
author_facet Elsharkawy, Heba
Rutherford, Peter
author_sort Elsharkawy, Heba
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description One of the long-term challenges outlined within the UK Government's Energy White Paper (2011) is to cut both greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy bills by improving household energy efficiency. As such, several energy-related initiatives have, in recent years, been promoted including the Community Energy Saving Programme. In this study, we explore how patterns of user consumption as influenced by occupant awareness and behaviour, can both positively and negatively influence policy initiative delivery. In so doing, we present the results from an extensive pre- and post-retrofit home energy use and performance survey of 150 properties located in Nottingham's Aspley ward, home of one of England's pilot CESP schemes. Our results show that whilst this specific initiative significantly improved home conditions and reduced energy consumption, it failed to achieve the predicted £300 annual savings on household energy bills. This was found to be largely attributed to occupants’ ingrained habits towards household energy use, higher comfort level preferences, (lack of) energy consumption awareness, and insufficient information provided to help residents better manage their home energy use following the retrofit. By exploring some of the core lessons learned from the survey, this research seeks to inform and improve the uptake and delivery of future retrofit initiatives.
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spelling nottingham-524192020-05-04T19:48:05Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52419/ Energy-efficient retrofit of social housing in the UK: lessons learned from a Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) in Nottingham Elsharkawy, Heba Rutherford, Peter One of the long-term challenges outlined within the UK Government's Energy White Paper (2011) is to cut both greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy bills by improving household energy efficiency. As such, several energy-related initiatives have, in recent years, been promoted including the Community Energy Saving Programme. In this study, we explore how patterns of user consumption as influenced by occupant awareness and behaviour, can both positively and negatively influence policy initiative delivery. In so doing, we present the results from an extensive pre- and post-retrofit home energy use and performance survey of 150 properties located in Nottingham's Aspley ward, home of one of England's pilot CESP schemes. Our results show that whilst this specific initiative significantly improved home conditions and reduced energy consumption, it failed to achieve the predicted £300 annual savings on household energy bills. This was found to be largely attributed to occupants’ ingrained habits towards household energy use, higher comfort level preferences, (lack of) energy consumption awareness, and insufficient information provided to help residents better manage their home energy use following the retrofit. By exploring some of the core lessons learned from the survey, this research seeks to inform and improve the uptake and delivery of future retrofit initiatives. Elsevier 2018-08-01 Article PeerReviewed Elsharkawy, Heba and Rutherford, Peter (2018) Energy-efficient retrofit of social housing in the UK: lessons learned from a Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) in Nottingham. Energy and Buildings, 172 . pp. 295-306. ISSN 1872-6178 Home performance; Retrofit; Energy consumption; Community energy saving programme (CESP); Behaviour https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778818306157 doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2018.04.067 doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2018.04.067
spellingShingle Home performance; Retrofit; Energy consumption; Community energy saving programme (CESP); Behaviour
Elsharkawy, Heba
Rutherford, Peter
Energy-efficient retrofit of social housing in the UK: lessons learned from a Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) in Nottingham
title Energy-efficient retrofit of social housing in the UK: lessons learned from a Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) in Nottingham
title_full Energy-efficient retrofit of social housing in the UK: lessons learned from a Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) in Nottingham
title_fullStr Energy-efficient retrofit of social housing in the UK: lessons learned from a Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) in Nottingham
title_full_unstemmed Energy-efficient retrofit of social housing in the UK: lessons learned from a Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) in Nottingham
title_short Energy-efficient retrofit of social housing in the UK: lessons learned from a Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) in Nottingham
title_sort energy-efficient retrofit of social housing in the uk: lessons learned from a community energy saving programme (cesp) in nottingham
topic Home performance; Retrofit; Energy consumption; Community energy saving programme (CESP); Behaviour
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52419/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52419/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52419/